8/10
Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures
The movie that taught us to carpe diem, Dead Poets Society stars Robin Williams in non-manic mode as an unconventional English teacher at a stuffy, all-male prep school. He encourages his students (including Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard) to think for themselves—gasp!—but when tragedy strikes, the teach takes the blame. This inspiring and heartbreaking drama scored Oscar noms for Best Picture, Director (Peter Weir), and Actor (Williams), and won one for Tom Schulman's original screenplay.