Dead Poets Society

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Summary: Get ready to feel inspired!
Review: Dead Poets Society is set at the very stuffy Welton preparatory school. Boys are sent here to prepare them for prominent careers. Discipline is paramount. Individuality is frowned upon.
New English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) is about to change this. He has a love of poetry, and he inspires his students to carpe diem ('seize the day') and to make something of themselves and their lives, before it is too late.
The story concentrates on the development of the students' individual passions; Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) pursues acting despite his father's insistence on his becoming a doctor, Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) persists in his love of an apparently unattainable girl, and Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) comes out from behind the shadow of his famous brother with the aid of Mr Keating.
This is an ensemble movie, with the entire cast contributing more-or-less equally to the outcome. A slow and slightly pretentious start is rapidly improved upon, and the movie becomes both a celebration of the human spirit and a tragic depiction of what happens when this spirit is suppressed.


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Summary: Gerdi: Touching
Review: I think that movie is great, since it made me dream of being a memeber in such a society. I think it is wonderful to share your thoughts with others and being creative by writing an own poem. Moreover, the lessons made me think about what my verse should be. I really think that it was moving and touching, even though it is a Hollywood movie with all its typical aspects (like the new teacher that is of course totally different from every teacher they ever had)

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Summary: Carpe Diem lads...sieze the day ;]
Review: This is another movie I LOVE and it has assimilated into Melissa

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Summary: Now if it was Collect...
Review: The film Dead Poets Society is a coming of age movie about boys at a prep school branching out. With the inspiration of their new English teacher, played by Robin Williams, the boys revive a society dedicated to poetry. In this society however, the boys help foster freethinking and a certain kind of bravado in their spirit.

The story is focused around the confliction of the boys' new ideas and life compared to the one's their parents and teachers expect of them. Robin Williams plays a great job as their teacher, but I think credit should also be given to the actors playing the "dead poets." This is a good story which is at times heartening and at other times reflective of just the overall difficulties of growing up. If you can't relate to the story then you can at least sympathize. This is overall a very nice film.

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Summary: Great Movie for All Ages
Review: Dead Poets Society is a coming of age story revolving around a group of prep high school students balancing their life ambitions with the will and expectations of their parents. The movie has an excellent young cast, including Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard, as well as Robin William's unforgettable performance as an English teacher pushing his students to be free thinkers, to live life rather than to simply pass through.

This movie has continued to be one of my favorite movies, possibly because I first saw this movie as one of those young, impressionable teenagers that occupied Mr. Keating's class. To me, it is a classic, one in which Robin Williams strikes a balance between the eccentric character that he so typically portrays, and as a passionate, caring, and thought-provoking mentor to his students.

I would like to ask all those who own this DVD a clarifying question. I own the VHS version of this movie, which I am sure is missing some scenes. I can't remember every scene that's missing, but one that I distinctly remember is with Todd Anderson helping Neil Perry recite lines for the play while ourdoors near the lake. While not a very long or huge scene, it still is important in illustrating Todd's growth throughout the movie. It's also annoying just to know for a fact that the VHS version of the movie missing scenes. Can anyone who owns the DVD speak definitively about this? If these scenes are also not in the DVD, does this mean we can expect a "Collector's Edition" soon?

If you own the DVD and can definitively say whether these scenes are in the movie, please respond with a review of your own. Thanks in advance.

Rating:
Summary: OVERRATED!!!!
Review: Dead Poet's Society is beautifully filmed. Unfortunately, that's about all I can say for it. Rebellion is a good thing when it's directed towards a meaningful purpose (advocating free speech, protesting an unjust war, etc.) However, the rebellion pictured in Dead Poet's Society is just rebellion for rebellion's sake and doesn't have anything meaningful to say. The kids in "Dead" get together to read poetry and little else. That's it. There's no greater cause other than "seizing the day." Robin Williams, as the teacher, doesn't direct his student to do anything worthwhile with this rebellious spirit -- just being rebellious should be enough. The characters are cardboard cutouts ... Williams and the students: good; the school administrators, parents and students who cooperate with the administration: bad. It's so manipulative that when the climax of the film began, I just knew the student were all going to stand on their desks to show solidarity with Williams' character. Sure enough, they did. Ho-hum. Filmmaking by the numbers. Just a clue: If you're going to make a film about rebellion, give your characters something worthwhile to rebel against.