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
Pure Taboo: Malicious Compliance (2024)
Illogical story
Merely an excuse to crank out yet another incest porn scene about stepsiblings, "Malicious Compliance" trots out a ridiculous storyline just to avoid being considered all-sex filler.
It features Serene Siren as a stern stepmom, who reads the riot act to the stepkids Scarlet Skies and Max Fills after the dean suspends the duo from college for fighting each other in class. Serene grounds them, and insists that they bond and become friendly to each other or else. She's even installed closed circuit cameras at home to provide a live feed so that she can watch them while she's at work and make sure they're behaving.
The kids decide they have to get back at her for this loss of liberty, so they hit upon sort of meeting the letter of her orders, if not the spirit. They make love on the living room couch, causing her to rush home from work to reprimand them. They don't stop humping, so Serene rushes off to get their father to punish them.
After Max's money shot on Scarlet's belly, the youngsters feel proud of themselves for having outwitted stepmom. This script by Penicio Del Toro is hogwash, as their behavior and ridiculous belief that they got away with something make no sense at all.
I've Been So Bad! (2024)
Okay trio
Three segments from the "Mommy's Girl" series are united on this Adult Time VOD release, suitably arousing for fans for the stepmom incest genre.
In "Spank Me, I'm So Bad", Chloe Surreal and Sophia Locke are looking good, but writer Lapis Afterglow gets demerits for trotting out one of porn's corniest storylines.
Redhead stepmom opens the show talking to herself, reciting the boilerplate disclaimer line of dialogue that indicates she's a STEPmother and that her daughter is over 18. That over with, she gets mad because her kid Chloe Surreal is dancing around in the living room to loud music.
Stepmom was sorting the laundry (also one of porn's most frequently-used mom activities), and now insists on punishing Chloe for breaking her house rules. Of course, Chloe loves spanking, and is sexually aroused once Sophia takes her across her knee, and this form of seduction leads to a hot session of sex on the couch.
It's an immensely watchable porn scene, but dumb.
"Swimsuit Shenanigans", with Reagan Foxx and Kimmy Kimm as mom/daughter combo makes for a maximum contrast in body shape, and a satisfying "Mommy's Girl" vignette.
Simple story by Midnight has the two planning their vacation to the Bahamas, and stepmom Reagan trying on bathing suits. They are old-fashioned, first a one-piece and then midriff showing two piecers, but all providing maximum coverage. Her kid Kimmy objects to such out of style garments and produces a skimpy pink bikini for mom to try: that one is so revealing that prudish Reagan objects, but her petite daughter quickly seduces her.
No one could object to watching the well-shaved duo in action, with the actresses somehow believable in a vignette hardly more than an all-girl stag film.
Best of the lot is "Someone Who Truly Appreciates Her". Dee Williams is stunningly styled (replete with industrial-strength fake eyelashes) as a stepmom whose myopic husband is constantly neglecting her. Beautiful stepdaughter Chanel Camryn, whose natural look is stimulating, volunteers to fill the void (no puns, please), by seducing mom and more than satisfying her sexual needs.
Both actresses are quite convincing, and fans will appreciate how Williams continues to stimulate in these romantic couplings. She made her name earlier in her career with bizarre and fetishistic BDSM content, but is equally adept at these sensual acting character acting gigs.
Pure Taboo: Let Me In (2024)
Supernatural winner
Bree Mills pulls out all the stops for probably the best Pure Taboo segment ever in "Let Me In". The title signals her homage to the classic Swedish horror movie by that name, but her script, co-written by stars Reagan Foxx and Shay Sights, is original in its own right.
Reagan Foxx gives a fabulous performance playing Max Fills' stepmom, married to his dad Tommy Pistol, and in a disarming opening scene they play Go Fish (the card game) with Tommy's girlfriend Hailey Rose in a happy family setting, all of them in blissful ignorance.
Everything changes when Shay Sights shows up at the front door and frightens Reagan. Just as in the original vampire movie, she asks to be admitted and Max & Hailey innocently ask her to come in, the piece of vampire lore which works well here.
It turns out that Shay is not a vampire but a demon, capable of controlling Reagan, and terrific casting has the two mature actresses as believable lookalikes, something I never noticed about them despite seeing them in dozens of videos. The sexy demon disrupts the family, resulting in several hot sex scenes (in a vignette lasting over an hour), plenty of suspense and a highly dramatic climax.
