CALENDAR OF EVENTS

To submit an upcoming community event, email it to valleyeditor@reedermedia.com, put “attention events” in the subject line.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

July 27 – 7 p.m. Temecula’s

Summer Concert Series will host its finale with Escape, a Journey tribute band, at the Temecula Civic Center Quad, 41000 Main Street, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Bring blankets, lawn chairs and snacks.

July 28 to Aug. 11 – 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Temecula’s 16th annual Ralph Love Plein Air Competition begins as local artists are invited to enjoy two weeks of painting scenic Temecula locations, including Old Town Temecula, wine country and city parks. The city honors artist Ralph Love and emerging local artistic talent, with this annual competition between plein air artists. New to the competition is the Youth Category for artists aged 17 and under who can participate for a chance to win a large prize basket of art supplies. Stamps for canvas submissions are available inside the Temecula Valley Museum, closed Mondays.

July 28 – 6 p.m. Menifee’s Arts in the Park taking place at Audie Murphy Ranch Sports Park, 30376

Lone Pine Drive, in Menifee.

Comedy of Errors by William Shakesphare played by the Full Circle Players and presented by the Menifee Arts Council and City of Menifee. Bring lawn chairs, warm clothing and a sense of humor. Food vendors and childrens games.

July 29 – 4 p.m. The Water Lantern Festival will be held at Elm Grove Beach, 500 Lakeshore Drive, in Lake Elsinore.

July 30 – 3 p.m. The Temecula Wine and Beer Garden Rock will be held at 28464 Old Town Front St., in Temecula

Aug. 2 – 6 p.m. San Jacinto’s

Kool Summer Nights concerts begins with Endeavor, vendors and a beer and wine garden at the Estudillo Mansion, 150 Dillion Ave, in San Jacinto,

Aug. 2 to Aug. 23 – 5-9 p.m. Sunset Market is held every second and fourth Wednesday of the month and features live entertainment, a gourmet food court and some of the finest artisans and craftspeople in Southern California. The family friendly event is located in Town Square Park in Old Town Temecula.

ONGOING – Riverside Transportation Commission is offering Park and Ride lots to connect with carpools, vanpools and transit systems in Beaumont at 600 E. Sixth Street in San Jacinto; at 501 S. San Jacinto Avenue and in Temecula at Grace Presbyterian Church, 31143 Nicolas Road, open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. but not on weekends.

ONGOING – Line dancing classes are held Wednesdays from 3:30-5 p.m. at Lake Elsinore/Wildomar Elks Lodge, 33700 Mission Trail, in Wildomar across from the Animal Friends of the Valleys. Classes have a DJ with learning levels beginning to intermediate. Have fun and exercise at the same time at $5 per lesson. Contact Joyce Hohenadl at 951-674-2159

ONGOING – Sun City Civic Association Monthly Square Dance sessions are held Sundays from 1:30-5 p.m. at 26850 Sun City Boulevard.

ONGOING – If you know a homebound older adult, resources in Menifee are available, including grab-and-go, cooked and frozen food for pickup. Courtesy pantry items and meals delivered with no contact. Three days of emergency food can be delivered immediately or restaurant meal delivery for those who don’t qualify for food assistance programs. Call the California Department on Aging at 800-510-2020 for help.

ONGOING – The Riverside County COVID-19 Business Assistance Grant Program is accepting online applications for business grants up to $10,000 at http://www.rivercobizhelp.org that can be used for employee retention, working capital, personal protective equipment purchases, rent or mortgage payments and paying vendor notices. Eligible businesses, including nonprofits, must be in Riverside County, with a minimum of one but less than 50 employees and operating for at least one year since March 1. For more information, call Riverside County Business and Community Services at 951-955-0493.

ONGOING – 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The Temecula Winchester Swap Meet continues, 33280 Newport Road, in Winchester. Saturdays and Sundays only. The small local swap meet is 50 cents for entry, and anyone under age 10 is free admission. No dogs allowed.

ONGOING – 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Every Sunday, Murrieta Village

Walk Farmers Market is at Village Walk Place in Murrieta. The Sunday morning farmers market at Village Walk Plaza is a place to buy fruits and veggies, gourmet food and crafts. Come to the center in the northwest corner of Kalmia/ Cal Oaks at the Interstate 215 exit in Murrieta.

