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Movies

Josh Hartnett, above, Ewan McGregor and Eric Bana, among others, star in “Black Hawk Down,” based on the true story of a disastrous U.S. military operation in Somalia. The film, directed by Ridley Scott (“Gladiator”), opens Friday.

Also: Filmmaker Michael Mann, who pulled no punches with his 1999 tobacco industry drama “The Insider,” steps back into the ring with “Ali,” starring Will Smith as the boxer who could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Jamie Foxx and Jon Voight co-star. Opens Tuesday.

Performing Arts

For the 42nd year, the admission-free Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration takes over the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Monday. Among first-time performers will be the Avaz International Dance Theatre, the Hawaiian dance troupe Halau Keali’i O Nalani, South Bay Children’s Choir, Donna Sternberg & Dancers, Los Angeles Hebrew Choir and Calabasas Chamber Ensemble. Returning are the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, Jazz Tap Ensemble, Church of Scientology Choir and Cantori Domino. The show will be broadcast live on KCET and repeated Christmas Day.

Jazz

In June, she captivated the packed house, generating one standing ovation after another. On Wednesday, rising-star singer Jane Monheit, above, returns to Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood for a six-nighter that will not end until next year.

Theater

“Blast!”--the marching, musical dynamo inspired by drum corps pageantry and winner of the 2001 Tony for special theatrical event-- makes its West Coast premiere. The international hit is playing Thursday-Jan. 6 at the Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa’s Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Pop Music

The older generation of Southland punk bands remains surprisingly spry, with such outfits as Bad Religion, the Dickies and others still active. Social Distortion is perhaps the biggest draw. The Orange County band plays a string of shows at the Houses of Blues in West Hollywood today and Wednesday through Saturday, then in Anaheim Jan. 7-9.

Art

“Naples and Vesuvius on the Grand Tour,” opening Friday at the galleries of the Getty Research Institute in Brentwood, brings back the 18th century days when young British aristocrats came of intellectual age--and built art collections--while traveling to Italy. The first of three exhibitions that explore the Grand Tour ritual, this one examines the period from 1764 to 1880, when Sir William Hamilton, a passionate collector and genteel host, served as Britain’s ambassador to Naples. Below, detail of Niccolo Carletti and Giuseppe Aloja’s topographic map of Naples.