Champion provided by Blowfish

Mimi

When we first received Shine Louise Houston’s Champion in the mail, we debated on whether or not it was actually porn because there is not one single finger going into anyone’s vagina anywhere on the cover. We hadn’t seen any of Houston’s films yet and joked in our ignorance, “Perhaps she’s trying to make a real movie and it will be the most painful display of acting ever seen.” Such movies are watched only with whiskey.

Naturally, we put it off for the right time and meanwhile we watched Houston’s older film, Superfreak, which made it crystal clear to us that Houston is someone to take seriously. Serious in the respectable sense, not in the sit in the dark alone and listen to Sarah McLachlan sense. There is an excellent balance of playfulness and hardcore eroticism in Houston’s work. It’s refreshing, really.

Champion is full of talented, sexy, charming performers such as Syd Blakovich (she has a great website), Jiz Lee, Javier, Dallas, Madison Young and Dylan Ryan. Syd Blakovich plays Jessie Eaton, a cold son of a bitch making her way into women’s professional Mixed Martial Arts, as well into the pants of various individuals. It backfires when her old nemesis, Bobby Malone (Javier), punishes Jessie for having sex with Bobby’s girl through blackmail. While Jessie is trying to decide what to do about it, she is also dealing with her sexual attraction to Violet Vahn (Dallas), her opponent in and out of the ring. Of course, this being porn, they end up fucking.  One can’t let hairy pussy go to waste.

There was not one single scene in Champion that I didn’t like, and any complaint I could muster up would be really minor. Not even worth mentioning. Houston has a great deal of talent to begin with, but it’s obvious comparing Champion to her older work that a lot of the awkwardness has been refined. In between loving Jiz Lee’s beautiful face in ecstasy and watching Dylan Ryan squirt, I spent a fair amount of time during the film admiring the camera angles or the naturalness of the lighting.

It’s true that this film is more like a “real” movie than your standard fair porno, but it didn’t ever leave me feeling bored or miserably hoping that the acting scene would end soon so the sex can commence. While Jessie is at the gym or watching a recorded fight in preparation for her match, there’s another sex scene going on simultaneously.  A working visual balance is created that carries through a sophisticated level of eroticism.

Champion is sophisticated because it acknowledges complexity within gender and sex, yet maintains a sense of humor and humanity. It’s not glamorized bullshit, it’s just fucking hot. Period.

Joseph

Mimi already covered almost everything that I had in mind to say about this film. It was well made, the stars were hot and the chemistry was real. As if that wasn’t enough, there was enough of a plot to give you some investment with the characters that you are watching have hardcore sex.

For me personally, the connection is what made every scene (except for Madison Young’s) go from hot to stellar. Even though the connection with the characters is somewhat cursory, it is very real and I think  Houston understands that giving that sort of depth will make us hot in our minds as well as our dirty bits.

The superb camera work and lighting choices even prevented Young from ruining the scene that she was in. While all of the other actors seemed to have real chemistry with one another and looked like they were genuinely enjoying themselves, Young is not convincing. It is almost like she watched some mainstream porn and then decided to take those traits into the queer porn world. Fake noises and all. I apologize, I know my problem with Young must be getting old by now. Maybe if I hadn’t watched Bride of Sin first, I wouldn’t loathe seeing her so much. She is hot, I’ll give her that.

I’m glad that Houston makes cameos in her films. I liked seeing her as the ghost of Rick James in Superfreak and she appears in Champion as the world’s most meek reporter. It is always nice to put a face with a piece of work and her perpetual small roles almost strike me as a signature. I look forward to watching The Crash Pad and seeing how she will put herself in that series.

I am really happy with the gender role blurring, power dynamic swapping, queer porn we have been watching. Because of the expert way that Houston handles these films,  I would be very interested to see what  Houston  would do with a hetero-oriented film. She does such masterful work playing with and setting up masculine dynamics within her queer films, I would love to see how she handles directing biological males. Perhaps one day…

She said “chocolate?” -I said “No.”- She said POW!

