Somerville Public Library Blog

We have a great new film series kicking off this weekend: Saturday Afternoon Family Films.  Join us one Saturday per month for a cartoon, a feature film, and popcorn - all free!  Movie time is 2:00 p.m. and the schedule follows. We hope you can come!

September 11th: Swiss Family Robinson
Shipwrecked on a tropical island, a family makes a new home in the world’s coolest tree house and has lots of exciting adventures. Pirates! Ostriches! More!

October 9th: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
A comic horror film. Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, Dracula, and a mad scientist. Don’t be surprised if the Wolfman turns up too.


November 20th: The Court Jester
Danny Kaye impersonates a court jester in 12th century England and gets involved with outlaws trying to overthrow the king. Hilarious swashbuckling slapstick.

December 4th: March of the Wooden Soldiers (aka Babes in Toyland)
Laurel and Hardy play incompetent assistant toymakers whose gigantic wooden soldiers are useless. As toys, anyway…

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird.  First published in 1960, the book went on to win the Pulitzer prize in 1961 and became an Oscar-winning film in 1962.  With more than 10,000,000 copies sold since its first publication, To Kill a Mockingbird remains one of the best-selling novels of all time.  To date, Mockingbird is Lee’s only published novel and she has remained fiercely private with the press and media, politely refusing to make public appearances or to speak about the novel.  In 1962, the novel was adapted into film, with the Academy Award-winning screenplay written by Lee’s friend Horton Foote and produced by Alan Jay Pakula.  The film, starring Gregory Peck, won 2 other Oscars for Best Actor (Peck) and Best Art Direct-Set Direction, Black-and-White.  Harper Lee was pleased with the movie and was quoted saying, “That film was a work of art.”  If you haven’t yet read this classic Southern novel - a novel loaded with warmth and humor, memorable characters (Atticus Finch, Scout, Boo Radley) and serious issues of rape, racial inequality, class, courage and compassion - this is a great year to do so!  We have copies of the book and the movie, but read the book first!

Join us at the Central Library from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for an evening of film, video, and animation curated by Rinat Harel. The works that will be shown include:

Holding This For You by Marissa Niederhauser

Bath Time Follies and Dear Sister by Nicole Prowell

Seahorse by Molly Allis

Nafad (Arabic, Shake Off) by Katherine Toukhy & Rashin Fahandej

Gladys Monterroso by Sara Alfaro-Franco

Le Bain (The Bath) by Silas Shabelewska

Palindrome by Eva Quintas Froufe

and an experimental animated film by Karen Aqua

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion. The event is free and open to the public. For detailed information about the films, please click here.

Well, I’m going to cheat a little by starting a year early.  The decade technically began in 2001, but 2000 was the release year of a movie I have to tell you about: Italian for Beginners.  Andreas is a recently widowed young minister who’s been temporarily assigned to a church in a small Danish town.  He moves into the local hotel where he gets to know the lonely manager, Jorgen. Then there’s Jorgen’s friend, Finn, the manager of the hotel restaurant, who has an unfortunate tendency to verbally abuse customers. And then there’s Olympia, a clumsy bakery assistant who lives with her ill-tempered father. The one spot of brightness and warmth in the bleak lives of these characters is the Italian class they take at the local adult education center.  Through additional chance meetings and other foreseen circumstances, this unremarkable grammar and conversation class offers all of them a shot at happiness. Filmed using only natural light and hand-held cameras, Italian for Beginners has a real-life feel to it that intensifies the emotional punch of this bittersweet comedy.

If you’re ever in the AV department and can’t decide what movie to get, there are three words that guarantee a film will be fantastic: Philip Seymour Hoffman. Whenever I see him onscreen, any memories or thoughts of his previous roles disappear because whatever character he’s playing at the moment is as real as life. I honestly think he’s one of the best actors of our time, and there are two movies that show him at his finest.  In 1959 the writer Truman Capote became intrigued by a brief article he read about the murder of an entire family in a Kansas farmhouse. He went to Kansas to write about it, in the process scandalizing the locals with his eccentric behavior, falling in love with one of the murderers and, of course, producing that classic work of literary journalism In Cold Blood. In Capote (2005) Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the title role with remarkable success. Not only does he convincingly play Capote as a character, but he also manages to make himself—a large man with a strong baritone voice—look and sound like the tiny, frail imp of man with a high-pitched voice that Capote was.

