It just wouldn't be Halloween without watching some Simpsons Halloween specials. Granted, I haven't watched a new one in quite a few years (has anyone?), but the classic era episodes are essential Halloween watching. Here, then, are the ten best segments from the annual Halloween episodes of The Simpsons. #10: Starship Poopers Treehouse of Horror IX October 25, 1998 When Maggie loses her baby legs and sprouts a crop of writhing tentacles, it's revealed that Homer isn't her father at all. The secret truth is that Marge had been abducted and inseminated by Kang, a drooling space octopus. Kang, as the rightful babydaddy, wants to take his daughter home; Homer wants none of it. Naturally, they go on The Jerry Springer Show to settle the dispute, which leads to the following exchange: Marge: I can't believe it. Jerry Springer didn't solve our conflict. Lisa: And now he's dead. Hilarious. #9: Dial "Z" for Zombies Treehouse of Horror III October 29, 1992 Bart and Lisa, as have so many children before them, inadvertently raise the dead and unleash a horde of brain-starved zombies on Springfield. Once the undead masses threaten to overtake the town, it's up to the kids to cast the spell that will send them back to their graves--but not before ...

Stephen King is my favorite author and I've no qualms about saying it. Sure, there are those who will say, "Oh, poo poo, such popular pulp, that nonsense shouldn't be your favorite." Fuck that noise. Stephen King tells a heck of a story. To be fair, I haven't loved all of his books. It would be pointless fanboy gushing to say that I did, so I'll admit that I could do without Cujo and Gerald's Game and a couple of others. But even when I haven't loved one of King's books, I've at least found it interesting, and I've found all of them to be worth reading at least once. Movies based on his stuff are another matter entirely. They range from the superb and brilliant to the embarrassingly dreadful (for example, Children of the Corn, which was so awful that it spawned six sequels and is, of course, being remade), with most of the movies falling somewhere in between in the land of the mediocre. Let's take a look at some of the films that rise above the pack. #10: The Shawshank Redemption We've all seen The Shawshank Redemption thirty million times thanks to that period of about five years in the 90s ...

In honor of the momentous news that Futurama will again be gracing the airwaves with new episodes, it seems only fitting that this week's Wednesday Top Ten be about the best episodes from the series' original run. And while it's always a pleasure to talk about Futurama, this has been the most difficult top ten list yet for me to compile. There are just so many great episodes! I'm sure some of you will carp about the absence of "Godfellas" on this list, or be puzzled at the inclusion of "The Farnsworth Parabox" instead of one of many other hilarious episodes, but this is my list; as someone who's devoted a lot of time to watching Futurama instead of graduating from college or making friends, I feel I'm qualified to make these judgments. #10: The Farnsworth Parabox The Professor invents a cardboard box containing an entire parallel—and possibly evil—universe. Virtually every line uttered by every character is hilarious. GREATEST MOMENT PROFESSOR: You people and your slight differences disgust me! #9: The Luck of the Fryrish In this surprisingly touching episode, Fry learns a thing or two about lucky seven-leaf clovers, his brother, and grave robbing. GREATEST MOMENT The Planet Express crew is watching a Behind the Music style show. WHISKEY ...

It's not exactly a secret that movie sequels rarely live up to the quality of the movie they follow, much less surpass it. But it's not wholly unheard of, and so I present to you the ten best sequels that are actually better than the movie(s) before them. Quite frankly, it was tough to come up with ten titles, and I had to break a rule I set for myself a couple of times to make the list complete, but we'll discuss that when we come to it. Like right now, for example. #10: Army of Darkness Initially I didn't want to include any movies that were third in a series, wanting to deal expressly with initial movies and their immediate sequels. But first of all, that became difficult. Secondly, I would have been forced to overlook Army of Darkness, and overlooking Army of Darkness is the biggest mistake mortal man can make. CLICK THESE WORDS TO SEE AN AWESOME COLLECTION OF ARMY OF DARKNESS MOMENTS. I don't mean to say that the first two movies in the series, The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 are in any way lacking, but holy cow is Army of Darkness a thing to see. It's the ...

The official Disney Animated Features canon fast approaches fifty films, spanning the decades all the way back to the late 1930s. While some are undeniably better than others (who really needs The Aristocats and how many people do you know who have seen or even heard of Saludos Amigos), many of them are undeniable classics likely to live forever.  Here are the ten finest. #10: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White goes down in history as the one that started it all, so its place on lists like these is all but secured. But even if this had just been one somewhere in the middle, it would stand out as a worthy entry in the canon. I've no objective way to judge this, but with its catchy songs, charming characters and moments of genuine emotion, I'd bet Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs dazzles today every bit as much as it did when first released. #9: Alice in Wonderland It's only fitting that one of the greatest children's books of all time should have led to one of the greatest children's movies of all time. That's Disney standby Sterling Holloway (best known, arguably, as Winnie the Pooh) as the Cheshire Cat! #8: Peter ...

We've all had the experience of really enjoying a movie, only to tell our friends about it and find out they all hated it and are all laughing at you when you get up to go to the bathroom. Here are ten such movies for me, ranging from some I kinda like to some I really love, but all of which earn me cock-eyed looks and a bewildered "Wait, really?" #10: Batman Returns Now, I don't love this movie, but I do like it. It definitely deserves better than the reputation it has and despite the above trailer making it actually look pretty terrible, I'm ever willing to defend it. My colleague Mark is on record saying: "I don't really enjoy watching Batman Returns at all." Well, you know what I don't enjoy, Mark? I don't enjoy that time in middle school gym class that you turned up all the doors on the lockers so they were stuck open and then wouldn't confess for a while and everybody in the class almost had to run a bunch of extra laps. That's what I don't enjoy at all, buddy! #9: BASEketball This is the only movie I can think of that gives you the chance to ...

#10: "A View to a Kill" by Duran Duran, 1985   You can surely tell that this song dates from 1985, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, nobody remembers Duran Duran now, but way back then this song went all the way to number one, making it one of the most successful of the Bond songs. Dance into the fire. Do it!   #9: "All Time High" by Rita Coolidge, 1983 The movie was called Octopussy, but that's a tough title to make a love song out of, so you'll forgive them for going in another direction. The track didn't have the success that "A View to a Kill" would, but it did reach number one on the Adult Contemporary char—but try not to hold that against it. It also contains a line that nicely sums up what the Bond movies are: "a sweet distraction for an hour or two." #8: "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Sheryl Crow, 1997 When a song mentions "martinis, girls and guns," you know it has the best interests of James Bond at heart. #7: "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" by John Barry Orchestra, 1969 Poor On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Everybody's always bagging on the flick because it's the one with George ...