My favourite was Lost Angels: Nikita Denise because she's featured in every scene.

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Georgia Adair is a bit of a dodger and consequently her movies are a bit annoying. She opted out of a scene with Julian that could have been fantastic.

I didn't make it through all of Euroglam: Budapest. The women weren't my taste.

I like Ninn's visual style but the content and pacing can use some work.

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I don't do reviews. I do quotes. Check out quote #7 here.

Furthermore, the guy has repeatedly admitted that he isn't interested much in shooting the sex scenes in his videos. IMO, this is reason enough for him to consider doing something else than porn. Quote #8 seems appropriate.

How am I doing Mike?



Steph said:
"i used to think businesspeople, ceos and whatnot, were intelligent professionals. once i entered the real world i saw just how many idiots make lots of money by being in the right place at the right time and not having any integrity to get in the way of making money."

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I don't know if I'd watch another of his movies or not.

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Edited by - Loraine on 3/4/2005 11:12:48 AM

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Michael Ninn - In The Garden Of Shadows

I kind of had high hopes for this film having read a couple of reasonable reviews for it and yes there are elements that worked for me but on the whole I just didn't find it that erotic.

What's right with it? Well compared to lots of other porn, the costuming is on the whole well done and sometimes gorgeous, the women are very beautiful, there's a mix of blondes and brunettes, they have truly great hair do's. The voice of the narrator is pleasant and the underlying story has potential to be interesting.

Stuff I didn't find so appealing, it's got a goth/horror feel to it so the girls wear a vast amount of makeup, in the often over exposed arty lighting they end up looking like cadavers with big black eyes hole in skulls...this may well be the effect Ninn was after, but to be honest the horror thing doesn't turn me on.

There's virtually no dialogue between any of the actors so there seems to be very little connection/chemistry and it's difficult to tell if there is any enjoyment on the part of the performers amidst the dreamlike states.

The scenes seem to go and on, way past the time when they should finish, with so many cuts in a music video style, back and forth that my head was spinning. Combined with the sustained fake sounding moaning that also seemed interminable, it kind of gave me a head ache too!

There are a few creative moments including a nice cum shot to one of the women's terrific breasts. Funny thing is though, she's got these amazing breasts, jiggling hypnotically and bouncing everywhere but the guy doesn't lay a hand on them, he's doing that hands free fucking thing...boring thrusting that goes on and on at the same pace, no variation, no caressing, nothing! It's like her tits are some kind of no go zone!

When I got through this DVD I couldn't help but think it needed about a quarter of the mind dizzying cuts and edits and special effects, a little more dialogue to help with creating a sense of connection and more set up of the scenes. The girl's hair do's were nice though...;)

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Folks have tried all different sorts of ways to solve this problem. Plot and characterization is one way. The Blake/Nin combo of production design and post production is another. Upping the ante on the number/size of phalli and the vigor with which they are thrust into female performers is a third.

In my opinion, the shrewdest tactic is to take advantage of the fact that the performers are human beings, and nearly every human being is interesting in someway if you just take the time to listen to what they have to say. ( The simple fact that a woman is willing, even eager to have sex on camera is vein of rich in interest.)

When John Stagliano showed us we could stop aping features and stop being burndenned by the tremendous audience expectations that come with feature-style production, he showed the way to produce engaging pornography in way that was commensurate with the money that could be reasonably invested, and the return that could be reasonable expected.

Of course just because this approach is cheap, doesn't mean it's easy. "How old were you when you had your first sexual experience?" quickly becomes a tiresome question, especially when the person asking it doesn't care about the answer.

-T.C.

Comstock Films: Films For People Who Like Sex

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The action was shot POV style (put that ruler down Walter !) with occasional pans up over her head and down her body . But the real "movement" in the scene came from the interplay between the man behind the camera and the woman in front of it . It was her ! She did it . There weren't any extra angles to break things up (no second cameraman) and very little movement by the performers . But then that wasn't really needed .

