Change Your Image
lor_
Served as Chairman, New York Film Critics Circle: 1993/94.
Favorite interviews were with: Michael Douglas, Sophia Loren, DeForest Kelley, Joan Chen, Joe Henderson, Ismail Merchant, Klaus Kinski, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Spike Lee, Malcolm McDowell, Zoe Lund, Melvin Van Peebles, Ultra Violet, Wolfgang Petersen, Claudia Cardinale, Serge Silberman, Margarethe von Trotta, Alec Guinness, Leonard Nimoy, Susan George, Joseph Losey, Gale Anne Hurd, Dennis Hopper, Peter Greenaway, Katt Shea, Ken Russell, Maggie Greenwald, Jim Jarmusch, Peter Brook, Jurgen Prochnow, Andy Warhol, Judy Davis, Chuck Vincent, Fred Zinnemann, Wim Wenders, Max Von Sydow, Michael Moore, Terry Gilliam, Rita Jenrette, Karen Lynn Gorney, Bruce Beresford, Jack Thompson, Russ Meyer, Sam Raimi, Abel Ferrara, John Sayles, William Greaves, Nino Manfredi, Lee Van Cleef, Michael Cuscuna, Bille August, Jewel Shepard, Andy Sidaris, Michel Deville, Claude Sautet, Claude Lelouch, Alfonso Arau, Alan Parker, Reinhard Hauff, Traci Lords, Jim Jarmusch, Martha Coolidge, Candida Royalle, Giuseppe Tornatore, Edward James Olmos, Paul Hogan, John Mackenzie, Peter Hyams, Jennifer Beals,, Adrian Lyne, Samuel Fuller, Dario Argento, James Toback, Lasse Hallstrom, Fred Williamson, Gabriel Axel, Joe Bastianich, Aaron Sanchez, Danny Meyer, Steve Hanson, Matthew Kenney, Douglas Rodriguez, Simon Oren, Stanley Donen, Lindsay Anderson, Helena Bonham Carter, Edward Pressman, Harold Becker, Larry Cohen, James Ivory, Jack O'Connell, Michael Phillips, Kevin McClory, Jackie Mason, Joan O'Brien, Stanley Donen, Joseph B. Vasquez, Don Bluth, William Lustig, Al Goldstein, Simon Wincer, Valeria Cavalli, Dave Fishelson, Lizzie Borden, Roberta Findlay, Rob Cohen, Doris Wishman, Robert Tapert, Bruce Campbell, Bill Cosby, Pasquale Squitieri, Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Tim Kincaid, Joel M. Reed, Gregory Dark, T.L. Lankford, Fred Olen Ray, Victoria Paige Meyerink, Lawrence D. Foldes, Rick Marx & Ted V. Mikels
Reviews
For Serious Tho! (a cinematic porno) (2024)
Going underground?
In this offbeat Allherluv scene, Jessica Ryan wants to shoot an underground movie recalling the gritty NYC indies of the early 1980s, you know, when Amos Poe, Abel Ferrara, Nick Zedd and Beth & Scott B were experimenting. But the result is more like the Sapphic porn Allherluv fans demand.
I enjoyed the rapport between the two veteran Adult performers, with the conceit that these "college kids" are being played by actresses actually 38 and 40 years old! Their playfulness and naturalness (including willingness to improvise during the sex scene) is outstanding.
In an industry where innumerable new actresses and webcam girls keep appearing on the scene, it's a treat to watch a pair of seasoned pros go at it.
Coming of Age (2024)
Effective MILFing
Kayden Kross's latest porn label MILFY has been packaging its web content onto DVDs this year, beginning with this nice collection of four vignettes.
Her favorite star Maitland Ward is extremely hammy (and exaggerates her sexual noise-making almost as annoyingly as Teri Weigel infamously did back in the '90s) in "Honeydew Maitland", directed by Jay Rogue. She seduces handyman Chris Diamond in a rather silly segment.
Alex Jones is featured in two vignettes, wearing the same jacket but playing different characters. Alexis Malone plays the mother of his ex-girlfriend in "Natalie's Mom's House'. She gives him sort of a mercy f*ck when he drunkenly visits her home in search of her daughter, who long since has left the nest to go to college on the East Coast. He's also a college kid when Savannah Bond seduces him -in that scene titled "Before You Go" he's a pal to Savannah's son.
Remaining segment stars Penny Barber as a housewife who seduces Dante Colle in "Perfect Touch", directed by Kayden Kross.