ONGOING – Temecula’s Farmers Markets are offered in Old Town Temecula Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to noon, 4100 Main Street in Temecula; at Promenade Temecula, 40640 Winchester Road, outside JCPenney every Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at Vail Headquarters, 32115 Temecula Parkway, every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. In compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Riverside County Public Health orders, the farmers markets will be restricted to agriculture products only. Follow the Old Town Temecula Farmers Market on Facebook to stay updated. No pets allowed.

WORKSHOPS, MEETINGS,

NOTICES

July 29 - 12:30 - 2:30 p.m. See Disney’s The Little Mermaid at Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main St., in Temecula. Beautiful mermaid Ariel should be a happy girl – she lives in an enchanted undersea country, her father is a King, and she has the most beautiful singing voice. Tickets $5 to $65. Visit https:// tickets.temeculatheater.org/eventperformances.asp?evt=1459

Aug. 5 – 11 a.m. to 2 p.m Lace & Locomotives, Victorian Steampunk Tea Party will be held at the Murrieta Community Center, 41810 Juniper St., in Murrieta. Don your dandiest apparel for a day of historic proportions. Tickets are $50 to help support bringing a train to downtown Murrieta. Additionally, a portion of the ticket sales will be donated to the Murrieta Valley Historical Society.

Aug. 5 – 9-11 a.m. The city of Menifee Homebuyer Assistance Program information session will share about securing up to $200,000 in assistance presented by Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services Inc. at 29844 Haun Road.

Aug. 8 – 7-9 p.m. Rancho Springs Medical Center Breastfeeding Class is offered at Southwest Healthcare Rancho Springs Hospital, 25520 Medical Center

Drive, in Murrieta. Make breastfeeding a successful and satisfying experience with teacher Sandy Salgado, LCCE, CLE. Fee is $50 per family.

Aug. 9 – 1-2 p.m. The Hemet San Jacinto TNOW transportation group will meet at the Hemet San Jacinto Chamber of Commerce, 615 N San Jacinto St., in Hemet. The chapter is composed of public officials, school district representatives, local business owners and members of the general public. The chapter focuses on improving transportation in the cities.

Aug. 10 – 9-11 a.m. Access to Capital workshop will be presented by the Inland Empire Small Business Development Center at the Menifee/Wildomar Council Chambers, 29844 Haun Road, in Menifee. Topics include the basic requirements to qualify for a loan; the different types of funding available; steps to assess a funding solution that best meets your needs.

Aug. 16 – 10 a.m. Hemet San Jacinto Business Network will meet at J & M Family Restaurant, 1271 S. State St., in Hemet. The group is dedicated to creating a networking group of business professionals and small business owners whose primary purpose is to exchange qualified business leads.

ONGOING – Want to help deployed American troops remotely? Help shop for the most needed items without leaving home as an easy way to help support deployed men and women by purchasing items remotely and having them delivered to MilVet at designated drop-off locations for packing. All items on the list are special requests from deployed military men and women. MilVet is a nonprofit organization that holds monthly packaging events at different community locations in the area. For drop-off locations and packaging locations, visit http://www.milvet. org/military-care-packages

ONGOING – Multiple Sclerosis Support Group Meeting meets the third Monday of each month at the Mary Phillips Senior Center, 41845 Sixth Street, in Temecula from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, email gaugustin206@ gmail.com or join the meeting.

ONGOING– Sons of Norway/ Scandinavia meets at noon the first Saturday of every month, September to June, at the Heritage Mobile Park Clubhouse, 31130 S. General Kearny Road, in Temecula.

ONGOING – Menifee Community Services offers online driver’s education courses for a $21.95 fee. The course includes animated driving scenarios, instructional videos, sample tests, licensed instructor available to answer questions, DMV-approved certificate of completion with all lectures and exams completed from home. Designed for students and does not include behind-the-wheel instruction or a California driver’s permit. Contact 951-723-3880 or visit the city of Menifee to register at http://www. city of menifee.us.

ONGOING – 10-11:30 a.m. Michelle’s Place Cancer Resource Center and The Elizabeth Hospice host a virtual support meeting for caregivers every second and fourth week of the month via Zoom. Get helpful tips and learn from others who are also dealing with similar challenges. For more information and to register, contact The Elizabeth Hospice Grief Support Services at 833-349-2054.

ONGOING – Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, a free 12step recovery program for anyone suffering from food obsession, overeating, undereating or bulimia, has meetings throughout the U.S. and the world. Contact 781932-6300, or for local meetings, call 925-321-0170 or visit http:// www.foodaddicts.org.