As director, Bree cleverly edits the movie so that Shay and Reagan appear interchangeably during the sex scenes, with even their evil facial expressions matching! Shay's permanent shoulder tattoo is the quickest way to tell them apart, but the overall effect is much better than in SPFX "twins" movies where one actress plays both parts.
It's a lot more fun than the usual meanness of a Pure Taboo story, and the supernatural gimmick works a lot better than the genre's usual illogical behavior approach.
Upclose 2 (2024)
All-sex
A tedious offering from Bree Mills, who seems content with minimal-effort, all-sex content for her porn empire of late. Of course, she also produces pretentious features occasionally like "Birth" most recently, but they are hardly worth recommending.
Three vignettes have an identical format: a young beauty interviewed and then humped by a porn stud, with emphasis on the intimacy of POV camera and in the case of Leana Lovings way-overlong scene, her staring lovingly into the camera for over 40 minutes. That makes her otherwise cuteness quite tedious, and even at the end during the credits her co-star Robby Echo/Apples wise cracks that maybe she'll make eye contact with him instead of the camera next time.
From the specialty/custom porn team of Dan & Rhiannon Anatomik, this is minimalist porn, appearing to be made with a 1:1 shooting ratio. Oddest element is Leana's sexy whisper throughout her scene, as if she was auditioning for one of those ASMR videos, yet another of Bree's all-sex formats.
Mommy's Girl: Someone Who Truly Appreciates Her (2024)
Who needs dad?
Dee Williams is stunningly styled (replete with industrial-strength fake eyelashes) as a stepmom whose myopic husband is constantly neglecting her. Beautiful stepdaughter Chanel Camryn, whose natural look is stimulating, volunteers to fill the void (no puns, please), by seducing mom and more than satisfying her sexual needs.
Both actresses are quite convincing, and fans will appreciate how Williams continues to stimulate in these romantic couplings. She made her name earlier in her career with bizarre and fetishistic BDSM content, but is equally adept at these sensual acting character acting gigs.
Mommy's Girl: Swimsuit Shenanigans (2024)
Irresistible team
Reagan Foxx and Kimmy Kimm as mom/daughter combo makes for a maximum contrast in body shape, and a satisfying "Mommy's Girl" vignette.
Simple story by Midnight has the two planning their vacation to the Bahamas, and stepmom Reagan trying on bathing suits. They are old-fashioned, first a one-piece and then midriff showing two piecers, but all providing maximum coverage. Her kid Kimmy objects to such out of style garments and produces a skimpy pink bikini for mom to try: that one is so revealing that prudish Reagan objects, but her petite daughter quickly seduces her.
No one could object to watching the well-shaved duo in action, with the actresses somehow believable in a vignette hardly more than an all-girl stag film.
Mommy's Girl: Spank Me, I've Been SO Bad! (2024)
Very corny
The beautiful actresses can't be faulted, but writer Lapis Afterglow gets demerits for trotting out one of porn's corniest storylines.
Redhead stepmom opens the show talking to herself, reciting the boilerplate disclaimer line of dialogue that indicates she's a STEPmother and that her daughter is over 18. That over with, she gets mad because her kid Chloe Surreal is dancing around in the living room to loud music.
Stepmom was sorting the laundry (also one of porn's most frequently-used mom activities), and now insists on punishing Chloe for breaking her house rules. Of course, Chloe loves spanking, and is sexually aroused once Sophia takes her across her knee, and this form of seduction leads to a hot session of sex on the couch.
It's an immensely watchable porn scene, but dumb.
Death in Space (1974)
Cue the stock footage
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Charles Dubin; Produced by Harold Lipstone for Alan Landsburg Productions; taped feature broadcast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Lou Shaw; Music by George Kleinsinger. Starring: George Maharis, Cameron Mitchell, Jeremy Slate, Robert Walker, Margaret O'Brien, Susan Oliver, Lynette Mettey, Bill Bryant and Sandy Kenyon.
Poor TV space thriller using stock outer space documentary footage extensively. Embarrassing acting in ersatz slow motion to simulate weightlessness. A tired veteran cast is supplemented by a pretty new heroine: Lynette Mettey.
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Trite haunted house story
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by John Newland; Produced by Allen Epstein for Lorimar, telecast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Nigel McKeand; Photography by Andrew Jackson; Edited by Michael McCroskey; Music by Billy Goldenberg. Starring: Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, Barbara Anderson, William Demarest, Pedro Armendariz Junior, Lesley Woods and William Sylvester.