Crossing the Finish Line (2024)
Squirting on display
These three Girlsway segments provide plenty of squirting, each one presenting a lesbian threesome.
Stella Smut and an unnamed screenwriter are responsible for the silly title vignette: "Why Is It So Wet?'. Premise has Queenie Sateen playing a doctor who wears high heels and whose office is really chintzy. She and assistant Gal Ritchie wear glasses, namely porno shorthand for them being "brainy" professional women. Patient Eilza Ibarra complains of emitting some strange liquid during lesbian sex, and the intrepid professionals investigate by helping her to squirt for them. Result is of course a lesbian threesome right there on the examination table.
I suppose squirting fans will dig this one, but it's silly throughout, courtesy of director Stella Smut and the unnamed scriptwriter.
In "Crossing the Finish Line", three beautiful Black runners follow their marathon race, still wearing their outfits with assigned numbers on them, by having sex at home on the couch. Usually, the followup is to put on those silver-colored capes and go out for some healthy pasta, but Girlsway is all about sex.
Nicole Kitt, Olivia Jay and Destiny Mira make for a solid team here with a somewhat throwback element in the "all-Black cast" aspect of the vignette, just like in the early 1980s when all-Black porn videos appeared aimed at a niche audience.
For "Fortune Favors the Bold", Katrina Colt plays a woman with a crush on her roommate Alina Ali who, under the guise of a birthday present, concocts a dumb scheme of getting Jayden Cole to pose as a psychic to give Ali a special reading. Cole is a fake, just there to promote the idea that Ali will have a great love, namely with Colt.
It works, but is transparently fake and Ali doesn't mind, with the result of a lesbian threesome on the living room couch. The attractive ladies deliver hot sex but as often is the case the scene is so phony the viewer is "in on the joke" immediately and simply watching all-sex content with the token scene set-up just that, token and fake.
East Side/West Side: Go Fight City Hall (1963)
Scott's rage against the machine
Starting with a terrific, insightful screenplay by William Altman, this segment sums up the thrust of the East Side/West Side series' concept, pitting social worker George C. Scott against the intractable establishment. His explosive performance, paired with career-peek assignment for character actor Clifton James, makes for a riveting, intellectually stimulating hour of drama.
The story is set up as a traditional "root for the underdog" saga, the sort of sure-fire crowd-pleaser epitomized by Sly Stallone's "Rocky" a decade later. But Altman opts for a realistic, frustratingly pessimistic depiction of the world as it is, namely how a bureaucracy (in this case the NYC web of dozens of departments, whose compromises and big decisions seem impenetrable to the common man - the 8,000,000 people living in the Naked City.
Clifton James plays a neighborhood grocer, whose building that he leases is condemned by the city as part of a huge urban renewal project just getting underway (after seven years of planning and fighting for approval) to replace the nearby slums with a school, housing and other modern improvements.
James is fighting to stay put, where he follows generations in the family business and to protect the nine tenants in his building from being summarily uprooted. Scott tries to convince him to make way for the greater good, and when he decides instead to go to bat against impossible odds to save this man's life and livelihood, George's superiors (including Elizabeth Wilson -his adversary in this episode) remind him of his duties as a city social worker and give him ultimatums to cease and desist.
Altman creates plenty of drama in delineating both sides of the story, leading to a bravura climax scene where Scott blows his top and gets violent in a vast computer room (housing perhaps a UNIVAC or IBM apparatus), railing against a smug technocrat in charge, nicely played by a young Charles Durning. He follows up in the next scene blowing up against the NY bigwig who has successfully been responsible for the massive city planning projects named Hollister (played by Paul McGrath), clearly modeled after the infamous Robert Moses.
Unlike "Rocky" and many a Frank Capra movie, reality wins and our heroes are defeated. This series was unafraid to go against audience expectations, much to its credit, while clearly lessening its chance for success in the commercial world of network television.
MILF Makes Three Vol. 1 (2024)
Three-ways and blondes
Directors Kayden Kross and Jay Rogue maintain a light-hearted mood in this DVD set of four MILFY vignettes, all featuring threesomes.
Blondes Charli Phoenix and Rachael Cavalli co-star in "Anniversary Shoot", as sexy models in bikinis recreating a magazine photo spread washing a hot red sports car. Anton Harden has been hired as the new production assistant on the shoot, and the ladies quickly seduce him into a threesome before the cameras are scheduled to roll.
