Dead Poets Society (1989)

Director Peter Weir's lyricism may sometimes seem out of place in modern Hollywood, but there is no denying that this warm, touching tale struck a chord with audiences around the world. Robin Williams plays the unconventional teacher at a stuffy boys' school in late-1950s America, who awakens a love of poetry and writing among a disparate group of troubled adolescents headed by Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke. However, the individualism he fosters eventually leads to tragedy. The two young leads - along with Josh Charles - turn in subtle performances, and the film is lusciously photographed and genuinely moving, even if Tom Schulman's Oscar-winning screenplay does lurch occasionally into mawkish melodrama.