I went to see this on Tuesday, February 17th, 2015, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO for the 5:50 p.m. show in auditorium 8, 7th row ( counting from the front ), 9th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $6.25 ( $6.25 All-Day special price ). I bought a $6.95 medium Buttered Popcorn + a $0.65 upgrade on a free small ( special offer on my Cine-Mark movie reward e-mail coupon ) Powerade Mountain Berry Blast at the concessions counter.
Quickie Review: A young and innocent woman, Anastasia Steele ( Dakota Johnson ), is thrust into the private, kinky world of a handsome young billionaire bachelor, Christian Grey ( Jamie Dornan ). She becomes fascinated by his self-assuredness and domineering ways with young impressionable females; and, he, in turn, is drawn-in by her plainness and naivete.
I shall have to step aside and have somebody else comment on this subject:
from: THEYCALLMEMUMMY.COM
My precious children,
Tonight, I succumbed to peer pressure (exactly what I caution you NEVER to do) and went with a bunch of girlfriends to see Fifty Shades of Grey. I ignored the little voice in my head that implored me to just say “no!” because, after all, it’s just a silly movie, right? Well, I wish I had done as I always tell you to do and given that voice credit because it was right. The thing is, I’m also kind of glad I didn’t because now I have these words for you.
One day, in the not very distant future, I’m going to blink and gasp as I realise you’re suddenly old enough to see movies like Fifty Shades of Grey, yourselves. Of course, you or your friends may even decide that curiosity wins and risk sneaking a peek even earlier than that. Either way, I have to accept the hard fact that your innocent eyes and your uncorrupted minds are going to see this drivel sooner or later.
I am writing this so that when that day comes, you’ll recognise Fifty Shades of Grey for what it is, rather than what it pretends to be.
Let me begin by telling you what Fifty Shades of Grey is not.
It is not a love story.
It does a pretty convincing job of masquerading as one, for sure, but please believe me when I say that love doesn’t even have a cameo role in this plot.
Romance is glaringly absent, in fact. As for harmless S&M, please understand that this screenplay’s message is the polar opposite of harmless. In this ‘harmless’ piece of fluff movie, a rich, handsome, experienced man uses his power to seduce and manipulate a young, innocent student into doing a lot of things she is extremely uncomfortable doing.
They are not equals. They are not partners. There is, in fact, no ‘they’ to speak of at all.
Rather, it’s a movie about a narcissistic man’s controlling and violent sexual desires and his sense of entitlement to use and abuse a vulnerable young woman’s body and mind as tools for his own gratification. It’s all about his needs, coupled with the arrogant expectation that she should comply, regardless of her discomfort, to please him.
I sat in the theatre and looked around me at hundreds of women, buying into this so-called ‘sexy love story’ and I felt sick. If an entire theatre of women three times your age couldn’t see how damaging this plot line is, how on earth are teenage girls and boys supposed to?
Please, my daughters, don’t allow this romanticising of sexual domestic abuse fool you into believing that you should ever allow yourself to be treated like Anastasia Steele. Please, my son, don’t watch this one day and believe that it’s ever okay to intimidate, manipulate or disrespect a woman like the ‘hero’, Christian Grey. Nobody, male or female, wants or deserves to be disrespected, manipulated or violated against their wishes.
I hope, when the day comes that you’re grown up enough to be in a relationship, that you’ll understand that what goes on behind bedroom doors should always be pleasurable for both of you, regardless of your tastes. I hope you’ll understand that consent given under duress isn’t consent at all. I hope you’ll demand respect and that you’ll give respect in return.
Tonight, I walked out of the cinema feeling terrified and a little sad for your generation. If this is the movie that you base your ideals of love and romance on, then I need to make some things very clear and I hope you’re listening.
If someone wants to be with you, turning up at your part-time job unannounced when you haven’t ever even discussed that you have one and acting possessive when a co-worker talks to you is not romantic. It’s creepy.
