5/5 A CLASSIC
  by M. Bullo
What makes a classic? Heart, inspiration, joy, and chance - this one has them all and a kick-a** soundtrack to boot!

4/5 Guilty Pleasure POOR DVD PACKAGE THOUGH
  by mskrisclark (home)
I remember when the film came out. The big deal that was made about it.

I caught it on pay cable TV. I liked it.

Music is the best part of course. The Oscar winning song & the other hit songs from it.

With the DVD it is good to FINALLY see the film widescreen.

STILL TO THIS DAY THE EDITING BETWEEN JENNIFER BEALS & Marine Jahan
WHO DID THE DANCING IS A PUT OFF. Why? The wigs. Simple. The far away shots of Alex dancing when it is when you can tell that was NOT Jennifer by the bad wigs.

The 80's package. A LOT OF PROBLEMS.
1. THESE HORRIBLE LITTLE FLIP OPEN DVD PLASTIC CASE
2. NO EXTRAS AT ALL, NO MAKING OF OR ANYTHING
3. The 80's DVD package here comes with a CD with it. SO, YOU WOULD EXPECT SONGS FROM THE FILM, REMEMBERING OF COURSE AN OSCAR WINNING SONG & SEVERAL HITS. NOPE, 4 songs NOT related to the film.

Small part with Cynthia Rhodes who had the larger part in Dirty Dancing. And, character actress Micole Mercurio who also appeared in While You Were Sleeping & The Client & Robert Wuhl from Batman, Bull Durham & Cobb.

Buy this edition ONLY if you are a fan of the film & DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE FILM.


4/5 Talk about iconic 80s movies, wow
  by Alexander M. Walker (Chicago, IL USA)
Flashdance stands out in my mind as one of the most iconic films of the 80s. That's not to say it had a large political impact, pressured social movement or even significantly changed lives. But it did leave a lasting impression on pop culture. If you pay attention to music videos it's impossible to count the number of times the final scene of Flashdance has been parodied or honored. Even in the modern pop culture world Flashdance gets its share of nods. The two that are coming to me as I write this: a scene from Shrek 2 and the movie Billy Elliot. In the case of Shrek 2 - it's just one of many films that have parodied the over the top dance sequences performed by Jennifer Beals throughout the course of the film (the one in question being the dramatic bucket of water dump with her back arched in a chair). If you can't imagine what I'm talking about just rest assured - you've seen it parodied at least once before.

Alex Owens (Beals) works as a welder by day amongst the men whom she entertains by night as an exotic dancer. Only, her exotic dances reek of experimental and self-expressive over the top choreography. Practicing every night, she dreams of studying at the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance. During her nights spent dancing and talking with her friends the stand-up wannabe cook, fellow dancer and her newfound boss-turned-beau she inches closer and closer to the resolve necessary to put in an application to the school.

Flashdance, as I've said, is iconic. Love it or hate it, its influence on every dance film afterwards can't be denied. Like any 80s movie it has its fair share of montages to skip through the training sessions and nights out. The character Alex Owens marks an odd twist on the strong female character. Unlike the Ripley's of Horror or Eva Perons of Drama, Alex Owens knows what she wants but lacks the resolve to do anything about it. In fact, as far as strong female characters go, Alex blazes an odd zigzag both away and towards the furthering of strong female leads in one stroke. While requiring the encouragement and nods of both her grandmother and boyfriend when it comes to applying to study at the conservatory, in every other field of her life she's fiery and knows exactly what she wants. It's an odd contradictory pair of qualities to instill in the same character and it, oddly, strengthens the plot while weakening the character.

Looking back at Flashdance, it's important to remember that the song "Flashdance - What a Feeling" won the Best Song Oscar for 1983. The song permeates the entire film with various reprisals popping up almost every 10 minutes until its final full play-through in the final scene. Every dance movie you've seen that came out in the 90s used the formula laid down by Flashdance. Girl wants to dance. Isn't sure of herself. Spends time building resolve. Applies. Succeeds. Hell, even Billy Elliot follows that route; in which case you can replace "girl" with "boy".

Jennifer Beals, as an actress, is a mixed bag. She pulls off Alex Owens convincingly for about 85% of the movie and only ever falters in the more dramatically serious elements where her performance just seems to fall short of capturing the given scene's gravity. Dance-wise she's tremendous, or at least I think it is. Keep in mind I'm pretty uneducated in that aspect of the Arts.

DVD Extra Features:

The "I Love the 80s" Edition of Flashdance has little to show for itself on the extras front. With little more than subtitles and additional audio tracks the disc feels quite empty. To perhaps counterbalance that shortcoming, the "I Love the 80s" Edition comes with a 4 track CD of 80s hits by a-ha, Echo & the Bunnymen, INXS and Erasure. It's certainly a respectable musical lineup but let's be honest - 4 songs on a CD don't make up for a lack of audio commentary or featurettes.

Flashdance holds the rare title of being one of the few 80s movie classics that's created a legacy for itself from its highly memorable dance sequences - even if you've no interest in the film, because maybe you think it's too chick-flick-like, let me remind you: it's iconic movies like this one that help you understand the references and homages present in the modern films of today. See it for research for all I care but Flashdance is a piece of cultural film history.

5/5 FlashDance
  by Publisher and Author Jane Bragg
I have always enjoyed this movie as its very inspirational.
This movie gives hope to people who has dreams and desires in
their lives.In parts of this movie there are no so good seen.
But, this will show you no matter how bad life can be,that there
are happy endings too.

5/5 Take your passion and make it happen.
  by J. Peterson (Columbus, Ohio United States)
OK. I'm an 80's kind of guy. I admit it.

But those who cheapshot this movie miss the point -- i.e., it's fiction... but with a more-than-valid message for today.

IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, WHO WILL?

This is "Rocky" for girls. (But, let me tell you, the message isn't lost on us guys either.) Yeah, it's got its crude and rude moments... but isn't that a more-than-appropriate description of the very world in which we dwell? By 2009 standards, it's so very very tame. Sad, really.

But mixed with the banal of this movie is real beauty. (Not to mention Jennifer Beals herself. Is she really almost 50?) The beauty of lives facing fear and failure head-on. And triumphing over it. Exaggerated movie fantasy? Perhaps. But who really sets the boundaries for our lives other than ourselves? I would argue that there are many real-life examples of success that could trump those portrayed in the film.

Bottom Line: "If you give up your dream, you die."

Rather than listen to all of today's naysayers, I would just watch this movie again. And again. And again.