Rating: 
Summary: Estevez and Sheen do it again!
Review: Another fine performance from Martin's young men. A very fine, convincing performance by Charlie and Emilio, well a perfect performance as always. A directorial triumph from Emilio, fresh from his Vietnam epic 'The War At Home', Emilio projects the life of the Mitchell brothers with great verve and vigour, and not a little gusto.
Glad to see Emilio and Charlie starring together after such classic's as Young Guns and Men at Work.
Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: Great film by Emilio. For the budget he had it turned out nicely. One of Charlie's greatest performances. It was a tragic overlook for him not to be nominated for an award because of the subject matter. The DVD has a great audio commentary by Emilio and Charlie.
Rating:
Summary: Good til the end.
Review: I saw it on cable and knew something about them but I didn't know that they were pioneers of the porn industry. They put a soft-core actress Marylin Chambers on the map. The brothers Artie and Jim Mitchell went through ropes with the government and the mob to produce their movies. Their personal lives are another story. Jim was a bachelor while his brother was twice married and divorced. Jim Mitchell was the brother who kept things afloat despite his drug use. His brother Artie, was into parties, guns, and sex. After the courts decided to end porn films, they went into the live sex business. However, Jim needed to get away which did him some good. He had to kick his drug habit once and for all. Meanwhile Artie who had a second wife and two sons was still destructive to himself.
Throughout the movie it was Jim who was his brother's keeper which he could no longer do. It's one thing to help a family member who will help himself. It's another when that member is destroying himself intently while hurting others around him. Artie felt like he was always in his brother's shadow. Jim, as always is there to protect him. Both Sheen and Estevez, real-life brothers, do a good job at portraying the characters and their attitudes. It is a good role for the both of them because Estevez has his head above the water like Jim, while Charlie Sheen has been known for being reckless and has a past drug history. This was a good role for the both of them.
Rating:
Summary: Good til the end.
Review: I saw it on cable and knew something about them but I didn't know that they were pioneers of the porn industry. They put a soft-core actress Marylin Chambers on the map. The brothers Artie and Jim Mitchell went through ropes with the government and the mob to produce their movies. Their personal lives are another story. Jim was a bachelor while his brother was twice married and divorced. Jim Mitchell was the brother who kept things afloat despite his drug use. His brother Artie, was into parties, guns, and sex. After the courts decided to end porn films, they went into the live sex business. However, Jim needed to get away which did him some good. He had to kick his drug habit once and for all. Meanwhile Artie who had a second wife and two sons was still destructive to himself.
Throughout the movie it was Jim who was his brother's keeper which he could no longer do. It's one thing to help a family member who will help himself. It's another when that member is destroying himself intently while hurting others around him. Artie felt like he was always in his brother's shadow. Jim, as always is there to protect him. Both Sheen and Estevez, real-life brothers, do a good job at portraying the characters and their attitudes. It is a good role for the both of them because Estevez has his head above the water like Jim, while Charlie Sheen has been known for being reckless and has a past drug history. This was a good role for the both of them.
Rating:
Summary: The rise and fall of the Mitchell Brothers
Review: I stumbled across this film accidentally, and picked it mainly because it starred real-life brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. I was curious--especially since the Mitchells originated in the small town I now find myself in (although everyone here is in denial).Jim (Estevez)and Artie(Sheen) Mitchell were in the right place at the right time--San Francisco in the 70s--when they began building their empire founded on pornography. Artie's vision was to "make the product and sell the product" and, thus, make and control more money in the process. They opened the O'Farrell Theatre in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, and wrote, directed, and produced their own pornographic films--including the film considered an "adult" classic: "Behind the Green Door." In fact, the Mitchell Brothers "discovered" Marilyn Chambers, and she catapulted to fame as an "adult" actress--thanks to her performance in "Behind the Green Door." Plagued by arrests for obscene materials, the Mitchell Brothers battled any and all charges brought against them by claiming their right to free speech. When "Behind the Green Door" was released, the millions rolled in--but only a relatively small amount of money came their way as pirated copies popped up in adult theatres all over the country. So then the Mitchell Brothers took on organized crime to protect the copyright of their products. The most fascinating aspect of this film was the brother's relationship--there was a little background family information, and the brothers were almost abnormally close. Even their wives were shut out of Jim and Artie's relationship. I also found the brothers extremely interesting--their approach to the business aspect of the porn industry was--quite frankly--brilliant. They were flexible, innovative and ready to respond market change. Unfortunately, when given oddles of money, and endless drugs and alcohol, the chemicals inevitably created a highly explosive situation which was exacerbated by money squabbles. Like most partnerships--things soured. Estevez's direction was marvellous, and my only complaint has to be the bald-skull caps the brothers wore. They looked cheap.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than I thought
