Genres

Visitors Review

ZenDream 2012-05-22 07:54:52

Typical movie, making it big, addiction, greed, murder. A well done story on the life of two brothers.

I remember walking thru the times square district in NYC. I seenmassive billboards for 'Rated X', including a building covered nearlyin half with a huge poster type. Including the commercials played overand over. Yeah, it was 'hyped' up at the time, it actually caught myattention. What caught my attention is based on a 'true story' and alsothe actors/true life brothers. Always enjoyed them acting together.It's your typical movie..get success/money, drugs and addiction, greed,fighting among each other, and eventually murder. However it's arefreshing story line with great acting by great actors. Other userscomment says who cares about the porn industry. True, but I didn't seethis movie because of 'porn'. I watched it because it was based on thetrue lives of 2 brothers which spiraled apart due to greed, differentvisions and drugs. Nevertheless it was a great story.Should serve as a reminder to entrepreneurs entering a dark fast pacedmarket, porn, drugs, etc.. greed/drugs/money will usually get the bestof you and tear you apart from the very people you first started outwith.8-9 rating for good story and great acting.

Anyanwu 2012-05-21 21:36:10

Very Underrated!!

This film is/was every bit as good as Blow and Boogie Nights(better thanBoogie Nights). How this did not get a distributor and had to be shown onShowtime I'll never know. For what ever reason the brother's Estevezweredealt a disservice. This should have been seen on the big screen. I'msureI will find out but there has to be something behind the scenes as to whythis did not get a distributor. The movie was good and the reason it didnotget put out was just wrong.

Infofreak 2012-05-16 16:18:12

Rated Crap! But you could have guessed that yourself...

Come on! This movie was directed by Emilio Estevez people, and co-stars himand his brother Charlie Sheen. So if you are expecting something asimpressive and accomplished as 'Boogie Nights' you are obviously insane!Estevez previously directed two of the worst movies ever made 'Wisdom' and'Men At Work', and he isn't getting any better. Martin Scorsese he ain't!And Estevez and Sheen between them have appeared in many of the lamestturkeys of the last twenty years. Add 'Rated X' to thatlist.The story of the rise and fall of the Mitchell brothers, who were partlyresponsible for legitimizing porn in the 1970s with 'Behind The GreenDoor',could have been made into a fascinating movie if it was written, acted anddirected by somebody of greater ability. Which, let's face it, is justaboutanybody. Estevez and co go absolutely nowhere with this potentiallyinteresting material. The brothers relationship is simplified so much, andtheir odd relationship with their father is never fully explored, so wenever truly understand what motivates them, or end up caring about theirfates.The only thing you'll get from this movie are some cheap laughs from Sheenflipping out and hamming it up outrageously. Going by his laughably badperformance in this, and a similar nutty one in 'Bad Day On The Block', heseems to be attempting to usurp Dennis Hopper's crown as the King of ScreenPsychos. After his amusing self-parodic role in 'Being John Malkovich' it'sdifficult to say just how self conscious this is, so I'll give him thebenefit of the doubt. All I can say is that Charlie cracks me up! He's areal card.

2012-05-16 05:21:44

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!

Ace-38 2012-05-11 03:45:41

Exciting, juicy story...reduced to a pile of cocaine

First time I heard of the Mitchell Brothers I was at a friends house,leafing through a "Penthouse" magazine. In the pages I read a story that atthat time had no ending. The story was on San Francisco porn kings Jim andArtie Mitchell. The story was so good in fact, that I forgot about thereason I picked up the magazine in the first place (before the booingstarts, at least I'm honest enough to admit it..lol). Anyway, when "RatedX" was promoed on Showtime for its Saturday debut, I made a point to watchit. I sat there wondering when it would get better.The Sheen/Estevez brothers have created a visual marvel, no question aboutit. The film was wonderfully shot. Great cinematography and that is key tositting through this one.Charlie Sheen steals the movie as Artie Mitchell, the younger of the twobrothers. Charlie's descent into drug and alcohol hell is so believablethat you almost think you're watching his autobiography. Emilio Estevezgives a good performance as older brother Jim, who's dealings with his owndemons lead him to try to help his brother before things go tragicallywrong.Rest of the cast is solid, regardless of the fact that most of them aresimply bit players. The woman who stars as Marilyn Chambers is asbreathtaking as Marilyn herself and bears an almost uncannyresemblance."Rated X" had the subject matter to make a stellar production, but insteadof the why, the director (Estevez) focuses instead on the drug abuse portionof the brother's lives. I know Jim Mitchell himself was contacted, butrefused to cooperate any on the film. Does that have any bearing on the waythe story turned out? Possibly. Still, there's enough information in thepublic record to have allowed us to better understand what happened on thatrainy night than what we got.1 1/2 out of 5

Boggman 2012-05-10 09:32:01

Band of Brothers........

