Unless I did a bad search, only one Vivid feature has been reviewed here in the last seven months, and only five since January 2003. I know Vivid is pretty reviled -- and in many respects rightly so -- but I'm still surprised.
I suppose the focus on gonzo in the forums is reflected in the reviews as well. So I wonder if anyone even laments this.
Sometimes I think about submitting reviews. The main reason I don't is my stupendous laziness. But I also wonder what the point would be: If I add my perspective to the abundant reviews of a Jules Jordan disc, is that really worthwhile? On the other hand, if I offer thoughts on a movie that no one seems to care about, isn't that even less worthwhile?
Leaving aside the question of whether I ever write a review or not (it seems unlikely), I guess the question I'm asking is: Do you think this site needs Vivid reviews?
The other night I went looking to get some screenshots of Ashlyn Gere (who was ROBBED in the pornstar poll, btw ;) and found this Vivid flick called Ashlyn Rising, which I had never watched.
Now, either I've been incredibly lucky with the few Vivid movies I've seen or they get overly bashed, but this movie was hot! There were no condoms used that I could see, no loud porno music, and it had elements that you don't even see in a lot of gonzo.
The first scene was a scorching 3-way between Ashlyn, Colt Steele and Rocco, who masturbates while watching them before joining in.
They were soaked with sweat by the end, and Rocco kisses her after they both come in her mouth, he he.
The scene with Sean Michaels was hot too. It was a pleasure to watch her, definitely not a robot.
To answer your question Obi, hell yeah we need more Vivid reviews! Although I've cut back due to time and other reasons, I will be doing this one as soon as I can.
Hey , that was a fair contest ! Besides which , I would've ditched Shameless's vote and gone for an immediate fight to the death , only my own rules worked against me . Damn ! As written in the first thread - "Late Edit - Any face off poll ending in a tie will be decided by the very first vote received in that thread ." And Lauren received the first vote :(
Please don't let that stop you from posting more screen caps though ! Mmmm , Ashlyn .... Got my first ( and probably last ) Extreme Associates movie the other day , purely to watch this sexy woman in motion .
I've not done many reviews Obi , so this is based on a very limited framework , but my only Vivid review garnered me by far the most feedback and viewings - if that means anything . Maybe the people who write reviews and frequent message boards aren't the same type who rent or buy Vivid flicks ? We're not always the most representative bunch , even of the porn watching public .
Of that I'm certain. But I believe I've read here that many, many more people read reviews than frequent the forum (but maybe it was that more people use the price search).
I didn't know data were available on page views for reviews. I wonder if they do indicate a greater demand for Vivid info.
Just to clarify : That review made it ( quite high up surprisingly ) into the most read list , while none of the others did . As for actual numbers ... well , I guess Drew or Steph probably have access to something like that .
The last Vivid title I watched was Paul Thomas' Fade to Black , which I personally didn't care for enough to want to write a review of. While I still don't mind couples films, I think my tastes have changed over the years that I'm really impatient for the plot and styles that Vivid puts out.
I think the biggest factor is that for the quality of sex, you can pay a few bucks more and get a lot more with other studios--on average. Heck, you can pay the same or less and get better films from Ultimate/A&E.
That said, I definitely think more reviews of a wide variety of studios is a good thing.
When I first began reviewing, I'd seen only about ten adult movies altogether (the very first of which was Ashlyn Rising, hee hee!). One of my goals was to sample as widely as possible from different studios and genres.
So I did write five Vivid reviews, which are here. This is currently 7% of the total reviews I've written, which is a pretty respectable representation.
I'm not likely to write many more, however, because I've now fine-tuned my tastes. And it's somewhat rare that a Vivid movie will even catch my attention nowadays. Mr. Yoga still really likes Lifeguard, though, and occasionally pulls it off the shelf to enjoy Jennifer Stewart's scenes.
(Edited because I'd forgotten that I'd reviewed a Vivid Raw movie and didn't include it in the original count. That alone tells ya something.)
