And then the sun itself will turn us all to sand

[sovay]

Spurred by a gloomy desire to know what the hell movie Spike Lee's era-defining Do the Right Thing (1989) lost Best Original Screenplay to at the 62nd Academy Awards, spatch and I just spent the last hour reading Oscar nominations and results from 1990 onward, an activity punctuated by frequent cries of "[X] was robbed!" "[Y] should have been nominated!" and "That was poop!" I had forgotten how many years I had opinions about. I've seen even more of those movies now. I have more opinions.

The answer to our original question, by the way, was Dead Poets Society. My opinion about that is: "That was poop!"

Comments

[moon_custafer]

I once saw The Emperor’s Club (2002) as an in-flight movie for which I hadn’t bothered to get headphones – from what I could still follow of the story, it struck me as better than Dead Poets’ Society, but also in some ways dependent upon it -- Williams again plays a pre-school teacher, but the ultimate lesson is that while his teaching still had a positive effect on most of his students, he probably could have done even more for them if he hadn’t focused on giving extra chances to the “misunderstood” senator’s son who was really an entitled douchebro.

[sovay]

but the ultimate lesson is that while his teaching still had a positive effect on most of his students, he probably could have done even more for them if he hadn’t focused on giving extra chances to the “misunderstood” senator’s son who was really an entitled douchebro.

That sounds fascinating and definitely like a corrective, if not to Dead Poets Society itself, then to the inspirational genre it's part of.

[moon_custafer]

...And of course I meant "prep school." Robin Williams teaching pre-school would have been a different, possibly funnier movie.

[sovay]

Robin Williams teaching pre-school would have been a different, possibly funnier movie.

I'm sure there are entitled douchebro babies.

[ethelmay]

I am sure it would have been better than Kindergarten Cop. Incidentally, my husband's aunt was a preschool teacher in Los Angeles and taught Marlon Brando's son Christian. We have a thank-you letter from him around somewhere. (It's rather wordy. I think M.B. may have been a bit drunk when he wrote it.)

[sovay]

(It's rather wordy. I think M.B. may have been a bit drunk when he wrote it.)

Still cool.

[kore]

'Kindergarten Clown'....?