Mr. Maltin organizes his films by alphabetical order. I’m not sure why. It seems to me there are a lot of principles to organize around that would improve the book’s utility, but what do I know? I’ve never been on Entertainment Tonight, so alphabetical order it is.

The first movie in the book is American Dreamz, and I’ve seen it. I can’t say that it held my full attention – I was in a crossword puzzle phase at the time. I was working through a puzzle-a-day calendar, and I rented this on the strength of a newspaper review that made it seem like a savvy political satire. I imagined ‘Bob Roberts’ with better-looking people. Instead, it’s a limp stab at Bush the younger and American Idol that goes nowhere in particular. This isn’t satire, it’s sketch comedy and impersonation.

Leonard closes his review with a flourish.

“Weitz (director Paul) holds a mirror up to American society and uses humor to help us see ourselves at our best, and at our worst.”

We disagree, Len and I.

The next several aren’t available to stream, so I’ve added them to my queue – I’ll get on them as soon as they arrive. They are:

• The Animal Factory
• Aurora Borealis
• Baadassss!
• The Ballad of Little Jo

It’s late, so the movie I’ll be streaming tomorrow is “Better than Sex”