Time to Join Netflix

The kids and I walked into our neighborhood video store tonight to rent a) How to Eat Fried Worms (for Grace, b) Ghostbusters (for Johnny) and c) Little Children (for David and me-but it wasn't out yet). Johnny found Superman Returns, and since I told them they could each pick one movie, he put Ghostbusters back. I was trying to pick another selection but was distracted, as Thing 1 and Thing 2 ran around in delight at the visual stimulation of movie covers they recognized. They saw a girl from school they knew. I saw a woman from church I knew. "Wow," I said, "you're really racking up." She had, like 20 movies to rent. The place was busier than usual...and then I noticed that everyone had, like 20 movies to rent. But they weren't renting their movies, they were buying them. Not even from the bargain bin, from the racks! Our neighborhood video store is going out of business as of today because they couldn't work out a deal to renew their lease which expires at the end of the month. I said, "Kids! Not only do we get to rent your movies, we're going to buy them! Let's go find some more!" By the time I made it back to pick up Ghostbusters, it was already gone. Pickins for the good stuff were slim. I think I did well, though, overall. Here's what I came away with, 14 DVDs for just under $60.

1. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants- a surprisingly good chick flick that Kate and I watched and loved two Christmases ago, when David, my dad, and brother all went to the theater to see Syriana.
2. Annie Hall- a classic-can't wait to watch this again (and again and again and again)
3. Breaking Away-a Lightfoot family favorite-filmed in 1979 in Bloomington, IN, where the first four Lightfeet lived while my dad earned his PhD. Because this movie is special to them, it's also special to me. (Maybe a future Father's Day gift? Don't worry, my dad doesn't own a computer, and he's typically about 6 months behind on my bird-spot readings).
4. St. Elmo's Fire
5. The Breakfast Club It will be fun to share these with Grace and Johnny and show them what life was like in the 80's.
6. World Trade Center haven't seen it yet, but thought it would be good to have, historically speaking.
7. Miami Vice-what David got out of the deal
8. Batman-Mask of the Phantasm-for my little superhero.
9. Superman Returns-ditto
10. How to Eat Fried Worms-now Grace can crush on "Billy" any day of the week.
11. Barnyard-why not?
12. Hideous Kinky-because I think I'm in love with Kate Winslet
13. Airplane-"One of the top ten funniest movies ever made," American Film Institute "Have you ever seen a grown man naked?"
14. Flirting With Disaster-one of my favorite movies of all time. A fail-safe fall back whenever Kate or I want to watch something and laugh together and we can't agree on anything else.