Best Bets / November 14-20, 1999

MOVIES

Pierce Brosnan returns as James Bond in “The World Is Not Enough,” a tale of greed, revenge and machinations to attain world dominance through the power of oil. With Sophie Morceau as a lady in distress, Robert Carlyle as the villain and Denise Richard as Bond’s ally, a nuclear weapons expert. Opens Friday.

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Toy Story 2, the sequel to the 1995 landmark computer-animated blockbuster from Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, finds Andy going off to summer camp and the toys left to their own devices when Woody is kidnapped. Voiced by Tom Hanks and a raft of familiar players. Opens Friday exclusively at the El Capitan, Hollywood.

THEATER

A film noir-style P.I., a lost wedding ring that resurfaces mysteriously 70 years later--Cornerstone Theatre connects the cultures and histories of Beverly Hills, Boyle Heights, Chinatown and Baldwin Hills communities in the premiere of Lisa Loomer’s “Broken Hearts: A B.H. Mystery,” opening Saturday at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

DANCE

Dancers and puppets join forces in the Angahara Ensemble’s “Panchatantra: Animal Fables of India” next Sunday in the Carpenter Center at Cal State Long Beach. Featuring choreography by Ramaa Bharadvaj, music by Rajkumar Bharathi and puppetry by Maria Bodmann, the full-evening work uses jungle life as a metaphor for human values and actions.

MUSIC

In a week of busy chamber-music activity at the L.A. County Museum of Art and elsewhere,the L.A. Philharmonic Chamber Music Society begins its new season with programs in different places: a Gliere-Khachaturian-Ponchielli-Tchaikovsky evening, Tuesday in Gindi Auditorium on the Westside, and a Poulenc-Tchaikovsky agenda, Friday in Zipper Hall at the Colburn School, downtown.

JAZZ

The guitar-vocal duo of Tuck and Patti crosses many musical boundaries. From jazz standards to folk songs and pop tunes, the jazz-oriented group (which starts a three-night run at Catalina’s this Thursday) adds charm, swing and sensitivity to every selection that they interpret.

Pop MUSIC

Bryan Ferry has gone from Elvis-esque glam-rock showman to tuxedoed troubadour to art-rock elder statesman since arriving with Roxy Music in the early ‘70s. In his latest incarnation, Ferry applies his warble to ‘30s standards, but expect a bit of everything when he plays the Sun Theatre on Wednesday and the Wiltern on Thursday.

VIDEO

Yeah, baby! Yeah! Mike Myers returns as the dentally challenged British secret agent in the boffo blockbuster comedy, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” This time around, Dr. Evil steals Powers’ mojo. Heather Graham, Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe and Verne Troyer, as Mini-Me, star in this farce which frugs into video stores Tuesday.