Recommended Watch: About Time

About Time (2013).
Find it in the catalog!
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, and Lydia Wilson.
Directed by Richard Curtis. 

Based off of the trailers for the film, I had literally no interest in seeing this movie.  It looked like another generic Nicholas Sparks-lite romantic movie where Rachel McAdams falls in love with yet another time traveler.  However, after I watched, I realized my first impression of the film was actually quite wrong.

The film isn't really centered all that much on the romance between adorably dorky Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) and bookish Mary (Rachel McAdams).  Instead, it's a coming of age story about Tim's journey from a 21-year-old man-boy who lives with his parents into a fully formed adult. Lucky for him, he has the added bonus of being able to travel back in time and (maybe) fix his mistakes... or cause new ones. 

About Time begins on Tim's 21st birthday, when his dad (played by the ever awesome Bill Nighy) breaks the news to Tim that all the men in their family can travel back in time.  The way they accomplish time travel is incredibly geeky and low-tech!: just go into a dark place (like cupboard) and ball your hands in fist and concentrate and voila.  They can travel back in time, but not the future.  Also, going back in time can have consequences for the future.  Tim decides to use his new-found power for world peace... Just kidding, he decides to use it to get a girlfriend.

His first prospect is his sister's pretty friend Charlotte (the near-ubiquitous Margot Robbie), who comes to stay with their family over the summer.  However, Tim quickly learns that no amount of time travel can win her heart.  He has much better success with Mary, who he meets on a literal blind date.  Unfortunately for him, he accidentally mucks up the relationship by traveling back in time before he met her.  But thankfully the movie doesn't dwell too much on his attempts to win her back. In fact their relationship is refreshingly devoid of rom-com cliques, and they instead pretty much act like two adults who love and respect for each other.  

Tim's relationships with his family are also central to this movie's plot.  Tim's sister Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson) starts out a bit flighty, but winds up having some serious problems as an adult.  Tim naturally wants to help his sister out, and even attempts to use time travel, but discovers that "fixing" his sister's problem can't happen without complications.  One of my favorite relationships in the movie is between Tim and his dad.  Tim's dad is his mentor and confidant, and they have a very close father-son relationship that includes some serious ping-pong matches.  Gleeson and Nighy have great chemistry together.  And their relationship is key to one of the toughest decisions Tim has to make in the film.

About Time is a delightful movie about family, love, and the tough decisions one has to make growing up.  It's a funny film throughout, though parts of it are quite touching, and the ending totally made me cry (I'm not proud).  Highly recommend for fans of Bill Nighy or Richard Curtis's debut Love Actually.  Also the soundtrack is pretty incredible, including essential tracks from Nick Cave and Arvo Pärt.

Under the Radar Movies

Since prime time TV is pretty nil in the summer time, I usually like to catch up with movies and TV series I missed.  Below are three movies that came out relatively recently (in the last year or so), that didn't receive much buzz at the time, but are definitely worth seeking out.

Short Term 12 (2013):
Find in the catalog!

Initially I put off watching this movie, because the subject matter sounded rather depressing.  It's about a foster care home for neglected and troubled teens.  The film does have its dark moments, but there is enough humor and lightness to keep the movie from being downbeat.  Brie Lawson plays Grace, the lead councilor in charge of looking after the foster care home.  She's tough, but also very caring towards the teens staying under her care.  Her long term boyfriend Mason (a very bearded John Gallagher Jr.) also works as a counselor at the facility.   Marcus (Keith Stanfield) is on the verge and turning 18 and "graduating" out of foster care.  He is understandably apprehensive at the prospect of being returned to the streets where he grew up.  Meanwhile, a new teen, Jayden (Kaitlyn Dever), arrives at the facility.  Jayden is a troublemaker, but comes from a slightly more privileged background than the other children.  However, she has some problems below the surface which Grace seems to be the only person who understands.

Even though the subject matter is somewhat bleak, I really enjoyed this movie.  Brie Lawson gives a standout performance as Grace.  It was also interesting to see John Gallagher Jr. play a character who is a world away from his preppy and somewhat wimpy Newsroom character.  He gives a really likeable performance here. I never quite knew where the plot was going and there were quite a few surprises.  However, the characters are drawn emphatically, so you wind up rooting for them in spite of their circumstances. 

Drinking Buddies (2013):
Find it in the catalog!

I'll admit I've always thought of Olivia Wilde as being an actress somewhat in the same category as Megan Fox:  very pretty, but not a whole lot of substance there.  Thankfully, I was wrong about Ms. Wilde, who gives a wonderful performance as the tomboyish Kate in this Joe Swanberg directed comedy.  Shot in Chicago (at Revolution Brewing Company, no less), this movie follows the friendship between two brewery employees, brewer Luke (Jake Johnston of New Girl) and the head of PR Kate.  Luke and Kate flirt like crazy and have a ton in common, but both are in relationships with other people.  Luke has a long term live-in girlfriend, Jill (Anna Kendrick).  And Kate has an older music producer beau, Chris (Ron Livingston). After the couples travel together for a long weekend, Chris decides to break up with Kate.  Afterwards, Kate's new found singleness causes some uneasiness with her friendship with Luke.

As a huge fan of craft beer and things set in Chicago, I was preordained to like this movie.  Drinking Buddies has a plot that is pretty true to life for a certain set of late 20/ early 30 somethings.  Johnston, Kendrick and Wilde all give pretty funny and nuanced performances.  I was particularly impressed by Wilde's take on Kate, a character who on paper seems like the perfect girl.  She's funny, smart, pretty, and can drink her weight in beer.  Yet she also has some intimacy and maturity issues underneath her bubbly exterior.

Frances Ha (2012):  
Find it in the catalog!

Out of the movies on the list, this was the only one I really anticipated before watching.  Partly because of the director (Noah Baumbach) and the star (Greta Gerwig).  And partly because I will watch anything about an awkward, late 20-something girl trying to figure out her life.  I tried to catch the movie in theaters, but the run was so short that I missed it.  Frances (Gerwig) is a 27 year-old wannabe dancer, who decides to break up with her boyfriend to spend more time with her best friend and roommate, Sophie (Mickey Sumner).  Unfortunately for Frances, Sophie gets serious with her stock broker beau, Patch, and moves out of their apartment.  Without Sophie, Frances becomes increasing lost and struggles to find a place to rent in NYC that she can afford.  Throughout the movie, we follow Frances as she moves into several different apartments and attempts (feebly) to become a grown up.

