Weekend Adviser

TGIF!

Yeah, I know. It's not all happy hour and sleeping late. There's lots to get done before Monday morning. Wash the car. Sweep out the garage. Vacuum the house. Drive the kids to soccer practice. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

But you know what they say: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It doesn't do much for Jill either. You have to make some time for yourself. To relax. Hire a sitter and take the spouse to dinner and a movie. Rent a DVD and stay in for a quiet evening. Snuggle up in your favorite chair for a Sunday afternoon read. See what's up on Wisteria Lane.

The local cineplex offers lots of choices: some of them enticing. Best Picture Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" is still playing in most areas. If you haven't seen it, it is definitely worth your while. For action, Clive Owen and Naomi Watts team up to expose an international arms ring in "The International." If you can't get enough comic book superheroes, the much-anticipated "Watchmen" opens today. And, yes, there are a couple of chick flicks on the marquee. First, there's "He's Just Not That Into You" with the three Jennifers (Aniston, Connelly, & Goodwin). Okay, so one spells it with a G. Or, you can catch the Isla Fisher vehicle "Shopaholic."

To keep the kids and the sitter entertained, you might pick up a copy of "High School Musical: Senior Year" (Walt Disney Video, $29.99). It's the third edition of Disney's phenomenally successful--and lucrative--franchise featuring the boys and girls of East High School's class of 2008. Senior year brings another basketball championship for the Wildcats. It also means the graduating seniors have to select a college and prepare for eventual separation. It's a dilemma that basketball heartthrob Troy (Zac Efron), who has a scholarship offer from a local college, and sweetheart Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens), who's headed to Stanford, must contend with. While they contemplate the future, they also find time for plenty of infectious music and dancing.

If you'd rather cocoon, you could join the kids for HSM or pull rank and insist on something a bit more . . . well, mature. But, in a PG-13 sort of way. What I have in mind is director Baz Luhrmann's historical drama "Australia" ($29.99, 20th Century Fox), out on DVD on March 3. Set in Australia on the eve of World War II, the film stars Nicole Kidman as upper-class Englishwoman Sarah Ashley, who comes to Australia, finds her husband has been murdered, and stays on to run his Outback cattle ranch. She's helped by Drover (Hugh Jackman), a handsome cowboy and romantic interest. There's a cattle drive, a fancy ball, and a Japanese attack. In other words, something for everybody. There's also an examination of the Aussie's shabby treatment of the continent's natives, the Aborigines.

There are other choices though. HBO has the romantic comedy "Definitely, Maybe" on Sunday night. If you're a fan, Showtime bids goodbye to original series "The L Word" with a "Finale Special" that looks back over the show's six seasons. That's immediately followed by the series finale: "The L Word: Last Word." Say goodbye to the girls--one of whom is killed off--in an episode that Showtime promises is rocked by betrayal and deceit.

While you guys wait for March Madness to begin, check out some of the top teams this weekend. CBS features UConn at Pitt on Saturday and Tobacco Road rivals Duke and North Carolina on Sunday.

If you prefer hard ball to round ball, check out pool play in the World Baseball Classic. You can find the schedule here: http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/schedule/

If you're bored this weekend, you have only yourself to blame.