The American President

The American President is one of my all time favorite movies. My VHS copy of it is actually broken because it's been watched too many times. Last night after Barack Obama's speech, M called and said "he's channeling Andrew Shepard." Within minutes Chris Matthews started talking about the speech as an Aaron Sorkin moment. In case you haven't seen the movie, here's the speech that Andrew Shepherd makes.



Ironically, both men are talking about old, white guys.

Wizard of Oz v. LOTR

The American Film Institute just released it's top movies by genre, and Wizard of Oz took number 1 in fantasy, followed by LOTR: Fellowship of the Rings. Not that I argue with their standings, but I find it interesting that in a category that houses some big budget new movies, Oz is still number one. I am a little partial to it because I spent 4 years studying under an Baum scholar who even taught an entire class that was only about Oz, but when I ask my students how many have seen the 1939 movie (I'm not surprised that many haven't read the book), the numbers seem to be dwindling.

Other interesting winners (to me) included:

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (animation): The order of this category was odd to me. Beauty and the Beast came in above both Shrek and Cinderella, for example, and nearly everything is Disney.
• To Kill a Mockingbird (courtroom drama): one of my favorite movies and books of all time, but I had never thought of it as courtroom drama, which in my mind is more Law and Order.
  
• The Godfather (gangster): Fitting since it made the genre popular.