This movie is immensely relatable for late boomers to adulthood.  As someone who had her fair share of addresses in her twenties, I could see myself in Frances immediately.  Still that makes it all that much harder to watch her struggle, fail, and occasionally make a huge fool out of herself.  Frances has somewhat limited social skills and sometimes she does or says things incredibly stupid or inappropriate.  I found myself covering my eyes to avoid the awkwardness occasionally while watching this movie.  That being said, overall this is quite an enjoyable movie.  I especially enjoyed Frances's friendship with one of her roommates Benji (Michael Zegen); a trust-fund kid who's equally lost and unrealistic about life as Frances.  Benji jokes frequently that they are both "undateable."  The movie is shot beautifully in black and white, so it's a pleasure to look at as well.

Comfort Food Cinema: Broadcast News

 Cranky Network Manager:  "It must be nice to always believe that you know better, to always think you're the smartest person in the room."

Jane Craig:  "No. It's awful."


Broadcast News (1987).
Call No.:  DVD COMEDY BROADCAST
Find it in the catalog!

For many people the hey day of romantic comedies was in the 1930s and 40s.  And while I'm a huge fan of rom-coms from this period (His Girl Friday, The Philadelphia Story, anything with Jimmy Stewart), I'm also partial to romantic comedies from the 1980s.  While Broadcast News doesn't exactly fit the mold of romantic comedy perfectly; it's one of my favorites of the era. 

The film follows Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), a gifted, but neurotic news producer.  Her friend and frequent collaborator is Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), a talented writer and investigative journalist who also has secret feelings for Jane.  However, her relationship with Altman, is challenged when her network hires the hunky, but less substantial journalist Tom Grunick (William Hurt).  Tom is a former sports reporter turned anchor  Though he is quickly promoted, he lacks the knowledge and integrity of a journalist like Jane or Aaron.  In spite of their different perspectives on journalism, Jane finds herself falling for Tom.

Albert Brooks really steals the show as Aaron Altman.  He's got some of the funniest lines in the movie.  Even though Altman can be smug and manipulative, it's really hard not to feel for the guy.  He's gifted, super smart, but gets passed over for a promotion because he lacks the charm and attractiveness of Tom.  This jealously towards Tom is only intensified because of his feelings for Jane, and her preference for Tom in spite of all the similarities she and Aaron share and their great chemistry as friends.  In one of the most cringe-inducing scenes of the movie, Aaron gets his shot at becoming an anchor, only to ruin it with an incredible flop sweat attack.

From the fashion to the technology, the film definitely is of the 80s.  Jane has one scene where she's dressed to impress, which does not translate at all to today's fashion.  However, the themes and relationships in the movie are still fresh today.  This is a wickedly funny movie that also has some real heartbreaking moments in it.  If you have not seen it before, or haven't watched it for a while, it's definitely worth checking out!

Valentine's Day Movie Guide

Valentine's Day seems like a divisive holiday.  Some people go all out for it, and for other people it just reminds them of how lonely they are, or how much they hate watching Nicholas Sparks movies with their significant other.  Personally, I'm pretty indifferent towards the day, but it doesn't stop me from participating in it.  I like to celebrate with a nice bottle of red wine, some chocolate, and a fun, romantic movie.  Below are some film suggestions for celebrating Valentine's Day, whether you love or hate it:

If you are in love with someone you can't have:  Brief Encounter.  This short but sweet 1945 British melodrama centers on the forbidden romance between housewife Laura (Celia Johnson) and doctor Alec (Trevor Howard) who meet a train station cafe.  Both are married and have children, but they soon get sweep up in an intense emotional affair.  Brief Encounter definitely shows the hardship of loving someone you can't be with.

Also recommended: Lets be honest, forbidden love is way more romantic than boring old requited love, so you have lots of good options here:  In the Mood for Love, Roman Holiday, Brokeback Mountain, The Royal Tenenbaums, and so on. 

If your significant other is a film snob:  The Before Trilogy:  Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight.  This super talky series follows American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and French Celine (Julie Delpy), who fall in love after meeting on a train to Vienna.  The films manage to be both funny and heartfelt, plus there's lots of great European scenery (Vienna, Paris, Greece).  My favorite of the bunch is the second one, Before Sunset. 

If your significant other loves The Notebook, but you CAN'T GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN THIS YEAR!:  Awww...congratulations, you've got yourself a hopeless romantic!  Titanic would probably work, but really, do you want to have to watch that?  Instead, I recommend ruining The Notebook for them by choosing one of Gosling's less appealing roles.  Perhaps, Only God Forgives or Blue Valentine (balding Gosling with a mustache, ouch). 

If you just recently broke up with someone:  Annie Hall. This classic Woody Allen movie follows the sweet, but mismatched relationship between Alvy Singer (Allen) and Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). 

Also recommended:  High Fidelity, 500 Days of Summer.

If you are happily single: Bridget Jones Diary.  Seriously is there any harder decision than choosing between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant?  This movie is a super cute update on Pride and Prejudice.  And if you're single, pat yourself on the back, because you don't have to listen to your boyfriend whine throughout the entire movie!

Also recommended:  13 Going on 30.

If your girlfriend is a librarian:Nothing says romance to a librarian like a little Jane Austen, so I highly recommend the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice.  But pretty much any Austen will do.  My favorite is the Ang Lee classic Sense and Sensibility.  

If you are in an on-again, off-again relationship: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Joel Barish (Jim Carey) is heartbroken when his ex-girlfriend Clementine undergoes a procedure to erase their relationship from her memory.  Bitter, he decides to have him memories of her erased as well.  However, during the process of having his mind wiped, Joel realizes that he is still in love with Clementine and fights to keep her in his memories.

If you are unhappily in a relationship: Sleep Walk With Me.  On top of dealing with a struggling comedy career and a recently diagnosed sleepwalking disorder, Mike Pandamiglo (Mike Birbiglia) begins to have some doubts about his long-time girlfriend Abby (Lauren Ambrose).

If you're in a long distance relationship: Like Crazy.  Anna (Felcity Jones) is a British student who attended college in the United States.  While there, she fell for her T.A. Jacob (Anton Yelchin).  After graduation, Anna decides to spend the summer with Jacob, overstaying her visa.  After she returns home to England for a family engagement, Anna is shocked when she is denied reentry to the United States and deported to England.  The two lovers then try to keep their relationship together in spite of being an ocean apart. 

