Mad Men

Clooney, Bruce, and more politically minded picks

October 2, 2007

MOVIES: Fall can officially begin, now that Clooney has arrived with this year's Oscar-friendly drama tackling an Important Issue. Good news: Thanks to a taut Tony Gilroy script and a bang-up performance by George (not to mention some nicely tailored suits), Michael Clayton is good stuff. Elsewhere, John Cusack tries to make up for Must Love Dogs with Grace Is Gone, Ben Stiller stars in a surprisingly decent remake of The Heartbreak Kid, and Jake Paltrow directs his sis in The Good Night.

MUSIC: A big week for dad rock. To wit: The Very Best of Mick Jagger, John Fogerty's Revival, Dylan, a three-disc greatest hits package disguised as a collector's item, and Bruce Springsteen's anthemic Magic. Over in the mom-rock aisle, Annie Lennox shows she's got her finger on the pulse with Songs of Mass Destruction.

TV: Whether it's actually good can be debated, but Cavemen, debuting tonight on ABC, is certainly better than it ought to be. Tomorrow night, The Sarah Silverman Program returns to Comedy Central, tackling the always-hilarious subject of abortion. Also worth noting (or at least DVR-ing): the premiere of Pushing Daisies (Wednesday on ABC), and the return to NBC of both 30 Rock (Thursday), and Friday Night Lights (Friday).

DVD: Caligula, the most expensive X-rated flop that Gore Vidal ever wrote, comes to DVD (again) with a three-disc "Imperial Edition" featuring, among other things, a scantily clad 34-year-old Helen Mirren (above). Also out: Francis Ford Coppola's mediocre rendition of Dracula, the first season of Jericho, and the concert flick The Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996.

BOOKS: Julie Kavanagh's Nureyev: The Life (not to be confused with Diane Solway's Nureyev: His Life) tackles the disco-rific ballet star's, yes, life. And first-time memoirist Shalom Auslander channels Philip Roth in Foreskin's Lament, which might as well be the subtitle to The Terror Dream, Susan Faludi's exploration of America's psychological state post-9/11.