In the very different but equally rewarding The Savages (2007), Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are middle-aged siblings who haven’t seen each other in years. Wendy has an office job she hates, is having an emotionally destructive affair with a married man (emotionally destructive for her, not for him) and is struggling to produce a play she’s written about the abusive upbringing she and her brother experienced.  Jon’s life is a lot less dramatic but almost as unhappy. He’s a theater professor in Buffalo who may finally have found the love of his life, but he can’t get it together to propose—and if he doesn’t, she’ll have to go back to Poland when her work visa expires.  But now they both have to set all that aside to go to Arizona, where their elderly father has reached the point at which he can no longer care for himself.  They take him back to Buffalo, and through a gray, snowy winter, Jon and Wendy reconnect with each other, make a peace of sorts with their past, and start figuring out how to act their ages.

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), cranky rule-driven Joel (Jim Carrey) is involved with crazy, free-spirited Clementine (Kate Winslet). After they have a really nasty fight Clementine goes to the company Lacuna, Inc., which for a fee will erase memories of a bad relationship.  Joel is devastated when he finds out and goes to the company for the same service. But as Joel’s memories of Clementine disappear (the most recent going first) he finds himself drawn back into a past when they were happy.  Soon he no longer wants to lose his memories, or Clementine, and he’s racing through his brain trying to keep her.  At once inventive, funny, moving and mind-bending, and with a cast that also includes Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a movie you owe it to yourself to see.

If I continued to write in any detail about all the other movies I loved from the past decade, this post would become monstrously long, so I’ll simply close with a list.

Mostly Martha (German, 2001)

The Closet (French, 2001)

In America (2004)

In July (German, 2004)

Kinsey (2004)

Juno (2008)

Towelhead (2008)

The Counterfeiters (German, 2008)

Milk (2009)

The Class (French, 2009)

I’ve enjoyed making these “favorite” lists.  It’s nice to revisit the past and remember where you were when you read that book or saw that movie.  Ironically, a lot of my favorite films are from the first half of the decade.  I had more time on my hands in those days and was definitely an avid movie-goer.  Then movies got wicked expensive and I had a baby….so, now I stay home and feel thankful for library movies and Netflix.

My list begins with a musical: Chicago (2002).  I’m a sucker for a good musical, but this is so much more than that.  The casting, set design, costumes, and dancing all strike a perfect cord in this film.  Renee Zellweger shines in her portrayal of Roxie Hart, a convicted murderess who finds herself in jail with the famed vaudeville sensation Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones).  They compete for media attention and news headlines as they wittingly try to use fame to keep them from death row.  Their stories are told mostly through song and dance, with numbers like “Cell Block Tango” and “We Both Reached for the Gun.”  If you’re not dancing out of your seat, or at least clicking your heels, you need to check your pulse.  After all, we’re talking about 1920s Chicago - an era of crime, murder, gangs, jazz, vaudeville, and nitty-gritty news reporting - never a dull moment!

Million Dollar Baby (2004) definitely makes my list, thanks to performances by two of my favorite actors - Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman.  The story of aspiring boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) will be one you won’t forget.  Maggie, a Missouri waitress, longs for something more in life, so she turns to boxing and finds herself in Frankie Dunn’s (Eastwood’s) training-gym.  Ever-so-reluctantly, and with the urging of his partner Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris (Freeman), Frankie gives her a chance.  The storytelling in this film is simple and honest and the undercurrent of love, loss and hope makes the characters’ struggles heart-wrenching.  Keep a tissue box handy for this one, but don’t miss it.  Clint Eastwood has given us a gem with this film.

I can’t think about the decade in film without thinking of Johnny Depp, Jack Sparrow, and The Pirates of the Caribbean.  The first film in the trilogy (soon to extend to a 4th sequel in 2011), Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), is in my opinion the best.  Johnny Depp nails the character of Captain Jack Sparrow, a roguish pirate inspired by the rocker Keith Richards.  This movie takes you on a great ride and is quite simply, fun.  How can you resist a swashbuckling, sword-clashing, action & suspense-filled movie?  Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!

