Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Art mimiking life, 29 Aug 2002
By A Customer
Charlie Sheen probably plays his greatest role since Platoon in this 'Rise and Fall' story of an aspiring film student and his brother as they effectively invent the cinema-pornography market. Co-starring Emilio Estevez plays the on-the-ball brother who watches his brothers fall from grace.It all sounds a little familiar, and sure it's not the first time Sheen has played a character who's gone off the rails, and arguably, it's been done better. The story is interesting, and, despite some variable acting quality, Estevez and Sheen make for interesting viewing. Sure, you may only watch it a couple of times before this DVD starts collecting dust, but it's a good view for a quiet wednesday evening ing
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
epitome of excellence, 27 Sep 2002
There was not one bit of acting in this which I found lacking, but - of course - the stars were definitely Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen. The acting was emotive, the filming was dramatic, the shots were effective (without being sickening) and the storyline was beautifully painful and all the more so for being a true story. Charlie and Emilio showed great bittersweet chemistry and worked really well together. The shots of Artie frantically ranting on the phone to anybody he could think to call were beautifully played out and wonderfully directed. Although I do think Emilio stole the show and don't see how he got second billing!
This movie is a fine example of cinematic brilliance and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in studying various effects, fine acting and an all round good storyline.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, it's rated X (or should be), 8 May 2007
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 [...] 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 [...], drugs and rock and roll--forget the rock and roll; this is almost pure [...] and drugs--how [...] 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, that 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 you've got 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.
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