Wow! Such a good movie.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Could it have made the transition to TV like 'Friday Night Lights'? I'm hoping in a number of years, the answer to that question would no longer be a mystery!I'm currently in the process of re-watching it, and like most of the films in the same decade (the 90's) – it has that recognisable sweeping score. I think what makes it watchable decades later (like 'Good Will Hunting), is the cast and the writing. Though there are a lot of supporting characters that play teens --- there isn't a constant hum of that annoying teen angst that compels me to stay close to the remote and hit stop…and delete on the DVR.Being a musician, it does get a bit personal sometimes --- and I considered not watching this with anyone else. Though I am comfortable pitching my music to perspective listeners --- sharing my connection with music…feels like letting someone have a peek in a diary that only contained those times when I come across a track that connects with me. Or even, despite the things I'd change…the feeling I get of humility (I'm so blessed to have been in the right place, time and frame of mind --- to be able to create this) and satisfaction (because it could have gone a thousand different ways…and I was able to pick this way…and I'm happy with how it turned out!).Some magic moments for me:(1) Recognising Terrence Howard (He's the guy who joined the band to get extra credit --- so he could make a stronger case to return to the football team), during his first scene with Glenn. Based on the year the film came out, he would have been in his mid 20's during filming. (2) For a moment thinking that Forest Whitaker was there, then before fully dismissing it --- he was (He played the Adult version of the actor who I thought was him). (3) The End --- I was fighting back tears (knowing already what would happen)!

A frustrated composer (Richard Dreyfus) finds fulfillment as a high school music teacher.At first, the story is not about teaching the students, but learning to teach. This is really about the growth of Holland and not such students as Lang. For anyone to learn, they must first care about what they are learning. So one can explain things clearly and get nowhere unless they present it in a context that sparks interest. (Indeed, one can imagine how many things they were "taught" and forgot until it finally became relevant to them.) And later we get the deaf angle. It seems a little forced and almost exploitative. But it does draw that interesting connection to Beethoven, who himself was deaf. How can one of the greatest composers of all time make music he was not able to hear?

Oh for goodness sake. Would all musicians complaining about the music kindly stuff off. I play a bit of rugby but still thoroughly enjoyed "Invictus" despite some ropey rugby sequences. This film is not about the music. This is the wonderful story of an ordinary man who strived to be something extraordinary and always felt as though he had let himself and his family down by not becoming the man he felt he should have been, when in fact he became so much more extraordinary than he could ever have imagined. Mr Holland's opus WASN'T the music, his opus was his pupils and the impression he made on their lives, and the final scene, with his realisation that his life hadn't been wasted is one of the most moving things I have ever seen on screen. So there. I am a big girls blouse.

The same problem that plagued "Akeelah and the Bee" is present in "Mr. Holland's Opus." The various episodes that occurred through Holland's life are each played with the emotional intensity as appropriate for a climax.Thus, put together, the film is skewed by such a sequence of highly charged emotional "peaks." The result is that the drama's form is thrown off, and instead of a general rise to a climactic plateau, the entire conceit is full of too many peaks.By the time the last scene comes, there's no where to go but to pile on the emotion, straining what intensity there is left to the breaking point. If the scenario had been put together with less routinely occurring crises, it would have helped shape the drama more palatably. As it is, by the end I just wanted to say, "Oh please, no more."Richard Dryfuss puts his all into this effort, and his work is most commendable. It's the writer and director that let him down by not better shaping the film's broad structure. A pity, for this could have been a really significant piece of work set in the public schools.