50 Things You Must Do by the End of the Year
By Lien Ta, Hollywood.com Staff
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Friday, October 03, 2008
6. Sleeping Beauty: 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition
Finally. Disney gets its animation involved in hi-def. Sleeping Beauty is its inaugural Blu-ray princess, and for just a limited time, you'll see more of Princess Aurora's blond hair follicles than ever before. But if perchance you haven't Hi-Deffed your home yet, the set includes good ol' standard def, as well. For now. In addition to the defining cartoon, Disney is also launching a BD-Live Network, allowing interaction with fanatics just like you in the form of chat, video messages, communal gaming and more. (Oct. 7)
7. Kath & Kim, NBC
Molly Shannon and Selma Blair are mother and daughter with a dual affinity for spandex workout pants in the most atrocious colors. Looking to re-create the magic that was the Australian boob-tube hit, Kath is a fit fortysomething divorcée who's found a bit of fire in a sandwich shop owner (John Michael Higgins). However, she receives an unwelcome invasion by her self-involved daughter, Kim, who's up and left her husband and is binge-eating her sorrows away. With a wine glass in one hand and nachos at the ready, Kim doubts that "Nicole Kidman has these problems." Scoot over, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler; the Funny Women canon suddenly got a little fuller. (Oct. 9)
8. Life on Mars, ABC
Why, more ripping-off, of course! The Office obviously translated from the UK, so America's next overseas adoption is this popular police-drama series — and perhaps the answer to our void left by The Wire (see #47). Our version goes like this: A New York detective (Jason O'Mara) is hit by a car in 2008 and is catapulted (backwards) to 1973, attempting to solve crimes without the modern aid of DNA-testing, etc. They insist it's "a fish-out-of-water show — not science fiction." Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli have raised eyebrows about O’Mara’s story, but good-lookin' Gretchen Mol is way on his side. Obviously. (Oct. 9)
9. Body of Lies
It's the first big-deal movie of the season — and you knew so when it had its trailer roll before the big-deal movie of last season, The Dark Knight. It's Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, one heavyweight versus another. It's director Ridley Scott. It's the writer of The Departed. It's a lot of intensity as told behind Leo's facial hair and Russell's weight gain, plus aggressive music not unlike the Bourne movies. Oh, and it alludes to current events: Leo is a former journalist hired by the CIA to uncover an Al Qaeda leader in Jordan, and well, he gets stuck in some compromising situations, and Russell, the CIA big-wig, isn't exactly motherly to Leo's sweaty predicament. (Oct. 10)
10. My Own Worst Enemy
Not since, what, True Romance, has Christian Slater been considered for a juicy T-bone of a role as this: a man with a split personality — sometimes, he's a mild-mannered man of the household, and other times, he's a mega-spy with a frequent urge to slay. Now, the family-guy personality isn't supposed to know about the assassin, but due to a glitch in the secret-government-operated program (of course), "he" knows about "him." So, now, the two personalities are forced to work together — hmm, which Christian Slater smile is more appropriate — the sweet, helpless one or the one with burgeoning connivance? Now you're dying to rent Heathers, aren't you? See #35. (Oct. 13)
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