Some Fun Activities In San Diego On the Weekend Before Christmas

FRIDAY –

All weekend, the adults can enjoy HOLIDAY NIGHTS at the Bernardo Winery. Lots of lights, carolers, arts and crafts, food, and of course, wine. Lots of wine.

If you liked ‘90s metal bands, there’s ACCEPT and QUEENSRYCHE at the House of Blues DOWNTOWN. Keep in mind, Queensryche doesn’t have their original singer Geoff Tate anymore. Queensryche will be at Pechanga the following night.

It don’t matter if you didn’t know about this show, you do now. DONAVON FRANKENREITER will be at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH on Friday and Saturday night.

The Golden State Ballet’s NUTCRACKER will be at the Civic Theatre DOWNTOWN. There’s also a performance on Saturday, as well as a performance of that ballet at UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium, and one in ESCONDIDO at the California Center for the Arts on Saturday night. Also on …

SATURDAY –

A CHRISTMAS CAROL is at the Cygnet Theater in SAN DIEGO. 

All weekend long, the show NOEL NOEL is returning to the Rady Shell DOWNTOWN. It’s a family friendly show about a young elf trying to save Christmas. You’ll get to hear the SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY. 

And all weekend long, you can find a variety of Christmas themed shows and Santa visits at various locations.

On Streaming…

The post-apocalyptic series FALLOUT travels to New Vegas when its second season returns on Prime Video (Dec 17)

EMILY IN PARIS … heads to Rome when it returns with its fifth season on Netflix (Dec 18).

At the Movies…

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS.

I didn’t see it, but if you have kids that watch the show, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it.

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH.

There were three screenings for this. At two of them, the movie didn’t properly download and it couldn’t be shown. That was a sign…that I didn’t need to see it. I enjoyed the first Avatar. I didn’t like the second one. So, the idea of seeing another three hours of these characters wasn’t all that appealing to me. If Avatar is your thing, this is your weekend.

THE HOUSEMAID

This movie came out just in time…to make it on my “worst of the year” list. But as much as my wife and I hated it, I should note: my wife’s friend, who loved the book, also liked the movie (as did many at the screening). There were things I should’ve enjoyed. Amanda Seyfried looks just like my daughter. And, for anyone who liked Sydney Sweeney in the jeans ad, well…she’s nude in the sex scenes here. Remember how back in the day, we joked about how pornographic movies had goofy music and horrible acting? This reminded me of that (and not because of those sex scenes). They’d play songs like we were watching a music video. And the acting was bad, and was made worse by horrible dialogue. It’s surprising how bad Sweeney’s performance is in this, because she was excellent in “Christy” last month. Nothing about the story seemed the least bit believable; especially when a big twist presents itself.  Paul Fieg has now done so many movies I’ve hated. It’s a shame, because one year at CinemaCon, at a screening of “Spy” – we had a great conversation about movies (he was surprised I remembered the opening Isley Brothers song he used was done in “Out of Sight.” He said he was hoping nobody would notice that, but I digress). Brandon Sklenar was good in “Drop” (even though that was disappointing), and I might be the only one that liked him, and the movie, “It Ends With Us” (which is now more known because of the legal battles between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni). This could’ve been a fun, campy satire. Instead, it’s an uneven mess that will have you rolling your eyes. 0 stars.