I'll do a Vivid once in a while, but I just can't get excited for them. The movies are okay, but the job they've done on the overall DVD lacked enough that I have trouble making myself take the time to watch and review one because it seems like a Vivid DVD will take me at least a third longer to review due to trying to get through the shitty authoring and the BS.
Yes I do think this site needs more Vivid (as well as VCA, Legend & JKP) reviews. One of the reasons I have refrained from buying Vivid DVDs lately is the incapacity to find an honest Vivid review online, even with the help of iafd. If you watch AVN rental charts, Vivid movies are still in top positions, so what happens in the forum does not necessarily reflect what the general audience (of which I am very proud to be a part of) is expecting from porn. But after all, I'm lazy too. I have 2 recent Vivid movies that I ain't taken the time to review either, partly because they weren't great. This thread may encourage me to do so.
my elevator won't let you down, my elevator won't let you down, gets you up, oohooh, gets you up!
Part of the reason there are so many more gonzo reviews is because the gonzo companies send out more screeners (way more.) Every review gets thousands of reads regardless of genre.
As far as reviewing titles that have been reviewed - it depends on the situation. If you are going to reiterate what 4 other reviewers have already said I don't think that's as important as reviewing a title that hasn't been reviewed, or providing a differing opinion on a title that has been reviewed, or providing confirmation on a title that has only been reviewed once. You still with me? I'm not...
That said, it's most important to review a title you want to write about, good or bad.
I've done at least 17 reviews of Vivid releases 16 that I can bring up on search plus Bella Loves Jenna (as it is a Vivid distributed title), and there could be others like that one that come up under a different name. Not many Vivid reviews are done by me as I am leary of buying their titles without a review from a reviewer that I tend to agree with as I enjoy some of their films but not others. I definitely think that this site could use more Vivid reviews.Lets not get back on this topic again. This was already done to death in this thread and it is off topic for this one. Please keep the conversation in this thread on the need or lack of need for Vivid reviews.
Looks like we are back on track, but just to clear things up....
I also BUY a lot of porn. I don't BUY Vivid porn that often. I started out reviewing porn from my personal collection and reviewed only stuff I bought for close to two years. I still review it as if I had at least rented it. (Though a buck for a rental isn't much of an investment.)
I mostly review DVDs that are sent to me for a very simple reason. Certain companies deem the readers of my site important enough to send me DVDs to review. Some companies don't. I find it hard to justify reviewing a DVD from a company in the latter category when I have a pile from the former.
See it isn't about me or free porn at all. It is about the people my reviews reach.
I can't speak for the other reviewers out there, but that is my reasoning.
Does Ashlyn Gere caterwaul, I mean caterwaul as in a 'Lauren Phoenix' level of Olympic caterwauling? Curious minds want to know.
When did this Vivid movie first come out? I'd be interested in looking at some earlier Rocco stuff. Let us know if there is any toe sucking or foot-on-the-head while fucking positions, okay?
Guy Capo, I'm sure your film will be different and better than just about any other gang bang ones out there. I seen the trailer, and it's obvious you've spent a good deal of time with the camera angles,the editing, as well as the story.
Still, I don't know if I would feel comfortable watching sex scenes where there is one woman and 8 men. Even when I watch 3 men/1 woman gonzo scenes, I don't get much enjoyment out of them. I feel like I'm watching the men play musical chairs, what with them always changing positions and orifices every minute or so, and the woman is, well, she's the chair, like she's an inanimate piece of furniture. Maybe your film will be different, and the women won't be completely passive during the sex scenes; that would certainly make it different from the usual gonzo fare.
If caterwauling was an Olympic Event (like it is in porn), I'd give Lauren Phoenix a 9.5 - Ashlyn Gere a 6.9 Ashlyn could easily take her in the snarl-face competition though.I believe it's from 1997. Rocco's only in the one scene, and pretty tame. No foot-on-head fucking, no choking, no face slapping, nor did they 'lock 'er down' in a full nelson. I doubt if she would put up with that crap.
