Gram Ponante.com: thoughtful reviews by America's beloved porn journalist
6.16.2006
Hillary Scott: Cock Star!
 Studio: JM Productions Director: Jim Powers Cast: Hillary Scott, Ashley Blue, Kimberly Kane, Harley Portions of this review originally appeared on Fleshbot
Hillary Scott, except for appearing in softcore Cinemax romps, has pretty much covered the gamut of what is available to do in porn, from the high-profile and public relations-intensive Britney Rears (she will be the title character of the third movie, replacing Jessica Sweet, who it is rumored wasn't up to the schedule), to the big-budget Corruption, for which she cried on cue as the helpmeet of Senator Billy, to the singularly-depraved, sweat-streaked, and hole-crammed material of tonight's feature, Cock Star!
It might seem obvious, but one of the winning characteristics of porn actresses for me is that they appear game. The conceit of the Cock Star! series is that the title character is a diva, and Scott's pre-sex meltdown, filmed as she arrives on set, bespectacled and in a cardigan, is very funny.
"How am I supposed to fuck in this?" she screams at her hapless assistant, Matt, demanding he get her new clothes.
JM Productions' stock in-trade, along with that of Chatsworth Pictures, which the company distributes, is a darkly tongue-in-cheek look at the adult industry that more often than not entails sloppy, unpretty, too-much-information sex, delivered by people like Scott, Ashley Blue, Kami Andrews, and Gen Padova with a sense of humor particular to porn; it's a rare person who appears to have the upper hand even when she's being soaked with semen.
Please let the Bartlett's people choose that one, God. Oh please please please.
Scott's first scene is a messy blowjob in which she doesn't seem to be sucking cock as much as she is being bludgeoned with one. As my partner is fond of saying, "She takes it like a champ."
Such vocal and strenuous face-fucking, however, doesn't turn me on. Still, I admire her work ethic.
Scott reveals in very interesting interview segments that her first sexual partner was her step-sister and that men ccould not satisfy her at first because they were not rough enough.
In her next scene Scott, thin as a whippet strung in two shades of pastel lingerie, gets tossed about the bed by two bruisers. Her porn affectations are a little tough to take (see Audacia Ray's lament about what is "real") but in the end she seems to have a very genuine sense of accomplishment in bringing off her two partners, each to a hole.
In her scene with Kimberly Kane filmed in downtown LA, the two go at it with a certain aggressive indifference, knowing that they are performing for an audience tapped out on gentle Sapphic fare. They proceed to beat the hell out of each other.
"It's so alt-porn," Kane says derisively (Kane kinda says everything derisively, God Bless Her).
Scott is put through several paces in this movie and is not afraid that her makeup runs and that she ends up looking well-used. That she can then skip over to a more glossy production and appear sweet, virginal, vulnerable, and coy is a evidence that I'll believe anything.
6.15.2006
Sex City
 Studio: Private Director: Pierre Woodman Cast: Xenia Lova, Sonia Carter, Aphrodite Night, Reda Semlahen, Alain Deloin, Vince Willis, Diana Gold, Pascal St. James, Philippe Soine, Divinity Love, Titof, Wildy, James Brossman, Bibi Fox, Kevin Long, Natalia Dinov, Rudboy, Justine Ashley, Frantisek Kubic, Nella, Robert Stangler, Gwen, Lucie Ann, Victoria Rose, Suzanne Portions of this review originally appeared on FleshbotIn this porn-noir takeoff on Sin City, Pierre Woodman recreates New York via matte shots and fills it with impossibly tasty Euro-hotties and fellas who more closely resemble Frank Miller's original vision of tough guys than anyone who can catch screen time in the United States. At well over two hours, this awkwardly dubbed but beautifully shot feature is the first in a projected three-part series. This movie is made to watch all the way through. Chapter stops on the DVD skip over whole pages of dialogue and several story lines involving the return of a misunderstood criminal who has "erased a lot of smiles", a contract killer, a police inspector in a coma, a psychopathic son of a Senator, and many more. With a cast of 25 speaking parts with several dozen more extras, this is a big budget movie with narrative expectations unfamiliar to American audiences (Private is based in Spain and is Europe's biggest porn company). But the stunted, humorless dialogue that isn't a good impersonation of American noir is not the reason to own this movie. The reason is Sonia Carter, Xenia Love, Aphrodite Night, and the several other Baltic pornstresses who perform without Porn Valley's trademark self-consciousness and air of "I just showed up". It is the difference between a feature and a gonzo, and the difference between an American feature, with its emphasis on stars, and a European one, which pays more attention to its actresses looking like works of art. The art is in the pretense of no-body fat escorts wearing colorful lingerie in an otherwise grayscale room. The ten sex scenes, like their counterparts in American porn, don't advance the plot, but they look very good. If there were a version of this movie without dialogue it would be perfect, but as it is Sex City is great fun to watch with the sound off. In the end, that which was added to this porn movie takes away from it. Still, Sex City is a huge achievement.
6.13.2006
Pearl Necklace
 Studio: Platinum Blue Director: Skye Blue Cast: Cassie Courtland, Naudia Nyce, Demi Marx, Lexi Lamour, Nadia Styles, Brittany Starr, Nick Manning Portions of this review originally appeared on Fleshbot
"When these slutly little starlets finally get their wish by being brought to new heights in having all their holes filled knowing that the culmination would be a deliciously wet string of pearls."This is not a Jeopardy! question but part of the liner notes of Platinum Blue's Pearl Necklace.While this movie is not, as I had hoped, a takeoff on "Girl with a Pearl Earring", there is plenty to satisfy people who like pop culture in their pornography. The Pearl Necklace is traditionally the act of shooting a ropy volley across your partner's neck. In this movie an actual pearl necklace is used as the jumping off point for ropy volleys to be shot across various locations only to have the real necklace rubbed on them. See? That's how the filmmakers got around Noam Chomsky. In a series of prettily-shot scenes, porn stars of the platinum-haired, titan-breasted variety (Brittany Starr) and menacing brunettes like Nadia Styles cavort in attractively-lit bedrooms or prepare themselves for porn studs in lube-y Sapphic shower scenes. Director Skye Blue has described her style as "Vivid-Lite" and as such the movie seems much more accessible. While the same production values apply, there seems to be less of an effort made in the script department, which is good, because Vivid sometimes falls flat. On the other hand, the budget for Pearl Necklace isn't so high that genuinely dirty girls like Naudia Nyce get priced out. The throughline extends only to voiceovers and the pearl necklace conceit. The same pearl necklace appears to have been cleaned and used in every scene. That's economy! "I fantasized about what it would be like to get my own pearl necklace," narrator Starr says. "I pictured the most romantic guy giving his girl the most romantic gift of all." I'm not complaining, but if that's romance, I'm going to register at Krispy Kreme for my wedding. Nick Manning, who co-produced this movie, recognizes that he is a very pretty man and that this film is to be marketed speecifically to couples. He can't resist winking at the genre every now and then. In the final scene, in which Starr finally gets her pearl necklace (the movie has been Starr's dream sequence), Manning can't keeep himself from saying, "I hope you get doused." Manning indeed douses her, and on the neck, too. We have title!
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