Harden returns in "Mature Woman Fantasy". He and his petite girlfriend Amber Moore are seeing psychiatrist Cory Chase, because Amber is hung up on her extreme attraction to mature women. Cory believes some hands-on treatment is in order, and when her lesbian scene with Moore begins, Anton cannot resist joining in for a 3-way. In both vignettes, Harden's acting is poor, but he's Kayden's favorite performer based on his reliable sexual prowess, period.
Moore gets a second scene titled "The Ruler", directed by Jay Rogue. Brittany Andrews stars as a teacher, whose student Isiah Maxwell dreams erotically in class of a threesome with teach and co-ed Amber. Andrews delivers anal sex in this segment, which carries over the casting of blondes with a BBC performer for interracial content.
"Thirst Trap" is a rather dumb scene in which Holly Hotwife (yet another blonde) seduces bartender Vince Karter. His cutie girlfriend Leana Lovings gets mad but is easily seduced by Holly for a -guess what? -threesome. I hadn't seen Holly before, and she proves to be a talented Adult performer.
Your Witness (1950)
Unsung Montgomery classic
As director, Robert Montgomery displays considerable intelligence here, using a leisurely pace and disarming comedy relief in emphasizing British versus American conversation. When those crucial scenes central to the main story and high drama come to pass, they are all the more effective by way of contrast. The kid on the witness stand is as potent as "Witness for the Prosecution" with Dietrich by Billy Wilder years later (Agatha Christie's play was first produced in 1953).
In his final movie role as actor, Montgomery impressively dominates the screen as protagonist in nearly every scene, investigating the case and interacting, sometimes comically but potently as the show's drama escalates. Similarly, the supporting performances by Patricia Cutts, stepdaughter Ann Stephens and Leslie Banks move from low-key to powerful and poignant by the eventful final reel.
Four Star Playhouse: The Gun (1954)
Manipulative, stupid script
Dick Powell generally starred in quality segments for Four Star Playhouse, but a truly awful screenplay by Frederic Brady ruined this assignment. It's beyond bad.
Story premise is basic: Dick Powell plays a cop having breakfast at home with a stereotyped '50s TV family, when his gun, parked by his wife in the kitchen, goes missing. When Powell discovers it's gone, all hell breaks loose (with Mickey Mouse-ing soundtrack music accompanying to lamely signal: Danger) as he and helpful neighbors start frenetically searching for it.
Brady's script has a ridiculous succession of people just wandering into the kitchen one after the other, so as to create a lengthy list of suspects, everybody from the mailman and milkman to a juvenile delinquent, Even his three cute, rambunctious kids are suspects, and just for good measure, Brady makes Powell's wife not a Barbara Billingsley or Jane Wyatt type but instead suicidal!
The suspect I figured was most likely is lost in the script -Powell doesn't even go after him. Upshot is that Powell, clearly a sympathetic character/hero, ends up alienating everybody, another obvious script failing.
In total, one of the worst.
Danger Man: The Hired Assassin (1961)
Judy, Judy, Judy!
An early appearance by Judy Carne, well before her instant stardom via "Laugh-In", is the only redeeming feature of this episode, featuring a particularly lousy supporting cast.
Stereotyped Latin bad guys (played by Brit talent of course) and fake studio setting (with stock footage for crowd scenes) make for a dull attempt at suspense. Pat is undercover playing a hitman and his acting is rather poor, but he manages to outwith the nitwits playing local terrorists out to assassinate a visiting president in a fake South American country San Pedro.
Judy looks terrific and sings a song in a nightclub (using mild Spanish accent) to open the show, but her character as one of the terrorists is poorly conceived and she is dropped from the script way too quicky. Show is yawnsville from there, a sad assignment for such a fine movie director as Charles Frend ("The Cruel Sea" and "The Long Arm") in mid-career. Coincidentally, Frend was the editor on Hitchcock's "Secret Agent" in 1935.
Girlsway Originals: Crossing the Finish Line (2024)
Sex instead of pasta
Three beautiful Black runners follow their marathon race, still wearing their outfits with assigned numbers on them, by having sex at home on the couch. Usually, the followup is to put on those silver-colored capes to keep warm and go out for some healthy pasta, but Girlsway is all about sex.
