No 9/11 column here, but 2 questions: Where are the memorable 9/11 movies? And did we suffer a national panic?

I’m already sick of the 9/11 coverage and it isn’t even September 11th yet. This anniversary is worth noting, perhaps with a day of quiet reflection, if you like that sort of thing. Mainly I find myself thinking right now about friends and colleagues who aren’t with us anymore. I think of these people as friendly ghosts. I don’t mind having them around at all.

But just because 10 years have passed does not mean that the day is particularly newsworthy. I’m seeing a lot of dutiful reporters writing 9/11 stories because their editors expect it, not because something new happened to write about. (Here’s FP’s Joshua Keating with a good overview of the blathering. And here’s FP‘s summary of the TV shows.)

Rebecca (of "War Dog of the Week" fame) asked me tother day if there is a list to be done of 9/11-related movies. The odd thing I really can’t think of a good movie about 9/11 — my measure being whether the movie sticks with me. Even the documentaries I watched, and there were several, struck me as weak.

So where are the memorable 9/11 movies? Is it that not enough time has passed? I can remember back in the 1970s when people were asking the same about the Vietnam war movies, and then a bunch came along, including Apocalypse Now, which is great but flawed, like many of the most interesting works of art.  

The other question, politically more important, is whether we underwent a national panic after 9/11. I think we did. But it probably is too early to tell.