by Beth Cronk, Litchfield head librarian
Now that the holidays are here, I’ll bet there are some of
you who have time off in the next week or two.
Would you like some movie and TV series ideas for these cold days and nights?
With the Golden Globe nominations announced, we have some
ready-made suggestions about what’s supposed to be good, at least according to
the Hollywood Foreign Press. Following
are DVDs we have at the Litchfield Library:
The Croods is nominated for a Golden Globe for best
animated feature. This family movie
from DreamWorks tells the story of a prehistoric family whose cave is
destroyed, causing them to go out and discover the larger world. Major characters are voiced by Nicolas Cage,
Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds.
Behind the Candelabra is nominated for best TV movie or
miniseries. Matt Damon and Michael
Douglas are both nominated for best actor, and Rob Lowe is nominated for best
supporting actor. The movie is based on
the memoir of Liberace’s much younger partner, recounting his secret
relationship with the flamboyant but closeted entertainer in the ‘70s and early
‘80s.
Phil Spector has two nominations in the TV movie or
miniseries category: Helen Mirren for best actress and Al Pacino for best
actor. This TV movie is inspired by the
client-attorney relationship between music producer Spector and his defense
attorney Linda Kenney Baden, who represented him in his trial for the murder of
Lana Clarkson. The movie’s writer and
director, playwright David Mamet, says that it is a work of fiction, not an
attempt to tell a true story.
The Good Wife is a CBS series that is nominated for best
dramatic television series, best actress Julianna Margulies, and best
supporting actor Josh Charles. The fourth
season is the one currently nominated. Julianna
Margulies won the Golden Globe for best actress in the first season of the show
and has been nominated every year since.
Margulies and Charles have also won Emmys for their work on the
show. Our library has all four seasons,
which centers on the wife of a disgraced state attorney who returns to work as
a litigator to provide for her family.
For something a little lighter, you could try Parks and Recreation, nominated for best musical or comedy television series and best
actress Amy Poehler. This NBC series is
a mockumentary about the workings of local government in Pawnee, Indiana. We have seasons one through four.
Kerry Washington is nominated for best actress in a dramatic
TV series, Scandal. She plays a former
White House communications director who starts a crisis management firm to help
people with damage control after a scandal.
She and her staff have some secrets of their own. The library has the first season.
Our library has some of the other Golden Globe television nominees,
which I’ve featured in previous columns: Downton Abbey, House of Cards, The Big Bang Theory, Girls, and Veep.
We will be getting the animated movie Despicable Me 2 once it’s been
for sale in stores for a month; Universal makes libraries wait in hopes that
you will get impatient and just buy it.
The library staff wishes you happy viewing and happy
holidays!
Note: We will be closed all day on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's Day. We will be closing at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
