Rating: Summary: An Excellent Adaptation Review: I enjoyed this faithful adaptation of the Michael Crichton book, and it was nearly better than the book. Michael Douglas plays computer exec Tom Sanders, the leader of the Digicom's Advanced Products Group, who expects to be promoted to Vice President. But Sanders' ex-lover, Meredith Johnson, gets promoted instead. She sexually harasses him on the first day as boss, and Sanders wants to take action. He wants to sue the company. Demi Moore plays Johnson. She does well at the role, although she is not who I thought of when I read the book. Donald Sutherland is Garvin, the CEO who supports Meredith fully. The acting is excellent, and I thought that it was a good adaptation, better than most I have seen. Why is it good? It stays very faithful to the book, and cuts out a couple of subplots from the book that I was not depressed to see go, such as Sanders' old mentor. It also removed some details I thought should have stayed in, but this happens in nearly every adaptation. If you liked the book you will like the movie too.
Rating: Summary: Did I really expect it to be better than the book? Review: I read the book ages ago, and I really had to struggle to finish it. It's over long, convoluted, and there's too much jargon that a simple person like me won't understand. I seriously thought the film would be better, but it wasn't and I'm very disappointed. The only good point about it was Demi Moore's character. Michael Douglas? I don't see what the women see in him, but this was a great film for him, as if you go by what the press say about him, then he really is a sex addict!
The film sticks closely to the book (what I can remember of it anyway) and is full of fancy 'new' technology, with mobiles like bricks etc, which really dates the film. It suffers from the same problem that The Net suffers from. There's no fear about Y2K now (can anyone remember what all the fuss was about?), and everyone has accepted new fangled technology into their lives. There are two main points I noticed between the book and the film: Tom's lawyer, Louise Fernandez, had more of an important role, but in the film she was reduced to a bit part; in the book, they talked about how Meredith Johnson got to where she was (an important key), but in the movie, they left most of that out.
There's a sex scene included in this, which was the worst sex scene I've ever seen. From what it sounds like, Meredith & Tom were in a very passionate, intense, highly sexual relationship years ago, but when they meet again, and she 'seduces' him, there's just nothing there. Even she doesn't try very hard. There's no passion there, and it just makes cringe-worthy viewing. There's no feeling of ever having loved someone, or feeling safe in their arms, or wanting to look into their eyes. This whole scene is just like rape (which it basically comes down): cold, hard, sex.
The thing I loved about this movie was the way Meredith's character changed image-wise. Before she seduced Tom, it was all low cut, short skirts powersuits, lacy black bra etc. After she accuses him of sexually harrassing her, it's all very prim and proper, with the neck of her suit practically choking her.
This really isn't a movie worth bothering with, and neither is the book. If you enjoy having everything discussed in great detail, down to a blade of grass, then you'll probably enjoy this. Otherwise, it goes in one ear, and straight the other. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Rating: Summary: This movie is insulting. Review: I think it was very low that they did a film where a woman who rises to the top of a large company and does this sort of thing shows that Hollywood has not really given women any decent treatment on film. Shame on the cast and crew who did this film.
Rating: Summary: A good movie adaption to a Great book Review: I was very happy with this movie. I always watch the film version of a book after I have read it, and this is one of the few I really enjoyed. Of course, like most movies that started as books, there are a few differences, but nothing big enough for me to complain about. Douglas and Moore do a great job in this movie and make it very believable. This is based on a true story after all. The parts were picked out perfectly also. Even though I didnt picture Michael Douglas as Tom Sanders when I read the book, he does a great job of becoming this character. Overall, this movie is a great thriller with good acting. I would think that 3 out of 4 people will walk away from this movie with a smile.
Rating: Summary: A good movie adaption to a Great book Review: I was very happy with this movie. I always watch the film version of a book after I have read it, and this is one of the few I really enjoyed. Of course, like most movies that started as books, there are a few differences, but nothing big enough for me to complain about. Douglas and Moore do a great job in this movie and make it very believable. This is based on a true story after all. The parts were picked out perfectly also. Even though I didnt picture Michael Douglas as Tom Sanders when I read the book, he does a great job of becoming this character. Overall, this movie is a great thriller with good acting. I would think that 3 out of 4 people will walk away from this movie with a smile.
