Originally shown on HBO on May 26, 2002, In Memoriam is one of the most vital documents to emerge after the events of September 11, 2001. Compiled from over 100 sources, this collage of audio, video, and photography will provoke tears, anger, and grief all over again... so why watch it? The title states the purpose: as disturbing as some of these images are, they are also bursting with tenacious and inspiring humanity, bolstered by the wisdom of New York City's then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who recalls--along with his executive staff--the horrendous events of 9/11 as he entered the chaos of Ground Zero. With its closing montage of numerous memorial services, this exemplary 60-minute film, supplemented on the DVD by an interactive timeline of pivotal events, makes it virtually impossible to forget the 3,047 lives lost to terrorist brutality. Despite the astonishing scope of coverage provided, this is not a journalistic endeavor, but a potent visual reminder that 9/11 was a day of unity, transcending the horrors witnessed here.

Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S. president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad bomb-maker Dr. Strangelove; George C. Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses." With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best.