Oops , posted more than I meant to . Or probably should have . Lee's first law of posting : never use one word when ten will do just as well .

Ninn Worx ? I've watched a few and they've clearly had some effort put into to them which makes me loathe to criticize too harshly - especially with all the real dross out there . But it wasn't for me I must admit .

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But the point is well taken. Hollywood has millions of dollars to spend (ave. ppp $69M) to achieve "chemistry" and they can't get it right half the time. If you're trying to get chemistry on a porn budget, people who already have some chemistry is a good place to start.

The first Blake film I saw really got my motor running, but it only really worked the first time. With the benefit of hindsight I realize I was responding more to the evidence of effort, rather than to a vision of sexuality that was really in sync with my own desires.

But we're asked to be thankful for so little, that it's hard to critisize anyone for being too antiseptic or "artsy" when he can manage to keep the lightstand and lampcords out of the corners of shots. If only someone could manage to bring a Clerks level of production polish to a gonzo video, I think I'd be in heaven. (No, I don't expect the script to be that snappy.)

-T.C.

Comstock Films: Films For People Who Like Sex

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maxtreme

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-T.C.

Comstock Films: Films For People Who Like Sex

Edited by - TonyC on 3/5/2005 8:29:43 AM

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BTW -- the "Magnum" toy looks like a little bit of sky doesn't it or perhaps heaven? I've watched only one episode of Magnum PI so far, loved it, forgotten how nice his legs are and his dimples -- cute dimples...

LeeO, I wouldn't be worried about post length -- I really like to know the "what and why" about a scene that works. It's an education.

TonyC wrote

And yeah I sort of feel like I'm being a picky bitch canning "In The Garden Of Shadows" -- from a production sense, lots of hard work has no doubt gone into its making. But I think on the day I watched ITGOS, I went on to watch my fave little scene with Inari Vachs and Randy Spears out of "Facade" and the contrast between the super produced, hyper effects with multiple people, toys and goth, and the simple,well lit, two people, a little credible set up, some humour, some chemistry, some unhurried undressing and some pretty nice fucking -- was just too hard to ignore. Inari Vach's lovely hip undulations were hard to ignore too.

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-T.C.

Comstock Films: Red State Values, Blue State Visuals

Edited by - TonyC on 3/5/2005 1:11:37 PM

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KPerv -- the pics...the big toy thing has potential but the blonde has an annoying run in her pantyhose on the inside edge of her thigh and that blew the whole thing me.

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Not even Melissa, looking ever so cute with that hair and smiling naughtily at the camera, can save them.

And a tea-spoon up the ass to scoop out some cum? Puh-lease.

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Frankly I've wondered at times if Blake is gay as his shoots remind me more of fashion industry attempts to be sexy than anything in porn . Or is that just based on a myth that's settled in my mind about the fashion industry . There's just a familiar "feel" to his style , that's all .

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This leave sexuality, or at least how sexuality can be depicted in the moving image to those willing to work with budgets that are on average 1000 times less than a feature film. (Whatever "The Industry" claims, the rewards are similarly constrainted.) Some people are willing do this because they are dreamers. Some people are willing to do this because it beats flipping burgers. Some people are willing to do this because they don't know how to do anything else. Whatever the motivation, it gives us a genre where a Blake, or a Ninn (or even a Comstock!) is heralded as a pioneer. I'm not ashamed of what I do, but I also know that I don't hold a candle next to a journeyman episodic television director, let alone an a-list feature director. As long as cinematic depictions of explicit sexuality are left to directors with my capablities and resources, audiences are going to have to be satisfied with with far, far less than they expect from any other form of entertainment.

-T.C.

Comstock Films: Red State Values, Blue State Visuals

Edited by - TonyC on 3/6/2005 8:33:57 AM

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step 46 - spread your beef curtains and show off your brilliantly pink inner labia. Don't worry if they're not pink, we'll edit that later.

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This is yet another difficulty in producing smut with mass appeal, what turns people's cranks so so varied and so personal.

-T.C.

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-T.C.

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