Nicole Kitt, Olivia Jay and Destiny Mira make for a solid team here with a somewhat throwback element in the "all-Black cast" aspect of the vignette, just like in the early 1980s when all-Blackorn videos appeared aimed at a niche audience. Current porn has something of a double standard: for boy/girl scenes Black actors are plentifully employed generally humping white girls, but the "interracial sex" niche doesn't seem to automatically extend to Black actresses as a marketing ploy.
Girlsway Originals: Fortune Favors the Bold (2024)
A goofy mode of seduction
Katrina Colt plays a woman with a crush on her roommate Alina Ali who, under the guise of a birthday present, concocts a dumb scheme of getting Jayden Cole to pose as a psychic to give Ali a special reading. Cole is a fake, just there to promote the idea that Ali will have a great love, namely with Colt.
It works, but is transparently fake and Ali doesn't mind, with the result of a lesbian threesome on the living room couch. The attractive ladies deliver hot sex but as often is the case the scene is so phony the viewer is "in on the joke" immediately and simply watching all-sex content with the token scene set-up just that, token and fake.
Girlsway Originals: Why Is It So Wet? (2024)
Squirting is (he-he) real?
There are obvious clues as to the lack of seriousness in this episode, and it doesn't even list a writing credit (someone's ashamed?). Premise has Queenie Sateen playing a doctor who wears high heels and whose office is really chintzy. She and assistant Gal Ritchie wear glasses, namely porno shorthand for them being "brainy" professional women. Patient Eilza Ibarra complains of emitting some strange liquid during lesbian sex, and the intrepid professionals investigate by helping her to squirt for them. Result is of course a lesbian threesome right there on the examination table.
I suppose squirting fans will dig this one, but it's silly throughout, courtesy of director Stella Smut and the unnamed scriptwriter.
MILF Supreme (2024)
For DVD fans
This DVD compilation provides quantity porn from the MILFY label, via gangbangs, top names and a chance to see the all-time great Tanya Tate thankfully back in action (seducing young Dan Damage in "Too Much Sun", directed by Derek Dozer).
Taking on a horde of studs are Cory Chase, playing the college headmaster versus her student body, as well as Aussie superstar Savannah Bond taking on all comers. Add to this another veteran: Brandi Love in a threesome titled "The Boss' Wife" (directed by Dozer) and you have a worthwhile alternative to subscribing to such specialized porn websites. Brandi is terrific (as usual), seducing two of her husband's employees (Dante Colle and Troy Francisco) at hubby's request. The unusual story premise combines the husband's interest in hotwifing with his (evil) interest in getting control over new hires.
NOTE: This 2024 MILFY DVD release is not to be confused with a 2022 VOD also titled "MILF Supreme" from the Eye Candy label.
Women & Boys Vol. 1 (2024)
Fresh MILFs in action
These four vignettes united on DVD as "Women & Boys Vol. 1" stem from the MILFY website, and feature lesser known MILFs in action.
It's a pleasure to see cover girl Serenity Cox in action in a segment titled "Upstanding Citizens" shot by Kayden Kross (NOTE: sources erroneously list WC Walker as director, but screen credit & DVD liner credit specifically list Kayden). It's a standard cuckold set-up: Ken Feels plays Serenity's hubby who is into hotwifing, and lucky Dan Damage, contacted by the internet, gets to hump her in a hot scene. Its only drawback is the excessive fake passion pretended by Serenity.
Dan Damage returns in "Big Boy Pants", also directed by Kayden. It stars well-built (and bushy-haired) Erotic Medusa, whose soothing voice enhances her strong performance as a yoga instructor who is a taskmster with young Dan. She insists he look her in the eyes when she's teaching him exercises, and slaps his face when he can't resist ogling her figure. Of course she can't resist having sex with him, and Medusa is definitely a winner! Sarah Taylor is looking mighty fine sunbathing at the beach in "Appetite", directed by Jay Rogue, where she seduces young photographer Apollo Banks for some cheating action, including expert deep throat.
Final segment stars redhead Sophia Locke in "Spoiled Treats for Spoiled Boys", directed by Jay Rogue. College student Jay Hefner seduces her when he stops by to pick up a care package for her son, his pal back at the dorm. She interrupts whipping up some French Toast for him, and can't resist some IR action. Scene is marred (as usual) because Hefner can't act or even recite lines properly, he's cast thanks to his BBC.
Ghosted: Episode 1 (2024)
Very poor opener
Danny D's "Ghosted", designed as a Halloween offering from Digital Playground, starts off ineptly, with the story set-up badly edited and just confusing right after the opening credits. Low-budget production offers little prospects for entertainment.
