From Gladiator II to Gwen Stefani: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment in the UK

Going out: Cinema

Gladiator II
Out now
It’s tough to get lightning to strike twice, and the first Gladiator film is one of the jewels in director Ridley Scott’s crown. Still, with the likes of Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn and Denzel Washington slipping into the sandals, togas and bum-skimming tunics, at the very least this is an eye-catchingly cast trip to Rome.

Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point
Out now
Writer-director Tyler Taormina follows up Ham on Rye with a fable of festive family bonding, as an ensemble cast including Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Maria Dizzia, Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg gather to portray four generations of the Balsano family coming together at Christmas in their home in Long Island.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Out now
A mix of jazz and protest, Johan Grimonprez’s film is set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 60s, when singer Abbey Lincoln and drummer Max Roach crashed the UN Security Council to draw attention to the murder of the PM Patrice Lumumba.

Art of Action
Cinemas nationwide to New Year’s Eve
Hang on to your hats, or better yet grab your hats at the last minute from under a rapidly descending stone wall: this major new season from the BFI celebrates action choreography as a key part of the art of cinema. Films range from cult classics to more obscure choices, with more than 50 venues across the UK hosting events and screenings. Catherine Bray

Going out: Gigs

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
18 to 24 November; starts Brighton
Six-time Grammy winner and sometime actor and sometime actor Isbell brings his backing band the 400 Unit to the UK in support of last year’s slowly unfurling Weathervanes album. Full of brow-beaten rock and windswept, monochrome emotions, it should go down a treat on cold winter nights. Michael Cragg

Zhu
19 to 22 November; tour starts Manchester
Best known in the UK for his tactile 2014 Top Three hit Faded, US electronic producer-singer Zhu has steadily expanded his sound, taking in dark dance-pop and ragged R&B. Expect it all on this short UK tour. MC

Mark Wigglesworth
Lighthouse, Poole, 20 November; Beacon, Bristol, 21 November
Kirill Karabits will be a hard act to follow as the Bournemouth Symphony’s principal conductor, but the orchestra has done well in securing Mark Wigglesworth as his replacement. The British conductor won’t really hit his stride until next season, but he’slaunching his tenure this week with Walton’s First Symphony, alongside Wagner and Ravel. Andrew Clements

London jazz festival
Various venues, London, to 24 November
The second week of the EFG London jazz festival brings another raft of international stars, including perpetual one-off Django Bates at the Vortex (16 November); subtle US vocal star Gretchen Parlato (18 November); exciting Cuban global-jazz virtuoso Roberto Fonseca (20 and 21 November); and improv hip-hop maestro Robert Glasper (18 and 21 November). John Fordham

Going out: Art

The 80s
Tate Britain, London, 21 November to 5 May
Thatcher! Riots! It’s coming like a ghost town at Tate Britain as this exhibition revisits what it describes as “one of the UK’s most critical decades” – though surely the 1940s, the 1640s or for that matter the 1060s could qualify? See for yourself through photos of social change, including works by Grace Lau, Maud Sulter and Paul Trevor.

Stitched!
Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, to 18 January
National Trust for Scotland collaborates on this exhibition about the often overlooked but richly beautiful history of textile art. Embroidered fabrics from Scottish stately homes tell an alternative story of the nation’s visual culture from 1720 to 1920. You’ll never look at a tea cosy the same way again.

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael
Royal Academy, London, to 16 February
Time travel to Florence circa 1504 when the Renaissance reached its height. Michelangelo unveils David, Leonardo da Vinci starts the Mona Lisa, they are both tasked to paint murals, and young Raphael has a ringside seat. Some of the greatest drawings you will ever see let you into their thoughts.

Chila Kumari Singh Burman
Compton Verney, Warwickshire, to 26 January
Colourful pop art that illuminates the front of Compton Verney with neons and shakes up its classical interior with collages and assemblages. Born in Liverpool and self-described as a “Punjabi Liverpudlian”, Chila Kumari Singh Burman evokes the dances and tuk-tuks of the Punjab and portrays life in the UK. Jonathan Jones

Going out: Stage

George Lewis
16 November to 28 June; tour starts Peterborough
There are an awful lot of people on social media making jokes about parenting young children, but few do it as delightfully and hilariously as Lewis. The Stockport standup was a jobbing comedy writer pre Insta-success; now he’s parlaying his online clout into an extensive live tour. Rachel Aroesti

The Importance of Being Earnest
National Theatre, London, 21 November to 25 January
Off the back of Stoppard’s The Real Thing in the West End and Macbeth’s transfer from the Donmar, Max Webster directs a starry cast for Oscar Wilde’s raucous classic. With a dream team including Ncuti Gatwa, Sharon D Clarke and Hugh Skinner, it’s bound to be a hoot. Kate Wyver

Michael Morpurgo’s Pinocchio
Watermill theatre, Newbury, to 5 January
A watering can transforms into a wild boar as puppet designer Marc Parrett brings the creatures of Pinocchio to life using objects that might be found around Geppetto’s workshop. Butterflies flutter, weasels wobble, and a curious cricket causes mischief in Michael Morpurgo’s adaptation of this joyful family classic. KW

Akram Khan: Gigenis
Sadler’s Wells, London, 20 to 24 November
Ace dancer Khan returns to the stage with a cherrypicked ensemble of Indian classical dancers and musicians in this new piece. Like much of Khan’s work, Gigenis takes on huge philosophical themes –time, tradition, myth and collective memory – – but it relishes in the emotional and spiritual power of dance and music. Lyndsey Winship