Wednesday 28 – Every great British actor who reaches a certain age plays King Lear, and now it’s Ian McKellen’s turn. The 79-year-old knighted thespian essays one of Shakespeare’s iconic roles, a king who makes a disastrous decision while looking after his legacy. Today’s the last broadcast, so catch it now. It’s today at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, 3200 Darnell St, FW. Tickets are $20. Call 817-923-3012.
Thursday 29 – Mamoru Hosoda has emerged from the Japanese anime industrial complex to make a name for himself with films such as Summer Wars and The Boy and the Beast. We wish Mirai would receive the same play in our multiplexes as those films, but we’re glad Gkids and Fathom Events are releasing it at all. The film about a boy meeting his baby sister’s future self plays today thru Dec 8 at various theaters. Check Calendar for locations. Tickets are $12.50-13.50. Call 818-761-6100.
Friday 30 – The title of Sorry! Wrong Chimney! is a play on Sorry, Wrong Number, a now-forgotten radio play from the 1940s. Instead of a bedridden housewife frantically making phone calls while being stalked by a murderer, this farce is about a wife whose phone activity leads her to think her department store-Santa husband is being naughty. The play runs today thru Dec 16 at Trinity Arts Theatre, 2819 Forest Ridge Rd, Bedford. Tickets are $17-22. Call 817-354-6444.
Saturday 01 – Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 film of A Christmas Carol (titled Scrooge in the U.K.) is one of the best big-screen versions of Charles Dickens’ story. Notably this is for Alastair Sim’s balls-out crazy performance as Scrooge, playing the old miser as someone whose brain might have snapped after seeing the visions that the ghosts show him. The film screens at 7:30pm at Palace Theater, 300 S Main St, Grapevine. Tickets are $6. Call 817-410-3185.
Sunday 02 – Artes de la Rosa winds up its Movies That Matter series with Tales of Masked Men, a 2012 documentary that looks into the culture of Mexican lucha libre wrestling. Fans of American pro wrestling will see a lot of differences in styles but also many similarities in the pageantry, the narratives, and the influence from American comic books. The film screens at 4pm at Rose Marine Theater, 1440 N Main St, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-624-8444.
Monday 03 – Every year, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra performs Handel’s Messiah on a Monday evening in December. However, this year’s performance will be different because the orchestra is teaming up with the UNT A Cappella Choir, the first in what will be a string of performances with the choral ensemble. The music starts at 7:30pm at Bass Performance Hall, 555 Commerce St, FW. Tickets are $27.50-82.50. Call 817-665-6000.
Tuesday 04 – The French call it a film maudit when a movie’s production seems to be cursed. So it is with The Misfits, which turned out to be the last film for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, while their co-star Montgomery Clift was nearing his end as well. The film kicks off the Modern’s set of Tuesday winter films in conjunction with the museum’s Laurie Simmons exhibit. The movie screens at 7pm at 3200 Darnell St, FW. Admission is free. Call 817-738-9215.