Premise is youngsters spending the night in a haunted house for Halloween. But the first scene has director Danny D driving his girlfriend there but without warning or explanation suddenly (editors out to lunch?) it's Jasmine Sherni alone driving the car arriving, Danny D gone. Supposedly he's ghosted her, but the first footage we see makes no sense. Apparently that first Danny driving footage is a flashback, but there's no indication to the viewer of that fact. Perhaps a voice-over or a clearly identified earlier scene of the couple "in better days" could have started the story in proper fashion.
At any rate, Jasmine is joined by three friends (Yasmina Khan, who like Jasmine is of Indian subcontinent heritage, blonde Frances Bentley and tattooed Juan Lucho), and their dialog seems improvised. Without warning, Digital Playground regular Xander Corvus knocks on the door, and asks if he can stay the night too (he feels drawn to the place), and they say okay.
Jasmine is attracted to Xander, while the other three have sex together. There is no story to speak of, and the brick house out in the English countryside has no atmosphere or spookiness at all. Dull scene ends with a slow-motion cum shot from Lucho and plans to hold a seance.
Danny D obviously botched this first episode, and other than standard sex footage the DP viewer has nothing to look forward to here.
Home Sweet Home (2024)
Thieves and mean-spirited revenge
Two lousy Pure Taboo episodes on DVD, reflecting poor direction and lazy writing.
For the title vignette Writer-director Seth Gamble had the germ of a good idea for this story of criminal couples, but opted for unbelievable behavior, spoiling the Pure Taboo vignette.
Segment opens with a cryptic shot, showing money and valuables, providing a clue not resolved till the end of the story. Next we see a mature couple, Reagan Foxx and Ken Feels arriving at a home filled with moving boxes yet to be unpacked. Ken finds no food in the cupbaord so he heads out to buy some for dinner. On the road, against his better judgment he picks up a pair of young hitchhikers (Liz Jordan and Tyler Cruise) and brings them home with him, much to the chagrin of Reagan who is immediately suspicious of the two vagabonds (the viewer has reason to be suspicious, too, as they both remove their wedding rings during the car ride, and pretend to be siblings).
A modest dinner Reagan has prepared from stuff she found in the kitchen is a big flop, as everyone is uneasy and hardly touch their food. Ken has invited the young couple to stay the night, making Reagan even angrier. When the kids go upstairs to their guest room, Reagan blows up at Ken, and he gets just as angry, leaving in a huff.
No surprise when Liz and Tyler turn out to be thieves, and Liz looks through Reagan's belongings while the older woman sleeps on a couch/ She's caught in the act, and suddenly tough-gal Reagan insists on sex from the young girl - causing a suspenseful story to fall apart. Of course Tyler finds them humping and joins in for a threesome. When Ken finallly arrives back home, the final twist is fun but by then the action is too aribitrary to be believed.
Seth has recently added writing/directing to his acting career, but needs to do some serious woodshedding if he wants to be taken seriously behind the camera.
For "A Lie of Omission", Lapis Afterglow wrote and the team of Siouxsie Q and Michael Vegas directed this subpar Pure Taboo exercise, lacking credibility throughout.
It has a sustained sour mood, with a story premise that simply doesn't work. Ken Feels plays a bitter boyfriend who seeks sexual revenge against his lovely girlfriend (Charlie Forde) because she never told him about a lesbian fling she had back in her college days. She comes home to find photos of her and ex-gal pal Dana Vespoli displayed all over the place, taken from her laptop by an angry Ken.
He confronts her for lying about her past, "a lie of omission", but the real bad news for her is that he's brought Dana home to confront her. She's still angry after all these for Charlie walking out on her, and both aggrieved parties demand sex from Charlie then and there, as payback.
This humiliating scene is not credible, as Charlie makes love to Dana and then has a three-way with Ken, directed as just three sex workers being sexy for the camera but feigning dislike for each other at the same time. Unhappy ending is designed (as so many Pure Taboo vignettes are) to leave the viewer in a bad mood.
The Older Woman (2024)
Simply the best
It was a fine idea to take these four 2023 vignettes and combine them on a DVD, as the top MILF talent in the Adult industry is showcased in glamorous fashion.
