Weekend HITS

this weekend's best bets for film, music and theater

THEHIT:
*Steve Chbosky's Generation X comedy The Four Corners of Nowhere serves as the inaugural film of Laemmle Theaters' International Cinema Showcase, an exclusive presentation of cutting-edge alternative cinema. The film won Best Narrative Feature at the Chicago Underground Film Festival and an official selection at Sundance. The continuing series will be held at the Grande 4-Plex, located in the lobby of the downtown Sheraton Grande Hotel. Call (213) 617-0268 for show times.

THEREST:
*Hugh Hefner and the American Cinematheque present a weekend-long tribute to the great silent film star Louise Brooks at Raleigh Studios (5300 Melrose Ave.), featuring G. W. Pabst's Pandora's Box and her other seminal works. Call Theatix at (213) 466-1767 for advance tickets or the American Cinematheque at (213) 466-3456 for additional information.

*For 007 fans, the Four Star Theater in Beverly Hills presents a double bill of Dr. No and From Russia with Love Friday and Saturday, followed by a pairing of Goldfinger with Thunderball Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Call (213) 936-3533 for show times.

THEHIT:
*Old man grunge, Neil Young, along with the ever-great Patti Smith, is playing Wednesday at the Great Western Forum with special guest Gin Blossoms. Smith's show, coming on the heels of her latest work, Gone Again, is not to be missed. On the other hand, Young's show exists more in the realm of take-it-or-leave-it. Smith and Young will play again on Thursday at Irvine Meadows with special guest Sponge.

THE REST:
*Tommy Stintson's (formerly of the Replacements) current band, Perfect, will headline tonight at the Dragonfly. Stintson dropped his bass to take up the lead vocals and he does his best to spit out the lyrics in a manner resembling Paul Westerberg's early Mat work. Though the band is far from living up to its name, Perfect plays hard pop tunes that will make you recall the fond days of the Mats and show just how boring Westerberg has become. For more information, call (213) 466-6111.

*Today at noon, Possum Dixon and Liquor Giants will play in front of Tommy Trojan. The show is being sponsored by KSCR and Taco Bell is donating 1,000 (that's right, one thousand) free burritos. If the music doesn't make you sick, the burritos are guaranteed to do the trick.
THE HIT:

*In the heat of a passionate love affair, a formerly righteous old woman trips over the wooden leg of her lover (a Vietnam vet), cracks her skull on the sink and dies. Experience the hilarious revelations that follow the funeral in Sordid Lives. The show runs at Theater/Theater tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. and then at 7 p.m. each night through Oct. 6. Call (213) 660-8587 for more information.

THEREST:
*Bertolt Brecht and Margarethe Stefflin co-wrote Fear & Misery of the Third Reich, a dramatic interpretation of eyewitness accounts of the atrocities in Nazi Germany. The play opens tonight at 8 p.m. at the L.A. Playhouse. For tickets and information, call (213) 882-6912.

*Vanities, one of the longest running off-Broadway shows, begins its opening weekend in Hollywood tonight at 8 p.m. If the sounds of three Texas high school cheerleaders experiencing their rites of passage tickles your fancy, then the Met Theatre is the place to be. Watch for a San Francisco production in the coming months that will feature three men in the lead roles (no, we're not kidding either). Call (213) 957-1152 for information.