BEST BETS / NOVEMBER. 21-27 1999

MOVIES

“End of Days” stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as an ex-cop, unwittingly drawn into a millennium game of cat-and-mouse with Satan. The stakes? The salvation of mankind, in this thriller directed by Peter Hyams. With Robin Tunney, Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Pollak, above. Opens wide Wednesday.

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In “Flawless,” Robert De Niro is an ultra-conservative retired security guard recovering from the effects of a stroke--with the help of singing lessons from his neighbor, a street-tough drag queen (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Written and directed by Joel Schumacher. Opens wide Wednesday.

POP MUSIC

What does Garbage have in common with Wings, Carly Simon and Tom Jones? They’ve all done the title song for a James Bond movie, now that Garbage has chimed in with “The World Is Not Enough.” Shirley Manson, right, and the boys bring their world tour to a close with shows at UCSD on Tuesday and UC Irvine’s Bren Center on Wednesday.

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High on the list of beneficiaries of the rap-rock synergy that reached critical mass in 1999 is Kid Rock, a Detroit upstart whose energy and attitude have made him one of the year’s high-visibility arrivals. The Kid rocks the Hollywood Palladium with such hits as “Cowboy” on Saturday and next Sunday, on a bill that also features Powerman 5000.

THEATER

From folk music to gospel, jazz and American pop, “It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues,” by Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor and Dan Wheetman, is a foot-stomping, finger-popping musical odyssey that begins at the very roots of the blues, traveling from farms and small towns to the big city. Opens today at the Geffen Playhouse.

ART

“Leon Golub: Selected Works From the Broad Foundation,” a survey of the politically and emotionally charged paintings of the Chicago Imagist, will open Wednesday at Cal State L.A. Working from news photos and other media sources, Golub’s large- and small-scale paintings capture the universal power struggles involved in war and everyday combat.

MUSIC

Returning to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Spanish musicians Jesus Lopez-Cobos and Alicia de Larrocha join the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Friday through next Sunday. Pianist Larrocha will play the “Concierto Breve” (1953) written for her by Xavier Montsalvatge; Lopez-Cobos also conducts Turina’s “Toreador’s Prayer” and Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony.

VIDEO

Despite glowing reviews, the thoroughly enchanting animated film, “The Iron Giant,” got lost in the summertime glut. Perhaps this adaptation of Ted Hughes’ story will find an audience on video. Longtime “The Simpsons” collaborator Brad Bird directed this tale about a young boy who befriends an innocent giant alien robot the U.S. government wants to destroy. Suffused with wry humor and genuine pathos, the fable lands in video stores Tuesday.

JAZZ

Benny Golson, an important tenor-saxophonist since the 1950s (playing with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Jazztet) has also long been a significant arranger and composer (“I Remember Clifford”). Golson leads a hard bop quartet at the Jazz Bakery this week, starting Tuesday.