Extremely trite "modern" haunted house thriller that is nearly all filler, with lacklustre acting under John Newland's heavy-handed post-"The Exorcist" direction. Name cast does little to create interest in the material.
The Devil's Daughter (1973)
Poor horror for TV
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Jeannot Szwarc; Produced by Edward Milkis and Thomas Miller for Paramount TV, telecast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Colin Higgins; Photography by J. J. Jones; Edited by Rita Roland; Music by Laurence Rosenthal; Music Supervision by Kenyon Hopkins. Starring: Belinda J. Montgomery, Shelley Winters, Joseph Cotten, Jonathan Frid. Robert Foxworth, Martha Scott, Ian Wolfe and Abe Vigoda.
Unbelievably boring horror telefilm by "Night Gallery" director Jeannot Szwarc, who does not avoid the genre's cliches, but who has no sense of the genre's mythological imagery. An attempt at "Rosemary's Baby" naturalism results in overly mundane stagings, with an extremely under-rehearsed cast. For traditionalists: trite white nightgown and blowing window curtains for our restlessly sleeping heroine.
The Dungeon of Harrow (1964)
Minor genre oddity
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Pat Boyette; Produced by Russ Harvey and Don Russell, for Herts-Lion release. Screenplay by Pat Boyette and Henry Garcia; Photography by James Houston; Edited by Don Russell; Music by Pat Boyette. Starring: Russ Harvey, Helen Hogan, William McNulty, Eunice Grey, Maurice Harris, Don Russell, Michele Buquor, Lee Morgan and Pat Boyette.
Extremely obscure grisly horror film, which is unique for its Roald Dahl styled use of leprosy as a horror motif. Otherwise it falls into the genre of "a new bride in a remote, spooky castle".
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922)
A Lang masterwork
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Fritz Lang; Produced by Erich Pommer for UFA release; Screenplay by Thea von Harbou, from Jacques Norbert's novel; Photography by Carl Hoffman. Starring: Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Aud-Egge Nissen, Alfred Abel, Gertrude Welcker, Bernhard Goetzke, Robert Forster-Larrinaga and Paul Richter.
Classic breakthrough in action suspense films with Fritz Lang's direction creating powerful horror and supernatural overtones with a baroque 1920s depiction of decadent German nightlife and tight action direction, the result having timeless value.
Hawk Tuah!: The Best of Spittin' on It (2024)
So blow me
Porn vernacular and lowbrow culture merge in this new/old term used in a podcast to describe a motif of fellatio, so Brazzers jumped on the bandwagon with this hour-long compilation of blow-job footage (and other sex thrown in), to sort of celebrate the label's 20th anniversary. How classy.
The collection of clips is more wearying than stimulating to sit through, and I was immediately aware that it consists of nearly all recent material. The original actresses who were so popular when Brazzers launched are nowhere to be seen, like Audrey Bitoni and Brandy Talore. Instead, we get heavy doses of Angela White, the most popular porn stars in recent years. The credits are haphazard: only a couple of the dozens of male actors are listed (Nade Nasty and Musa Phoenix), probably by mistake because their first names are not obviously "masculine". The closest to a veteran femme performer on screen is still-young Emma Hix, hardly an oldie but goodie.
The editing is sloppy, and the scenes are random, with the money shots missing - I suppose to prolong the agony for the diehard viewer.
Deadly Visitor (1973)
Lousy supernatural romantic triangle
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Lela Swift; TV taped feature Produced by Jacqueline Babbin for Specter Productions as part of Hollis Alpert's "Classic Ghosts" series, telecast by ABC-TV. Screenplay by Millard Lampell from Fitz-James O'Brien's story; Lighting by Mel Handelsman; Edited by Alfred Muller; Scenic Design by Alan Kimmel. Starring: Gwen Verdon, Perry King, James Keach and Ann Miles.
Foolish, consistently overacted ghost triangle that is poor in every respect, down to its ultra-trite, throw-it-in-the-viewer's lap ending. Unfortunate choice for Gwen Verdon, rarely cast on TV, in the central role.
