Best Bets

Movies

The umpteenth remake of A.E.W. Mason’s classic adventure “The Four Feathers” features a hip, young cast--Heath Ledger, near right with Wes Bentley, and Kate Hudson--and a critically lauded director, Shekhar Kapur, who guided Cate Blanchett in her breakout role in “Elizabeth.” Ledger plays a young British officer who must redeem his honor in 1898 Sudan after his friends and fiancee brand him a coward. Djimon Hounsou and Michael Sheen co-star.

Also: “The Banger Sisters” were with a lot of bands in their day (Pamela Des Barres has nothing on this pair). But that was a long time ago. Now Suzette (Goldie Hawn), who can’t let go of the past, needs her ol’ groupie pal Vinnie (Susan Sarandon), who’s living the garden party life in the ‘burbs, to help her out in writer-director Bob Dolman’s boomer comedy. Geoffrey Rush co-stars.

Theater

Social essayist and cultural critic Barbara Ehrenreich spent most of 1998 working “undercover” in low-paying jobs--as a waitress, a maid, a nursing home assistant and a Wal-Mart sales clerk--learning firsthand how the working poor were affected by the welfare reform of the late 1990s. Joan Holden’s world-premiere drama, “Nickel and Dimed,” based on Ehrenreich’s book about her experience and featuring Sharon Lockwood, right, opens Thursday at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown L.A.

Art

“Thomas Struth,” a survey of contemporary photographs by the noted German artist spanning 1977 to the present, opens at MOCA at California Plaza in downtown L.A. and continues through Jan. 5. Also opening with Struth: “Conversations,” an exhibition of recent acquisitions to the permanent collection. It will be a rotating show of works by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Frank, Lari Pittman and others. And finally, flamboyant new monumental sculpture by Nancy Rubins appropriately titled “Chas’ Stainless Steel, Mark Thompson’s Airplane Parts, About 1000 Pounds of Stainless Steel Wire and Gagosian’s Beverly Hills Space” is installed at MOCA today.

Dance

As Americans debate the merits of war in Iraq, the ancient Hindu epic “Bhagvad Gita” couldn’t be more relevant. Tonight at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, this profound poetic meditation on the consequences of a just but cataclysmic conflict will be presented as a classical Indian dance-drama, performed by Viji Prakash and her local Shakti Dance Company, along with guest stars from Malaysia and India. The production is also scheduled to be seen in San Francisco, Bakersfield, San Diego, Houston and Vancouver.

Pop Music

Eminem, Slum Village and Bahamadia are just some of the hip-hop forces that got key early exposure on the annual Lyricist Lounge tour, which showcases emerging artists on a bill with established stars. Redman, Keith Murray and Erick Sermon fill the latter role this year, setting the stage for Skillz, Poverty and Wordsworth. The tour comes to the House of Blues Anaheim on Thursday and the West Hollywood branch on Friday.

Video

John Goodman and Billy Crystal supply the voices for the delightful computer-animated “Monsters, Inc.” Randy Newman won an Oscar for his song “If I Didn’t Have You.” The hit family film from Pixar and Disney arrives Tuesday on VHS and DVD.