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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: 2 stars
Summary: The "Brat Pack" lives up to their name
Review: Seven recent Georgetown grads find disillusionment when confronted with "the real world". Realistic elements like unrequited love, faithlessness, and employment trouble are undermined by ridiculous (and unintentionally funny) dialogue. I also had a difficult time believing that these twentysomethings were already undergoing a midlife crisis. Do I watch and enjoy this? Yes. But I don't think that snickering and eye-rolling was what director Schumacher had in mind. Lowe and Moore returned the following year for the superior "About Last Night..."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 80's Classic with a minor 'oops'
Review: This is a great movie from the 80's... no question about that. I just caught an error within the bonus materials on the disc that kind of shocked me. Remember the great Man In Motion (St. Elmo's Fire) song by John Parr? Well, take a look at the artwork within the bonus materials for the music video. These boneheads spelled his name wrong. In case you are wondering, they spelled his last name as PAAR rather than PARR. The DVD is still great, but I would like to personally award the editor who approved the disc for production with the mental midget award. C'mon, it was one of the biggest songs of the 80's... how hard could it be to verify the spelling? ;-)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The fire still burns ...
Review: After multiple viewings over the years, this movie only gets better. The 2.35:1 wide-screen print of this film is a first for me and it presents the movie the way Joel Schumacher intended. (I immediately trashed my old "pan & scan" version on VHS after watching this DVD.)

The video transfer is clean and the variety of audio and subtitles is excellent. The making-of featurette is somewhat short (8 minutes) and the filmographies are incomplete, so I'm only going with ****four stars. Haven't listened to the director's commentary yet but I'm sure it will add another level of enjoyment to this film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I am a child of the 80s
Review: This is my favorite Brat Pack movie, & is especially relevant to my life now. Oddly enough, the movie made sense to me even when I first watched it as a teenager in high school & thought I knew exactly what I wanted out of life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Something for Everyone
Review: This is a great movie for anyone who has ever had friends. A revealing look at what happens to people as they grow up. Invariably some do it faster than others. This is a heart-warming look at the best aspects of friendship such as loyalty and caring for each other. I can only speak for the people who I know enjoy the movie as much as I did, almost everyone will be able to relate to it. I had and still have friends like the characters in the movie and I love them all.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: FUN AND FULL OF HEART!
Review: In this engaging offering, the popular Sesame Street star plays a wealthy philanthropist who opens a much-needed orphanage deep in the worst end of the Bronx. In a graceful gesture, the children give their furry benefactor the nickname, "St. Elmo," only to turn on him when their new home mysteriously burns to the ground, (hence the title of the movie). Did Elmo set the fire for the insurance money, or is someone trying to frame him? A dejected Elmo must go on the lam to clear his name, and while this is clearly the most "adult" of the Elmo features, the entire family should enjoy this entertaining hybrid of "The Muppet Movie" and "The Fugitive."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Facts of Life
Review: This film gives you the predicaments we all face in life. Love, Hate, Jealousy, Obsession, Neuroticism, and Stupidity. Love describes the couple of Ally Sheedy and Judd Nelson. Hate describes the couple when they are involved in a love triangle. Jealousy describes Andrew McCarthy as a scornful writer, jealous of love and those better off than him. Obsession describes Emilio Estevez, whom has your basic puppy love crush on an older woman. Neuroticim describes Demi Moore, who's stepmother's almost dying is causing her to become perfectionist about her funeral. Stupidity describes Rob Lowe, as a jerky husband with a child and wife who cheats and other worthless acts. These are the facts of life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Must-See For Anyone Who's Ever...well...Lived
Review: The reason for the total failure of this movie at the time of it's release is truly one of life's great mysteries. Fortunately, St. Elmo's Fire has a timeless quality to it that transcends it's 1980s fashions and keeps it alive and increasingly more popular with the youth of today. Were it not for the fact that I was three when this movie came out, I alone would have bought enough tickets to boost its sales and help it overcome the griping of misguided critics. Why? Because now, as a freshman in college, this film reflects my and my fellow students' greatest fear-what happens when it's over? Though the trials and tribulations of this group of seven Georgetown graduates may not offer comfort to us, the fearful, at least we can feel we are still normal for being so. The oft-criticized ensemble cast is in truth one of the most brilliant groupings in cinematic history. Despite the fact that each actor has enough strength to carry their own movie (with the possible exception of Mare Winningham's annoying and somewhat out-of-place character), they come together brilliantly as each refuses to play down their role for the sake of the word "ensemble". Andrew McCarthy is a particular stand-out with his portrayal of the cynical, lovelorn journalist Kevin. Though thought of as mainly a character actor, McCarthy finally shows here his true potential for bigger, leading-man-type parts, and his performance will leave the viewer wondering why this great talent has recently wasted his time with such jokes as 2000s Beyond Redemption. Also impressive are Rob Lowe, as lifelong frat guy Billie, and Judd Nelson, as, young, political-type Alec with his eyes on the future and his hands in too many "extracurricular activities" for girlfriend Leslie (Ally Sheedy). Sheedy herself impresses as a career-minded woman in love but not willing to commit to what she knows would be an unfaithful union. Emilio Estevez's Kirby is a character who starts out relatively weak but builds steam as the film progresses. Watching him work through his obsession with a young doctor (Andie MacDowell), is like watching an adolescent work through the final stages of childhood before taking his/her place in the adult world. The cast is rounded out by critically acclaimed Demi Moore, interesting but somewhat less-than-likeable as the "out of control and trying to hide it" Jules, and the rather vapid Winningham, playing a rich nerd who's inclusion in this group of friends is, like the film's lack of commercial success, a mystery. St. Elmo's Fire is truly a must-have for anyone who is about to, is, or ever has experienced the incredible struggle of life in the real world.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: my all-time favorite
Review: Well, let the critics say what they may. I love this movie. I think it's fabulous.

