Sunday, August 03, 2008

Movies

We watched Searching for Bobby Fischer today. It's one of my favorites - not just because it's about chess, but because it is a good story.

The ABA journal recently came out with a new issue that lists the top 25 law movies of all time. I won't do the whole list, because it's 25, but the top five are all movies I have seen or would like to see (or would like to own):

1. To Kill a Mockingbird. This is one of the top ten movies of all time, in my opinion. It's not quite as good as Citizen Kane, which is the best movie ever, though I've never seen it (that was for you, Photog), but it really is a good film. It holds your attention - it held my attention as a 9th grader who wasn't interested in anything.

2. Twelve Angry Men. I watched this one in Junior High, as well and while I didn't pay as much attention to it, I remember bits about it and remember it as one I'd like to pick up someday - a great study.

3. My Cousin Vinny. I probably would not have ranked this one in the top 25 myself, but it's a good film, with perhaps the best opening argument ever: "Everything that guy just said is bullshit."

4. Anatomy of a Murder. I watched this in Criminal Trial Advocacy. While the class setting and the constant pausing of the film for the professor to explain finer points of law wore on me, the movie itself was actually pretty good.

5. Inherit the Wind. This is the story of the Scopes Monkey Trial. This trial is one of the cases that first interested me in the law in the first place. I've not seen this movie; someday I will.

1 comment:

photog said...

I have a long list of great movies I've never seen. But I'm afraid that, after seeing them, I might have to remove them from my list.

I saw "My Cousin Vinny" only recently. A co-worked quotes the movie incessantly; I always laughed politely. Finally, I admitted to never having seen the flick, and she brought it in the next day. It was funny, but certainly not one of the 25 all-time greatest. (And Marissa Tomei, while great, was not deserving of an Oscar).