Maitland Ward's dialogue delivery is top-notch, but the content of what she says is suspect. Her monologue to demonstrate the difference between Good and Great is specious, citing Jackie Robinson as Great but Pete Rose as merely Good among baseball stars. Obviously, the recently deceased Rose's legacy is extremely tarnished by his gambling scandal that kept him out of Cooperstown, but to mock his accomplishments on the field is idiotic.
Each segment has a mature femme star seduce a young worker (gardener, handyman, etc.), with the viewer left to decide which scene is best -all of them winners. My choice was Dee Williams (featured on the DVD cover) going for party waiter Oliver Flynn and making love with him in front of vast picture windows while her husband and party guests hang out unawares outside. Director Kayden Kross captures this scene artfully, with a fun moment when Dee removes Oliver's pants and his huge cock pops out fully at attention.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Lost in Translation (2023)
And now, it's time for Uhura!
This rather minor episode puts Uhura at center stage: not only is she the only crew member to be aware of an alien species making first contact but ultimately she is the only one who can save the day.
It's one of those cheapie segments, so important in keeping a season under budget, with very little action. Instead, we have several fan-pleasing (in a nearly condescending/pandering fashion) peeks at the iconic figures of Star Trek history interacting, notably Uhura with Kirk assisting rather than commanding, as well as Spock meeting Kirk for apparently the first time. For me, such cuteness doesn't register because new actors are playing the roles. For Roddenberry's legacy, the main theme expressed here is putting the welfare of an alien culture, even one we know nothing about, ahead of greed (in this case, Starfleet's "gas station" for deuterium mining) is rather obvious.
Without Warning! (1952)
Contrived and dull
Not as sensational as advertised, this police procedural plods along in okay fashion until stumbling in the final reel with dumb coincidences.
Directed by Arnold Laven as the first movie of the successful (especially with Westerns) indie production company Levy-Gardner-Laven, the feature features content later pioneered on TV series like "CSI" and "Criminal Minds". Until that misguided final reel, there is a balance between showing careful and thorough police procedure and the difficulty of beating the odds and getting just the right clues and timing to pin down a serial killer. Then for dramatic purposes, the cops, in search of a landscaper using a specific make of garden shears and fertilizer, just happen to investigate the correct tree nursery, and just when the owner's daughter is about to be the killer's next victim! It spoils the previous realistic emphasis on patient investigation and substitutes unbelievable luck.
Adam Williams is okay as the hero, but the show is needlessly dull, and could have been a winner had it taken a more sensational, exploitation film approach.
Naked City: Show Me the Way to Go Home (1961)
Very difficult to sit through
With a truly terrible/annoying lead performance, and an inept script, this Naked City episode is among the series' worst, literally painful for me to watch some 63 years after broadcast.
The writing team of Shimon and Anita Wincelberg anticipate the trend decades later of TV shows, especially including cop shows and dramas, that insist on presenting several story lines with a single episode, as opposed to the straight-line narrative of the original (first season) Naked City. Ironically, this series always ends with the tag line: "This has been one of them", referring to the life of a single person out of 8,000,000 New Yorkers.
Instead, interest immediately strays from nutcase Burt Brinckerhoff, the actor an instant pain in the neck with his mannered, over the top exaggeration of Method Acting. He's playing a young psychopath the cops are hunting for after he violently assault's his mom's boyfriend. When he relentlessly tries to pick up a former classmate, sympathetically played by Lois Nettleton, interest strays to her story as well as that of an old immigrant lady (Celia Adler, star of Yiddish theater and half-sister to Stella Adler, no less) who needs assistance and gets plenty from Lois. Episode title even refers better to her than to Burt's character.
As we follow the plight of Lois and the pitiful old lady, Burt tags along like a barnacle, so irritating that I guarantee I would have changed the channel early on had I been watching back in 1961. When the segment finally, mercifully concludes, the cops have nabbed him and all's right once again in the TV world.
Lesbian Ghost Stories 8 (2024)
Quite good
B. Skow tried a bit harder than usual with this Girlfriends release, aimed at the Halloween season, and with better story material for a change.
The four vignettes are sexually invigorating, plus have more impact thanks to the supernatural storylines and some minor special effects.
The subject matter is that of ghosts and haunted houses. Cast includes mainly fresh faces, plus the fine actress Alex Coal and a welcome return (her beauty undiminished by time) of Chloe Amour.