If you want wallow in misery, because you'll never find anyone ever:  Probably the best bet here is to play the Smiths on repeat and wash down your sorrows with some whiskey.  However, if you don't quite want to be THAT miserable on Valentine's Day, I recommend checking out a Michelango Antonioni film and watch really, really good looking people (or Jack Nicholson) suffer from loneliness and alienation in beautiful locales.  Check out his alienation trilogy: L'Avventura, L'Eclisse, and La Notte.

Also recommended:  Anything by Ingmar Bergman or any film adaptations of Kazuo Ishiguro novels.

If you're in love with a friend, but you don't know how to tell them:  Tootsie.  Talk about awkward situations, Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is in love with his beautiful coworker Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange).  However, she only knows him as his female alter-ego Dorothy Michaels.   This movie is probably my all time favorite romantic comedy and features my ultra crush, young Bill Murray, as Dustin Hoffman's roommate.

Also Recommended:  My Best Friend's Wedding, Pretty in Pink.

You are falling fast for someone:  Weekend.  Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New), meet at club in Nottingham.  The two go home together and begin an intense relationship.  However, Glen is soon to be leaving the country for an art course in America.

Also recommended: Once, Lost in Translation, Out of Sight.

Films featuring Libraries and Librarians

 In honor of National Library Week, check out a movie about libraries!  Below are some famous movies featuring libraries and librarians:

The Time Traveler's Wife (2010):  Based off the Audrey Niffenegger weeper, this movie follows the tortured but passionate romance of artist Claire and librarian Henry.  Personally, I'd recommend reading the book over watching this movie, but Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana do look fantastic!
Find this film in the catalog!

The Hollywood Librarian (2009):  This documentary looks that different images of librarians and libraries in American movies.
Find this film in the catalog!

The Station Agent (2004):  The so-hot-right-now Peter Dinklage made his big break in this indie sleeper.  Michelle Williams plays his love interest, a local librarian who is unhappily pregnant by her good-for-nothing boyfriend.
Find this film in the catalog!

Miranda (2003):   John Simms (from the British miniseries State of Play) plays a librarian who falls for a mysterious but comely library patron (Christina Ricci). 
Find this film in the catalog!

The Mummy (1999):  In this action thriller,  Rachel Weisz plays a beautiful but clumsy librarian at the library of Alexandra.
Find this film in the catalog!

Wings of Desire (1987):  This Wim Wenders masterpiece features one of the most famous library scenes ever in  the Berlin State Libary (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin). For the angels in the film, who can hear humans' thoughts, the library is one of the loudest places in the city.  This is a spectacularly beautiful film, highly recommended!
Find this film in the catalog!

Breakfast Club (1985):  What's a fate worth than death for a high school student?  Having to spend Saturday in the school library!  Check out this John Hughes classic and have Simple Minds stuck in your head all day.
Find this film in the catalog!

Ghostbusters (1984):  This classic 80s sci-fi comedy has lots of great scenes in the New York Public Library, including a librarian ghost who mysteriously stacks books!
Find this film in the catalog!

The Music Man (1962):  Featuring Marian the Librarian, queen of all librarian stereotypes.  She shushes, wears her hair up in a bun, and has spiffy glasses.  But when she takes down her hair, she's a total babe!
Find this film in the catalog!

Desk Set (1957):  Watch the sparks fly between Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in this romance set in television reference library!
Find this film in the catalog!

It's a Wonderful Life (1956):  Without George Bailey around, Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) is forced to live her life as a librarian.  The horror!  The horror!
Find this film in the catalog!

For further celebration, check out some fiction and non-fiction books featuring libraries and librarians!

The 2013 Dundees: Our Alternative Oscars

Below are our winners for our alternative Oscars, the Dundees, where I pick out my favorite performances in film and TV of the last year.  Since Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender were pretty much absent this year in film, I don't have a whole lot of complaints about this year's Oscar snubs.  That being said, I was disappointed to see that the Academy somehow had more love for Les Misérables than P.T. Anderson's fabulous The Master.   Personally,  I'd rather watch grass grow than Les Miz, at least that wouldn't involve Russell Crowe trying to sing!

This has been a big year for comebacks, with everyone from Matthew McConaughey to Bradley Cooper turning in refreshingly good performances.  In this vein, I was thrilled to see Joaquin Phoenix nominated for his fantastic performance in The Master.  Sure, he'll probably lose out to Daniel Day-Lewis, but it's nice to see him back!

Without further ado, here are the winners:

Best Comedy:  Moonrise Kingdom.
This movie has a tinge of bittersweet, as all Wes Anderson movies do, but it is also one of the funniest movies of the year.  For a more in-depth look at the movie, check out this great post by fellow Media Corner blogger Danielle. 

Runner Up:  Damsels in Distress. It took me about a half hour or so to adjust to the offbeat-ness of this movie, but its over the top strangeness eventually won me over.  It's sort of like an upside down 80s college comedy.

Best (Anti-) Romantic Comedy:  Celeste and Jesse Forever.  This movie doesn't really count as a rom-com in the traditional sense, since it's about two people getting divorced. It does manage to be the right mix of funny and moody, and has an incredible cast including Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg and Chris Messina.  It's a great sleeper movie.

Most Enviable Wardrobe, Female Performance:  Megan Draper (Jessica Paré) on Mad Men.  I was so disappointed when she quit her job at Sterling Cooper Draper Price, because we'd no longer get to see her incredible 60s office chic outfits!

Guilty pleasure pick: Ferris Bueller's Day Off

As a child of the 80s, I can do two things: spot a shoulder pad and quote John Hughes' movies. (I could also tell you where I was the first time I got my first Cabbage Patch Doll, but I digress ...) A classic Hughes movie, and I would argue his most funny, Ferris Bueller's Day Off still holds up 26 years later. And if you haven't seen it, or might want to revisit, I would recommend this oldie but goodie.

Do you that have a person in your life that seems to have everything work out for them? Well, Ferris is one of those people. The premise is simple: high-schooler Ferris wants to ditch school because it's too nice outside to sit in class all day. Of course, shenanigans and comedy ensue, though not without the dramatic moment in the best friend's garage after one of the shenanigans goes awry. All the other schemes, of course, work out because this is a Hollywood movie. But the fun is in the vicarious feelings, that, yeah, I wish I could play hooky too just once and have it be as great as Ferris' day off.