If you say you’re a virgin and he responds by violently deflowering you, that’s not love. That’s assault.
If he tracks your whereabouts when you’re out clubbing and takes you to his hotel when you’re too drunk to make a rational decision, then undresses you and puts you in his bed for the night, that’s not protective. It’s stalking. In fact, stalking is the least of what it is.
If he turns up inside your apartmentuninvited, it’s not romantic. It’s breaking and entering.
If you tell him you’re not interested and you ask him to leave and he responds by tying you to your bed and having violent sex with you after you repeatedly say “no”, all the while threatening to do worse if you make a noise, it’s not passion. It’s rape.
If he sells your car and buys you a new one without your permission “to surprise you”, it’s not romantic. It’s theft and manipulation.
If he monitors your phone calls and threatens you with physical harm because another man calls you, he’s not in love with you. He’s abusing and controlling you.
If beating you with a leather strap until you cry is what gives him pleasure and he asks you to do it despite your distress because it turns him on and then plays the victim to explain it all away, there is no soundtrack in the world that should quiet the voice in your head that yells out that love and romance were never in the picture and they never will be.
My children, this film was deeply disturbing to me, and I have life experience on my side. I shudder to think that you are going to grow up with stories like this to model relationships on and that you or the people you date will mistake this for ‘normal’.
Please, my precious children, know this: Love is gentle. Love never takes. Love does not demand. Love waits for consent. Love doesn’t need helicopter rides and expensive gifts. Love is enough.
When there’s love, the voice in your head doesn’t yell. It simply doesn’t have to.
My children, listen to me on this, if nothing else.
And, if you choose not to listen to me, then listen to the voice in your head.
With abundant love,
Mum
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Well, that was some good observation on the subject, wasn't it?
And, now, for my "two-cents'" worth ....
Let me start with the title, itself. The setting for this movie is here in America. And, obviously, the principal characters are American. Therefore, Grey's named should have been spelled with an "A". British English would call for the use of the spelling, GREY; but American English calls for the use of the spelling, GRAY. I know that the author of the novel that this movie is based on is British. But, still, it should have been spelled in conventional American English. Unless, of course, the story was originally imagined for a British readership.
Now that we're on the subject of when to use the letter, E, it is properly used in ... Blonde ( blond, if the subject is male ), Brunette ( brunet, if the subject is male ) and Fiancee ( fiance, if the subject is male ). 'Get it? 'Got it! Good.
I commented to a female co-worker that the leading lady in this movie isn't "hot". She said that that's how it is in the book. Oops, my bad. ( I would just like to point out that Mr. Grey's receptionist is way hot! )
Speaking of the receptionist, why didn't she say anything when Anastasia tripped and fell? Did Anastasia "fall on deaf ears"? Ha, ha, ha. ( 'Sorry, I couldn't help myself. )
That helicopter must have run out of gas if Christian had to use a car to drive her back home the following day!
You know, I have a hard time associating saggy breasts with a young virgin. Maybe, an old spinster virgin, yes. But a young virgin, no!
Why does this movie remind me so much of Larry Flynt's magazine, HUSTLER'S TABOO, coupled with Bob Guccione's magazine, PENTHOUSE LETTERS? Oops! Well, all I can say is that I'm an aspiring writer and an aspiring writer has got to do what has got to be done. ( Research-wise, of course. Heh, heh, heh .... )
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Hey, wait a minute .... I think that DJ was wrong about the supposed rampant sex between "teens" depicted in this movie! Lesson learned: Don't listen to anyone say something about a movie if said person slept all the way through it in the first place. Ha, ha, ha.
p.s. I couldn't post this on Tuesday because my 2005 Compaq Presario died out on me and I didn't want to fetch my Acer C-7 Google Chromebook at that moment because I lost "the mode" for writing, there and then.
p.s. I couldn't post this on Tuesday because my 2005 Compaq Presario died out on me and I didn't want to fetch my Acer C-7 Google Chromebook at that moment because I lost "the mode" for writing, there and then.
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