Best Bets / JANUARY 9-15

MOVIES

“My Dog Skip,” a coming-of-age story based on Willie Morris’ best-selling memoir, set in Yazoo City, Miss., in 1942, stars Frankie Muniz as a shy, lonely boy who receives a puppy for his ninth birthday, just as his hometown is about to be transformed by World War II. With Diane Lane and Kevin Bacon. Opens wide Friday.

POP MUSIC

Chan Marshall is a good enough name for a rocker, but it’s under the moniker Cat Power that this singer and songwriter has won an intensely devoted following in the indie-rock world. With her acclaimed Matador Records album “Moon Pix” set to be followed by a new one in March, the Southern-bred performer plays at Fais-Do-Do on Thursday.

THEATER

The long-awaited inaugural season of the North Hollywood-based El Portal Center main stage opens Friday, with the West Coast premiere of Joe DiPietro’s “Over the River and Through the Woods.” In the comedy, Carol Lawrence and Joseph Campanella plot to stop their adult grandson from moving out of state.

MUSIC

Musica Angelica opens its winter season with three performances of a Vivaldi program, starting Friday at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills. The agenda is built around “The Four Seasons” with the acclaimed violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock as soloist, and includes concertos and a Cantata, “Cessate, omai cessate.” Featured are recorder player Judith Linsenberg and countertenor Jason Snyder.

VIDEO

David E. Kelley, the force behind the Emmy Award-winning TV series “Ally McBeal” and “The Practice,” managed to find time to co-write and produce “Lake Placid,” a wisecracking comedy-thriller about a giant crocodile lurking in the lake outside a small town. Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda and a foulmouthed Betty White star. The quirky film slithers into video stores Tuesday.

DANCE

Competing for an invitation to appear at a prestigious French dance festival, three different contemporary companies will perform during each night of DanceWest on Friday and Saturday at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State L.A. Along with entrants from the Bay Area and Seattle are three locals: Rosanna Gamson, Jacques Heim and Hae Kyung Lee.

JAZZ

Drummer Billy Higgins has played and recorded in countless settings during the past 40 years. At Royce Hall on Friday he will be saluted by Kenny Burrell and will perform in a quartet with Charles Lloyd, Geri Allen and Jeffrey Littleton.