BEST BETS Friday 8/25

11am

Art

“California Paintings 1910-1940: Selections From the Mills College Art Museum” focuses on a period in California history when artists in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego developed a style of landscape painting that fused an academic “Naturalist” philosophy with the techniques of Impressionism, resulting in new forms of experimentation. This survey of 41 paintings and watercolors, opening at Loyola Marymount’s Laband Art Gallery, will feature “Impressionist style” landscapes by Anne Bremer, Granville Redmond and William Wendt; Tonalist images by Giuseppe Cadenasso and Xavier Martinez; Regionalist works by Albert Barrows and Elinor Ulmor; and more independent styles by Jesse Arms and Maurice Braun.

* “California Paintings 1910-1940: Selections From the Mills College Art Museum,” Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, 7900 Loyola Blvd. Ends Sept. 30. Wednesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Free. (310) 338-2880.

all day

Movies

Wesley Snipes chops and kicks his way through the world of international espionage in “The Art of War,” director Christian Duguay’s new thriller. Snipes plays a U.S. agent accused of murdering an ambassador who must go underground to clear his name and foil a plan to take down the United Nations on the eve of a Chinese summit. Anne Archer, Donald Sutherland and Marie Matiko also star.

* “The Art of War,” rated R for strong violence, some sexuality, language and brief drug content, opens Friday in general release.

All day

Movies

Two new 3-D films have been added to the Universal Studios Imax Theatre lineup kicking off 3D Madness, a Festival of 3D Films. “Alien Adventure” and “3D Mania: Encounter With the Third Dimension” will join “T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous” and “Cirque du Soleil’s Journey of Man” playing in repertory every day at Universal CityWalk.

* 3D Madness, a Festival of 3D Films, Imax Theatre, Universal CityWalk, Universal City. “Alien Adventure” first screens at 1:10 p.m. “3D Mania: Encounter With the Third Dimension” first screens at 11:50 a.m. The films will run indefinitely. $5.50 to $9. (818) 760-8100

8pm

Pop Music

It’s not easy to find current rock acts that trace their origins back to 1967 L.A., but Sparks does. After 30-plus years of tireless recording and performing, they give the impression that they’ll always be at it. Ron and Russell Mael will show off their new album, “Balls,” in two Southland shows.

* Sparks at the Key Club, 9039 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. 8 p.m. $22. (310) 786-1712. Also Saturday at the Sun Theatre, 2200 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim. 8 p.m. $26.50. (714) 712-2700.

8pm

Theater

United Players Ensemble presents the West Coast premiere of “The State of Mississippi Vs. Emmett Till,” about a watershed event in the civil rights movement: the 1955 kidnapping and lynching of a young Chicago youth who was visiting Mississippi. The drama was written by Mamie Till Mobley, Emmett Till’s mother, who will be in attendance at the play through Sunday.

* “The State of Mississippi Vs. Emmett Till,” Complex Theatre, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 24. $15. (323) 860-3208.

8:30pm

Theater

It is by no means unheard of to find Shakespeare’s greatest male roles being played by women portraying men, but in Grove Theater Center’s original production of the classic tragedy “Hamlet,” Broadway performer Jane Macfie plays the title role as the princess of Denmark, not the prince.

* “Hamlet,” Grove Theater Center, Festival Amphitheater, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove: Friday-Sunday, 8:30 p.m. $18.50 to $22.50. Grove Theatre Center on the Green at Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave., Fullerton: Sept. 9-17 (Thursdays-Sundays), 8:15 p.m. $20.50 to $24.50. (714) 741-9555.

8:30pm

Music

Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a two-night program titled “Spirit of the Gypsies” at Hollywood Bowl. With dancers from the Ballet Nacional de Espana and mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzman and guitarist Adam del Monte being featured, the program includes music by Chapi, Luna, Penella, Albeniz, Granados, Sarasate and Falla.

* “Spirit of the Gypsies,” L.A. Philharmonic and guests at the Hollywood Bowl, 2701 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. 8:30 p.m., repeats Saturday at 8:30 p.m. $3 to $75. (323) 850-2000.

FREEBIE

Damian Dragichi--a Romanian master of the pan flute--leads his ensemble in a fusion of Eastern European and jazz at noon at the Watercourt, 350 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. (213) 687-2159.

Magician Tony Daniels performs tricks at the Felipe de Nave Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, 2820 W. 6th St., L.A. 4 p.m. (213) 384-7676.