5 Things You Should Know About
By RICHARD CORLISS, Lev Grossman, James Poniewozik, Josh Tyrangiel
MUSIC
Miley Cyrus Breakout; out now The production spares no '80s trick--from spoken interludes to overdubs that do for Miley's voice what Vaseline on the lens did for Joan Collins. Still, there's a modern girl in there, one with parental issues (Breakout) and fears for the future (Wake Up America) even though hers is secure. B-
TELEVISION
MythBusters: Shark Special and Surviving Sharks Discovery, 9 p.m. E.T., July 27 & 28 MythBusters uses its second Shark Week special to test tips on how to survive a sea-critter attack. Then Survivorman's Les Stroud makes himself into human chum to explore ... exactly the same thing! Edge to MythBusters, which builds a cool mechanical great white. MythBusters: B- Surviving: C
MOVIES
Step Brothers Directed by Adam McKay; rated R; out now So how did this farce, about two severely immature guys (Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly) forced to live together, earn its R rating? Actually, we can't say. Gross-out jokes aside, this is a minor entry in the grand comic tradition of grown men playing children and idiots destroying things. C
ONLINE VIDEO
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Out now; available at iTunes Would-be supervillain Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) plots world domination, falls in love and blogs about his failures in both arenas. And he sings! This weird, moving musical from Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is the summer's funniest TV show, on your computer. A
BOOKS
The Lace Reader By Brunonia Barry; out July 29 If you can sign off on the idea that the women of the Whitney family of Salem, Mass., can see the future in pieces of lace, you will enjoy this long but richly imagined saga of passion, suspense and magic. If not, we predict you will reread Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca instead. B