Real life mainstream actors/brothers Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheentake on the amusing and twisted underground characters/brothers ofArtie and Jim Mitchell in "RATED X".Artie and Jim Mitchell were at the forefront of the San Francisco pornrevolution in the early 70's. The owned their owned theater, made theirown 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 suffered a serious backlash- and whilesomewere able to pick up and recover - others only found themselvesthrust deeper into a life a drugs, despair, and eventually murder.The movie takes an unflinching look at a classic time in AmericanHostory, and the story of the Mitchell Brothers is quite amusing andsaddening at the same time.A great directorial debut for Emilio Estevez and some fine acting byboth actors (especially Sheen in the final half of the film) make thisan entertaining "diamond in the rough".Recommended!

2012-05-06 11:09:55

Above average cable biopic.

I just finished the QC of Rated X for the up coming DVD. Iwas pleasantly surprised by this film. The acting was impressive, and thestory of the Mitchell Brothers kept my interest. The greatest praise I couldgive this film; after viewing it I wanted to learn more about the factsbehind the Brothers story. This movie is worth a look, unless the subjectmatter would offend.

r parker 2012-05-06 00:12:15

Watch Charlie Sheen snort mountains of blow

In this HBO flick, the Sheen brothers - Charlie, and his brother,Emilio Estevez - portray the Mitchell brothers, early pioneers of pornfilms.For an HBO film, it's not terrible. For an HBO film, it's got therequisite T&A. As Emilio plays Jim Mitchell, the directing Mitchell brother, so doesEmilio - who directed X RATED.Biopics have a difficult task. No matter the subject, they've tocompress time into under two hours.The usual cues of time passing (period music, flash-forward montages)are all here. As I said, it's not terrible (personally, I think CharlieSheen, playing coke addicted Artie Mitchell) snorting mountains of the'white lady,' is a parable to his real life's pattern. Since the whole story follows a familiar format (quick, early years,long central part, focusing on the rise of the character, thenrelatively short conclusion to end film) many of the other actors'characters are on and off screen so fast, that they mostly go by in ablur, with the Mitchell's being the only consistent charactersthroughout. It doesn't allow for anyone to develop anything substantialwith their character. They're more telegraphing their role.There's not much to 'feel' for anyone. All-in-all, it's a(nother) Cliff Notes bio film.

Lucien Lessard 2012-04-28 14:46:49

Strong Performances by Real-Life Brothers makes this flawed film special.

This film is Based on a True Story about the rise and fall of the pornfilmmakers:The Mitchell Brothers (Played by Charlie Sheen & EmilioEstevez). The Mitchell Brothers made a famous porn film titled "Behindthe Green Door". Once they become successful, they have to go throughthe American government, the mob, the woman's in their lives and eveneach other to create a San Francisco Porn Dynasty but the drugs andtheir intense relationship puts them apart.Directed by Emilio Estevez (Men at Work, The War at Home, Wisdom) madea terrific if wildly uneven drama that, it was never release intheaters. Instend it got debuted in showtime entertainment network.DVD has an bright Pan & Scan (1.33:1) transfer and an fine-DolbySurround 2.0 Sound. DVD has an surprisingly amusing commentary tack byreal-life brothers:Sheen and Estevez.The french Canadian DVD has an sharp non-anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)transfer and an good-Dolby Stereo 2.0 Sound. This DVD is only in frenchwith no subtitles.This is an unfocused but extremely well made film. Watch for filmdirector:Peter Bogdanovich appears in a cameo as a film schoolprofessor. A must see for the performances by Sheen & Estevez.(****/*****).

camraman 2012-04-28 13:05:56

I Was Impressed

At first I was a little skeptical when I noticed the video cassette coverinBlockbuster staring at me beckoning me to rent it. RATED X- it shouted atme. I had read a couple of reviews that said it was pretty good but all Icould think about was the "bomb" "Showgirls." That was a terrible movie.And I haven't seen "Boogie Nights" yet to see if these types of movies areworth their salt.But, I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised to know that Emilio Estevezput together a fine film. I've always been impressed with biographicalmovies and I've rarely been disappointed. My faith has been maintained.Emilio presents a brief historical foundation about the Mitchell brother'sfamily and family life from childhood to college to help us understand thebalance of the movie. Charlie Sheen and Emilio stand out as the Mitchellbrothers as we watch them slip into societies interpretation as the "dregsof society." We watch them develop ideas on how to expand their businessand reach the masses with sex movies aimed at any one who would watch them.Even more enlighting was the interaction they had with their family,especially their father, as they built the business.I must say that the final minutes had me extremely captivated and theopening scenes in this movie kept me wondering.Thanks, Emilio. You did a fine job.

2012-04-25 16:53:34

Better than I thought

I stumbled across this movie one late night. Normally dramas are not my bag. I like Sci-fi and action/adventure what can I say. But I found myself drawn into the film, particually by Sheen's preformance. The film does have it's shortcommings. But overall it is a stark and very upfront portrayal of the people and events. It shows how easy it is for things to spiral out of control and how guys who had everything could never be satisfied. Give it a go. You may be surprised with what you find.