Le spie vengono dal semifreddo (1966)
Poor sequel
One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Mario Bava; Produced by Fulvio Lucisano and Louis Heyward for American-International Pictures. Screenplay by Heyward and Robert Kaufman; Photography by Antonio Rinaldi; Edited by Ronald Sinclair; Music by Les Baxter; Assistant Director: Lamberto Bava. Starring: Vincent Price, Fabian, Franco Franchia, Ciccio Ingrassia, Laura Antonelli and Francesco Mule.
Ridiculous comedown for Mario Bava, reduced to banal slapstick comedy, imitating the dregs of the Bond/Helm sexy espionage genre. Price craps out as the mad scientist and a pair of Italian low comics overdo their Abbott & Costello approach, while talented Laura Antonelli is decorative. Exploding robot girls as plot premise is even dumber than in "Bikini Machine" forerunner.
Ghosted: Episode 4 (2024)
Stupid ending makes no sense
Of course the show climaxes with a bang, but "Ghosted" in its fourth and final (thank god) episode makes no sense at all. Absence of a screenplay credit is certainly understandable under the circumstances.
Basically, the cast gets together and Jasmine is asked to try and remember what happened at the house that morning. She recalls that she caught Danny humping Yasmina and then argued with him. Danny got mad and knocked over some candles causing a fire, and she was saved by a fireman. Supposedly everybody died except her and Xander, the other four in the cast including Danny died, and returned as ghosts.
Resolution, Jasmine decides to have a 3-way with Xander and Danny, ending with copious cum shots by the studs presented on a wide canvas -her big butt! Yes, Jasmine is what porn afficianados call (derisively?) a PAWG. And Danny the director replays that dual cum shot a second time in slow motion.
Afterward, the trio get dressed and Danny the ghost disappears via a minor special effect. The surviving pair leave hand in hand and we see, for the first time, the burned out windows of the mansion as evidence of a fire. Finally, the four ghosts chat inside, looking forward to a sexy afterlife together and planning to return next Thanksgiving (that old movie bugaboo, sequelitis).
Horror movies have often been silly and even moronic, with many displaying a dumb end title such as "Is this the end?". Danny D has delivered "Ghosted": sex footage and little more, with fans clearly geared up to skip or merely ignore the obvious shortcomings of his "story".
Ghosted (2024)
Sad excuse for a horror (sex) movie
Danny D's "Ghosted" gave Digital Playground website subscribers four helpings of weekly porn and little else. With extremely poor continuity, and a storyline beyond mindless, the Halloween-themed release is an embarrassment.
I tried to make sense out of it but failed. I know that in porn production, traditionally the director has a couple of days or so to shoot a set of explicit sex scenes and then, often separately, run through some dialogue scenes to have enough footage to piece together a feature. In this case, the effort put into the "acting"/dialogue scenes was negligible, insultingly so.
Both leading ladies (who have previously worked together) are British actresses of South Asian ancestry. It's easy to tell them apart: Yasmine has big fake breasts while Jasmine has a very big butt. Also in the mix is a lovely blonde, also from England, Frances Bentley. The accompanying ghost story set in a rural mansion, lacks atmosphere, script logic, and any horror thrills.
Elsbeth: Pilot (2024)
It's a hit
Buoyed by Carrie Preston's ebullient title character and very fine use of Manhattan locations, this pilot episode is a winner. 57-year-old Preston is more than capable of carrying a hit show, and together with the network's even older (and almost as quirky) Kathy Bates as "Matlock", there's a refreshing trend here favoring veteran talent.
The showing the murder and murderer at work before the actual detecting occurs is not my favorite approach to either a police procedural or obviously a whodunit (since the who is identified at the outset) but it works well here. Perhaps this format could be varied in future editions. Since the pilot is designed to throw a wide net to capture literally millions of fans for a network offering, I understand that subtlety is not an ingredient, as the public is likely to dig Carrie's over the top shtick and likewise costuming. But a clear defect, again correctable in future, is portraying her co-star regular characters as lamebrains. Likeability need not be sacrificed by making them have some serious sleuthing abilities too -it's preposterous that obvious clues, evidence and even trivial perceptiveness are lacking in the cops, just to make our star look good to the viewer.
Similarly, the one-dimensionality of the villain was a letdown. If we had suspects and could ponder them individually rather than knowing the murderer in advance, then more nuance would be possible with the eventual bad guy.