The performances are well done by all, but Matthew Broderick as the titular character, is golden. He carries the film with charm. The opening sequence alone is genius and a precursor to the use of the quick-cut-with-a-jumping-topic/situation-soliloquy, which is nowadays ubiquitous in many comedies. Alan Ruck (Cameron) and Mia Sara (Sloane, an appropriately North Shore name) are Ferris' best friend and girlfriend respectively. They are his sidekicks for the day, and each have their own moments. I particularly like Ruck's scene early on when Broderick is trying to convince him to play hooky too. Jennifer Grey, pre-Dirty Dancing days, excels as Ferris' jealous sister, Jeanie and even Charlie Sheen has a cameo that fits: bad boy.

FBDO may not compete with comedy classics such as Blazing Saddles or Caddyshack, but it's still a gem of a movie and good for a night in from the cold weather.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Find it in the catalog!

New on DVD: "Moonrise Kingdom"

“I love you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
- Sam to Suzy

Moonrise Kingdom is set during 1965 in New Penzance Island, New England, about two misunderstood twelve-year-olds who fall in love and decide to run away together. This Wes Anderson film is full of whimsy and wonderful performances, especially from the two young leads playing Sam and Suzy.

Sam (Jared Gilman), an orphan, is described as "emotionally deranged" by his fellow Khaki scouts at Camp Ivanhoe. He runs away from the scouts with a canoe stocked full of supplies, which sets off a search party of Scout Master Ward (Edward Norton), the rest of Troup 55, and Island Police, headed by Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis). When Sam's foster parents hear about his running away, they inform Captain Sharp that Sam is no longer welcome back to their home.

Suzy (Kara Hayward) does not have any friends and gets in trouble at school. Her three younger brothers entertain themselves with games and listening to records, while she spends her time reading or looking at the world through her binoculars. She always has binoculars at her side and believes they are her magical powers.

Sam travels across the island from Camp Ivanhoe to Summer's End to meet Suzy, one year after their initial meeting. Between summers they wrote each other letters, talking about the difficulty of fitting in and getting along with classmates and authority figures. (“Dear Suzy, I have been trying very hard to make friends, but I feel people do not like my personality.”) When Suzy's mother (Frances McDormand) discovers one of Sam's letters to Suzy, she and Mr. Bishop (Bill Murray) join the search.  

Sam utilizes his Khaki scout knowledge as he and Suzy navigate their way along the Old Chickchaw Harvest Migration Trail. Suzy brings a suitcase full of library books (which she may return, someday), her cat, Lionel's record player, and her lefty scissors. Whenever they stop to take a break she reads aloud from her books as Sam listens and smokes a pipe. She prefers stories with magical powers and tells Sam that she wants to go on adventures when she’s older.

I could go on about the awesome cast, from Sam's fellow Khaki scouts to Jason Schwartzman's brief appearance as Cousin Ben. And the script by Anderson and Roman Coppola has so many great lines I had to restrain myself from including twenty quotes in this post.* Additionally, the soundtrack, with songs from composer Benjamin Britton, Alexandre Desplat, and Hank Williams, is beautiful and playful, down to the final “cuckoo, cuckoo.” Hilarious, sweet, and definitely a little crazy, Moonrise Kingdom is my favorite movie of the year.


*Okay, I can't help myself. If you want to see more of my favorite quotes from the movie, click to read more!

Happy birthday, Will Ferrell!

Actor Will Ferrell turns 45 today. Ferrell is known for his hilarious and quotable film characters, from Buddy the Elf to anchorman Ron Burgundy to figure skater Chazz Michael Michaels. His latest movie to hit DVD is Casa de mi Padre, out tomorrow. Later this summer Ferrell can be seen in the comedy The Campaign co-starring Zach Galifianakis. Will Ferrell fans are undoubtedly looking forward to the Anchorman 2 movie due to be released in 2013, reuniting the cast from the original 2004 film, which also starred Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate.

I always enjoy the way Ferrell plays off his co-stars, and he had great chemistry with his news team in Anchorman. I especially loved the back and forth insult slinging between Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) and Veronica Corningstone (Applegate). Ferrell and John C. Reilly were a great partnership as NASCAR drivers in Talladega Nights, and as rivals who become best friends in Step Brothers:

Brennan: Listen, I know that we started out as foe. But after that courageous act that you showed me against the one they call Derek, maybe someday we could become friends. Friends who ride majestic, translucent steeds, shooting flaming arrows across the bridge of Hemdale.

Dale: I would follow you into the mists of Avalon if that's what you mean.

Ferrell also shared hilarious scenes with Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys. Wahlberg, as NYC police detective Terry, couldn't stand to be around Ferrell's character Allen Gamble, who he saw as weak and a "fake cop." Terry used a metaphor comparing himself to a lion and Allen to a tuna, and told Allen that he would even go outside the food chain to attack him. Allen came right back at Terry and explained why a tuna could take a lion in the ocean "9 times out of 10":

OK, first off: a lion, swimming in the ocean. Lions don't like water. If you placed it near a river or some sort of fresh water source, that make sense. But you find yourself in the ocean, 20 foot wave, I'm assuming off the coast of South Africa, coming up against a full grown 800 pound tuna with his 20 or 30 friends, you lose that battle, you lose that battle 9 times out of 10. And guess what, you've wandered into our school of tuna and we now have a taste of lion. We've talked to ourselves. We've communicated and said 'You know what, lion tastes good, let's go get some more lion'. We've developed a system to establish a beach-head and aggressively hunt you and your family and we will corner your pride, your children, your offspring.

And that's not even the end of that scene. Another one of my favorite Will Ferrell roles was Buddy in Elf. A "human raised by elves," Buddy was happy all of the time, saw the good in everyone, and loved candy: "We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup."

Ferrell is also not afraid to let loose and sing, which he's done in several of his films. Check out a clip of his performance of "Something to Talk About" in Step Brothers:


Happy birthday to the songbird of his generation, Will Ferrell!

I named a few of my favorite Will Ferrell moments. What is your favorite Will Ferrell scene and/or quote?

Johnny Depp: Officially Single

As you are, no doubt, well aware, the fairest leading man in the land is now officially single. The rather optimistic subtext to the resultant press reports seems to be that Johnny Depp is not only single, but also on the market and almost certainly interested in settling down with you specifically. For those readers that are not currently en route to France to make good on that possibility, I invite you to take solace in the many fine performances this actor has given us. The following selected filmography may seem like cold comfort, but enjoying Johnny's company onscreen is probably as close to the real thing as any mere mortal is likely to get. I've taken the liberty of adding brief descriptors for each Johnny Depp role, should you wish to tailor your fantasy.