2012-04-25 02:23:06

Good Movie

Charlie Sheen's performance was really good and probably his best since thePlatoon/Wall Street years. Emilio Estevez also was very good in his role.Though not on the level with something like Boogie Nights or The People Vs.Larry Flynt, it was still a solid movie. Slow in parts, though no worsethanany other famous Showtime or HBO biopics.

Michael_Elliott 2012-04-23 01:03:14

Decent

Rated X (2000) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Filmmakers Artie and Jim Mitchell (Charlie Sheen/Emilio Estevez) findfame with Behind the Green Door, one of the few porn titles to hit themainstream. The first half dealing with the porn business in the early70's is very interesting but sadly the second half of the film goesdownhill as we see the two men fall from grace. Estevez directs verynicely but we've seen this countless times and nothing new is reallydone here. Sheen gives the performance of his career and Estevez theactor does a nice job as well.

2012-04-22 13:07:30

Porno doco

It is a doco of making porno at the dawn of the legalizing a business in Hollywood.Sometimes funny, sometimes rude, this work is just of doing cinematographic stuff as usual, leaving authors' porno for X-movies.

vlagal 2012-04-13 02:40:50

No script, boring, makes no sense.

Don't know what Mr. Estevez was thinking; but he wasn't thinking about thescript. The script is so full of holes; scenes that start and don't end,whole story lines that are set up but don't get resolved. This is justawful. The worst part is that both the Sheen brothers do a pretty good jobof acting, it's just that the story never really goes anywhere and thefancyphotography doesn't make up for it.

2012-04-12 19:51:08

Boring

This review is from: Rated X (Unrated Version) (DVD) Theres too much stupid sex senes, and not much of a plot or anything good in this movie.

Da reel AJ McLean 2012-04-09 23:02:07

the most pathetic bio pic I have ever had the misfortune of seeing!

I mean it, I rented this with an open mind, expecting to be clued in aboutthe tragic real lives of the brothers mitchell. What I got was a film thatwent for too long, was too boring and not enough women, even to make it aturn on! It follows a horrible continuity pattern, jumping years at a time,for no reason other than to confuse us! There was no explanation for some ofthe events, and the whole movie was to confusing to follow any realstructure! It seemed to resemble a bunch of film clips that have not beenedited yet! i mean it, this is the worst bio pic of all time! Don't even seeit to get off, because there is not enough women in it forthat!

bazdol 2012-04-09 16:52:55

WHO CARES?

If Charley S. wants to indulge his love affair with porn I guess that's OK,but why spend big bucks on a story that probably few care about. In theirtime, The Farrell brothers were thought of as forerunners of a new, moreintelligent XXX film, but the movement quickly fizzled and the present adultindustry is giving us back to back sex with poor acting for the most partand boring sex at that. Sharp Marylin Chambers has managed to stay aroundthough and overweight as she is, is still making films ("Still Insatiable,""Dark Chambers"). Good for her.Much praise has been given by commentators here for the artsy camera work,which to my mind, simply shows a lack of substance to thestory.

pluto-11 2012-04-05 01:43:29

Good film, could have been great

"Rated X" is a solid good film by the Martin Sheen sons (Emilio Estevez andCharlie Sheen). It would have been a better film for me, however, if theediting and/or story line were a little clearer about the charactersmotivations in the final act of the film. You can clearly see how much thebrothers love each other and yet one threat over the phone sets Jim Mitchellout to kill Artie Mitchell - it just didn't seem to fit for me. The film didshow how out-of-control Artie was getting near the end, but still I justcouldn't buy Jim's explosion at the end - going hunting for his brother witha rifle. Just two scenes before the end you see Jim and Artie as closebrothers, one where Jim saves Artie from drowning and the other with Artiein a hospital bed saying he is going to clean up. And a minute later asingle threat on a phone and boom, Jim grabs the rifle. I didn't feel theemotional transition taking place in Jim from loving brother to murderer ofhis brother.Another difficulty for me was keeping track of all of the woman in the film.It was hard to keep track of which wife or girlfriend each one was when theypopped up in a scene.I thought Emilio's direction was very good. The close close-up's, thebizarre angles - all enhanced the emotional verisimilitude. However, someminor things: I would have liked to have seen more two-shots with Emilio andCharlie acting together - I think one would have had a better chance to seethe characters reacting to each other. I know it is harder to shoot, but Ithink it helps the characters develop better if you have a couple of longerscenes where you can see both characters reacting to each other at the sametime - rather than edited together close-ups to make the conversation.The production & wardrobe designers deserve praise for the accurateportrayal of the 60's and the 70's. I was growing up in Ohio at that time,so I didn't see the extreme fashions of the hippest crowds in San Fran werewearing, but the wardrobe definitely felt accurate to me, as did the sets.There is nothing worse than being jolted out of the story by an obvious flaw- like a 1980's car in a 1968 scene - I caught no sucherrors.They both put in inspired performances - no doubt they are drawing from someof their own experiences as brothers. Again, it would have been more fun tosee them in more long two shots - but it was great watching them all thesame. I also enjoyed the performance of Terry O'Quinn as theirfather.I gave it a 7 out of 10, a good film.

2012-04-04 16:41:23

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.