BEST OF THE WEEKEND.

FILM

SPLIT PERSONALITY: It's rare when a failure is the most interesting thing you can see at the movies. But that is the case with ``A.I. Artificial Intelligence,'' Steven Spielberg's fascinating attempt to meld his commercially minded sensibility with the more cerebral approach of his late friend, Stanley Kubrick, in a science-fiction epic that overflows with ideas and debatable conclusions.

Set in a dying, near-future world where humans coexist, dependently and uncomfortably, with almost perfect android replicas, ``A.I.'' tackles big issues like the technological commodification of love and what, indeed, it means to be real. Spielberg refracts these concerns, which Kubrick spent decades trying to develop into a movie, through a high-tech Pinocchio story involving a child robot (beautifully played by Haley Joel Osment) who's the first of its kind programmed to love and dream.

Spielberg realizes a variety of eye-popping, science-fiction tableaux via state-of-the-art special effects and follows the piece's conflicting philosophical notions to their logical conclusion - and, sometimes, to a fault. The film does seem overlong and unwieldy. And, depending on your own aesthetic temperament, it ultimately plays out too coldly for a Spielberg film or too sentimentally for a Kubrick. To really enjoy this rich, uncategorizable movie to its fullest, though, watch it with an awareness of how these two opposite artistic personalities clash, mesh and synthesize into the most unique and thoughtful movie experience of the summer.

- Bob Strauss

TELEVISION

SO, WHERE'S TOM HANKS?: BBC America enjoyed success last year with ``Castaway,'' a purer and, as it turned out, even more volatile version of ``Survivor.'' So naturally it's cash-in time, and here we are with ``Celebrity Castaway.'' Unfortunately, rather than stranding a bunch of stars in a remote, exotic locale and letting them bicker with one another, ``Celebrity Castaway'' focuses on but one solitary celebrity with nothing to dwell upon but the camera crew tailing his or her every movement and utterance. (Sounds like many celebrities' take on life in the first place.)

Sunday's debut episode, featuring comic Billy Connolly (the sitcoms ``Head of the Class'' and ``Billy,'' the movie ``Mrs. Brown'') heads to the Arctic Circle, where he declares, ``There will be nobody north of me in the whole world.'' He rather drolly delights in the frigid environs, and keeps a running commentary going on matters scatological. He actually doesn't seem too delighted with his camera crew, noting that ``they kind of defeat the purpose'' in his roughing it alone. But he does use a banjo to play T Rex's ``Bang a Gong'' and cavorts about in sub-zero climes in the altogether.

Future episodes feature Joanna Lumley (``Absolutely Fabulous,'' ``The New Avengers''), who takes sole possession of an island off Madagascar; she smuggles a tiny amount of whiskey along with her, which she exultantly drinks. Comic Lenny Henry (oh, yeah, did I mention they're British celebrities, not Americans?), along with a very large bra provided by his wife, heads to the Peruvian rain forest with the original ``Castaway's'' survival expert, the improbably named Lofty Wiseman, who finds his charge a rather dubious and vexing outdoorsman.

``Celebrity Castaway'' debuts at 8 p.m. Sunday on BBC America.

- David Kronke

MUSIC

ROCK HISTORY: At the wispy age of 15, guitarist Shuggie Otis was compared to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King.

In the early '70s, he made two genre-defying r&b-based solo albums, sessioned on a string of records including Frank Zappa's ``Hot Rats'' - and dropped out of sight.

Now 48, Otis and his seven-piece band appears tonight at the El Rey Theatre on a bill with Pomona-based rockers Geggy Tah and DJ Garth Trinidad.

David Byrne's Luaka Bop label recently unearthed Otis' 1974 disc, ``Inspiration Information,'' sparking new interest in the guitarist.

The El Rey is at 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Show time is 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $25. Information: [phone] or www.ticketmaster.com.

- Fred Shuster

SSSHHHHH! Don't tell anyone, but English rockabilly ax-slinger Dave Edmunds is the special guest of '50s rocker Scotty Moore at Saturday's Hootenanny 2001.

