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Wonderland | 2003 | R | - 7.9.10
True story based on the life of porn star John Holmes and his teenage girlfriend, who got involved in a brutal quadruple homicide that took place in Los Angeles in 1981. Val Kilmer stars, and the film concentrates on Holmes' later years as a drug addicted drifter who would do anything to get drugs. His problems began when he crossed the wrong people. Also with Kate Bosworth, Christina Applegate, Lisa Kudrow and Dylan McDermott. Directed by James Cox. [1:46]
SEX/NUDITY 7 - A man and a woman kiss, they kiss again and begin removing each other's clothing; the man removes his shirt (we see him bare-chested), the woman removes her top and we see her in a bra, the man removes her pants (we see her nude from the side, from the waist down), she wraps her legs around his waist and he thrusts (we see him from behind and see part of his bare buttocks). A man kisses a woman, down her chest and stomach. A man and a woman kiss, she climbs on his lap and they continue to kiss. Men and women are shown kissing in several scenes. A man tells a woman to dance for him, he opens his robe (we see him bare-chested and in jockey shorts) and approaches her, he tells her to touch him (we are lead to believe that they have sex and that this is payment for something that her boyfriend has done). A man and a woman kiss in bed. A man is shown reclining on a couch with several scantily clad women around him in several scenes. A man and a woman sleep in bed together (he's bare-chested). A man and two women lie in bed together (it's not sexual). A man is forced to unzip his pants and show his private parts to a crowd of people (we don't see anything). A woman in a revealing swimsuit flirts with a man. A woman sleeps in a shirt and we see her thighs and panties. A woman talks about a man measuring his endowment. A man wears a robe that hangs open and reveals him wearing jockey underwear. A man is shown bare-chested, and women wear short shirts that reveal bare abdomens and cleavage. A woman is shown in a bathtub covered with bubbles. A woman showers and we see her bare shoulders. We hear about a man having been a porn star and that he slept with over 14,000 women.
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VIOLENCE/GORE 9 - A man and a woman are hit in the heads with a metal pipe (we hear a crunch and a splatter), a man is hit repeatedly with a metal pipe (we hear crunches, splatters and screams), and a woman is hit with a pipe (we hear splatters and we see blood spray). A man with a gun to his head stands over another man and hits him in the head repeatedly with a metal pipe and he is covered with the man's blood as it sprays. We hear about four people having been brutally murdered and hear some details from news broadcasts: we hear that they were beaten to death with metal pipes, we see a blood-soaked telephone, we see blood-splattered walls, and we see puddles of blood on beds and floors. Furthermore, we hear that their "skulls were bashed in," a man says he "saw inside" a man's head and that "it opened like a grapefruit." A man is hit hard on the head with a gun, is kicked repeatedly in the stomach and chest while he is on the floor, and then is thrown against a wall, and eventually he's tied to a chair (we see blood on his face and shirt) and is threatened (with a gun to his knee, and his family is threatened with torture). A man is held on the ground with a gun to his face and we see him shot in the back (it's not fatal) and we see this scene several times. A man is handcuffed, forced to his knees, hit on the head with a gun and forced to put a gun in his mouth (we see this scene several times). A woman is hit in the head, and a man hits a woman in the face. A man jumps across a room, lands on another man in a chair, holds him by the throat and pulls a gun on him. A man points a gun at another man's crotch and threatens to shoot him (he shoots into the air to prove the gun is loaded). A man shoves a man against a wall and holds a gun on him. Two men hold guns to a man's head. We see a woman in a hospital bed with bandages on her head and a bloody, badly bruised face. A woman sits in a bathtub and a man scrubs her arm and she appears to have bruises on her face and a bit of blood at her nose. A man is covered with dried blood and he gets into a bathtub and the water is tinged red. Armed police officers crash into a hotel room and hold two people at gunpoint. A man hits a chair against a wall and a television several times, breaking them both into pieces. A man throws a stereo out a window. A man and a woman argue in several scenes, men yell at each other and argue in many scenes. A man yells and acts out of control after having taken no drugs for a period of time. A woman urinates in a soda can (we hear a trickle). We hear that a woman suffers from breast cancer and has had both breasts removed.
LANGUAGE 10 - 123 F-words and derivatives, 7 sexual references, 37 scatological terms, 16 anatomical terms, 4 mild obscenities, 2 derogatory terms for African-Americans, 2 derogatory terms for Arab-Americans, 10 religious profanities, 10 religious exclamations.
SUBSTANCE USE - Many scenes show people smoking cigarettes, snorting cocaine, shooting heroine, smoking a drug and drinking alcohol.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Drug dealing, drug addiction, pornography, the size of male genitalia, marriage, infidelity, promiscuity, greed, male ego.
MESSAGE - Drugs can make you do really stupid things.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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