Brat Pack Collection (1984)

Sixteen Candles
Molly Ringwald established herself as the teen queen of the '80s in this fresh comedy. The movie is a day in the life of Samantha, whose 16th birthday is turning out to be anything but sweet. All the traumas of teendom come down on one long day, which sees Samantha surrounded by dithery relatives, mooning over a high school hunk, and pursued by a sawed-off Lothario. Sixteen Candles marked the directing debut of John Hughes, and its goofy energy displayed a promising talent with a great ear for high school lingo ... a promise neglected since Hughes became, after Home Alone, a one-man entertainment industry. There are some pretty crass moments (Why the stereotype of the foreign-exchange student from Asia?), but Ringwald's steady appeal smoothes over the rough spots. As the pubescent, self-styled lady-killer, Anthony Michael Hall turns in a hilarious portrait of a young swinger; he and Ringwald would reteam with Hughes for The Breakfast Club, another key teen picture of the decade. --Robert Horton

The Breakfast Club
John Hughes's popular 1985 teen drama finds a diverse group of high school students--a jock (Emilio Estevez), a metalhead (Judd Nelson), a weirdo (Ally Sheedy), a princess (Molly Ringwald), and a nerd (Anthony Michael Hall)--sharing a Saturday in detention at their high school for one minor infraction or another. Over the course of a day, they talk through the social barriers that ordinarily keep them apart, and new alliances are born, though not without a lot of pain first. Hughes, who wrote and directed, is heavy on dialogue but he also thoughtfully refreshes the look of the film every few minutes with different settings and original viewpoints on action. The movie deals with such fundamentals as the human tendency toward bias and hurting the weak, and because the characters are caught somewhere between childhood and adulthood, it's easy to get emotionally involved in hope for their redemption. Preteen and teenage kids love this film, incidentally. --Tom Keogh

Weird Science
Yes, that is Bill Paxton as Ilan Mitchell-Smith's militaristic big brother. And that's Robert Downey Jr. as one of the in-crowd jerks who makes nerds Mitchell-Smith and Hall's lives miserable. Fortunately, this is a John Hughes comedy and our smart nerds create the perfect woman, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock), using a computer and voodoo. Lisa is a willing sex toy, has magical powers, and just wants to help the boys get even and meet nice babes. She even cleans up. The fantasy ebullience of Hughes is given full rein here and that's good and bad (mostly good). It's all aimed at a certain kind of hormone-addled, 16-year-old sensibility; but who doesn't have a little bit of that in them? --Keith Simanton Amazon.com

Weird Science but no Elmo? WTF?

This movie pack has two series flaws:

(1) It does not include St. Elmo's Fire, which is universally considered to be one of the two core Brat Pack movies. No Brat Pack movie pack is complete without St. Elmo's Fire.

(2) WTF is Wargames doing in here? Wargames isn't a Brat Pack movie! Yes, it has Ally Sheedy in it, but Matthew Broderick has never been in any other movies with any Brat Pack members, so he is not a member of the Brat Pack. And starring only one member of the Brat Pack does not make a movie a Brat Pack movie.

Basically, this movie has one core BP movie, one peripheral BP movie, and one non-BP movie. It is also worth noting that in addition to not being a Brat Pack movie, Wargames isn't even a GOOD movie, and in addition to being only a peripheral BP movie, Sixteen Candles is pretty mediocre. I have no idea whether they did this on purpose or not. Since this box basically got things about half right overall, I'm giving it 3/5. Also, Wikipedia has an excellent article on the Pack, which is worth reading.

P.S. If you want to see a good '80s movie with Matthew Broderick, then take a day off with Ferris Bueller :) September 28, 2008

Gen-Xers Unite!

So, this is now under the "Brat Pack Collection". These are all CLASSIC movies. In each movie, we were or we knew each character presented. And I think that is the charm of these movies. While they may not be "best of the best" movie-wise, they are still good movies. Never seen them? Who cares? You'll love them. That right age (or close) when they first came out, YOU'LL LOVE THEM. This is one blast from the past that still stands the test of time. If you don't laugh and/or cry during at least one of the movies, you're not human. Of the three, Anthony Michael Hall's scene in Breakfast Club is stunning. And anyone who has ever seen the movie knows what I'm talking about. Sit back and enjoy these three movies. They are each of us. April 27, 2008

Fun Packaging!

It's not your average, boring rectangular packaging-- It's shaped like a 3-ring binder! Opens up like one too! great gift for any Brat Pack lover. January 5, 2008

The Brat Pack Review

These films are my all time favorites and I was glad to see a collection for purchase. The only thing that bothered me was the sound quality. I don't know if it was my television or those movies, but I had to keep turning up and down my volume. It really seemed like it was the movies. The one that was most noticable was, The Breakfast Club. I think it is still worth purchasing this collection versus buying them separately. It is more cost effective this way. December 14, 2007

Loved it!

Great nostalgia trip! If you love the 80's, this is a must have. I thorougly enjoyed all three movies and also there's a bonus CD with some great songs from that time. All in all a great value. October 1, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...