Several segments deal with spiritual possession. MILF newcomer Annie King never had a chance to say goodbye to her lover Jessica, and returning to the room where J died she hears her voice and gets to offer her last wishes. She also gets to have sex with Jessica (from beyond the grave) when redhead pal Kelly Caprice puts a cord plug in the wall socket and special effects suggest that she's possessed with J's spirit for half an hour, just enough time for a XXX sex scene.
Another possession occurs when Chloe Amour moves into a house haunted by a bride who died before consummating her lesbian marriage on her wedding night. The bride in white wedding gown appears to Chloe, and then possesses her body (while the spouse possesses neighbor Jordan Maxx's body) for a temporary thrill of having sex that one time.
Yet another possession has already occurred. Fiona Frost hears the voice of her dead lover Katie requesting that she "come to the house". Fiona returns to where the couple lived years ago, and finds MILF Ellie Tay living there now, and Ellie invites her to stay overnight and perhaps hear from Katie. Instead, that night she finds out that Katie has already possessed the body of Ellie and the two of them, both wearing very sexy lingerie, make love "again".
Another episode is perhaps the best, as it interjects fantasy artfully into Skow's usual "lesbian vignette" format. Alex Coal is beset by voices and nightmares, and her fears drive her to going to her roommate Lily Starfire's bedroom and asking to sleep with her. This results in a sensual interracial sex scene with voluptuous Lily and a well-designed surprise ending to the segment, a refreshing (and much-needed) variation on Skow's habit of ending nearly every vignette in his Girlfriends features with the couple cuddling in each other's arms, ready to go to sleep.
Shalina libre soumise (2024)
The divine Shalina
One of director Herve Bodilis's best movies in years, this showcase for the talent of Shalina Devine has more style and a richer back story than usual, and that pays off in a more passionate result.
She plays a Parisian psychiatrist, who has become anxious and a bit disturbed by the constant tales of woe from her patients she has to listen to day after day. Shalina finds relief by nightly role-playing, as she gets all dressed up (including variations on the classic Dorcel high-fashion lingerie) and is taken by her chauffeur Jason (Jason Steel) to BDSM clubs or private events for debauchery.
These sexual escapades are fulfilling for the viewer, but fortunately the movie goes one step further into letting us get to know more about what makes both Shalina and her man Jason tick. Ultimately, they both find satisfaction and a release from their inner torments by bonding together in a kinky way.
Devine is terrific, as usual, and more than ready to crossover into American porn, the way her comrade and occasional co-star Cherry Kiss has successfully done recently. The actors are dubbed for the English-track version here with neutral (no accents) voices, well-matched to their articulating in English.
NOTE: Someone submitted this title to IMDb with all the actors' names repeated as their character names. In fact, Dorcel does not list any character names on screen in its movies, and only Shalina and James have their first names used for the characters they portray. I am always annoyed how people with little knowledge of porn filmmaking assume that in this field "acting" doesn't exist, and that the players are playing themselves -absurd.
Behave Yourself! (1951)
Fun screwball comedy
From RKO, this minor rom-com starring Farley Granger and Shelley Winters is quite entertaining, thanks to the pleasant lead players but especially filled with great character actors, mocking the format of a crime movie. And with Archie the dog stealing scenes throughout, it represents the type of innocuous entertainment that kept fans happy during 1950s Hollywood.
One could easily imagine a straight, serious film noir with this cast, and Granger/Winters playing tough guy and femme fatale, but here they are ably involved in crazy comedy situations, intentionally goofy as sets of criminals all compete to find the cute doggy who has attached itself to Granger. Murders keep occurring and Granger's little white lie (he pretended the pooch was an anniversary present for his wife Shelley) ends up getting him into big trouble.
Elisha Cook Junior, Hans Conried and Lon Chaney Junior are among the familiar faces who are so much fun to see, even seven decades later when such obscure films show up regularly on YouTube. Influence of producer Norman Krasna is obvious here, while obscure writer-director George Beck (this was the only movie he ever directed) does a fine job keeping things moving at a brisk pace.
Oopsie!: Field of Wet Dreams (2024)
Pointless
"Oopsie!" is a porn series that has slowed to just one new 1/2-hour segment a month, and even skipped a month entirely (August). This weak offering shows why.
The premise of outrageous transsexual porn comedies has been run into the ground. Here we have cute Destiny Mira out gathering fruit in her basket, as piano plays in Silent Movie fashion. Ariel Demure is a scarecrow who suddenly humps Destiny from behind, and then the damsel in distress is caught in a net and haulted up in the air, only to be abused by Ariel and fellow trans actress Lola Morena for the rest of the no-dialogue show.