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre: The Lady Is My Wife (1967)
Wonderful, unpredictable Peckinpah gem
Hiding in Sam Peckinpah's filmography is this unknown, but well worth reviving mini-movie made for TV's Chrysler Theatre after the great director's ill-fated major feature film projects "The Cincinnati Kid' and "Major Dundee" plus classic TV movie "Noon Wine". His career restarted two years later with the breakthrough "The Wild Bunch".
Here he's working from an excellent script by Halsted Welles (who wrote the great Western suspense film "3:10 to Yuma" from an Elmore Leonard story), based on producer Jack Laird's story. It's a quirky, tall tale that concisely covers some major themes (questions of honor, and the lingering issues following the Civil War), but is notable for Sam's directorial touches. Unlike ""Dundee" or "Wild Bunch", he is not working on a large, sprawling scale, but instead excels in a concentrated drama that centers on a triangular romance.
Dillman was a cavalry colonel for the South, now married to the gorgeous Jean Simmons (easily dominating the screen here), as they roam from town to town, seemingly always broke. He's a card sharp and trigger-happy gunslinger, mortally defending his wife's honor at the drop of a hat, while she's a palm reader telling fortunes. Her ability to read men's futures is surprisingly relevant to how the story unfolds.
Enter Alex Cord, a wealthy horse breeder who is something of a deus ex machina character, using his money to tempt both Dillman and SImmons. As written, Dillman plays a rather unsympathetic role, yet by the show's end one can see where the proud but defeated Confederate soldier is coming from. Strong-willed Simmons has clashing motives of her own, and the "dashing" Cord generates both admiration and skepticism in his behavior. Add to the mix L. Q. Jones for darkly comic relief and Peckinpah's beautiful real-life Mexican wife Begona Palacios as Cord's sexy and mysterious servant girl at his horse ranch and you have a highly original drama.
Among Sam's directorial stylistics is the use of mirror shots for two scenes of Jean interacting suspiciously with first Cord and later Dillman, in which she's at her makeup mirror and the man is shown only in mirror image. Also notable is the scene of the two guys shooting pool with supposedly Simmons as the prize for the winner, both taking their shots while on horseback indoors at Cord's large but mainly unfurnished mansion. Similarly, a climactic duel of sorts that resolves several subplots (and is impossible to predict as to what will happen) is staged indoors inside the horses' stable.
The Ring (1952)
We get to watch beautiful Rita
Writer Irving Shulman was a talented screenwriter and novelist (including the classic "The Amboy Dukes"), and this is an adequate if cliched boxing story of his. Lead actor Lalo Rios is weak as a young Mexican-American in Los Angeles who learns the hard way that boxing is not such an attractive ticket to the American dream, but Rita as his girlfriend steals the show.
Sure, her part is underwritten, but what beauty from an iconic talent still going strong 72 years later! Director Kurt Neumann does a workmanlike job, obviously not on the level of his sci-fi and fantasy classics like "Kronos", "The Fly" and "She Devil".
Sticking out here is a memorable early scene where Rita takes our hero out to a movie but they're turned away at the box office, pointing to the sign that lists "Colored Night" and "Mexican Night" for segregation -it's not their night!
The Mandalorian: Chapter 6: The Prisoner (2019)
Ho-hum
Some guest talent, notably Natalia Tena in heavy makeup/prosthetics resembling Rosario Dawson as "Ahsoka" (a later show from producer Dave Filoni), perks things up, but the cliches are boring.
Mando is killing time (that of the audience) and earning his keep on a potentially dangerous mission that proves to be afoul of the law: helping a criminal to escape from the authorities.
Mando gets to show off his vaunted fighting skills, and when the mission goes awry, he outwits everyone and lives to fight another day with cute Baby Yoda still aboard, after some temporary suspense when Mando's partners in crime threaten the little critter.
Naked City: The Hot Minerva (1961)
Light-hearted and trivial
Emmy award-winning writer (for "Roots") Ernest Kinoy is responsible for this comical episode of Naked City, designed to provide a bit of escapism to the show's audience amidst a season of drama and melodrama.
Only Glynis Johns' reliably arresting performance as a slightly dotty museum curator is salvageable from this throwaway hour. A couple of bumbling get-rich-quick crooks (Gerald Hiken and William Redfield) concoct the scheme of stealing an ancient Greek statue from Glynis's museum and selling it to an unscrupulous Greek jet-set collector (Kurt Kasznar) for $200,000. It's insured for $750,000, but Kinoy's conceit is that it's really priceless, meaning worth nothing in terms of sales value, as no legal sale to anyone can be managed, only secret transactions to folks wishing to possess it and keep it hidden.
