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St. Elmo's Fire
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // November 20, 2001
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Joel Schumacher - the name alone inspires fear or anger in most moviegoers, familar with the director's history of mediocrity, including such bombs as "Batman and Robin". While the director has offered some decent pictures (the recent "Tigerland", "St. Elmo's Fire"), the focus on his career remains squarely on the failures. "St. Elmo's" is Schumacher's 1985 outing, complete with a relatively entertaining Brat Pack (Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez and others) cast.
The film stars the above Brat Packers as seven college students who have recently graduated and find that the real world is harder than they'd expected. One of the few movies during the mid-80's to focus on this age group, future movies often tried to replicate the success of showing their struggles - some successfully, some not so much so.
The performances of the cast are really quite excellent, especially Mare Winningham, Demi Moore, Estevez and Lowe. While the careers of most of these actors peaked in the 80's and early 90's, "Elmo's" will certainly continue to prove that they are capable of producing an engaging performance. It's especially impressive that these characters are the least bit engaging, since they are presented as fairly unsympathetic, self-centered individuals who have a lot to learn about themselves before they can learn anything about the world around them.
It's not a particularly exceptional film, but it's occasionally fun, nicely acted and has some enjoyable moments. Suprisingly, it doesn't seem too dated, except for the music and some of the clothing.
The DVD
VIDEO: I was really very suprised with Columbia/Tristar's 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of this film, now 16 years of age. While not perfect, the film has held up unexpectedly well over the years. Stephen Burum (Brian Depalma's usual cinematographer)'s widescreen photography remains crisp and clear; some minor shots here and there seem slightly softer than others, but overall, the picture remained bright and generally well-defined throughout.
The picture suffered from very few concerns. Only a few very slight specks came up during the program; most will probably let these go by without even noticing. No further wear was seen - no marks, scratches, etc. The picture has certainly been kept in fine condition and looks exceptionally clean. Some slight edge enhancement was also seen occasionally, but didn't cause too much irritation. No pixelation was noticed.
Colors didn't look faded or problematic, but they certainly look subdued throughout. Flesh tones remained accurate and natural, though. This is a very nice transfer; not outstanding, but certainly better than I'd expected. English, French, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese and Thai subtitles are provided.
SOUND: "St. Elmo's Fire" is presented in Dolby 2.0 or 4.0 audio. The 4.0 track really isn't very active at all, as one might expect from a dialogue-driven drama like this one. Surrounds offer little or no information, mainly there to lightly reinforce the music, but not do a whole lot else. Audio quality remained satisfactory, although dialogue could occasionally sound a bit unnaturally integrated.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Joel Schumacher. Although I've disliked nearly every one of the director's films, he does provide a moderately interesting and informative commentary track. Much of it sort of resembles a "Behind The Music" for the Brat Pack, as Schumacher ponders what it was like to work with this cast way back when and what they've become since. There's not a lot of technical details offered, but Schumacher is insightful about the story and provides interesting information about working with the cast.
Also: Trailer for this film as well as trailers for Groundhog Day, About Last Night and Jerry Maguire. A corny music video, short original featurette and filmographies are also included.
Final Thoughts: I didn't think "St. Elmo's Fire" was an exceptional movie, but there are some decent performances and enjoyable moments. Tristar's DVD presents the movie with good audio/video and some decent extras. Recommended and the nice $19.99 retail makes this disc more appealing.
Joel Schumacher - the name alone inspires fear or anger in most moviegoers, familar with the director's history of mediocrity, including such bombs as "Batman and Robin". While the director has offered some decent pictures (the recent "Tigerland", "St. Elmo's Fire"), the focus on his career remains squarely on the failures. "St. Elmo's" is Schumacher's 1985 outing, complete with a relatively entertaining Brat Pack (Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez and others) cast.
The film stars the above Brat Packers as seven college students who have recently graduated and find that the real world is harder than they'd expected. One of the few movies during the mid-80's to focus on this age group, future movies often tried to replicate the success of showing their struggles - some successfully, some not so much so.
The performances of the cast are really quite excellent, especially Mare Winningham, Demi Moore, Estevez and Lowe. While the careers of most of these actors peaked in the 80's and early 90's, "Elmo's" will certainly continue to prove that they are capable of producing an engaging performance. It's especially impressive that these characters are the least bit engaging, since they are presented as fairly unsympathetic, self-centered individuals who have a lot to learn about themselves before they can learn anything about the world around them.
It's not a particularly exceptional film, but it's occasionally fun, nicely acted and has some enjoyable moments. Suprisingly, it doesn't seem too dated, except for the music and some of the clothing.
The DVD
VIDEO: I was really very suprised with Columbia/Tristar's 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of this film, now 16 years of age. While not perfect, the film has held up unexpectedly well over the years. Stephen Burum (Brian Depalma's usual cinematographer)'s widescreen photography remains crisp and clear; some minor shots here and there seem slightly softer than others, but overall, the picture remained bright and generally well-defined throughout.
The picture suffered from very few concerns. Only a few very slight specks came up during the program; most will probably let these go by without even noticing. No further wear was seen - no marks, scratches, etc. The picture has certainly been kept in fine condition and looks exceptionally clean. Some slight edge enhancement was also seen occasionally, but didn't cause too much irritation. No pixelation was noticed.
Colors didn't look faded or problematic, but they certainly look subdued throughout. Flesh tones remained accurate and natural, though. This is a very nice transfer; not outstanding, but certainly better than I'd expected. English, French, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese and Thai subtitles are provided.
SOUND: "St. Elmo's Fire" is presented in Dolby 2.0 or 4.0 audio. The 4.0 track really isn't very active at all, as one might expect from a dialogue-driven drama like this one. Surrounds offer little or no information, mainly there to lightly reinforce the music, but not do a whole lot else. Audio quality remained satisfactory, although dialogue could occasionally sound a bit unnaturally integrated.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use film-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Joel Schumacher. Although I've disliked nearly every one of the director's films, he does provide a moderately interesting and informative commentary track. Much of it sort of resembles a "Behind The Music" for the Brat Pack, as Schumacher ponders what it was like to work with this cast way back when and what they've become since. There's not a lot of technical details offered, but Schumacher is insightful about the story and provides interesting information about working with the cast.
Also: Trailer for this film as well as trailers for Groundhog Day, About Last Night and Jerry Maguire. A corny music video, short original featurette and filmographies are also included.
Final Thoughts: I didn't think "St. Elmo's Fire" was an exceptional movie, but there are some decent performances and enjoyable moments. Tristar's DVD presents the movie with good audio/video and some decent extras. Recommended and the nice $19.99 retail makes this disc more appealing.
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