Hop To It

Spend Easter — and April — in paradise at Margaritaville Lake Resort in Conroe

Following his official duties, the Easter Bunny is hopping on over to paradise for the month of April. He's headed to Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe to enjoy everything from brunch to crawfish and boats to concerts, and you'll want to meet him there.

Easter weekend fun, April 7-10
In addition to a sumptuous Southern brunch attended by the Easter Bunny himself (more on that below), you can find fresh spring fun all over the resort.

Keep an eye out for hidden Easter eggs and other treats, then pop into the petting zoo to ride a donkey, pet a miniature horse, and frolic with goats, bunnies, chicks, and ducks in a picturesque setting beside the lake.

With the kids out of school on Friday and Monday, it’s the perfect weekend to enjoy an extended family getaway. Save up to 35 percent off the resort's best rate when you book two or more days over the Easter weekend holiday.

Easter brunch, April 9
Every bunny is welcome at Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe for a fun and festive Easter brunch that's happening 10 am-3:30 pm.

Enjoy such holiday classics as rosemary lamb, slow-roasted pork, and a Southern-style grits bar with all fixings. See the full menu here.

Adults are $85, children ages 6-12 are $45, and kids 5 and under are free. You can also add on a Bloody Mary, mimosa, and Bellini bar for only $19.

Members receive 20 percent off, and there's complimentary valet at the Conference Center entrance.

Crawfish, Craft Beer & Wine Festival, April 15
Raise a glass — or a dozen! — to crawfish season. Your $25 admission includes 12 2 oz. pours from six different beers and two different wines.

Your festival entry ticket also includes live entertainment by Cedryl Ballou and the Zydeco Trendsetters, who are playing as part of the Conroe Crossroads Music Festival. This four-day live musical extravaganza runs April 13-16 and features shows at 40 venues throughout the area, including Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe.

The fresh crawfish boil is just an additional $14 per pound. Then, sip and stroll through the unique wares of the Margaritaville Market, featuring more than 20 artists, artisans, and designers showcasing the finest in jewelry, clothing, accessories, decor, and so much more.

It all goes down from 2-5 pm on the Palm Court and The Beach at Margaritaville.

Margaritaville On The Water Boat Show, April 21-23
Sail on in from 10 am-7 pm for Lake Conroe's premier live, in-the-water boat and watercraft show. Enjoy live music, food, and drinks while taking in the newest models from over 20 companies such as Veranda, Falcon, Centurion Supreme, Axis, and more.

In addition, there will be tents with more than 30 vendors offering boating, marine, and recreational items, from marine electronics and boat lifts to floating motorized miniature drink bars (can we get two?).

Even better, there's free admission and parking. Happy spring!

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Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe is an all-suite resort featuring 335 guest suites — including 32 lakefront cottages — on 186 lakefront acres and is the first Margaritaville Resort in Texas. Bars and restaurants feature signature Margaritaville dining concepts and there is an array of recreational activities: an 18-hole golf course, three-acre waterpark with a lazy river and outdoor pools, pickleball, tennis, swimming, boating, and fishing. Margaritaville’s popular full-service St. Somewhere Spa and a spacious Fins Up Fitness Center provide exceptional wellness options.

Photo courtesy of Margaritaville Lake Resort

The Easter Bunny's got the right idea.

With 72,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor IACC-approved meeting space, the resort can host special events and meetings of every size. Located just an hour from Houston and about three hours from the major hubs of Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, the resort is within easy reach of over 19 million Texans.

holidays brunch nature promoted

Movie Review

Denzel Washington brings new spectacle to the Colosseum in Gladiator II

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Paul Mescal in Gladiator II.

There are some films for which making a sequel is natural, and others where a follow-up is wholly unnecessary. Gladiator, which made both tons of money and was named Best Picture at the Oscars, told an impactful stand-alone story that ended with the protagonist dead and no real loose ends. And yet because there’s always more money to be made, here we are 24 years later with Gladiator II.

The lead character this time around is Lucius (Paul Mescal), a general in a North African army who becomes a prisoner of war when the Roman army led by Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) bests him and his troops in battle. Taken back to Rome, he is put in the pool of captured men forced to fight at the Colosseum for the amusement of twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracella (Fred Hechinger).

Lucius is controlled by Macrinus (Denzel Washington), an ambitious schemer who bets liberally on his prized fighter and always has an eye to move up in the world. Meanwhile, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the sister of Emperor Commodus from the first film, is now married to Marcus Acacius and has a unique connection with Lucius that is fairly obvious from the get-go.

Directed once again by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa, the film commits a number of sins throughout its 150-minute running time, the most blatant of which is that, aside from a few embellishments, it essentially tells the same story as the first film. Lucius, like Maximus, is a deposed military leader who’s out for revenge on the person who killed his family. Instead of one obnoxious emperor, there are now two. And the only way for Lucius to earn his freedom is to fight his way out.

Stories told in the same world can echo each other and, if done well, overcome those similarities. But Gladiator II is shockingly boring for a purported sword-and-sandals epic. Scott and his team try to introduce new elements to the fights, like a gladiator riding a rhinoceros or a ship battle inside the Colosseum (with sharks!), but most of the sequences are inert with no propulsion to them.

The action fails because none of the relationships in the film amount to much. There are stand-out characters like Macrinus and the twin emperors, but instead of creating antipathy or strong feelings of triumph or defeat, the story just kind of happens without any sense of excitement or importance. Much of that issue lies at the feet of Lucius, who simply doesn’t inspire in the same way that Russell Crowe’s Maximus did.

Mescal is a fine actor who’s done good work in more intimate roles, but he’s not up to the task of being an action star, at least not in this film. Any bombast he shows with the character feels forced, and the story doesn’t give him enough opportunities to counteract that lack. Washington, however, fills up the screen with his charisma, and it’s during his scenes that the film comes closest to being rousing. Quinn and Hechinger are a lot of fun as the twin emperors, but in the end they feel like retreads of Joaquin Phoenix from the original.

Any sequel should have a purpose that sets it apart from what came before, but Scott, Scarpa, and the rest of their team fail in that respect in Gladiator II. It’s a mostly lifeless film that delivers scenes that would be exciting if they had any kind of good story to back them up.

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Gladiator II opens in theaters on November 22.

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Movie Review

Denzel Washington brings new spectacle to the Colosseum in Gladiator II