The kids are out of school, Father’s Day and the Fair are going on, so….here are some options.
FRIDAY – the San Diego County Fair is in full swing, and tonight you can see a little “sumthin’ sumthin” with MAXWELL at the Grandstand Stage, or a Pink Floyd Laser show earlier in the evening.
Even though Flag Day is Saturday, you can celebrate it with the NAVY BAND, with the Southwest Flag Day Concert at the CORONADO Library. It’s free, from 1 to 2 p.m., with the Woodwind Quartet of Navy Band Southwest doing patriotic tunes and summertime classics.
At the Civic Theatre DOWNTOWN – THE BOOK OF MORMON makes its way back to town. That’s Friday and Saturday night.
SATURDAY – if you’re into crafts, the ESCONDIDO BEAD & DESIGN SHOW is at the Escondido Center for the Arts.
For tribute bands, you’ve got the Pink Floyd Laser show again at the Sound, Grateful Shred at the Observatory, Mac Sabbath at House of Blues, and Desperado (Eagles) at the Belly Up Tavern.
SUNDAY – it’s Father’s Day, and what dad doesn’t like DON McLEAN, the guy who sings “American Pie.” He’s at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH.
If your pops is more into the blues, the underrated TOMMY CASTRO is going to be at the California Center for the Arts in ESCONDIDO.
And what dad doesn’t love the movie GOODFELLAS? It’s playing at the Rooftop Cinema Club’s show at the Manchester Grand Hyatt DOWNTOWN.
If you want to take your dad to a new movie opening this weekend….
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Okay, that’s more for kids than dad. It’s smart that with this live action remake, it was a lot like the original (including the same director, Dean DeBlois). It was also nice to see Gerard Butler in a good movie (and he was perfectly cast, with all the facial hair, yelling, and blustering he does). I was also pleasantly surprised to see Nick Frost (who is so great in comedies with Simon Pegg). The young cast also does a terrific job. I always notice a good score in films, and it was actually my wife that leaned in and said how much she was enjoying it (props to John Powell, who did a great job with “Migration” a few years ago). It’s visually nice to look at, but be warned. This is rated PG, and can get a little violent. So perhaps it’s not the best for the really young kids (it’s also two hours long, so who knows how much patience they have). 3 ½ stars out of 5.
MATERIALIST. This is playwright Cecile Song’s second movie. I thought her first movie “Past Lives” was okay, but highly overrated (my wife still argues this point with me, as do a few other critics in the San Diego Film Critics Society). This romantic comedy was so bad, it makes me wonder if perhaps Song should stick to writing for the stage. Nepo baby Dakota Johnson has never impressed me as an actress (although she was okay in “Daddio” a few years ago). She plays a matchmaker, who never talks like a real person. In fact, nobody in this movie ever does. You don’t buy any of these characters. And you don’t really care about them. It seems Song’s premise is that poor people can’t find love. The matchmaking service she runs always wants to use rich men, but we’re supposed to hate them when they’re filmed saying they want a 21-year-old, or somebody “fit” and “no fatties.” When each of them talk, again, it feels like a bad sitcom. Chris Evans does a good job, given the material he’s working with. It might be the first movie I’ve seen with Pedro Pascal where I didn’t care for him (although he does one cute scene where he makes himself smaller, because that’s another thing the movie seems to preach – women don’t want a guy under six feet tall). Watching this made me realize just how brilliant a film like “When Harry Met Sally” was. Even more light-weight films like “Hitch” I adored. This had elements of both, but was soulless. I just glanced at Rotten Tomatoes and it’s getting great reviews, which surprises me. My wife didn’t think it really worked, but a few of the people I talked to at the screening enjoyed it, so I think most people will. Just because I hated it, doesn’t mean you will. 0 stars.
THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME. I think Wes Anderson needs to take 5 or 10 years off from filmmaking, and really work on getting his groove back. I loved “Moonrise Kingdom” and the animated “Isle of Dogs” and “Rushmore” was good. Most of his other movies I’ve hated, including “Asteroid City” from a few years ago. He brought back a lot of the cast from that – Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, and Willem Dafoe. At least in “Asteroid City” you laughed a few times. In this movie, you never laugh. And it wasn’t screened for the critics, so off to the Angelika Film Center for me to see it (the wife and I left after an hour – it was that bad). Benecio del Toro (who was in Anderson’s “French Dispatch”) was fine in the role as a rich guy who keeps surviving assasination attempts, and smoking cigars non-stop. Michael Cera was a bit weird in it. The deadpan, flat acting got old, quick. And the visuals Anderson is known for – just don’t impress me anymore. I read one critic who said something along the lines of “Wes Anderson probably takes two years trying to decide what wall paper to use in certain rooms, and what colors…and then spends half an hour writing a script.” (co-written by nepo baby Roman Coppola). This movie will make my worst of the year list. 0 stars, for a movie filled with about 20 big name stars.