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St. Elmo's Fire

St. Elmo's Fire

List Price: $14.94
Your Price: $11.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: another 80's flick!
Review: This movie about friends after college is yet another of those 80's flicks that very addicting! I like how these seven friends, all different but linked in friendship help each other in more ways then one.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: From Joel Schumacher, America's worst film director...
Review: I beg all of you to listen to the directors audio commentary. It's the funniest (unintentionally of course) thing you're ever likely to hear.
The man is an utter pea brain.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brat Pack At Their Best!
Review: I think that this movie is, hands down, one of the best movies of 1985, if not the whole 1980s. I think one of the things that make it unique is that it was directed by Joel Schumacher rather than John Hughes, who is widely known for his many teen movies of the 80s. This movie is just so artfully done that you can't help but love it. Granted, there are some parts that seem a little off. I mean, do you really think that Kirbo (Emilio Estevez) would be THAT obsessed with the woman? I thought that was a little odd but the rest of it, for the most part, was right on. I was particularly impressed with Demi Moore's character, Jules, and her "life in the fast lane", which came to a screeching halt in the end and was, ironically, the one thing bringing the group together when they were falling apart. To cut to the chase, I love this movie. It is fantastic acting, fantastic directing, and just all-around good.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Corny Bad
Review: This movie is not the best, but not the worst either(that honor would have to go to Bio Dome). It's just blah. The characters are dull and the whole plot is corny in a bad way. I couldn't really feel myself identifying with any of the characters or caring what happened to them, which is one of the best parts of movies. The only good thing about this movie is the theme song by John Parr. It's an awesome song. Anyway, most of the movies with members of the Brat Pack are overrated and this one definitely fits the bill.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of The Brat Pack's Best
Review: "St. Elmo's Fire" takes somewhat of a surrealist look into the lives of seven friends' post-collegiate experiences. Although the personal and social lives of these seven individuals feature some storybook personas, there's still some very realistic scenes neatly contained within certain happy-go-lucky career-oriented sequences this film conveys, such as the case of Judd Nelson's charater's political aspirations of switching parties from Democratic to Republican, seeing as how it was the 1980's thing to do, but hey, whatever makes him happy. Another such "happy-go-lucky" scenario featured here is Emilio Estevez's character's desire to be that of an "errand boy" type, working for a hot shot businessman while getting his own chauffeur, all the while not having to lift a finger. What makes this scenario more fantasy-based than anything is seeing as how and why a recent college graduate with a law degree would rather opt at being a gopher for some rich guy instead of starting his own law practice, where he could make limitless amounts of money. Beats me. Aside from the fantasy-based scenes, there are plenty of dramatic hooks that make "St. Elmo's Fire" worth viewing, such as the different characters dealing with other career decisions and loves lost (and regained). All the main performers' acting is top-notch, especially Demi Moore's (in an early film role). Moore has a scene where she's featured virtually by herself, which will bring a tear or two to the eye. Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham and Rob Lowe deserve many kudos for their fine performances here as well. Since this is a feature which stars much of "The Brat Pack" cast, including the degree of "teenage-like" angst and socio-political views prominently displayed in the storyline, one would think this is a John Hughes written and directed film, but it isn't. "St. Elmo's Fire" (at least) was directed by Joel Schumacher, although Hughesian themes run rampant throughout much of this movie, as mentioned in the prior sentence. Even Molly Ringwald could have had a place all her own here (why she wasn't included in the cast remains a rather profound mystery to me!). All of the scenes, whether realistic or not, were well written and well thought out, which make "St. Elmo's Fire" a motion picture worthy of adding to your video library today! Even the soundtrack is an essential must-own as well (featuring cuts from John Parr, David Foster, Jon Anderson and others)!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Child of the 80's
Review: This is one of the "defining" movies of the 1980's. And with good reason. First it had almost every major 80's young star in it. If they had squeezed Molly Ringwald in there somewhere, it would have been required viewing for 80's historians.