Quite honestly, I've lost track of the number of times I've seen it; I've worn out two videotapes of it, and am making good headway on my third copy.

And why do I love it? I think the messages in it--about love and loyalty, friendship and betrayal, growing up and growing apart--can be applied to every stage of life. The first time I saw it, I was six years old; it was a "Tuesday Night at the Movies" movie...somehow, it related to my life. Fourteen years later, as a junior in college, it still makes sense. I firmly believe that it still will, years down the line. The actors are fabulous, too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Random electrical flashes....
Review: First off, the rating was extremely hard for me to figure out. This is not a dead serious, scholarly film, neither does it claim to have any intelligence other than the little it might. However, considering the fact that it's really quite fluff, I rate it as fluff - and, for that, it's good. [Talk about awkward and uninteresting openings.]

The heyday of the Brat Pack! The Reagan era! Wretched excess in everything from fashion to lifestyle...This movie has many very funny moments, ones that were probably not seen as such when this was made, but as we look back at this film from 16 years later, there are just some things that are hysterical. Too, there are some funny moments, timeless ones. My favorite line has to be the exchange on the fire escape: "...We need an experienced thief." "I'll get Billy." Yeah, so it only works if you've seen the film. Like so many other inside jokes, you can't quite tell if the director was poking fun at self-indulgent college grads or just pondering won't-grow-up-ever's.

But hey. That's why they called it the Brat Pack. And it's quite a showcase of actors & talents, a group well suited to working together. Emilio Estevez is the weakest link here, a pigfaced jerk whom you can feel NO, read that NO, sympathy for. Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, both good actors in their own rights, create a good sense of repartee. Rob Lowe: Man, gives the legacy of Jim Morrison a whole new twinge. Very - how does one say this without undermining acting ability - gorgeous, alright? And honestly, the guy's got chops. This role is good, indulgent eye candy. The women are really good. I don't honestly like Demi Moore, but this role suits her frenetic personality and high-maintenance looks. Ally Sheedy is in what I consider the best character role of the film, Mare Winningham gets to look absolutely awful but gets compensation - if you call it that - for this in the end, in the form of a going-away present. Be that cryptic, good. I hate telling people ends of films.

Other than that, not much to say. Fluff, but good fluff, and a very good de-stresser. Wonderful for a "girl's night out" - Can't live with it, can't shoot it. Have fun.


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