I showed Citizen Kane to my class (I own the blue-ray). Most of them enjoyed it. One student complained this it was 'too old,' so I paused the film and reminded him that Citizen Kane established the foundational grammar of 20-century film-making, influenced directors as varied as John-Luc Godard and Michael Bay, and is as important to film as Beowulf is to Old English literature.

This is for Middle School?  I did watch for a university class once.  I can't remember what it was about in great detail.  He was a newspaper publisher who ran yellow journalism according to wikipedia.  Well, fake news was just as damaging then as today.  The way CNN and other media lie is just as shameful now as 100 years or more ago. 

But, isn't this just too heavy a topic for Middle School kids, though?

Effin' lol