ONGOING – The Murrieta Garden Club meets each month at the Murrieta Community Center, 41810 Juniper St. Anyone who likes to garden or is interested in plants is welcome. Membership is $10 per year. Find more information about the monthly event or project on Facebook.

ONGOING – Temecula Valley Rose Society meets each month. For more information and new meeting dates and places, visit http://www.temeculavalleyrosesociety.org.

ONGOING – Menifee Toastmasters meets every Thursday at noon for one hour at a designated place to have fun, enhance speaking capabilities, gain self-confidence and improve social skills. For new dates, call 760-807-1323 or visit http://www.MenifeeToastmasters.org for more information.

ONGOING – Homeless veterans can receive free help by dialing 877-424-3838 for 24/7 access to the VA’s services for homeless, at-risk veterans. Chat is confidential for veterans and friends. Visit http://www.va.gov/homeless

Movie review: ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Bob Garver

Special to the Valley News

Last summer, when “Top Gun: Maverick” was making roughly all the money printed in the United States during that fiscal quarter, I read a number of articles calling Tom Cruise various iterations of “The Last Movie Star.” Many publications jumped on the trend at once; however, the moniker is obviously an exaggeration. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt haven’t exactly been left in the dust in Hollywood, but it’s understandable where it comes from. It may take a few beats to remember the “Avatar” movies’ star Sam Worthington or that Tom Holland is the most recent live-action version of Spider-Man, but there is no such confusion with a Tom Cruise movie. I bet most people, when discussing the “Mission: Impossible” movies, say “Tom Cruise” instead of his character’s name of Ethan Hunt. For that matter, I wouldn’t be surprised if people say “Tom Cruise” instead of “Jerry Maguire” when discussing the film named after the character. All of this is to say that Tom Cruise has an undeniable screen presence and charisma. He certainly has the straight-up talent to justify this popularity, but his blockbuster appeal is about more than that. He clearly believes that if he’s going to be at the top of the industry, he should push himself harder than the rest of the industry. That’s why he insists on undertaking difficult tasks like long sequences of running and dangerous stunts involving planes and motorcycles. This kind of dedication is why “Mission: Impossible” is a respectable franchise unto itself and not the James Bond knockoff that it would be otherwise.

The new installment sees Hunt racing around the globe to stop The Entity, a computer program that has seemingly become sentient and bent on world domination. Whoever can access The Entity first, whether it’s a government or an individual, can basically control the world. Hunt is initially sanctioned by the U.S. government, represented by Impossible Mission Force leader Eugene Kittridge, played by Henry Czerny, but he soon realizes that nobody should be allowed to have that much power, so he goes on a rogue mission to destroy The Entity.

Hunt is aided by faithful teammates Luther, played by Ving Rhames; Benji, played by Simon Pegg, and Ilsa, played by Rebecca Ferguson. Complicating matters are money-driven duplicitous characters like high-class pickpocket Grace, played by Hayley Atwell, and black-market arms dealer Alanna, played by Vanessa

Kirby. Full-on villains include assassin Gabriel, played by Esai Morales, and his henchwoman Paris, played by Pom Klementieff, who is gleefully maniacal in a role that frankly doesn’t call for it, and are both apparently representing The Entity itself, and no, I’m not sure how that business relationship works.

The mission involves gaining possession of two halves of a key and figuring out what exactly the key opens. It also involves an elaborate series of druggings, pickpocketings, thievery, bomb scares, knife-fights, shootouts, car chases, crosses and double crosses and a ton of antics with a runaway train. Oh, and those super-realistic masks that this series loves come into play. This movie really hopes you like Vanessa Kirby, because you’re getting a double dose of her here – no complaints from me.

I spent most of this movie having a hard time deciding if it was worth recommending. Cruise and his team are their usual delightful selves, but it seems like this movie’s been done several times before. The villains are more memorable than some of the others in this series, but their motivations are questionable. The action is mostly pretty exciting, but the stakes are affected by the “Part One” in the film’s title, which tells me that nothing too conclusive is going to happen here. At the last minute, the film pulled out an effective action sequence with a train that finally earned it my endorsement. I reckon you’ll have a good time with the seventh “Mission: Impossible.” Grade: B-

Valley News/Courtesy photo

“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material. Its running time is 163 minutes. Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@ nyu.edu.