Cry-Baby (1990): If you like your Johnny young and rebellious, in a juvenile delinquent who is also the star of a musical kind of way.

Edward Scissorhands (1990): If you like your Johnny silent, soulful, and pallid. Warning: This Johnny is sharp and has been known to cause unwanted damage to hair, hedgerows, and water beds.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993): If you prefer a small-town Johnny who is sweet, sensitive, and misunderstood. Bonus: Johnny makes a great effort to be a responsible caretaker for his younger brother in this film, so you just know that he'll make a fantastic father once he stops hanging out with morticians and finally breaks free of his hometown.

Ed Wood (1994): A Johnny that is irrepressibly zany, artistically inept, and really, really fond of cashmere.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998): For those who like their Johnny balding, paranoid, chemically altered, and tersely literate.

Sleepy Hollow (1999): An adorably squeamish Johnny, saddled with profound mommy issues.

Chocolat (2000): Seductive accent? Check. Ponytail that only Johnny can get away with? Check. A deferential nature that guarantees he only shows up when you want him to and won't interfere with the important stuff in your life like raising your daughter and managing your small business? Check.

Blow (2001):  Consider this a two-for-one. If you want your Johnny to be the slim embodiment of '70s glamor and excess, the first half of this movie is your ideal. If you have a penchant for a bloated, midlife-crisis Johnny who is depressed and/or incarcerated a lot of the time, the second half of this film has got you covered.

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (2003, 2006, 2007): Should you favor an unintelligible, swashbuckling, kohl-eyed rogue who is more concerned with rum than he is with Keira Knightley.

Public Enemies (2009): Bad boy Johnny par excellence. Sure, he robs banks and brandishes a tommy gun, but he'd just as soon be holding you in his arms as you sway across the dance floor to a sultry ballad.

The Tourist (2010): For those of you who want to be Johnny's paramour and believe that the only suitable stand-in for yourself is Angelina Jolie.

Rango (2011): If you happen to prefer a scaly, endearingly cowardly Johnny, this is the one.

Catch a movie at the library this week

This week we are showing two movies at the Dundee Public Library. Watch the hilarious comedy Bridesmaids (R) this Wednesday, October 19 at 6 PM. Co-written by and starring Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids also stars Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Chris O'Dowd, and scene stealer Melissa McCarthy.

And on Saturday, October 22 at 2 PM you can see the 1944 film National Velvet (G). National Velvet stars Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney, and is part of our series Film Classics: Starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Both films are shown in the downstairs Meeting Room, which opens 30 minutes prior to showtime. Free popcorn and refreshments are also available at all movies.

Guilty pleasure pick: She's the Man

Anytime She's the Man is on television (it was just on last weekend), I get sucked in. The modern take on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Or What You Will stars Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum. When I stop and think about the how ridiculous the movie is, I somehow manage to overlook this and only see it's virtues.

If you're not familiar with the plot of Twelfth Night it is quite farcical: a woman, Viola, pretends to be a man and befriends a man, Orsino, whom she ends up falling in love with, but he likes another woman, Olivia, who in turn likes Viola (thinking she's a man). Get that? Anyway, She's the Man follows along these lines, but it is centered around teens in high school who play soccer. Bynes' character, Viola, finds that her school's girl's soccer team is cut and after trying unsuccessfully to tryout for the boy's team, she ends up transferring to a rival school and posing as her twin brother Sebastian to be on their boys team. (Why she doesn't transfer and tryout for their girl's team is never addressed, although, neither is whether a girl's team exists at this new school either...) She rooms with Duke (Tatum) and he subsequently helps her win a starting spot on the soccer team, all the while believing her to be Sebastian. Shenanigans and romance ensue.

The supporting characters and actors are appealing, most notably David Cross as the principal of the school (why he did this film I don't know, but I don't care because he's awesome). Viola's friends from her original school are likable and Julie Hagerty and John Pyper-Ferguson play Viola and Sebastian's divorced parents with an air of perfect ignorance. They have an excellent scene in the last several minutes while - SPOILER ALERT - the truth comes out about the gender of Sebastian/Viola. Pyper-Ferguson remarks "this soccer game has more nudity than most." Bynes is funny driving the film's kookyness, and last but not least, Channing Tatum is easy on the eyes.

She's the Man
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Happy 100th birthday, Lucille Ball!

Comedienne Lucille Ball would have been 100 today. She was born on this day in 1911 in Jamestown, New York. After working as a showgirl and model in her twenties Lucy started to get small movie roles, beginning with Roman Scandals in 1931. In 1940 she met future husband Desi Arnaz on the set of Too Many Girls; they married in November that same year. After several years of dealing with schedules that kept them apart, Lucy and Desi worked together on the radio show My Favorite Husband, which debuted in 1948. With the growing popularity of television, CBS decided to adapt My Favorite Husband for TV, which became I Love Lucy. The first episode aired October 15, 1951. Lucy played Lucy Ricardo, a housewife who longed to break into show business. Desi played her husband, Ricky Ricardo, a bandleader. Their friends and landlords, Ethel and Fred Mertz, were played by Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

I Love Lucy episodes demonstrate how great Lucille Ball was at physical comedy.Whether it be stomping on grapes in an Italian vineyard or reacting with her unique facial expressions, you never want to take your eyes off her. I think my favorite Lucy facial expression is when she opens her mouth really wide without making a sound and raises her eyebrows as if to say, "WHAT?!" In honor of Lucille's Balls 100th birthday check out seasons 1-9 of I Love Lucy on DVD and re-watch some of the best moments in TV history.

The Complete First Season
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This DVD set also includes the lost pilot. Highlights from this season include "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" for the product Vitameatavegamin, which contains vitamins, meat, vegetables, minerals... and is 23% alcohol. "Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular?" In "The Diet" Lucy almost starves herself in order to fit into a size 12, the size of the dress of the girl appearing with Ricky in his show.

The Complete Second Season
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In "Job Switching" Ricky and Fred stay home to cook and clean while Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a chocolate factory. Lucy isn't able to get Ricky alone to tell her the news she is pregnant in "Lucy is Enceinte." She comes to his show at the club and writes down a song request; when Ricky walks to each table asking if they are the happy couple, he is surprised to find it's Lucy.

The Complete Third Season
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In "Equal Rights" Lucy and Ethel wind up washing dishes at the restaurant where they just ate dinner after Ricky and Fred split the bill into four checks.

