Best Bets / December 6-12, 1998

Movies

“Star Trek: Insurrection” finds Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart, above with Donna Murphy) leading a mutiny when he discovers a conspiracy endangering a planet that is a virtual fountain of youth. The ninth “Star Trek” film opens Friday in general release.

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“Shakespeare in Love” stars Joseph Fiennes as the struggling young playwright whose life and career are transformed when Gwyneth Paltrow’s Viola auditions for his latest play. The movie opens Friday at selected theaters.

Theater

The national tour of Dante’s “Inferno,” adapted for stage by United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, comes to the Getty Center on Friday through next Sunday, presented by the Getty with the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center.

Music

For his first appearance here since March 1995, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich returns to play Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto in a benefit tribute to former L.A. Philharmonic executive director Ernest Fleischmann, in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Tuesday. The Philharmonic will be led by Zubin Mehta and Esa-Pekka Salonen; Gundula Janowitz is soprano soloist.

Dance

Among dozens of local “Nutcracker” stagings, that of the David Taylor Dance Company, above, is unusual in its boldness of design and complexity of narrative. Catch the acclaimed Colorado company Friday to next Sunday at Long Beach’s Terrace Theater.

Art

“Jessica Bronson: World Picture,” a new video installation exploring the phenomenon of the freeway chase in Los Angeles, opens today at MOCA. Composed of two curved screens, “World Picture” uses film and video images shot from the perspective of a driver on the freeway and a helicopter shoot.

Jazz

Pianist Danilo Perez, who picked up important early experience with Dizzy Gillespie, is a master of Afro-Cuban polyrhythms and making adventurous improvising seem quite accessible. His colorful style will be well displayed with his trio Tuesday to next Sunday at the Jazz Bakery.

Pop Music

The KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas moves from the Rockettes-occupied Universal Amphitheatre to the Shrine Auditorium, where Hole (with Courtney Love, above), Korn, Barenaked Ladies and the Offspring highlight Friday’s show. Saturday’s bill includes Billy Corgan, Depeche Mode, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Garbage, Semisonic and Soul Coughing.

Video

Harrison Ford makes a rare foray into the world of comedy in the breezy, brainless romance “Six Days, Seven Nights.” Anne Heche is the fiesty object of his affections. The summer hit makes its video debut Tuesday.