I should also add that the video quality sucked compared to a lot of today's well shot stuff, and the running time was only 82 minutes with no extras. For $6.50 however, it's not bad at all.
Two couples that we're friendly with happily describe themselves as gang-bang couples, and we've had the privilage of being "flies on the way" at the parties they've had.
At these "gang bang parties" it is absolutely obvoius that the reason the woman is taking about 4-6 guys is that that's what it takes to satisfy her rampagine carnal desire. Even in the case of the one couple that likes to sometimes flavor this with a little SM (collar, leash, blah, blah, blah) it's very much about her (bottomless) sexual needs.
As a man it's also a little intimidating to watch one man after another reduced to a dry husk, while the woman's desire only grows. I'm not sure it's something you're average porn fan would want to see.
He doesn't have to worry about eight, not from Comstock Films at least. She says anything more than 5 is a waste. Better to do four now, and four later.
Most of our work has been done with couples in their mid 30s to early 40s. I'm much more interested in working with people who have a little more life experience than the teenagers that are so popular in gonzo. My ideal couple would be two very handsome fellows in their 30s.
(I have, however, recently discovered I like stroking to college-aged lesbian scenes, especially if they have that "girl nextdoor" look. I used to HATE lesbo stuff. Funny how one's tastes change.)
IAFD, supporters of beastiality. Just say no. 7564 Posts 11/02
Posted - Apr 4 2004 : 3:40PM
Probably not important, but it was 1995, at the end of Ashlyn's time with Vivid.
Rocco and Ashlyn go way back, to the beginning of the 90s when they did some inspired work in videos such as House of Dreams (1990), Secrets (1990), The Adventures of Mikki Fin , Cheeks 5: The Ultimate Butt , Total Reball (1991) and Chameleons (1992).
The best Vivid video of Rocco that I have seen (imo, of course), is Nylon .
Sir Noel Plum said: "Maybe I'm just jealous - taking the first four inches of mine away and the film would start to resemble a documentary on tortoise farming in Burma rather than a hard porn movie."
IAFD, supporters of beastiality. Just say no. 7564 Posts 11/02
Posted - Apr 5 2004 : 1:04AM
Do I read that correctly? It goes for $5.95 in one store and for $18.95 in another? Is that 'normal'? Sorry if I show my ignorance here, but I never buy DVDs, so this comes as a surprise to me.They might not have been released on DVD yet. I seldom check this. I have my own database, you see
House of Dreams and Secrets are early Andrew Blake classics. Total Reball has been described as a "poor man's version of an Andrew Black flick". Chameleons is a John Leslie video for VCA. Cheeks 5: The Ultimate Butt was directed by Brandy Alexandre, who was also the female lead. The Adventures of Mikki Fin is a Jack Remy directed film (as in 35mm film) about the Los Angeles music industry. It was released by Caballero, which went bankrupt sometime later in the 90s, IIRC.
monkey power said: "5% more 'pretty time' is all I ask for in this dialogue-free millennium."
It pays to shop around, that's for sure! Such a vast price difference is not as common with most of the newer stuff, but Vivid (even the classics) can almost always be found at bargain prices.
Steph, it's "No records found matching your search criteria", but most of the time it's probably my fault because I assumed that it wasn't case sensitive.
For instance, I just searched again for House of Dreams, and got no hits, but when I don't use any caps, or when I type House Of Dreams, it comes up.
Sometimes it's a volume number. If I search for say, "Ladies Who Enjoy Intercourse #2155", I'll get no hits, but if I use "Ladies Who Enjoy Intercourse", I'll get all 2155 volumes.
IAFD, supporters of beastiality. Just say no. 7564 Posts 11/02
Posted - Apr 5 2004 : 1:41PM
It is hard to believe that the porn industry has released that many volumes of that particular title. Are you sure you aren't talking about the Ladies Who Endure Intercourse series?
balle2k1 said: "What does she do in this new release ? hope she gets fucked." (A pornstar getting fucked on tape? What are the chances of that?)
