It’s CINCO DE MAYO weekend, but there’s more than just margaritas and Mexican food that you can enjoy.
FRIDAY…if you want to start things off with some sports – The 6th ANNUAL KATHY’S LEGACY GOLF TOURNAMENT at the Twin Oaks Golf Course in SAN MARCOS. It tees off at 9 a.m., and raises funds for children and pets impacted by domestic violence.
If that was too early for you, at 2:00 p.m., check out the FIRST FRIDAY MATINEE – JAZZ CROONERS at the Jazz Lounge in San Diego.
Cinco de Mayo comes early to the GASLAMP with the FRIDA FIESTA – a Frida Kahlo themed Cinco celebration all weekend long, with over 30 venues participating DOWNTOWN. It’s 21 and up, since the booze will be flowing.
Big Sandy & His Fly-rite Boys will be rockin’ the CASBAH downtown.
Two local musicians who have been big here for decades – JEFF BERKLEY and JOHN KATCHUR, will perform at Templar’s Hall in OLD POWAY PARK. These are two singer-songwriters you don’t want to miss.
SATURDAY…if you want to start your day with some exercise to burn off the calories you’ll be consuming on Cinco – you can do that while also helping out a good cause. The San Diego Humane Society’s WALK FOR ANIMALS is at LIBERTY STATION at 7 a.m.
An hour later, there’s a 5K WALK/RUN FOR SCHOLARSHIPS at LAKE MURRAY. Previously, they’ve raised money to give out almost 130 scholarships to students from local schools.
At Humphrey’s Backstage Music Club on SHELTER ISLAND, catch the Brian Jones Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival. For those that don’t know, Jones was the founding member of The Rolling Stones who died drowning in a swimming pool. You’ll enjoy tunes not only from the Stones, but Chuck Berry, Elvis, Little Richard, and more.
In sports, San Diego FC takes on FC Dallas at SNAPDRAGON STADIUM.
Women's volleyball has the San Diego Mojo vs Indy Ignite, which is going to light some fires at VIEJAS ARENA.
And you probably didn’t know we had a professional frisbee team. Well, the San Diego Growlers have been part of the Ultimate Frisbee Association in the West Division since 2015. You can catch them (no pun intended) at MISSION BAY HIGH SCHOOL against the Los Angeles Aviators.
If you thought the song “Red Red Wine” was originally by UB40 or “I’m a Believer” was The Monkees, or “Kentucky Woman” was originally Deep Purple, you’ve got a lot to learn; and you can with SONGS & STORIES OF NEIL DIAMOND at the Sunshine Brooks Theatre in OCEANSIDE. You won’t have to bring your wife flowers, if you bring her to this show.
One of the craziest rappers ever, MICKEY AVALON, a Jewish, bisexual, former heroin addict, covered in tattoos (which is the most normal thing about him), has a hysterical song in the movie “The Hangover” (What Do You Say?), and another great song my wife and I listen to all the time (Jane Fonda), will be at The Holding Company in PACIFIC BEACH.
One of our local comedians who has been in many movies and TV shows – MARK CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE – will be headlining the KENSINGTON COMEDY NIGHT at the Mission Brewing Company.
If you’re out in PALA, or are a big fan of SELENA, there’s a tribute show by “Anything for Salinas” at the Starlight Theater.
If dancing is your thing, you can put on your boogie shoes…well, pointe shoes…and head to City Ballet’s performance of CARMEN at the California Center for the Arts in ESCONDIDO. There’s another performance on Sunday.
Also some sports on SUNDAY – the San Diego Legion rugby team takes on NOLA Gold at TORERO STADIUM.
San Diego Wave FC vs. Bay Area FC at SNAPDRAGON STADIUM.
Local legends the B-SIDE PLAYERS, will be playing at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH. Nothing like starting your Cinco celebrations with some Latino flavored funk and jazz.
MOVIES! And first up, one you can watch at home –
On AMAZON you can watch ANOTHER SIMPLE FAVOR. I wouldn’t recommend it, though. It’s on my list of worst films of the year. Now, I wasn’t a fan of the first (A Simple Favor), but this was a thousand times more idiotic, with unlikeable characters, doing unrealistic things. A mess all the way around. My wife hated it as much as I did (and I point that out because, with the various scenes, like a wedding, or the beautiful island of Capri, you might think it’s more for women). But as I always said about the show “Sex and the City” – it’s brilliant, whether you’re a man or a woman (the movies, not so much). When you watch Blake Lively acting so sinister, with all the things we’ve heard about her in the news, we have to wonder if it’s acting. Anna Kendrick, who is 39 in real life, still looks 14-years-old. Henry Golding, who my wife hasn’t stopped talking about since we ran into him at a cigar lounge in Vegas, is wasted as the angry, drunk dude. And I hadn’t seen Elizabeth Perkins in years, but it’s a shame that her part was also goofy. I can’t think of a positive thing to say about this film. 0 stars.
