The Scarlet Letter (1995)

Ludicrous adaptation of the classic 1850 novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. You can virtually hear him turning in his grave.

Demi Moore is wildly miscast as Hester Prynne, who begins an affair with the Reverend Dimsdale (Gary Oldman) in a small settlers community in 1667 Massachusetts. Hester believes her cruel and abusive husband is dead – until he shows up (in the form of Robert Duvall). 

The film unnecessarily adds a plot about a war between the settlers and natives. It also adds a quite dodgy montage scene when the couple first consummate their relationship. Moore is absolutely out of her depth as an actor.

The DVD box has some weird marketing messages on it. Two of the quotes refer to "fun". The film is many things, but fun isn't one of them.

A Few Good Men (1992)

Directed by Rob Reiner (adapted from a play by Aaron Sorkin), but not up to his usual standards. 

Tom Cruise plays a military lawyer who has to defend a pair of US marines accused of killing a soldier at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. He spends a lot of time fiddling with his baseball bat. Demi Moore plays Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway. Jack Nicholson is a suspicious colonel. Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon also feature. 

It’s a little like a TV movie in places, and the music seems generic. Tom Cruise is exactly like he is in all his other films – cocky, fast-talking and apparently good at everything. Demi Moore struggles with a role that’s not really fleshed out. Only Jack Nicholson holds your attention, and even he isn’t given much to go on. Unless you’re keen on Cruise and his standard range of tics, it’s oddly unfulfilling.

Indecent Proposal (1993)

A young couple struggling for money, David (Woody Harrelson) and Diana (Demi Moore), are offered a million dollars by wealthy businessman John Gage (Robert Redford) if he can spend a night with Diana. The pair are faced with a choice that will have huge implications for their lives. 

It’s an intriguing premise and the fall-out on the couple’s relationship makes up the bulk of the story, even though the initial premise itself is hardly explored at all. Details of the million-dollar night in question are discreetly avoided after the initial set-up in which we see Diana being whisked to a private yacht. You could argue that this is a wise move – we experience the same doubt and confusion about what went on as David – but it seems an oddly evasive approach for a film constructed on the very premise of that night.

Directed by Adrian Lyne, the film isn't sure whether it wants to be a thriller or a drama. I expected more running around, more psychological warfare and more peril, but the stakes remain disappointedly low. 

I liked the notion of Robert Redford as the villain, since he so rarely plays baddies, but the plot ultimately decided to show him as a nice guy. And it didn’t examine the more intriguing question of what kind of nice guy offers to buy a woman. By raising interesting ethical and personal issues and then shying away from them, Indecent Proposal ends up seeming merely glossy and a little shallow.

Margin Call (2012)

Finance thriller set at the beginning of the 2008 monetary crisis. 

When a management division head (Stanley Tucci) is fired from a Wall Street investment bank, he passes a memory stick to a junior banker (Zachary Quinto). It turns out that he has uncovered the perilous state of the company. The matter is escalated up through the ranks of bosses played by Paul Bettany, Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore and Jeremy Irons. 

Set in a 24-hour period, the film builds its drama from the human situation alone. There are no car chases or guns, no explosions or fights. It examines the ethical issues of the company selling off worthless packages in order to save its own privileged few. 

Spacey is brilliant as seemingly the only employee with a conscience, not coincidentally making him the one character you can emphasise with. Bettany is highly watchable as the (possibly suicidal) head of credit trading.

It’s very nicely shot, too: lush and stylish in a way that really understands the faceless aesthetics of the corporate world.

Ghost (1990)

The passionate romance between New Yorkers Sam (Patrick Swayze) and Molly (Demi Moore) is cut short when Sam, a banker, is murdered. But his ghost learns that Molly, a sculptor, is in danger and tries to warn her with the help of a fake medium (Whoopi Goldberg). 

It’s a strange mixture of romance, drama, thriller, ghost story and comedy. Sometimes those elements seem to jar, but I rather liked the sense of incongruous genres slamming into one another. Also the story seems oddly preoccupied with the practicalities of being a ghost, despite some inconsistent “rules”, perhaps because the filmmakers were keen to show off the “walking through walls” special effects.

The biggest problem is Patrick Swayze’s acting. There are too many lingering shots of him supposedly looking surprised, bewildered or angry, but he doesn’t have the flexibility or emotional range to convey those feelings. A better choice might have been Michael J. Fox, whose natural charm and gifts for physical comedy would have fitted better. 

Despite all the limitations, it’s highly entertaining. And I’m always happy to hear “Unchained Melody” by the Righteous Brothers.

St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)

Fascinatingly 1980s “Brat Pack” drama about seven friends who have just graduated. They are about to embark upon adult lives, and they drink and smoke excessively while attempting to navigate their tangled relationships.

It’s possibly the template for Friends, but without the jokes and the strong writing. In fact, there’s something rather unappealing about the film’s self-consciousness.

Morally, it seems quite confused and the troubles encountered by these wealthy, spoiled kids – what we’d now call “first-world problems” – don’t seem especially important.

There’s a completely flawed thread about one of them (Emilio Estevez as Kirby) becoming obsessed with a medical student (Andie MacDowell). Something in the execution of this plot simply doesn’t ring true. It would have been a tighter storyline if he’d been infatuated with one of his six friends, pulling the focus back into the main group.

The seven main actors get equal billing in the credits (named alphabetically), which suggests there were ego and/or payment disputes in the background, but some of them are stronger than others. Demi Moore is probably the most credible as the cocaine-addicted party girl. Rob Lowe is hard to believe as the thrill-seeking, sax-playing Billy, who somehow had time to have a wife and child already. I also don’t believe Judd Nelson’s character would have liked Andrew McCarthy’s character, or that glamorous yuppie played by Ally Sheedy would have had time for earnest, frumpy girl played by Mare Winningham.

While there are some good lines (the script is better than it might have been), it’s ultimately as immature and shallow as its characters.