Mystic River (2003) is a Shakespearean tragedy played out on the streets of Boston.  Directed by Clint Eastwood (I told you he’s a favorite!), this is a film of 3 childhood friends - Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon - who are forced to revisit a crime in their past in the wake of a terrible murder in the present.  Once again, I believe Eastwood nailed this one.  The writing is excellent and the supporting cast is too, with such notable names as Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laurence Fishburne.  Sean Penn’s performance is heart breaking and very deserving of the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2004.

Here are a few more favorites, to conclude my list.  They are in no particular order, just worthy of a mention because I think of them often and look forward to watching them again one day.

Memento (2000)

21 Grams (2003)

The Queen (2006)

Love Actually (2003)

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Shrek (2001)

Almost Famous (2000)

Gosford Park (2001)

Into the Wild (2007)

We had so much fun telling you about our “Best Books of the Decade” that we’ve decided to continue on with the best movies!  Well, “best”…come to think of it, that word doesn’t really do much for me.  But these were some of my favorites, definitely.

Whale Rider (2002) Thirteen-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes received an Academy Award Best Actress nomination for her role as Pai, a young girl who believes that she should become the next chief of her people, the Whangara tribe of New Zealand. This puts her in conflict with her grandfather Koro, the current chief, who insists that only males are eligible to be leaders. He is frustrated in his attempts to find a boy to succeed him, or to convince his uninterested ex-pat son to take his rightful place as chief. Pai and Koro love each other dearly, and their clash of wills hurts both of them. Some unexpected things happen that prevent this movie from becoming the pat empowerment story it could have been. It’s a real original, a fascinating glimpse into another culture, and it’s also beautiful to look at.

Sideways (2004) Paul Giamatti (my favorite actor) plays Miles, a divorced and depressed middle-school English teacher, would-be novelist, and wine connoisseur. His mismatched best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) is a small time actor who’s about to be married, in spite of the fact that he’s a committed womanizer. The two take off on a pre-wedding road trip through the California wine country with rather different objectives in mind: Miles wants to drink a lot of wine, Jack wants a last fling before settling down. They meet two women, Maya (Virginia Madsen) and Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and begin to romance them in their very different ways. All four characters are multi-dimensional and believable, and the acting is superb. The dialogue is sometimes hilarious and sometimes genuinely touching. And like “Whale Rider,” the scenery is magnificent.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) This film tells about a few weeks in the lives of a bunch of disparate people who are all connected to each other in various ways. Christine (Miranda July) is a video artist who provides taxi service to the elderly and who falls for Richard (John Hawkes), a recently divorced shoe salesman and father of two boys. His older son, fourteen-year-old Peter, has a series of interesting encounters with other kids, including his ten-year-old neighbor Sylvie and two bold and curious teenager girls. Meanwhile, Peter’s six-year-old brother Robby establishes an online relationship with an unknown person. As I write this, I’m realizing the futility of trying to describe this movie by writing about the plot(s). It’s just a lovely and unusual film filled with magical incidents and images: a goldfish in a plastic bag accidentally left on the roof of a car that’s cruising down a freeway; two shoes labeled “Me” and “You” that move together, apart, together in a simple and moving ballet. And of course, ))<>((…but you’ll have to see the movie to discover the meaning of that.

Hot Fuzz (2007) A ridiculous movie that made nobody’s “Best of Decade” list, and that made me laugh until my ribs hurt. Simon Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a London cop who’s so good at his job that he makes all his colleagues look like slackers, so they ship him off to a remote and very quiet village called Sandford. His new partner Danny (Nick Frost) is a frequently tipsy butterball with a love for (and encyclopedic knowledge of) American cop movies with names like “Bad Boys II” and “Die Harder.” Initially at odds, they eventually form a bond that is put to the test when it dawns on Angel that although Sandford’s crime rate is low, its accident rate is through the roof…but why? The supporting cast includes Jim Broadbent, Steve Coogan, Timothy Dalton, Martin Freeman, and Bill Nighy, and there are cameos by Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson. If these folks wanted in on this lunacy, what more do you need to convince you?