Moore's cracking guitar on Elvis Presley's famous Sun singles - ``Good Rockin' Tonight,'' ``That's Alright Mama,'' ``Mystery Train'' - influenced generations of rock 'n' rollers.

Stray Cats producer Edmunds will join Moore and stand-up bass slapper Lee Rocker at the annual day-long Hidden Valley event, which also features Social Distortion, Chuck Berry, Rev. Horton Heat and many more.

Hidden Valley is at 8800 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Doors open 11 a.m. and tickets are $40 to $100. Information: [phone] or www.ticketmaster.com.

- F.S.

ECLECTIC R.E.M.: Last month, R.E.M. taped an acoustic performance for the public radio program ``Morning Becomes Eclectic.''

Now, highlights from the June 12 show, executed in front of a small audience at the Museum of Television and Radio, can be heard on ``Sounds Eclectic With Nic Harcourt.'' The weekly two-hour program, airing 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, compiles the best of Harcourt's weekday program on KCRW-FM (89.9).

R.E.M.'s remaining members - singer Michael Stipe, bassist/keyboard player Mike Mills and guitarist Peter Buck - will perform old favorites and new, including tracks off the band's latest release ``Reveal.''

- Sandra Barrera

UNFORGETTABLE: Natalie Cole got her start singing jazz standards at clubs that billed her as ``Nat Cole's daughter.''

But that was decades ago.

Cole is now a multi-Grammy Award-winning vocalist with a talent for transcending stylistic boundaries from pop to torch songs to jazz.

On Saturday, she will perform at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert being billed appropriately enough as ``An Evening With Natalie Cole.''

Concert time is 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $1 to $90, and can be purchased by calling [phone].

- Sandra Barrera

STAGE

MAYDAYS IN JULY: Forget the movies. This is the way you want to watch a plane crash.

In ``Charlie Victor Romeo,'' playing through July 15 at UCLA's Macgowan Little Theater, the members of the theater group Collective: Unconscious create drama out of black-box transcripts from actual air disasters.

The results are disturbing and frighteningly realistic. Pilots and their crews, in unconsciously heroic efforts to save their passengers' lives, battle ice, equipment failure, and birds being sucked into the engine. As the plane shakes and the engine falters (Jamie Mereness's sound design is more than impressive), the audience feels like it is actually there.

It's not always a comfortable feeling, but it's riveting drama.

``CVR'' plays at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday on the UCLA campus. Tickets are $12 to $35. Call (3100 825-2101.

- Evan Henerson

TWIN PEEKS: Two sets of identical twin brothers, each unaware that the other is still alive, each with the same name as his twin. Just how mixed up can we get here?

You've got two chances to find out. Shakespeare Festival/L.A. sets its new version of the Bard's ``The Comedy of Errors'' in present-day L.A. on Dia de los Muertos. Performances begin this weekend in Pershing Square at 532 S. Olive St. in Los Angeles, with donations of nonperishable canned food serving as admission.

The production moves to the South Coast Botanic Gardens in Palos Verdes, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd, July 26-29 and Aug. 1-5. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Call [phone] (for Pershing Square) and [phone] (for Palos Verdes).

Or if a Brazilian carnival setting is more to your liking, you can check out the Sacred Fools Theater Co.'s production of ``The Comedy of Errors'' at the Sacred Fools Theater, 660 N. Heliotrope Drive in Hollywood.

The production runs at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Tickets are $15. Call [phone].

- E.H.

DON'T MISS THIS: Electro-pop duo Air's evocative score for Sofia Coppola's ``The Virgin Suicides'' was a surprise. Tickets at $30 are still available from Ticketmaster for the band's dates Tuesday through Thursday at the Mayan Theatre downtown.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1) Haley Joel Osment, left, and Jude Law star in ``A.I. Artificial Intelligence,'' which grossed nearly $30 million in its first weekend.

(2) no caption (Shuggie Otis)

(3) EDMUNDS

(4) no caption (Natalie Cole)

(5) From left, Patrick Daniels, Audrey Crabtree and Irving Gregory star in ``Charlie Victor Romeo.''

(6) From left, Brian Joseph, Michael Manuel and DeSean Terry take to the streets in ``The Comedy of Erros.''