weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this weekend

Like bluebonnets and crawfish, the annual Art Car Parade is a reliable sign of spring in Houston. Before 250 vehicles take to the streets, fans have the opportunity to get a sneak peek on Thursday or party into the night on Friday at the Art Car Ball — keep an eye out for the Great Wolf Lodge car we wrote about earlier this week.

Outside of all things automotive, this weekend offers an inside look at one of the ‘80s most enduring cult classic films, a festival to mark the end of Ramadan, and the chance to feast on Houston’s best barbecue. Families should look for the heartwarming tale of a canine superhero and a show featuring some of Disney’s most popular characters.

Read on for this weekend’s best bets.

Thursday, April 11

The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary presents Reflections on Style Luncheon, Runway Show, and Chic Boutique
The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary will host their annual fundraiser, blending a jubilation of fashion, philanthropy, and community engagement. Themed “Girls with Pearls,” the event encapsulates the spirit of women uniting for a positive impact. This year's distinguished honoree, Michelle Bain, receives recognition for her support and longstanding commitment to The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary and various other commendable organizations. This annual luncheon will continue with its four-day fashion sale event. 10 am.

The Orange Show presents Art Car Sneak Peek
Kicking off a weekend of events, the sneak peek gives visitors a first look at nearly 100 art cars, contraptions, lowriders, SLABs, and mobile masterpieces featured in this year's Art Car Parade. Guests can stroll through Discovery Green and along Avenida Houston, meet the artists, enjoy kids craft activities, music, and more. The legendary Art Car Ball follows Friday night with the Art Car Parade rolling through downtown on Saturday afternoon. 6 pm.

Performing Arts Houston presents The Princess Bride: An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes
Cary Elwes will present a two-night, behind-the-scenes look at life on and off the set of the classic film The Princess Bride, in which he starred as Westley. Journey back to the lands of Florin and Guilder in an adventure filled with fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, miracles, and of course, true love. After a screening of the iconic movie, Elwes will engage in a moderated discussion with Houston Public Media's Ernie Manouse, revealing never-before-shared secrets and tales of inconceivable antics. 7:30 pm.

Friday, April 12

Houston Museum of African American Culture presents “Mami Wata Afrofuturism: 500 Years Back to the [Afro][Future]” opening reception
This new exhibition envisions the future through the lens of the past and focuses on works by artists of the African Diaspora who consider the transatlantic and trans-Mississippi delta journeys of Black people across waters, carrying with them histories, mythologies, and cultures towards new futures. The exhibition includes paintings, photography and digital painting on paper, photographs, video, and sculpture from such artists as Arnold J. Browne, Carla Jay Harris, Miatta Kawinzi, Abi Salami, and Raymond Thompson. A conversation with the artists, moderated by chief curator Christopher Blay, will be on Saturday. Through Saturday, June 29. 6 pm.

The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival presents Art Dash Party
The Art Dash Party will feature a room of festival artists and art lovers. The highlight of this event is the 60-Second Art Dash, in which ticket holders can quickly dash to select a coveted original art piece donated by the festival’s fine artists. The party also features light bites, adult beverages, and live music. The painting “Water Break,” by this year's featured artist, Regina Lyubovnaya, will be auctioned off along with other items. Funds from the live auction and ticket sales will benefit The Woodlands Arts Council’s Student Art Scholarship Program. The festival continues with more events on Saturday and Sunday. 6:30 pm.

TheaterWorksUSA presents Dog Man: The Musical
Dog Man: The Musical is a heartwarming and hysterical production based on the worldwide bestselling book series. It follows the chronicles of a canine superhero who loves to fight crime and chew on the furniture. But while trying his best to be a good boy, can he save the city from Flippy the cyborg fish and his army of Beasty Buildings? Can he catch Petey, the world’s most evil cat, who has cloned himself to exact revenge on the doggy do-gooder? And will George and Harold finish their show before lunchtime? 7 pm (11 am, 3 & 7 pm Saturday; 1 & 5 pm Sunday).

Disney on Ice: Magic in the Stars
Disney on Ice: Magic in the Stars charts a course through the night sky, where every story starts with a wish. Guests will experience the magic of Frozen 2 and celebrate the power of love with Elsa, Anna, Olaf, and Kristoff; watch Asha and her friend Star from Wish as they skate to “This Wish”; embrace the dreams and gifts inside us all with Mirabel, Luisa, Isabela, and maybe even Bruno; explore the skies with Aladdin and Jasmine; sing along with Tiana as she dreams of owning her own restaurant; and more. 7:30 pm (11 am, 3 & 7 pm Saturday; 1 & 5 pm Sunday).

Saturday, April 13

Asia Society Texas Center presents Festival of Eid
At Asia Society Texas Center's sixth annual Festival of Eid, guests can celebrate and learn through food, performances, artist demonstrations, activities, and games. Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, is an occasion of peace, joy, and festivity. People visit friends and family, give gifts, and eat sweet food. On the festival lawn, guests can visit food stalls before heading indoors to play games and enjoy ticketed dance performances. In addition, they can enjoy free admission to Xu Bing: "Word Alchemy." Noon.

Karina Nistal and the Cosmic Cats Backyard Bash!
Karina Nistal and the Cosmic Cats hit the Continental Club’s Pachinko Hut for a backyard bash. Nistal is a vibrant bilingual singer and songwriter, with seven albums and 25 years of international performing experience. She has collaborated on tracks with artists and renowned music producers all over the world. Formerly LA-based, she now resides in Houston, where she performs regularly along with her new quartet, The Cosmic Cats, all local icons in their own right. 7 pm.