Ariel also gets to hump Lola for some anal sex, content that explains why Jim Powers is directing instead of series regular Stella Smut -latter specializing in trans lesbian action. There are two creampie results, anal and vaginal, both quite fake, as the trans ladies in this series have not ejaculated lately.
Stepfamilies Exposed (2024)
Top-notch lesbian group-sex
3 "Mommy's Girl" vignettes spotlight a full dozen beautiful actresses in threesome or even foursome action, making for a high-quality VOD.
Title segment presents a fictional reality show that deals with the phenomenon of Stepmom/Stepdaughter relationships, so beloved by current pornographers. It's amusing thanks to some fun overacting, and results in a hot 4-some performed on a large couch.
Alison Rey portrays the talk show host, interviewing the mom/daughter team of Serene Siren and Laney Grey. Rey and her camerawoman Victoria Voxxx can't hide their amusement and slight bewilderment at the gushy, lovey-dovey pronouncement by the ladies, who are in love and proud of it, even though they are related, with the husband having flown the coop.
When the interviewees start making love during the show, instead of cutting off the camera, Alison instructs Victoria to keep shooting, and even gives directions to the women on how to pose for the camera. More outrageously, eventually Rey can't resist joining in, followed by Victoria for an all-out orgy. It's silly but fun to watch.
"Sugar Step-Mamas" was previously released four months earlier on the VOD titled "Oh Mommy". Excellent acting by both Penny Barber and Lexi Luna punches across a clever, entertaining set-up in this "Mommy's Girl" segment, one of the most delightful in recent years.
The two MILFs are having a reunion after some time apart, chatting about their recent love affairs as "sugar mommies" to beautiful young girls, when into the room walks Lexi's step-daughter Natalie Brooks. Uh-oh! She's Penny's sugar baby!
As they try to sort this out this revelation, in comes Penny's step-daughter Chloe Surreal, and sure enough, she's Lexi's sugar-baby!.
What makes this so much fun is that in decades of lesbian content, the rival label Girlfirends Films has never delivered a similar situation, as its long-running "Mother-Daughter Exchange Club" series has a limied format precluding this kind of surprise.
A resulting three-way is hot and heavy, with the final twist that luscious starlet Chloe is left out of the sex action this time around, even though the prospect of a 4-way orgy is suggested. All in all, a terrific scene.
Third segment is "A Jaunt with the Step-Aunts", an exercise in faux incest that is among the better ones, with an extended cast performing quite well in both the sexual and acting departments. For the fans it demonstrates that more can be more -throw in a couple of sexy aunties alongside the basic mother/stepdaughter porn format.
Rachael Cavalli is the mom, and perhaps ironically Jill Kassidy is the young daughter, even though with many hundreds of roles and nine years in the business Jill is the actual veteran of this quartet.
All of them have a gay old time having four-way sex on a couch, now that young Jill has come out as a lesbian. While the filmmakers go to the usual great pains of stressing that none of them are blood relations, the vicarious thrill of "family" sex is there, and the verve with which theser pros go at it is a treat. Other than "being blonde", the casting is quite varied, especially in integrating the specialty artiste Codi Vore (she of the vast, droopy boobs and comical personality) into the ensemble.
Empty Nest (2024)
Jennifer's road trip
This feature from the MYLF label is all about interracial sex, and casting the wonderful actress Jennifer White in the lead role lifts it from the expected gonzo level to a story-oriented Adult movie worth watching.
She plays a successful woman who is facing a crisis: her marriage has ended in divorce, she's lost her job as a hedge fund manager, and as the title suggests, her adult stepson is leaving for college.
Jennifer decides to go on a road trip with son Victor Ray and his college roommate Diego Perez, driving with them to their college campus, and of course they have sexual adventures along the way.
One such liaison is a visit to their friend Lil D, who seduces shy Jennifer at his pool that night. She manages to make a standard interracial sex scene into something special by an uncanny combination of hesitancy and sexual expertise.
Movie's highlight is a lengthy vignette when they visit Diego's stepmom Mandy Rhea. She's a New Age yoga instructor with salons at her home, and there's stepson swapping as Jennifer humps Diego and Mandy gets White's stepson Victor. Mandy is delightful as a shapely nudist, offering a fresh, natural look.
Rounding out the show is a hot threesome of Jennifer servicing both Victor and Diego with aplomb.