The Complete Fourth Season
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During this season Ricky, Lucy, Fred, and Ethel visit L.A. and meet such celebrities as William Holden and Eve Arden ("L.A., At Last"), Cornel Wilde ("The Star Upstairs"), and Harpo Marx ("Harpo Marx").


The Complete Fifth Season
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At the start of this season the gang is still in L.A. I always liked the episode "Lucy Visits Grauman's" where Lucy and Ethel steal the slab of cement of John Wayne's footprints. Later in the season the group leaves for Europe, visiting London, Scotland, Paris, the Swiss Alps, and Italy, which features the classic episode  "Lucy's Italian Movie."

The Complete Sixth Season
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In "Lucy and Superman" Lucy asks Ricky to invite Superman (George Reeves), who is in town to sign autographs, to Little Ricky's birthday party. When Ricky tells Lucy that Superman cannot make it, Lucy dresses as Superman and goes out on the ledge outside their apartment in preparation to surprise Little Ricky and his guests. And when Superman changes his plans and does show up to the party, Lucy can't join in on the fun as she gets locked out on the ledge in the rain.

The Final Seasons 7, 8 & 9
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These seasons were called The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show, or The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.

Library scenes on film and TV

New Directions members get their glee on in the stacks.

In honor of National Library Week, I compiled more library scenes to add to last year's list. I think my favorite fictional library enthusiasts are Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls), Brick Heck (The Middle), Jesse St. James (Glee), and the characters on Community.

Beauty and the Beast (1991)
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Belle is imprisoned in the Beast's castle after offering herself to be held captive in place of her ailing father. Seeing the way Belle misses her home and how lonely she is, the Beast shows her his lavish library, and tells her that she has her pick from the thousands of volumes.

Before search boxes, you had to search card catalog drawers.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
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After Paul (George Peppard) and Holly (Audrey Hepburn) enter the library she asks him, "What is this place?" Yes, Holly Golightly has never been inside a library. Paul explains how each card is either a book or an author (what about subjects, Paul?). They look under his last name, Varjack, to find the card with his book, Nine Lives. They have to bring the card to one librarian and then wait until their number is called at a different desk. The librarian helping them at that desk is uninterested in the fact that Paul wrote the book. Holly informs her, "It's Varjack, Paul in person!" The librarian is quite annoyed with them, tells them to be quiet, and becomes upset when Holly encourages Paul to sign the library's copy of his book. That provides Holly's cue to go: "I don't think this place is half as nice as Tiffany's."

Community (2009-present)
Season 1: Find it in the catalog!
Jeff (Joel McHale), Britta (Gillian Jacobs), Annie (Alison Brie), Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), Troy (Donald Glover), Abed (Danny Pudi) and Pierce (Chevy Chase) form a Spanish study group and every episode is set at least partially in the library, since that is their meeting place. I wanted to highlight a recent season 2 episode, because it demonstrates why Abed and Troy are among my favorite characters on TV and also have one of the best friendships on TV, in addition to the fact that the episode involves a librarian-centric plotline.

If only the librarian would notice them...

Season 2, episode 15: "Early 21st Century Romanticism"
Best friends Troy and Abed both want to ask the same librarian to the Valentine's Dance. They watch her from their study room and hope that if they're too loud she'll shush them, so they yell, "BOOKS!" and then pretend to sleep when she actually does look in their direction. When they finally do approach her, they suggest that she hang out at the dance with both of them, so she can get to know them before she makes her choice.

Troy: Why does being a librarian make her even hotter?
Abed: They're keepers of knowledge. She holds the answers to all of our questions, like "Will you marry me?" and "Why are there still libraries?"

Eastbound & Down (2009-present)
Season 1: Find it in the catalog!
Former baseball pitcher Kenny Powers (Danny McBride) now teaches gym at a junior high school, where his high school girlfriend April (Katy Mixon) also teaches. In a season 1 episode, he goes to talk to her in the library, where two girls get into a fight. Powers breaks them apart and yells, "If you're gonna fight, do it in a parking lot somewhere, not in a library, surrounded by books!"

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)
Season 2: Find it in the catalog!
Season 2, episode 15: "Lost and Found"
Rory's (Alexis Bledel) boyfriend, Dean (Jared Padelecki), can hardly hide his boredom as he sits next to two piles of books she has already selected to buy from the library's Buy a Book! fundraiser. After over two hours of perusing the sale, Rory is still going strong and has yet to look at the astronomy section.

Get stuck in "The Middle"

The Middle is a comedy about the Heck family set in the small town of Orson, Indiana. The characters are among my favorite on TV, and the cast is extremely talented and funny. Parents Frankie (Patricia Heaton), a car salesperson, and Mike (Neil Flynn), manager of a limestone quarry, face the everyday madness and exhaustion of raising three kids. Sixteen-year-old Axl (Charlie McDermott) lounges around the house in his boxers and is in a phase where "everyone and everything is lame." Even though he is almost always picking on his younger siblings, he occasionally shows how much he cares for them-- giving Sue his old football jersey, or telling Brick how much he loves him when he briefly loses him in a corn maze. Thirteen-year-old Sue (Eden Sher) is in junior high and very enthusiastic about school clubs, even though she never makes the cut. A running joke throughout the series is how nobody, from teachers to fellow students, is able to remember her. Eden Sher does a great job of portraying Sue's awkwardness, and you can't help but admire her positive attitude and root for her. Nine-year-old Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is happiest buried in a book and doesn't try to hide or apologize for his antisocial personality. "Okay. I'm done talking to you now," he tells a boy his age. He often whispers the last word of a sentence to himself, which everyone else finds really weird but he thinks is soothing (soothing!).

In one of the special features, "Raising a Sitcom Family," co-creators Eileen Heisler & DeAnn Heline talk about how the show is their "love letter to the Midwest." I think they did a great job on these season 1 episodes. Axl, Sue, and Brick actually look like kids you'd see in the neighborhood. Their near constant bickering is almost too real, as it reminds me of when I fought with my younger sister and brother over the tiniest things. I love Mike's honest reactions to the often ridiculous drama of teenagers. The relationship between Frankie and Mike is great to watch because unlike many shows where the husband and wife whine about each other's shortfalls, this is a marriage where they try to solve problems together. I also appreciate the details in the show's set design, with its messy kitchen table and counters. You know, I think it is the messiness of The Middle that makes the show so easy to relate to and so entertaining to watch. If you haven't already checkout out this show, now in its second season on ABC, I recommend you watch these season 1 episodes!

The Middle - Season 1
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Screening of "The Other Guys" rescheduled

I'm like a peacock, you gotta let me fly!

-Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg)

Originally scheduled to be shown on Wednesday, February 2, The Other Guys will now be screened on Thursday, February 24 here at the Dundee Library at 6 PM. Popcorn and refreshments will be available as always.

We're not going to let a Chicago blizzard get in the way of some great laughs! Join us on February 24 and you, too, will learn from Allen Gamble, Will Ferrell's character in the movie, how a tuna can win a fight against a lion.

Time Capsule Cinema: Home Alone

A lovely cheese pizza, just for me.

~Kevin McCallister

Home Alone (1990)
DVD FAMILY HOME
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Twenty years have passed since the McCallisters from suburban Chicago got on a plane to Paris, leaving 8-year-old Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) home alone in the days just before Christmas. After being made fun of by his older siblings and cousins and always feeling left out Kevin can't believe his good luck; he thinks the wish he made the night before to make his family disappear actually came true. He jumps on his parents' bed while eating popcorn, shovels down heaping spoonfuls of ice cream while watching a gangster movie, and delights in being able to order an entire cheese pizza for himself. But two thieves named Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), aka The Wet Bandits, are making their way across the neighborhood, robbing families who are out of town. Kevin decides to push his fears aside and creates a plan to defend his empty house from them. I think the reason why Home Alone has become a new holiday classic is because of any of the following memorable scenes:

• Little Nero's delivery boy hitting the statue in front of the house each time he pulls into the drive
• Kevin's family members running through the airport to their gate as "Run Rudolph Run" plays on the soundtrack
• After taking a shower, Kevin narrates his day into the mirror as he gets ready: "I took a shower washing every body part with actual soap including all my major crevices, including in between my toes and in my belly button, which I never did before but sort of enjoyed. I washed my hair with adult formula shampoo and used cream rinse for that just-washed shine. I can't seem to find my toothbrush, so I'll pick one up when I go out today. Other than that, I'm in good shape." He then puts aftershave on his palms and fingertips, pressing them to his cheeks, resulting in the infamous "AHH!" scream.
• Kevin standing in front of the mirror using his comb as a mic while he lip syncs "White Christmas" performed by The Drifters
• Kevin fast forwarding the dialogue in the gangster movie "Angels with Filthy Souls" to scare the pizza delivery boy Later he simply plays the scene when Marv is outside, setting off firecrackers in a pot by the doggy door. "Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
• Kevin's talk with his neighbor "Old Man Marley" in church as Marley's granddaughter sings in the choir
• Kevin's mother (Catherine O'Hara) hitching a ride with John Candy's polka band in a Budget truck
• Harry and Marv being deterred from attempting to rob the McCallisters after they see what they think is a lively party. But really Kevin has tied mannequins to strings and attached a cardboard cutout of Michael Jordan to the top of a toy train to make it appear like the McCallisters have a full house.
• Marv's high-pitching shrieking after Kevin puts Buzz's pet tarantula on his face
• Macaulay Culkin's adorable face. I dare you not to fall in love with him! 
• ...plus more, of course, but then I'd end up describing each scene in the movie. What are you favorite scenes?

Although Home Alone movie hasn't been around as long as It's a Wonderful Life or White Christmas, it is always on my list of holiday movies to re-watch each year.

Guilty Pleasure Pick: Holiday Movies, part 2: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

Call Number: DVD COMEDY NATIONAL

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As a start to the Holiday Season, I watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation pretty much every year around Thanksgiving time.  The film does a nice job of showing the chaos and family tensions that arise over the holidays.  Set in the Chicagoland (but filmed primarily in California),  Christmas Vacation follows Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and his family as they attempt to host the extended family for the Holidays.  The movie moves like a pinball from one disaster to another, but it really doesn’t burden itself too much with a plot.  There are a fair amount laughs, especially if you enjoy Chevy Chase’s bumbling, klutzy shtick.  This is probably the last great performance from him until his recent work on Community.  Christmas Vacation also features before they were famous performances by Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory, Roseanne) as Griswold’s spawn-- Audrey and Russ.  Below are my top five reasons to make Christmas Vacation part of your holiday tradition:

1).  Cousin Eddie’s killer wardrobe.  Whether he’s wearing a short robe and a trapper hat to empty his trailer’s sewer in style, a t-shirt tucked into a leopard speedo for swimming or dressed formally for Christmas dinner in a powder blue leisure suit, Cousin Eddie has a unique vintage style.  His most memorable outfit for me is the see-through white sweater and green turtleneck dickey combo he wears while drinking eggnog from a moose shaped glass (a reference to Wally of Wallyworld from the first Vacation).  Fashion gold!

2).  “We needed a coffin, err... a tree”.  One of the guests at the Griswold Family Christmas is Clark’s Uncle Lewis (William Hickey).  Uncle Lewis is nearing his last Christmas, but has a mean, sarcastic attitude and a penchant for cigars.  When Lewis tries to sneak a stogy in the living room, he accidentally lights up the Christmas tree which is destroyed in a brilliant flash.  Clark flips out, but his grouchy father-in-law, Art, only replies, “It was an ugly tree anyways.”  My favorite part is the lone remaining ornament (a singed retro Santa) falling from the burnt crisp of a tree.  The toasted tree leads Clark to go on a rampage with a chainsaw a chop down a replacement evergreen from his yuppie neighbors’ lawn.

3).  Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold.  Juliette Lewis gives a wonderful performance as Clark’s perpetually mortified and sarcastic daughter Audrey.  She’s not afraid to complain about her father’s silliness in driving out to the middle of nowhere to get a Christmas tree, or the injustice of having to share a bunk bed with a her brother (“I have nightmares about what he does when I’m NOT lying next to him.”); but she’s also the first to come to Clark’s defense when her relatives are being a little too harsh.  Juliette Lewis has a flat, sarcastic delivery that rivals Daria.  She’s definitely the most memorable Audrey from the Vacation series.

4).  The Squirrel Sequence.  One flaw in getting a tree from a neighbor’s lawn is that sometimes you get more than you expected.  In this case, a squirrel happens to be inside and interrupts the Griswolds’ Christmas Eve party. Clark's dad hilariously screams, "Squirrel" every time the critter is spotted. But things get really chaotic when Cousin Eddie’s dog Snots starts chasing the thing around.  My favorite part of this sequence is when incensed yuppie neighbor Margot (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) marches over to give Griswold a piece of her mind and gets a lot more than she bargained for when he opens the door.

