Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen bring to the screen the critically-acclaimed true story of the Mitchell Brothers, the original San Francisco sex entrepreneurs. A truly daring portrait of the early days of American pornography.Customer Review: Yes, it's rated X (or should be)
Emilio Estavez directed this, but one wonders why. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a movie about two porn movie directors is not going to win any Academy Awards. What was Emilio thinking? You can play it as tragedy. You certainly can't make heroes of these guys. I guess what he was thinking was this was a part of America from the sixties to the nineties in the twentieth century--this was the reality and let's tell the truth. But somebody else might say, why bother? Most critics and viewers would call this a prize turkey, but...but is there some redeeming social value? Charlie Sheen and Estavez star as the brothers Mitchell, two entrepreneurial guys who stumble from the free love scene of the sixties in San Francisco to the cash cow of the first widely distributed porn movies, including the infamous "Behind the Green Door." Maybe there is a kind of free speech angle here, with the porno boys fighting the good fight against censorship and Big Brother. On the other hand, there is a didactic tale here about how success corrupts and how sex, drugs and rock and roll--forget the rock and roll; this is almost pure sex and drugs--how sex and drugs may lead you to make a movie called "Sodom and Gomorrah" which may suggest that you ought to be starring it in. Charlie Sheen is very good and so is Estavez. His direction is also not bad. The movie moves right along and the degeneration of the brothers is well expressed. Megan Ward had a chance in a supporting role here, but she failed miserably, possibly because how could she feel any connection with a role that made her the quasi-tolerant, quasi-suffering wife of a man who makes his living pandering to lust (and indulging his own) while smoking, drinking and snorting anything he can get his hands on? Not pretty. However, I wouldn't be surprised if someday in the distant future, long after I am gone, in some social science class at say Cal Berkeley this movie is played as augmenting an anthropological study of a certain segment of our population in the later part of the 20th century. The students can see this as a film documenting the moral corruption of a nation following Vietnam and the Nixon administration, perhaps even anticipating the moral corruption we see today. But I would advise you to skip this unless you are a big Emilio Estavez fan, in which case this is a must see, or if you are a Charlie Sheen fan, and then it is worth seeing because this is one of his better performances--and it's amusing to see these guys in their bald domes and their side burns and authentic seventies attire. To be honest, I've seen people win Academy Awards who weren't half as good as Sheen was. Naturally this won nothing.
Customer Review: Band of brothers.....
Real life mainstream actors/brothers Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen take on the amusing and twisted underground characters/brothers of Artie and Jim Mitchell in "RATED X". Artie and Jim Mitchell were at the forefront of the San Francisco porn revolution in the early 70's. The owned their owned theater, made their own X rated films- and lived a life of abundant excess. When they created/produced/wrote and directed "Behind the Green Door", they found themselves thrust in the spotlight - and made millions. Unfortunately, their success sufferd a serious backlash- and while some were able to pick up and recover - others only found themselves thrust deeper into a life a drugs, despair, and eventually murder. The movie takes an unflinching look at a classic time in American Hostory, and the story of the Mitchell Brothers is quite amusing and saddening at the same time. Great direction by Emilio Estevez and some fine acting by both actors (especially Sheen in the final half of the film) make this an entertaing "diamond in the rough". Recommended!
We now have an energy crisis beyond any proportion in our American history. It's really our fault. We sat on our collective asses and let our government allow the contributors to their campaigns make hundreds of billions of dollars while eliminating subsidies for alternative energy over a decade ago. We have the ability to eliminate oil as a primary fuel within five years if we force our government to invest in our country instead of telling us about "free market" forces until we all choke from coal plants and have to do our banking at the Saudi Branch Bank on the corner of Main Street and Far East Avenue. The Hoover Dam was build by the government during one of the worst economic times we've ever seen. It provides an enormous amount of power, imagine that concept with solar mirrors and windmills.
Public projects such as roads, bridges, and power plants gave this country the ability to prosper and grow. We here in the Southwest have more solar emittance than anywhere else in this country. If you don't believe that, come out to Vegas in August and see for yourself. The title line of this blog comes from the movie "Fools Rush In," and there are days in the summer that question is heard from anyone venturing out for a walk on the Strip.
There is no viable reason for our government to not put together an energy policy and participate in solar, geothermal, and wind resources here in Nevada. The Bureau of Land Management owns over 75% of the land in the State of Nevada and the military uses millions of acres as well. The time for rhetoric about privatizing is over. The regime in Washington is more concerned with Yucca Mountain than it is building breeder reactors to use the resources of the tons of fuel they would bury for 250,000 years. France has been using breeder reactors for many years and it is only our paranoia that the byproduct of the process-plutonium-is a crucial element in nuclear bombs and (God only knows how) might be stolen and used to make one. Never mind if one wants plutonium from a nuclear energy facility in a civilized country they would have a better chance of stopping the earth's rotation. People now drive to Mexico from San Diego to buy gas at half the price because the government subsidizes and runs the oil business. That is not even what I am asking you to ponder-just get the government to begin to put plans and efforts in place to use what has been given to us as an unlimited free resource. It is in our scope of national security.
There are answers, there is hope, but only we can make that a reality by demanding it. The sun shines on Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada-start using the gifts we been given and get this parasitic government to do what it is supposed to-our will! If we do, the resulting power will eventually cut off all money flowing to foreign countries for energy resources-and that without the shell game of opening up drilling that the politicians are already counting on to increase the flow of money in their pockets. Of course now we have no choice, they have to drill offshore, but do you think that's going to lower the price of oil substantially? It will not happen.
There's just no excuse not to act as you-Mr. and Ms. John Q. Public are paying through your noses because you have not spoken up and allowed this all to happen as your comfortable existence wasn't disturbed. All that's changed now-are you ready to deal with it?
Nick Oliva (O-lee-va') has been a musician, composer, photographer, an audio engineer, an Entertainment Director and Technical Director for over twenty-five years and is a successful self-made money manager. Website: View my blog and buy my latest book at http://www.onlymomentsbook.com
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