Imagine graduating from college and then suddenly everything you have prepared for falls away, leaving you hanging onto nothing. That is St. Elmo's fire. It's a legend of sailors following lights that aren;t there. I think everyone has had that moment when you can't seem to find your way. This movie bottles it and packages it. You can put it in your DVD player and watch it like a road map when you need to figure out your life.

I am proud that I was a teen in the early 1980's. The so-called "brat pack" caught a lot of flack in the 80's, but I hold onto these films and this on in particular. I was a defining film in my life. Maybe it will be in yours too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE MOST RE-WATCHABLE MOVIE EVER
Review: Yes, this is my favorite movie of all time.
There is no other movie that I can replay as often as St. Elmo's Fire. Since 1985, I've watched it about 25 times. I don't think I've watched any other movie more than about 4 or 5 times.
If you are interested in psychology, this movie gets better and better with multiple viewings. The actions and re-actions of the perfectly selected cast (except Mare Winningham), continue to intrigue me years later.
Unfortunately, many people today like to "bag" on the 80's and anything that has to do with it. But if you take this movie seriously, the way it was meant to be taken, you will most likely learn something about people, and life in general.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The best of cheesy 80's melodrama
Review: "St. Elmo's Fire," or the film I refer to as "The Breakfast Club Goes to College," is kind of an outrageous look at college graduates. Some have idealistic futures (Judd Nelson as Alec Newberry working for a Republican congressman) and some have problems (broke Jules, played by Demi Moore, has to pay for her glamourous lifestyle). But there is an underlying theme in this movie that is important to mention, and one that has become clear to me since I graduated college. These kids realize that their lives will never be the same. They won't have the same togetherness, the same party they had when they went to Georgetown. They have to make decisions about where their lives are headed, grow up, and face their responsibilities.
There are funny moments that highlight their transition, and even some ridiculous ones. But they try to move on with their lives and roll with the punches. The fashions and music in this film may be a little dated, but the overall concept remains universal.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: glossy piece of 80's junk
Review: Since I was very young, people have urged me to see this movie. I thought, brat pack actors, Joel Schumacher, could be good. I was wrong. Has a nice gloss to it, but there is nothing under the surface. Just empty.
The movie is just so unrealistic. These people live in apartments that look fit for professionals on the job for 20 years. The dialogue is ridiculous and such a group of people would never be friends with eachother. Someone like Demi Moore's character would never speak to someone like Mare Winningham's character.
Two things about the location also bothered me:
When Rob Lowe's character goes to play football on the "Georgetown" campus its the University of Maryland. Something about the fact that they said it was Georgetown bothered me.
The second is that when I walk through Georgetown, I think what a great place to go to school and just generally spend time. What were those brats whinning about?
When you graduate from college, your whole life is ahead of you. It is the first time in your life your destiny is up to you. Why sit around and take yourself so seriously?

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Weird. Just... weird.
Review: Let me start by saying this: in 1985 I was only 2 years old. So maybe I can't fully appreciate the finer points of this movie. The synth-heavy music, for example. But by age 5 or 6, I had a pretty good bead on the 80's, with my mother always listening to that song "West End Girls."
But I digress.
Anyways, I saw this movie for the first time 3 days ago. And I was was just blown away. Not by its virtues or anything.... I was blown away by how utterly vacuous it was. The cardboard characters, the tepid dialogue. Nothing particularly painful, but something like drinking a very bland cup of coffee. I will say this: it was very slick. Slick as Bill Clinton in a vat of 10W-40. I was in a daze after finishing this movie, and not the frenetic coke-induced daze that the actors were probably coasting on. No, it was the daze that comes with realizing that I had just wasted two hours of my life watching "St. Elmo's Fire." In fact, it was such a daze that I flirted with giving it 5 stars, but then I came to my senses. One star off for Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy going from "The Breakfast Club" to this self-involved compost heap, and one star off for Joel Schumacher, who is right down there with Renny Harlin and George Lucas as the worst directors in Hollywood.


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