Sawyer Yards Brewery Crawl
Sawyer Yards’ creative campus is punctuated with breweries that invite people to linger after Second Saturday. Join them for a brewery crawl at Platypus Brewing, Urban South, City Orchard, and Holler Brewing Co. Each brewery invites people to savor distinctive brews that complement the vibrant artistry of Sawyer Yards. Best of all, admission is free! Simply pay for the beer. This event is open to all aged 21 and over. 5 pm.

Frankie Beverly & Maze in concert
Toyota Center welcomes Frankie Beverly and his band Maze back to Houston before they unfortunately part ways. After 54 years, nine gold albums and numerous hits including “Before I Let Go,” “Happy Feelin’s” and other cookout favorites, Beverly will be retiring soon. So, he decided to do some farewell shows across the country, giving longtime fans one last night of feelgood R&B. The O'Jays and El DeBarge will also be performing. 8 pm.

Sunday, April 14

11th Annual Houston Barbecue Festival
The 35 best barbecue joints from Houston and surrounding areas will serve unlimited samples to 2,000+ hungry barbecue fanatics. This year’s participants represent the many styles that make Texas barbecue both dynamic and delicious. East Texas-style barbecue as well as Cajun influences from places like Beaumont are represented. Central Texas-style craft barbecue is, of course, well-represented. Barbecue joints that represent Venezuelan, Korean, South Texas, and Persian influences will also be highlighted. 1 pm.

Houston Early Music presents The Gate to Flamenco: Spanish Renaissance
With The Gate to Flamenco: Spanish Renaissance, Arte Puro brings a group of international musicians based in Texas to overlay the music of the Spanish Renaissance with today's flamenco. Centered on the influence of Spanish Renaissance and baroque composers, such as Juan del Encina or Gaspar Sanz, and their literature for guitar as well as the use of the rhythmic language, this program will navigate different Renaissance dances and flamenco palos (styles), taking the audience on a trip from the Spain of the XVII century to the present day. 3 pm.

Nikki Glaser: The Good Girl Tour
The podcast host and comedian brings her honest, no-holds-barred style of comedy to 713 Music Hall. Her daily show, The Nikki Glaser Podcast is peppered with Nikki’s sense of humor and honesty to help keep listeners sane, well-informed, and laughing through life. In July of 2022, Glaser headlined her first HBO comedy special, Good Clean Filth. 7 pm.

Photo by Morris Malakoff

Art cars will roam the streets of Houston on Saturday.

weekend events weekend activities event-planner

Movie Review

Meta-comedy remake Anaconda coils itself into an unfunny mess

Photo by Matt Grace

Jack Black and Paul Rudd in Anaconda.

In Hollywood’s never-ending quest to take advantage of existing intellectual property, seemingly no older movie is off limits, even if the original was not well-regarded. That’s certainly the case with 1997’s Anaconda, which is best known for being a lesser entry on the filmography of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez, as well as some horrendous accent work by Jon Voight.

The idea behind the new meta-sequel Anaconda is arguably a good one. Four friends — Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Claire (Thandiwe Newton), and Kenny (Steve Zahn) — who made homemade movies when they were teenagers decide to remake Anaconda on a shoestring budget. Egged on by Griff, an actor who can’t catch a break, the four of them pull together enough money to fly down to Brazil, hire a boat, and film a script written by Doug.

Naturally, almost nothing goes as planned in the Amazon, including losing their trained snake and running headlong into a criminal enterprise. Soon enough, everything else takes second place to the presence of a giant anaconda that is stalking them and anyone else who crosses its path.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, with help from co-writer Kevin Etten, the film is designed to be an outrageous comedy peppered with laugh-out-loud moments that cover up the fact that there’s really no story. That would be all well and good … if anything the film had to offer was truly funny. Only a few scenes elicit any honest laughter, and so instead the audience is fed half-baked jokes, a story with no focus, and actors who ham it up to get any kind of reaction.

The biggest problem is that the meta-ness of the film goes too far. None of the core four characters possess any interesting traits, and their blandness is transferred over to the actors playing them. And so even as they face some harrowing situations or ones that could be funny, it’s difficult to care about anything they do since the filmmakers never make the basic effort of making the audience care about them.

It’s weird to say in a movie called Anaconda, but it becomes much too focused on the snake in the second half of the film. If the goal is to be a straight-up comedy, then everything up to and including the snake attacks should be serving that objective. But most of the time the attacks are either random or moments when the characters are already scared, and so any humor that could be mined all but disappears.

Black and Rudd are comedy all-stars who can typically be counted on to elevate even subpar material. That’s not the case here, as each only scores on a few occasions, with Black’s physicality being the funniest thing in the movie. Newton is not a good fit with this type of movie, and she isn’t done any favors by some seriously bad wigs. Zahn used to be the go-to guy for funny sidekicks, but he brings little to the table in this role.

Any attempt at rebooting/remaking an old piece of IP should make a concerted effort to differentiate itself from the original, and in that way, the new Anaconda succeeds. Unfortunately, that’s its only success, as the filmmakers can never find the right balance to turn it into the bawdy comedy they seemed to want.

---

Anaconda is now playing in theaters.

movies film