Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

‘Confidential’ Honored Again: The Broadcast Film Critics Assn. named “L.A. Confidential,” whose cast includes Kim Basinger, as its “best picture” choice Monday at a luncheon in Los Angeles in which Jack Nicholson, Helena Bonham Carter and Matt Damon were also honored. Nicholson was named best actor by the association last month for his performance in “As Good as It Gets,” with Carter earning best actress honors for “The Wings of the Dove.” Damon was the only double winner--cited as “breakthrough performer” and for best original screenplay, co-written with his school chum Ben Affleck, for “Good Will Hunting.” Golden Globe winner James Cameron was named best director for “Titanic,” which was also selected as one of 1997’s top 10 films by the group that bills itself as the nation’s largest critics organization.

*

Winners Announced: The ninth annual Nortel Palm Springs International Film Festival, which ended Saturday, announced the winners of its audience choice awards: Wiktor Grodecki’s “Mandragora”; Luis Galvao Teles’ “Elles”; Vladimir Michalek’s “A Forgotten Light”; Mark J. Harris’ “The Long Way Home”; and Mike van Diem’s “Character.”

STAGE

‘Ragtime’ Reviews Mixed: The New York opening of “Ragtime” drew mixed reviews Monday from the New York Times and Newsday but high praise from other major newspapers and the Associated Press. Ben Brantley of the New York Times found “much to admire” but “little to fall in love with,” and Newsday’s Linda Winer said it was “vast, handsome and extremely professional--though ultimately too pat to be the great American musical so doggedly intended.” But Clive Barnes of the New York Post wrote that the show is “firing on all cylinders” and declared that “no one in their right minds will want to miss this,” and David Patrick Stearns of USA Today said it was “almost too good to be true.” Meanwhile, the L.A. production continues in Century City, marking the first time a show has opened on Broadway concurrent with a sister production in another U.S. city.

LEGAL FILE

Italian Judges Say Jackson Hit Not Lifted: An Italian singer lost a copyright infringement case that claimed Michael Jackson’s 1993 hit song “Will You Be There” was stolen. The case was submitted to a three-judge panel in Rome on Nov. 20 and official notice of the panel’s decision in favor of Jackson and Sony Music was received by Jackson attorney Eve Wagner late last week. Italian singer Al Bano, who sued in 1992, was ordered by the Rome panel to pay Jackson’s and Sony’s legal expenses, Wagner said.

POP/ROCK

There’s a Game Too: Smash Mouth and the Keanu Reeves band Dogstar will perform on a rooftop at San Diego’s Horton Plaza Friday in a free Super Bowl celebration, “The Official All Star Cafe Sports & Music Festival.” Comedian Tom Arnold will host the 5 p.m. event, which is also scheduled to feature Scott Wolf, Billy Baldwin, Rob Schneider and sports stars Joe Montana, Michael Johnson and Lisa Leslie. . . . Meanwhile, “Super Bowl XXXII,” the official NFL video of this year’s big event, will be in stores on Feb. 17, only 23 days after the final touchdown.

MUSIC

Opera News: Long Beach Opera’s production schedule will consist of a June festival centered on two unfamiliar operas, German composer Manfred Gurlitt’s “Wozzeck,” his mid-1920s setting of Georg Buchner’s play, and Henry Purcell’s “The Indian Queen” (1695). Gurlitt’s “Wozzeck,” which premiered in Bremen in 1926, four months after Alban Berg’s masterpiece on the same subject, will be given at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach, June 13, 17 and 21, marking its U.S. premiere. “The Indian Queen,” based on the John Dryden play about tribal war in pre-Columbian Mexico, will be performed June 14 and 20 and will be directed by former MacArthur Fellowship winner Guillermo Gomez-Pena.

QUICK TAKES

Tickets go on sale today for Michael Feinstein’s Feb. 26 show at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. The performance is part of the 1998 United States Mayors’ Arts Conference, which will bring mayors and council members from more than 100 U.S. cities to Cerritos. . . . “Sally Jessy Raphael”--broadcast locally at 9 a.m. on KTLA-TV Channel 5--airs its 3,500th episode today. In its 15th season, the program is TV’s longest-running nationally syndicated talk show. To celebrate the long run, cable’s Lifetime Television will rebroadcast its hourlong “Intimate Portrait” on host Raphael today at 7 p.m. . . . The Golden Globes did extremely well in Sunday’s ratings. Based on preliminary estimates in major cities monitored by Nielsen Media Research, NBC’s three-hour telecast averaged 25% of the available audience, equaling the combined total for movies on ABC and CBS. . . . In other Golden Globe news, actor Ving Rhames’ generosity won’t leave him Golden Globe-less. Rhames, who gave away his trophy for best actor in a TV miniseries (for “Don King: Only in America”) Sunday to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon (for “12 Angry Men”), will receive another, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. said Monday. . . .