The robbery is perfunctory, but the bumbling idiots find themselves in the soup when buyer Kasznar suddenly dies -there is no viable backup plan. Stereotyped Johnny Seven as the criminal muscle they hired for the caper demands his money, and sends a piece of the stature to Glynis, demanding ransom, and a spoof of a kidnapping operation has our cop heroes saving the day. Kinoy succeeds only in spoofing the cliches of a police procedural show.
Danger Man: The Deputy Coyannis Story (1961)
Terrible script + inferior cast = worthless episode
It's difficult to put myself (from America) in the mindset of a British TV audience circa 1960, but the Danger Man team shows little respect for them in this awful segment. A nonsensical story about Drake representing the IMF has zero credibility.
The premise is that a Southern European nation, fictionally modeled after Greece, is recipient of IMF funds to help the peasants modernize farming but corruption is suspected due to zero results, so Drake is sent as a one-man, utterly arrogant, agent to investigate. In modern terms, it reminded me of the recent nefarious activities of Rudy Giuliani sent by President Trump to screw around in Ukraine under the guise of "fighting corruption".
The ruling government repped by very, very British sounding Charles Grey is pitted against a minority party repping the peasants where everyone speaks with a vague accent (not Greek) and Drake keeps giving ultimatums and critiques against both sides. The series' number one gimmick of unarmed Drake foiling lots of violent, gun-toting adversaries is trotted out for a ridiculous finale that solves nothing and is about as cynical as possible regarding the superior countries (including Britain and USA of course) versus "underdeveloped" ones. And the talented scripter (Jo Eisinger), with many fine films to his credit, earns many demerits here, including obvious misogyny.
Please Make Me Lesbian 25 (2024)
Romantic scenes of Sapphic love
B. Skow relies upon voiceover narration to establish each of the four sexual vignettes in this very fine edition of the long-running Girlfriends Films series. It's a winning formula, cutting down on the length of the dialogue scenes that introduce and precede the all-important XXX footage.
Best segment presents an odd couple: plus-size lady Ashlyn Peaks and mature/petite Justine Jakobs. We see them in silent footage enjoying each other's company as best friends as JJ indicates they are drifting into a love affair, and then watch the duo in a highly sensual sex scene on a couch. The quiet passion of the duo, utterly natural in their enjoyment of sex together is truly impressive.
Skow goes a different route with a more posed, fake scene that is nonetheless erotic too. Ember Snow voices over her bicurious status as she works at a photographic studio, lustfully watching mature model Eva Long posing. Though Ember is married, she finds her attraction to the older woman overwhelming, and on a different couch we see them make love. But here we have them oiling up their bodies (for the home viewers' benefit, not an organic part of the scene) and noisily whomping away, clearly playing to the cameras.
Another contrasting casting scene has Daisy Fuentes complain of her loss of sexual attraction to her husband, turning to statuesque redhead Sophia Locke for stimulation. A somewhat kinkier scene (in set-up, not actual content) has brand-new starlet Kell Fire telling us that her interest in trying a lesbian experience has resulted in her "hotwifing" husband actually finding a candidate to initiate her: petite blonde Paris White.
Erotic Threesomes (2024)
Golden oldies
Sweet Sinner has compiled four scenes from features released a decade or so ago. It's all quality material, directed for various SS feature series by James Avalon and Nica Noelle, but presented here minus the original story context.
Summer Carter (recently deceased) and Jodi Taylor have makeup sex together, with a jogger played by Seth Gamble who they've just met, at the climax of "A Love Triangle 3", released in 2015. From "A Love Triangle", a DVD dating all the way back to 2010, the video has a similar climax, after Misty Stone and Manuel Ferrara have had a reconciliation and Satine Phoenix arrives at her door and before you can say Jack Robinson, the three are in bed together for a torrid three-way.
Taken from 2013's "The Swinger 3", that film ends with a classy threesome of India Summer and Danny Mountain joined by horny Allie Haze, making a full turnaround from her shy wallflower of the earlier reels to full-blown swinger.
Finally, from 2016's "Brothers and Sisters 2", Marley Brinx steps out of character drastically (turning on a dime almost) to hump James Deen in a three-way with Aidra Fox.