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The Sheen Bros play the Mitchell Bros to astonishing results
Review: Once you get past the allure of pornography, Rated X is the true story of two troubled brothers who strike it rich in every respect (money and women) in the earliest incarnation of the modern day porn world. Loosely based on the intense biography, X Rrated, Rated X is also the directorial debut of Emilio Estevez. Now before you laugh, Estevez has a strong command of his vision and crafts a startiling, dark world where a pair of brothers fall into drugs, sex, and money and slowly unravel into despair and mental illness. Charlie Sheen gives the performance of his career as Artie Mitchell, a drug addled, womanizing, porn producer who is eventually gunned down by his brother Jim (Estevez). 'Rated X' shows the earliest struggles of the porn industry against censorship and obsenity and its triumph into the mainstream with the production of 'Deep Throat' and the Mitchell Brothers' classic 'Behind the Green Door.' Eventually, amid the atmosphere of drugs and organized crime the industry falls from the lofty heights of those seminal porn films into a mockery of jokes and sex. This is an excellent companion piece to PT Anderson's 'Boogie Nights.' Where as 'Boogie' deals more with the personalities that existed in the hey day of porn, 'Rated X' gives us the struggle with authorities over obsenity, the triumph of the porn film with a story and the decline into kitch, cliche, and video. Sheen and Estevez's performances are strong and vivid, especially in the sceens together where it is obvious (based on Sheen's drug problems) that the brother's are pulling from emotions they have felt in their lives to add realism to the lives of Jim and Artie Mitchell.
Rating: 
Summary: why bother
Review: One might think it hard to make an uninteresting movie about the porn industry. But Estevez succeeds here in this regard. The film is about the Mitchell brothers, but both characters are so unappealing it is hard to care what happens to either of them. Many issues are brought up that are never resolved, such as distributors showing their films without compensation, for which they threaten to sue, but we never learn what the outcome is. They go from incredibly wealthy to living in run-down homes, but is this because of their excessive lifestyles, or business failures? It appears as if key scenes were left on the cutting room floor during the editing process. There are also several montages, and slow-mos that serve no purpose and do not advance the story. The one courtroom scene where they are tried for obscenity is ludicrous. The defense arguments are silly, and a jury trial would not be deciding constitutionality of the law, only if they broke the law, as passed. Minor problems include showing them as youngsters where the older brother is a large strapping lad, and the younger is rather puny, but then without explanation after seeing the shrimpy Estevez and bigger Sheen, we finally learn that Estevez is actually the older brother. Also, the ridiculous bald heads, where the tops are not even the same color as the rest of the skin and take on a gross greenish color and incredible reflections when shot at an angle. It probably goes without saying that neither Estevez nor Sheen are very capable actors. Sheen is way over the top and Estevez pauses before every line as if trying to remember his cue. [...], this is not Estevez' directoral debut, although it would be easy to make that mistake given the ineptitude shown here. He previously made the abysmal movies 'Wisdom' and 'Men at Work'.
Rating: 
Summary: Brothers Play Brothers
Review: Real life brothers Emilio Estevez, who is a film maker as well as an actor, and Charlie Sheen, who has been through addiction hell, play the real life brothers Jim Mitchell, a film maker, and Artie Mitchell, who goes into a downward spiral from addictions. I found the parallels interesting and perhaps that is what motivated Emilio to tell this story. The love between both sets of brothers seems very real, and watching Charlie (who has been clean and sober for three or four years now) act out the misery of addiction as Artie was unsettling. I didn't notice any distractions with the skullcaps, and I appreciate Emilio's original film-making style. A thought-provoking movie, and if you are a fan of the Sheen/Estevez clan, definitely check it out. Emilio's son Taylor plays Jim Mitchell as a teenager.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Performances makes this an Intense Drama.
Review: This film is Based on a True Story about the Rise and Fall of the Porn Filmmakers, the Mithchell Brothers (Played by Charlie Sheen & Emilio Estevez), who made a famous porn film called-Behind the Green Door. Once they become successful, they have to go through the Gouverment,The Mob & even Eachother to Create a San Franciso Porno Dynasty, but the Drugs and thier Intense Relationship puts them apart. Directed by Emilio Estevez (Men at Work, The War at Home, Wisdom) made a terrfic drama that, it was never release in Movie Theaters. Instend it got debuted in Showtime Entertainment Network. DVD's has an bright Pan & Scan (1.33:1) transfer and an fine Dolby Stereo 2.0 Surround Sound. DVD has an surprisngly amusing Commentary Track by Real Life Brothers:Sheen & Estevez. Watch for film director:Peter Bogdanovich appears as a film school professor. A Must See. Grade:A.
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