Unfortunately, a lot of the movies released recently are bad. ON SWIFT HORSES is the most utterly ridiculous movie imaginable. Will Poulter, who has been in four movies already this year, is good as a man coming out of the Korean War (this takes place in the ‘50s), who wants to go to California and get a house with his brother (Jacob Elordi). But he meets a woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones), who would rather stay in her family home in the midwest. Turns out, she’s also a lesbian. And that could’ve created some interesting conflict, considering the time period and how hard it was for people to be out of the closet. In fact, there’s one brilliant scene with her female lover (Sasha Calle) where they have an intense fight about it. Yet, the more we find out about the brother being such a loose canon, the less we care about any of them (the troubled brother thing was done so much better with Brad Pitt in “A River Runs Through It”). The situations these people get themselves in are utterly ridiculous. And it’s got an ending so bad, that the entire audience in the theater was laughing at how bizarre a visual it was. It also goes on my “worst of the year” list. 0 stars.
THE LEGEND OF OCHI. A fellow movie critic named Kevin Finnerty (also a KOGO employee) had the best tagline on his review – “It’s like E.T. if Elliot was kind of a jerk.” It’s from A24 film where they specialize in quirkiness. It takes place on a weird island in a fictional foreign country, where forest creatures attack villagers at night. Willem Dafoe leads a group of young boys in hunting the Gremlin like things. A young girl finds a baby Ochi and takes care of it, and they go on an adventure. My wife and I hated almost every second of this (well, there was a great scene with Dafoe singing along to an opera; I also loved Dafoe singing along to the Macarena in “Inside” a few years ago). 0 stars.
And to keep going on the 0 star movies, we have THE SURFER. Now, remember when Nicolas Cage would do five movies a year and they’d go straight to video? Well, this film would fit right in. The movie tries for an ‘80s aesthetic. It’s about a guy wanting to buy his grandfather's old house that’s finally up for sale on the beach in Australia. The local surfers keep beating him up when he goes there to surf, and it just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. Now, when Cage plays a tough guy character in a movie, it can be a bit of fun (I’m one of the few critics that liked “Kiss of Death” with David Caruso); yet when he plays a sad sack, it’s just tiring. About the only thing I liked was the movie poster, with its orange colors, reminding me of the “Endless Summer” poster. There’s a screening Friday at the Angelika Film Center, which concludes with a virtual Q&A with Nic Cage and the cast. If you’re a fan of his, or a surfer that hates kooks taking your waves, this is for you. For everyone else, 0 stars.
Let’s get to the better films of the bunch. While I wasn’t a fan of “The Accountant” I was pleasantly surprised with THE ACCOUNTANT 2. Not that it’s a great movie. It’s merely a serviceable action flick. It’s got plot holes, and there are times it isn’t sure what kind of film it wants to be. But watching Jon Bernthal and Ben Affleck play off each other was fun, and I always love seeing J.K. Simmons on screen. They may have been bad guys, but they’re teaming up to help rescue a kidnapped boy, and everywhere they go – including a country western bar – craziness follows. They took a dance scene right out of “Swingers” for that, and another scene with a witness being shot is taken right from “Lethal Weapon.” It also has a splash of “Ender’s Game.” Most people are going to like this. My wife and I had fun with it, despite also acknowledging it’s kind of stupid (and I’m convinced she’d like watching Bernthal if he were just standing there reading the phone book). 2 ½ stars out of 5.
The best movie this weekend, is the one that’s also going to make the most money – THUNDERBOLTS*. I had gotten so burned out on superhero movies, this was the last thing I wanted to see. It has two nepo baby actors, because that’s what Hollywood does (Lewis Pullman and Wyatt Russell, in the first movie I’ve liked him in). It has Sebastian Stan (who my wife angrily stated “Why give such a good looking man such a bad haircut?!”), and Florence Pugh, because she has to be in at least 3 movies each year, but hey – she’s always great in them. It was great to see Geraldine Viswanathan, who I first saw in “Blockers” seven years ago, and last in “Drive-Away Dolls” (both were fun films, and the Australian actress was great in them). Julia Louis Dreyfus plays an evil version of her Seinfeld character mixed with her VEEP role; but the best performance was David Harbour as Red Guardian. His crazy Russian character was the only good thing about “Black Widow.” It would be pointless to tell you the plot. Superhero flicks are all so similar – people getting thrown through walls, lots of fighting, cars thrown in the air, but…this also has a lot of humor that works and you enjoy all the chemistry between this rag-tag group of superhero misfits. 3 ½ stars out of 5.