Home theater

For a couple of months now, these 3 almost completely unwatched DVDs have been sitting on my kitchen counter. It's a long boring story about why, but which can mostly be summed up by saying they didn't work properly in my DVD player.

It's okay though, I've been reading instead.

But what to trade these in for (and stop wasting the monthly membership fee) has been in the back of my mind.

I had an aha moment a couple of weeks ago, when I was semi-lamenting the fact that my older girls' Jr Lifeguard camp is only a half-day affair. They are not to report to the beach until 1:30 pm for the four weeks of the camp.

1:30 pm??? Well my oldest will love sleeping in, but what then?

I won't be here most days, so how do I make sure that every morning doesn't turn into a brain-rot fest in front of the television....

That's a toughie. But my plan is to actually be okay with the TV, but with some set parameters.  After some required reading time, they can watch a movie every day!

But I've selected the next 20 movies in the queue:

1 The Last Emperor
2 Babies
3 Gorillas in the Mist
4 Temple Gandin
5 Gandhi
6 Water
7 Seven Years in Tibet
8 Invictus
9 Chasing Ice
10 Schindler's List
11 Iron Jawed Angels
12 Mr Holland's Opus
13 Girl Rising
14 Anna and the King
15 The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
16 The Devil's Arithmetic
17  1776
18 Waste Land
19 Dead Poets Society
20 Promises

I have another list of 42 movies at work, which contains most of the above titles, and additional goodies such as:

Au Revior Les Enfants
A Place at the Table
Apollo 13
Be the Change
Cry Freedom
Cry, The Beloved Country
Dead Poet's Society
Erin Brockovich
Fame - 1980
Food, Inc
Gettysburg
Good Will Hunting
Hoop Dreams
Lawrence of Arabia
Lost Boys of Sudan
Madame Curie
Mississippi Burning
Music of the Heart
Philadelphia
Raise the Red Lantern
Stand and Deliver
The Breakfast Club
The Last of the Mohicans
The Karate Kid (original)
Life is Beautiful

But I ask you, dear reader, what have I forgotten?? What else shall we add to the list? What classic teaching movies have I neglected to include? What movies made a lasting impression on you as a youth?