Best Bets: Venice Film Festival, GOP convention, Jay-Z music festival
(CBS News) Audiences will get their first look at some Oscar-worthy movies when the Venice Film Festival gets underway Wednesday in Italy.
Though it opens with a new movie by Indian filmmaker Mira Nair ("Monsoon Wedding," "The Namesake"), the festival will be heavy on American stars and movies, including "The Master" by Paul Thomas Anderson, Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder" with Rachel Weisz and Ben Affleck, Spike Lee's documentary about Michael Jackson and Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep" with Shia LaBeouf and Julie Christie. The festival continues until Sept. 6.
Running about the same time (Aug. 31-Sept. 9) is the American Film Festival in Deauville, France. The festival lineup mixes yet-to-be-released movies like Oliver Stone's "Savages" and "The Bachelorette" with films that are now in U.S. theaters, like "Killer Joe," "Ted" and "The Bourne Legacy."
Here at home, the weekend box-office will see three new offerings: "Lawless" with Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy," "The Good Doctor" with Orlando Bloom and "The Possession" with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick.
Coming out Tuesday in Blu-Ray and on DVD are the movies "Think Like a Man" and "Battleship," as well as the first season of the TV series "Homeland" and the second seasons of "Boardwalk Empire" and "The Walking Dead."
Primetime TV will be heavy on politics this week as the major networks provide live coverage of the GOP National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
The annual Labor Day telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association begins Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. Lined up to give performances are Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Gavin DeGraw, Alanis Morissette, Paula Abdul, Hot Chelle Rae, Carole King, OneRepublic and Jesse McCartney.
Music releases Tuesday include "ONIFC," the second studio album to be released by rapper Wiz Khalifa, and Grammy winner Alanis Morissette's "Havoc and Bright Lights." This is the eighth album from the Canadian singer-songwriter best known for her "Jagged Little Pill" album. Also look for the release of Beanie Sigel's "This Time" and the Robert Cray Band's "Nothin but Love."
More than 100,000 music fans are expected to flood into Philadelphia for rapper Jay-Z's "Made in America" music festival over the Labor Day weekend. Featured performers include Pearl Jam, Drake, Skrillex, Run DMC and Jill Scott.
Book lovers can look forward to the publication this week of David Levithan's novel "Every Day" about a man who wakes up in a different person's body every day, and Jonathan Evison's novel "The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving," about a road trip that a caregiver undertakes with his patient and the adventures they encounter along the way.