Top 10: The Best in TV, the Web, Books and Beyond

Popcorn movies, cool beach reads and a scooter that delivers beer: what more do you need for summer?

Posted Jul 10, 2008 12:45 PM

1. Summer Movie Showdown: What Can Top Iron Man?
Angelina Jolie, Will Smith and Batman face off

"It's 'no one knows anything' time," Variety editor Peter Bart says of this year's summer movies, citing screenwriter William Goldman's famous line about how fruitless it is to predict a Hollywood smash. Indeed, when you consider that an unconventional superhero film starring a once-incarcerated ex-drug addict is the number-one movie of the season (Iron Man, at $300 million) and that the Wachowskis' Speed Racer bombed ("It could lose $60 million," says Bart), it is hard to feel like either Angelina Jolie (Wanted, June 27th) or Will Smith (Hancock, July 2nd) is a sure thing. Our pick for the next big one? The spooky Dark Knight (July 18th), with a remarkable turn by the late Heath Ledger.

Illustration: Thomas Fuchs

2. Project Runway's Final Bravo
After this summer, new channel, new city?

Fans of Heidi Klum's fashion reality series, Project Runway, know this season (July 16th on Bravo) will be bittersweet. Later, the series migrates to Lifetime and visits L.A. "We want to go out with a bang," says departing exec producer Jane Lipsitz.

Photo: F. Scott Schafer/Bravo

3. More Trailers Walking Red Line
R-rated previews new way to hype movies

From Ben Stiller's upcoming comedy, Tropic Thunder, to the Coen brothers' Brad Pitt-starring Burn After Reading, studios are using the Web to tease audiences with R-rated, curse-filled previews. Go to YouTube and type "Red Band Trailers," but turn the volume down at work.

Photo: Merie Weismiller Wallace/Dreamworks Studio

4. Scorsese and Stones on DVD
Rock with Shine a Light on July 29th

"Marty's idea was to get everyone on a stage big enough to perform but small enough to capture interaction," Mick Jagger told us of the Stones' acclaimed 2008 concert film, directed by Martin Scorsese. "I think he achieved that."

5. Summer Reading That Won't Burn You
From Michael Moore to Cheech & Chong, great beach reads

Here are some of the books you'll see in the sand this summer: Michael Moore tackles campaign politics in Mike's Election Guide (August 19th); Tony Perrottet explores the unusual sex lives of historical figures in Napoleon's Privates (July 1st); folk icon Janis Ian offers her autobiography in Society's Child (July 24th); Tommy Chong tells his stony story with Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography (August 12th); Irina Reyn updates Tolstoy in What Happened to Anna K. (August 12th); and Taschen, as it always does, delivers gorgeous heat with 1000 Pin-Up Girls (August).

6. A Smoking-Hot Summer Show
Mad Men Season Two: AMC, July 27th

"I wanted a world where I could smoke, eat steak and not worry about exercising," says creator Matthew Weiner, whose early-Sixties admen homage became an overnight hit. This season finds Don Draper (Jon Hamm) struggling with an identity crisis. Better make Don's scotch a double.

Photo: Courtesy of Cruzin Cooler

7. One Driver, Three Wheels, 24 Beers
Buy our favorite new invention at Cruzincooler.com

This handsome transporter gets 28 miles per tank and improves any party. But be careful — a New Yorker just got a DWI on one. "That's gotten us a lot of publicity," says Cruzin Cooler CEO Kevin Beal.

Photo: Suzanne Hanover/Universal Pictures

8. Laugh at the Apatow Gang, Live
Hot comedy maestro takes act to Montreal

Scalpers have marked July 18th at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, where Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen hit the stage with pals like Russell Brand for a show titled Apatow for Destruction. "It will not be clean," Apatow tells us. "It may make the movies seem toddler-friendly."

Photo: Getty

9. Summer Olympics Get Up Close
NBC plans giant HD sports extravaganza

You won't second-guess that $2,300 plasma come August 8th, when NBC will transmit 3,600 hours of high-def Olympic coverage from Beijing. "This is the first all-HD Games," says exec producer David Neal. His pick for the big story? "Michael Phelps."

Photo: Getty

10. Where is 'Shirtless Matthew'?
Paparazzi stymied by tan actor's absence

Perez Hilton calls it a "sign of summer": photos of Matthew McConaughey doing shirtless workouts. But with a baby on the way and a recent move, he's harder to find. "The supply has gone down," says James Aylott of photo agency Pacific Coast News. "But demand remains strong."

Photo: Doug Rosa/Apple Inc.

[From Issue 1056-1067 — July 10, 2008]