That Nylon scene with Celeste on the yellowish-orange couch looks great but doesn't last as long as you'd want it to. There's a great visual or two, but nothing I'd call thorough.
Apropos of nothing, I was just inspired by another post to start looking into some Jill Kelly movies, and I see that there have been no JKP reviews in 2004, and only five in 2003.
I'm not complaining, by the way. It's just interesting (to me).
Daylight Savings Time, is it really Necessary? 972 Posts 3/04
Posted - Apr 10 2004 : 8:23AM
ObiBong:
I would have to say that I too have wondered why there aren't many vivid or jill kelly reviews out there. I have only done one review of a vivid "Nikki Tyler P.I." and the only reason was because it was the only one I have because I'm afraid to buy any. As for jill kelly productions, from the two I have seen they weren't that great. I can't remember the names but they were a rental..thank God! Then again maybe I just need work on picking out porn from the cover..lol. At any rate I'll be sure to review more vivid's and jill kelly's whenever I rent them which I do from time to time. Hope that helps..a little anyway!
"I killed my wife, Is that wrong?" -Needful Things
it would be nice to see more Vivid reviews, but alas we won't see them for the most part unless the people that watch Vivid films review them after they see them.. Like Rog, and Steph both said like the rest of us heard is that they don't send screeners out enough..
Same here ... I was on the Vivid screener list for a couple of years and the flow of movies just dried up. I was regularly posting reviews of them as well and press releases and other information.
Quite a few Kira Kener fans have e-mailed me requesting reviews and I've had to explain to them the situation. I really don't understand why a studio would be stingy with screeners. It makes no business sense at all. It's probably the cheapest promotion they will ever get.
They also sort of annoyed me at the AEE show by claiming to not know who I was when I requested to interview Kira. I told them I received screeners for years and they actually debated the point with me! UGH. One guy at the booth *finally* said he knew me and they gave me permission to interview her, but she got sick the next day and didn't show.
I for one don't review Vivid, JKP, or A&E movies because they don't do a thing for me. And since the resale value of those studios are so low, it makes no sense for me to buy them to review. At least with the more in-demand studios (RLD, EA, etc.), I can be reasonably sure that I can get a good portion of my purchase price back if I review a disc and don't want to keep it.
I didn't talk to the guys at Anabolic, but everyone at RLD was friendly to me also. I appreciate the opportunity to interview their girls as well.
Saki ... I know what you mean about there being less interest in Vivid movies, at least by the people who frequent Internet discussion boards, but I do think Vivid has fans. For me personally, sometimes watching a Vivid movies was a nice break from raincoater fare. I actually was starting to enjoy some of the better scripted features (Paul Thomas, Ren Savant).
I thought fade to black was awesome. I traded that Video for a classic cowboys game, now I regret it. some thought taylor could be nastier. What do they mean by that? I am a virgin to raincoater and superhardcore.
That's what I suspect is the downfall of gonzo. I don't think I would be into 8 guys fucking a chick in the same postion all day. I assoicated gonzo with super plain teen age looking women. But I got to give it a chance and actually buy one.
Nikki Tyler is one of my favorite vivid woman. Sexy voice and one of my top five lesbo performers. She is pretty hot in straight but superhot in lesbo.
Don't get me wrong, PT is one of my favorite feature directors (and classic actors too). What I mean by less popular has nothing to do with Vivid's fans or their relative numbers, but the resale value. If a disc costs me $15, but I can't sell or trade it even at 1/2 that much, then why would I go out of my way to review what I probably won't like? I think that's one of the reasons some reviewers don't review what they don't receive screeners for. At least with a screener, you didn't have to pay for it.
For me, I've got far too much friggin' porn laying around the house to concentrate on Vivid. To each their own...
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