If you\u2019re someone that\u2019s going to keep your Christmas tree up for another few weeks, and the Christmas lights up for another few months, you\u2019re probably someone that wouldn\u2019t mind seeing one of the performances of \u201cA Christmas Story\u201d or \u201cThe Nutcracker\u201d that are still playing a few places around town. But here are some other (non-holiday) shows you might want to check out:<\/p>\n
FRIDAY \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n BIG SANDY AND HIS FLYRITE BOYS are back to rock the Casbah DOWNTOWN.<\/p>\n San Diego\u2019s best band that combines funk, jazz, rock, and hip-hop, with a Cuba and Brazilian flare \u2013 the B-SIDE PLAYERS; they\u2019ll be at Lou Lou\u2019s Jungle Room on EL CAJON BLVD.<\/p>\n If you need an excuse to wear your Hawaiian shirt out in public, JIMMY\u2019S BUFFET, which isn\u2019t an all-you-can-eat thing, but a Jimmy Buffet tribute band, will be at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH.<\/p>\n SATURDAY \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n The WILD HORSES FESTIVAL is happening at Petco Park. It doesn\u2019t have actual horses, or even the great Rolling Stones song. It has a few big name bands, though \u2013 MUMFORD & SONS, LORD HURON, SIERRA FERRELL, and LILLY MEOLA.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Angelika Film Center is doing a lovely thing on Monday. They\u2019re going to show WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, in honor of Rob Reiner. If you want to catch another one of his classic films on the big screen, Saturday night you can head over to the Manchester Grand Hyatt at the EMBARCADARO, because the Rooftop Cinema Club is showing THE PRINCESS BRIDE. If you haven\u2019t seen it, well\u2026that\u2019s inconceivable.\u00a0At the North Coast Repertory Theatre, there will be 2 PIANOS 4 HANDS, a show where two pianists are onstage trading stories about pushy moms and crazy piano teachers, and playing everything from Bach to Billy Joel, both Saturday and Sunday. If you think that\u2019s going to be a fun show, well\u2026you may be right.<\/p>\n For fans of yacht rock, the band YACHTLEY CREW will be doing their thing at the Sound in DEL MAR. I saw them do a sold-out show last time they were here, and they\u2019re great (although some of their songs aren\u2019t actually \u201cyacht rock\u201d but who\u2019s going to complain when they\u2019re doing a rockin\u2019 version of \u201cHold the Line\u201d).<\/p>\n Some other tribute bands in town include POISON (in North Park),\u00a0and DAFT PUNK (Downtown),\u00a0<\/p>\n Comedy fans have the LGBTQ COMEDY SHOW at Mic Drop Comedy on CLAIREMONT MESA BLVD. Steven Briggs and Cassidy Stains are headlining that show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Comedian and actor JOSH WOLF has sold out his Friday and Saturday shows, but you can get tickets to his show Sunday at The Comedy Store in LA JOLLA.<\/p>\n At the Movies\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE<\/strong><\/p>\n The narration here doesn\u2019t work, and neither does the 2 hour and 20 minute running time. Unless you\u2019re someone that is really interested in all the origin stories of various religions. If so, this story about the Shakers is for you. An 18th century musical biopic isn\u2019t for everyone. Sitting through a film showing torture, rape, difficult child births is a rather unpleasant experience. It certainly wasn\u2019t for my wife and I (despite a great performance by Amanda Seyfried). While it\u2019s getting awards show buzz for Seyfried, I agree with the movie magazine that recently put it on their 10 worst of the year list. 1 star out of 5.<\/p>\n MARTY SUPREME<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m so disappointed in the Safdie brothers. The writer\/directors knocked my socks off with their movie \u201cGood Time\u201d (it was my favorite of 2017). Their next movie \u201cUncut Gems\u201d (Adam Sandler) was okay. Then they broke up. This year, Benny Safdie disappointed me with \u201cThe Smashing Machine\u201d (Dwayne Johnson).\u00a0Josh Safdie is getting Oscar buzz for \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d, which my wife and I both found hard to take. Sure, Gwyneth Paltrow is good as an aging movie star. Timothy Chalamet is always excellent, but just as Adam Sandler was in \u201cUncut Gems,\u201d it\u2019s hard to watch a manic, annoying character (especially for over two hours). Set in 1952, Marty Mauser (very loosely based on a true story) is a ping pong champ, who is always trying to scam people, for a variety of reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s some good supporting work from Fran Drescher as his ailing mom, and Kevin O\u2019Leary (the dude from Shark Tank, who isn\u2019t an actor, but was terrific in his film debut).<\/p>\n This film is exhausting, and I don\u2019t buy the ending for a second. But hey \u2013 it\u2019s going to get a lot of awards. When voting with my Critics Choice Awards and San Diego Film Critics Society, it was popping up all over the ballot. 2 stars out of 5.\u00a0<\/p>\n SONG SUNG BLUE<\/strong><\/p>\n I feel like I\u2019m losing my movie critic card, when I\u2019m giving bad reviews to the two films getting awards show buzz, and liking a movie about a Neil Diamond tribute act. I\u2019m a fan of writer\/director Craig Brewer. His movie \u201cBlack Snake Moan\u201d is Samuel Jackson\u2019s most underrated film (with some great blues music). His \u201cHustle & Flow\u201d was a great movie about a pimp trying to make it as a rapper. Now he\u2019s bringing in Hugh Jackman to play a singer relegated to do tribute shows with Elvis and Buddy Holly impersonators. The character \u201cLightning\u201d would rather do his original songs. Yet when he hooks up with a Patsy Cline impersonator (Kate Hudson), they try their hand as a Neil Diamond tribute act and lightning strikes (pun intended). They make money, have fun, and end up getting married. And then things get bumpy. I\u2019m not the biggest fan of Neil Diamond, and you don\u2019t have to be, to enjoy this movie. I can\u2019t imagine anyone going to this movie and not having a good time. About the only misstep it has, was Jim Belushi. He was a bit over-the-top as a guy promoting bands for casinos. This is all based on a true story, too.\u00a0I was really hoping to give this movie a bad review, because the studio invited me to a reception and screening of it with the cast in L.A., but then sent an email a few days later saying they overbooked and I was no longer invited. But it wouldn\u2019t be fair to the filmmakers for knocking it, because it was a blast. Was I a fan of this movie? I am (I said, already). My wife enjoyed it, too. 4 stars out of 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re someone that\u2019s going to keep your Christmas tree up for another few weeks, and the Christmas…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":472215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,104,1582,276,16055,186626,186625,186627,186619,186621,186620,186628,3549,36075,186623,186624,186622,7264,101433,49201,61,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-472214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-california-news","13":"tag-darren-jack","14":"tag-darren-smith","15":"tag-election-news-updates","16":"tag-george-chamberlin","17":"tag-george-noory","18":"tag-ladona-harvey","19":"tag-lou-penrose","20":"tag-san-diego","21":"tag-san-diego-news","22":"tag-san-diego-traffic-reports","23":"tag-san-diego-weather-reports","24":"tag-san-diegos-breaking-news-station","25":"tag-sandiego","26":"tag-sean-hannity","27":"tag-ted-garcia","28":"tag-u-s-news","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115784343981589652","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}