Best Bets / DECEMBER 19-25, 1999

Movies

“Titus,� Julie Taymor’s stylized adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus,� stars Anthony Hopkins in the title role as the Roman general, returning home after defeating the Goths. Jessica Lange co-stars as the Goths’ queen. Opens Saturday at selected theaters.

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“Angela’s Ashes,� based on Frank McCourt’s best-selling, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir of growing up poor in Ireland in the 1930s and ‘40s, stars Emily Watson as McCourt’s mother and Robert Carlyle as his father. Directed by Alan Parker. Opens Saturday.

Theater

David Dratewka’s “The First of All My Dreams,� presented by dancers and performance artists, uses the poetry of e.e. cummings to create a theatrical dream world as a woman struggles with life and death, love and sex. Also on the bill: poet and vocalist June Melby and a performance installation directed by Ilya Pearlman. Today at Highways in Santa Monica.

Dance

Perhaps the oddest import of the year: China’s Classical Ballet of Guangzhou performing the same David Wilcox “Nutcracker� that Wilcox’s Los Angeles Classical Ballet danced for 15 years throughout the Southland. Watch for it at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles this afternoon and at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Art

Rare photographs by Frederick Sommer demonstrate the artist’s influence on a generation of photographers in “A Tribute to Frederick Sommer, 1905-1999,� opening Wednesday at the Norton Simon Museum of Art. Examples of the artist’s paint-and-smoke-on-cellophane, smoke-on-glass, cut-paper and soft-focus nudes will be displayed alongside images by Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Alfred Stieglitz and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, among others.

Music

Outstanding programs happen at the admission-free chamber music series “Sundays Live,� in Leo S. Bing Theater at the L.A. County Museum of Art on Wilshire Boulevard. Today at 6, for instance, the splendid and virtuosic trio of clarinetist Gary Bovyer, cellist Cecilia Tsan and pianist Robert Thies play music by Brahms and Robert Muczynski. If you can’t attend, hear it live on radio: KKGO-FM (105.1).

Pop Music

Rage rocks. That’s the raw essence of Rage Against the Machine, and it applies to more than the mega-force instrumental assault and Zack de la Rocha’s intense rapping and singing. It also describes the way the L.A. band--which plays the Forum tonight and Monday--shakes the political and social foundations with its unflinchingly radical commentary.

Video

There’s no denying that the comedy “American Pie� is tasteless, but the low-budget hit about four teenage boys making a pact to lose their virginity by prom night is also very funny and surprisingly sweet. Jason Biggs, Shannon Elizabeth and Alyson Hannigan head the talented young cast. This “Pie� will be delivered fresh to video stores on Tuesday.

Jazz

Each Monday night, veteran guitarist John Pisano hosts a “guitar night� at Rocco’s, featuring either a touring giant or a local great. This week, the cool-toned Barry Zweig (long a fixture in L.A.) is the star, playing quiet but heated renditions of bop standards and ballads.