5).  Clark’s passive aggressive comments. Clark Griswold is definitely not the coolest guy in the world.  He puts so many holiday lights on his home that it literally blinds the neighbors.  He wears Santa Claus ties and he even drinks out of a Tasmanian Devil shaped coffee mug.  So it makes it makes it that much funnier when he passive aggressively mocks other people.  Cousin Eddie is probably the biggest butt of his jokes.  For instance, Eddie asks whether Clark is surprised about his visit, Clark responds, "Oh Eddie...if I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be anymore surprised than I am now." Another time he asks Eddie, "Can I refill your eggnog for you?  Get you something to eat?  Drive you out to the desert and leave you for dead?"

Gulity Pleasure Pick: Holiday Movies, part 1: Love Actually

Love Actually (2003).
Call Number: DVD COMEDY LOVE
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Holiday movies for me are like pizza; not something you'd serve to someone you want to impress and certainly not the best thing you've ever ingested, but perfect for the end of the week when you are too lazy and brain dead to cook.

Love Actually is an amalgamation of several different cinematic dealbreakers for me: it's a holiday movie, a romantic comedy, and it interweaves several different stories with similar themes Crash-style.  Yet, I still watch it practically every holiday season.  It does have a great cast: Bill Nighy, Laura Linney,  Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Chiewetel Ejiofor, Martin Freeman and so on.  Basically the who's who of British cinema minus James McAvoy and Martin Sheen.  Some of the plot line are tracing paper thin and downright depressing, but thankfully, you never stick to one story too long.  The film is set primarily in London and it has dry, ironic Brit humor going for it.  Below are my top 5 favorite things about Love Actually: 

1).  Bill Nighy as Billy Mack:  Bill Nighy's performance as a washed up former rock star is by far the most entertaining part of the film.  Most likely modeled after Keith Richards, Mack struggled for years with substance abuse and pretty much says whatever enters his brain. However, Mack reminds me more of a mild-aged Russell Brand, as he revels in being randy and inappropriate and he only wears tight leather clothing.

2).  Prime Minister Hugh Grant's dance:  This is probably the most iconic moment for the film.  Joyful about all the positive press he is getting for telling off the Bill Clinton-esque American president (Billy Bob Thorton), after the president hits on Grant's pretty assistant, he does a happy dance to the Pointer Sisters' "Jump."  Like Sam Rockwell, Hugh Grant knows how to dance in a way that both skilled and hilarious.

Favorite Halloween TV episodes

When I was little I, like, worshipped Halloween. And truthfully, part of me still does. 'Cause it's your one chance all year to be someone else.
~Angela Chase, My So-Called Life

My So-Called Life
Episode 9: "Halloween" (1994)
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Angela (Claire Danes), dressed in clothes from the 1960s, keeps seeing a deceased student, Nicky Driscoll, around the high school, and feels the need to help him, just like she's trying to help Jordan (Jared Leto) stick with his classes. Danielle (Lisa Wilholt) goes trick-or-treating with Angela's former best friend Sharon (Devon Odessa) and end up having a great time. Angela, Rayanne (AJ Langer), and Brian (Devon Gummersall) break into the school at night hoping to see the ghost of Driscoll, and Rayanne and Brian get trapped in the janitor's closet. Angela's parents Graham (Tom Irwin) and Patty (Bess Armstrong) are overcome with passion after putting on their Halloween costumes (a pirate and Rapunzel).
Best costume: (tie) Danielle, dressed as her older sister Angela & Rickie, dressed as fellow student Brian Krakow

Will & Grace
Season 1, episode 5: "Boo! Humbug" (1998)
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Will (Eric McCormick) and Grace (Debra Messing) plan to have a night in on Halloween watching movies, but at the last minute Will's client Harlan sticks him with babysitting his kids. For the duration of the episode neither child speaks-- they just sit on the couch with their masks on the entire time.
Best costumes: Harlan's kids as Richard Nixon and a bumble bee

Freaks and Geeks
Episode 3: "Tricks and Treats" (1999)
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High school freshman Sam (John Daley) looks forward to trick-or-treating with friends Bill (Martin Starr), Neil (Samm Levine), and Harris (Stephen Lea Sheppard), and they all put careful time into their costumes. Mrs. Weir (Becky Ann Baker) is excited to hand out treats with daughter Lindsay (Linda Cardellini). But Halloween doesn't meet anyone's expectations-- at the last minute Lindsay ditches her mother to hang out with friends in the "freak" crowd, who are knocking down mailboxes, smashing pumpkins, and egging people; all the trick-or-treaters are throwing out Mrs. Weir's homemade pumpkin cookies; and Sam and his friends have a horrible time trick-or-treating, the worst being when Lindsay eggs her brother Sam.
Best costume: Bill as the Bionic Woman, not only because of his attention to detail in the costume itself, but because of how much he immerses himself into the role of Jamie Sommers. "These aren't bionic, they're all me!" He's also unintentionally creepy.

The Office
Season 2, episode 5: "Halloween" (2005)
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It's the end of the month and Michael (dressed as a two-headed version of himself) must fire someone, but he's not sure who, and stresses about his decision all day long. My favorite scene is when Michael questions Dwight (dressed as a Sith Lord) about who to fire. Michael acts as though he is consulting his second head about possibly firing Dwight. The camera cuts back and forth between two-headed Michael and the black-hooded, intense Dwight who exclaims, "Quiet, you!" trying to silence Michael's mini head.
Best costume: Dwight as a Sith Lord

Mad Men
Season 3, episode 11: "The Gypsy and the Hobo" (2009)
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Don (Jon Hamm) tells Betty (January Jones) the truth about his past and his family. Halloween features into the background instead of being the focus of the show. This episode makes my list because I love the line at the show's very end, directed at Don as he accompanies his kids Sally (a gypsy) and Bobby (a hobo) while they trick-or-treat. After commenting on Sally and Bobby's costume a neighbor looks at Don and asks, "And who are you supposed to be?"
Best costume: Dick Whitman as Don Draper (okay, not really a costume but I couldn't resist)

Parks and Recreation
Season 2, episode 7: "Greg Pikitis" (2009)
Not yet on DVD
Ann (Rashida Jones) throws a very dull Halloween party, and the very person she hoped to avoid, rapper-wannabe Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari), comes to the rescue by livening things up with music and dancing. Leslie (Amy Poehler) is on the alert to prevent high school student Greg Pikitis from continuing a tradition of vandalizing a statue in the park.
Best costume: Tom as T-Pain