Since I can’t go on and on about every movie I loved in the past decade, that will have to be that. But I’ll leave you with a short list of some others that I really enjoyed:

Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Waking Life (2001)

Secretary (2002)

Lost in Translation (2003)

The Incredibles (2004)

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

The Namesake (2006)

Bottle Shock (2008)

And just to make it a baker’s dozen, a 90s movie that I re-watched recently and loved all over again:

Nobody’s Fool (1994)

Fictional librarians, I’ve known a few…but my favorite is Norman, the title character of Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy of plays, The Norman Conquests.  Norman is an assistant librarian, but frankly, his occupation is relevant only in that it provides me with a handy excuse for mentioning him in this blog.  Much more significant are the facts that Norman is an unquenchable romantic and an inveterate troublemaker.  The trilogy covers the events of one weekend, when Norman’s plans to whisk his wife’s sister Annie away for an illicit rendezvous go awry.  The family converges, all is revealed, and the audience gets to watch the fun from three vantage points - the dining room, the living room, and the garden.  Watch the plays in any order, it doesn’t matter, but you won’t know the full extent of what Norman’s been up to until you’ve seen all three.  In this version (which aired on PBS in the 70s) Ayckbourn’s witty dialogue is delivered by a wonderful cast including Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, and best of all, Tom Conti as Norman - endearing and exasperating, well-meaning but devious, and no doubt a heck of a lot of fun to have around the library.

And I do mean action, as the Central Library’s “Popcorn Movies” series concludes tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. with one of my favorites, The Incredibles!

Amazon.com says, “From the Academy Award winning creators of Finding Nemo comes the action-packed animated adventure about the mundane and incredible lives of a house full of superheroes.  Bob Parr and his wife Helen used to be among the world’s greatest crime fighters, saving lives and battling evil on a daily basis.  Fifteen years later, they have been forced to adopt civilian identities and retreat to the suburbs where they live “normal” lives with their three kids, Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack.  Itching to get back into action, Bob gets his chance when a mysterious communication summons him to a remote island for a top secret assignment.  He soon discovers that it will take a super family effort to rescue the world from total destruction.  Exploding with fun, this animated gem is high-flying entertainment for everyone.”

Beginning next month, look for a series of movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Casablanca, Psycho, The Philadelphia Story, and more!  These free film series are sponsored by the Friends of the Library and all are welcome to attend.

The Central Library is showing free movies all summer, and so are the cities of Boston and Somerville!

Popcorn Movies at the Somerville Central Library, 79 Highland Avenue:
Monsters, Inc., Wednesday, July 22nd at 6:30 p.m.
The Empire Strikes Back, Thursday, August 13th at 6:30 p.m.
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Wednesday, August 26th at 6:30 p.m.
Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Thursday, September 10th at 6:30 p.m.
The Incredibles, Wednesday, September 23rd at 6:30 p.m.

Friday Flicks at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade:
Get Smart, Friday, July 17th at dusk
Madagascar 2, Friday, July 24th at dusk
Mamma Mia!, Friday, July 31 at dusk
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Friday, August 7th at dusk
Inkheart, Friday, August 14th at dusk
Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Friday, August 21st at dusk
Iron Man, Friday, August 28th at dusk

SomerMovies:
Dreamgirls, Thursday, July 16th at sunset at 7 Hills Park
PeeWee’s Big Adventure, Thursday, July 23rd at sunset at 7 Hills Park
Twilight, Thursday, July 30th at sunset at 7 Hills Park
Rebel Without a Cause, Thursday, August 6th at sunset at Nathan Tufts Park
Mamma Mia!, Thursday, August 13th at sunset at Lincoln Park
WALL-E, Thursday, August 20th at sunset at City Hall Plaza
Remember the Titans, Thursday, August 27th at sunset at Hodgkins Park
viewer’s choice, Thursday, September 3rd at sunset at 7 Hills Park

We’re staying local for our upcoming film series - all of the movies we’re showing feature a New England setting. From the streets of Southie, to rural Maine, to Fenway Park, to the Connecticut seacoast, we hope you’ll enjoy these films.

• Thursday, April 9th: Mystic Pizza
• Wednesday, April 22nd: The Verdict
• Thursday, May 14th: Fever Pitch
• Wednesday, May 27th: Mystic River
• Thursday, June 11th: Next Stop Wonderland
• Wednesday, June 24th: The Cider House Rules

All films will be shown at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library. This free series is brought to you by the Friends of the Library.