Rating: Summary: There's more here than meets the eye at first glance Review: I'm not going to rehash the plot or what others have said about this film. I felt compelled to write this review to point out a glaring omission in all the other reviews of this movie I have read. That omission is the fact that Tom Sander's (Michael Douglas') lawyer proved during the mediation hearings that Meredith Johnson (Demi Moore) had planned the "seduction" of Tom THREE AND A HALF WEEKS earlier by proving that her secretary had been sent out then to buy a bottle of Tom's favorite wine, a wine which was not available anywhere within a 500 mile radius of the city (a bottle which she had dishonestly claimed earlier in the hearing that her secretary had bought at the non-existent "corner liquor store" that evening). Think about that. This wasn't just a movie about reverse sexual harassment, although that certainly was one of the main plot elements. She was out to shaft him from the very beginning, long beforehand. When you watch this flick (or rewatch it) pay extra attention to her advance planning and the fact that her harassment charge was just one shot in a war to destroy Tom Sanders. There's more to the plot here than what appears at first glance!
Rating: Summary: Not the anti-PC book that Crichton wrote.....luckily Review: Michael Douglas and Demi Moore fight the battle of the sexes in the film version of Michael Crichton's novel "Disclosure". A rising star at one of those Seattle firms that churns out consumer high-tech, Tom Sanders (Douglas) finds his career at stake instead. Losing his promotion to Meredith Johnson (Moore), who knows less about high-tech than sleeping her way to an exec position, Sanders tries to make the best of things. This is complicated by three things - Sanders's division is having problems delivering a line of new CD-ROM players, his company is in the formative stages of a crucial merger and Johnson has set her sights on him....for something. Sanders and Johnson had had an affair some time before, and Johnson's predatory habits give a not-so-subtle hint as to what that must have been like. When Sanders - now a family man - resists, Johnson turns the tables on him, accusing him of sexual harassment. Director Barry Levinson wisely underplays the controversial aspects of the book. (Despite Crichton's sincere belief that he was taking on a PC establishment that refuses to see women in terms other than victims of aggressive white males, the corporate intrigue aspect of the story undermines this - Sanders's victimization stemmed largely from forces that wanted Johnson to oust Sanders. This is a common occurrence in Crichton's polemical novels where the author rails at forces like PC or media manipulation when some undrlying cloak and dagger is the real culprit.) Those who shun Sanders after Johnson's accusations become known are reacting less to PC angst than a fear for their careers. Instead, Levinson plays up The "man against the conspiracy" angle - with Douglas playing detective, sneaking into computer files, pulling out answering machine messages and tracking down any leads. Much of the suspense is artificial, but it works.
Rating: Summary: Women in power fall hard Review: Narrow minded people have a tendancy to think that ONLY men sexually harass women. However, realists know that is not so. This movie shows us a woman who rose to power (Demi Moore) & sexually harrasses Michael Douglas (her employee) AND by proving him incompetent in the manufacturing sector to get him off the payroll for spurning her years ago.
Rating: Summary: Calculating Demi Moore gets caught in her own net Review: Star thriller about sexual harassment may lack credibility at various points and have convenient plot contrivances but "Disclosure" is an interesting film with good performances. Michael Douglas again plays the part of an harassed and overmatched fellow who is targeted by a predatory female and here he's attacked sexually by former lover Meredith Johnson [Demi Moore] who was just brought into the firm as his immediate supervisor. Moore's role is basically straightforward, a sexy but amoral black widow who glares malevolently at Tom Sanders throughout the film, determined to spin her silk threads around her fly before moving on to more important matters, such as running DigiCom her way. Sanders has an uphill battle on his hands even though he is the wronged party. Roma Maffia has a nice turn as a tough, no-nonsense attorney, and Caroline Goodall and Jacqueline Kim are good in supporting roles.
Rating: Summary: Discloses nothing. Review: Tacky thriller that lures one into thinking it's going to be controversial. One thing about *Disclosure*, it's not unprofessional: director Barry Levinson, in his (apparent) tale of sexual harassment, delivers a pretty hot payoff early in the movie that certainly appeals to our prurient interests. During the first half-hour, we wait for Demi Moore to "attack" Michael Douglas, and she certainly does, to our voyeuristic delight. Indeed, the entire movie fairly hums with a rancid energy that's at times entertaining to watch. But the plot soon reveals that the filmmakers aren't really all that interested in the subject of sexual harassment, even if the woman's the harasser. Lust is doubtless too deep a subject for them to want to fool around with, so they simply make Moore's character a cold career-type whose motives aren't sensual but strictly professional. She wants Douglas out of the company, and her attack on him turns out to be just a devious means to a desired end. This gives Levinson further license to waste our time with (now horribly dated) "virtual-reality" scenarios involving corporate espionage. (The "digital" Demi that appears when Douglas is in the virtual-reality world looking for some file or other is a pure howler. Almost makes this movie worth a rent.) *Disclosure* finally becomes just another dumb suspense movie. But Demi sure was something in those days, eh?
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