The Naked Truth:

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Educational Value: N/A

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Getting Undressed is better when you tell everyone on the internet!

Shine Louise Houston’s Superfreak provided by Blowfish

Joseph

In non-porn movies there are several levels; good, okay, bad, and so-bad-it-is-good. Although I think that almost all porn is bad, I thought that Superfreak would be a so-bad-it-is-good porn.

It starts off with our pal Madison Young pretending to masturbate (badly) at home. Then the main and only plot device comes into the room: The ghost of Rick James. Said ghost dives into Young and, possessed by the funky spirit of James, she pulls out her trusty Hitachi Wand and masturbates for real. Watching Young please herself is much more enjoyable than watching her pretend to please herself or watching her speak.

Once Young has vibed and shaken herself silly, she puts on some clothes and goes to a party. At said party, Young immediately approaches Dylan Rion and says a wonderful pickup line, “It’s a good thing I brought my library card cause I’m checking you out.” Based on Rion’s reaction, I am glad I’ve never used this line. Rion proceeds to fuck Young in a room full of people. How rude.

This scene has some very hot moments but it also has some very awkward camera angles. The awkward camera angles are in every scene of Superfreak and never stop being perplexing. After the two are done fucking in the corner, James exits Young in search of a less spent host which he finds in Guy Handful who is arguing in the bathroom with Rozen.

However, because the film is anachronistic, we see James enter Shawn in the kitchen before we see Handful and Rozen. Shawn finds Vasa right after she is done pissing in the kitchen sink because the bathroom was taken (we see why later, yowza) but this does not deter Shawn in the least. She takes a mouthful of water, sprays it into Vasa’s pussy and then immediately goes to town. What follows is in my opinion the hottest scene in the movie. I say this not only because Vasa is super cute, but because the chemistry between Vasa and Shawn seems very natural (we learn in the behind the scenes that they are a couple in real life) and the sexuality portrayed is very raw and powerful.

After that hotness is over, we get to see what was going on in the bathroom with Handful and Rozen. They were arguing. But then James came in and with his supernatural superfreak supercharm ended the argument with one sentence. “Less talking, more fucking.” And there was. Rozen’s intense pleasure convulsions and wails really make this scene. Though, it makes her look like the one that is possessed.

Next we see Dana DeArmond and Princess Donna being bored on a couch. They discuss going home but before they can get up to leave, Lorelei Lee plops down between them and asks if she has missed the party. They respond the way any reasonable young women would, by throwing Lee down on the coffee table and tag-teaming her. This scene has some hot moments in it as well, but the noises that Lee makes (kinda like a goat) are so obnoxious to us that we had to mute it in order to enjoy the hot parts. The ghost of Rick James has nothing to do with this impromptu party sex, but walks in and sees it. And approves.

After the credits rolled, we watched the extras and I’m very glad that we did. There are interviews of every cast member and it is revieled that everyone but Rion and Young knew each other before shooting. I have a lot of respect for Houston for casting that way. It greatly reduced most of what I hate about porn which is its fakeness and it exploitative nature.

I was wrong about Superfreak. It falls into the good porn category instead of the so-bad-it-is-good category. Awkward camera angles aside, this was a great example of what porn could be. Granted it was silly and didn’t even try to have a real plot, but the sex was real and engaging and it was well lit and recorded. I look forward to seeing more of Houston’s work.

We were hoping to summon the ghost of Rick James.

Mimi

This is the first film of Shine Louise Houston’s that I’ve had the pleasure of watching. The DVD packaging looks very professional and sets the tone – freaky, funny, and hot. Reading “real people having real sex” in the synopsis led to a brief glimmer of lustful hope; however, I was still really skeptical about enjoying it because, well… Madison Young is on the cover and while I am a fan of her ass, I am not a fan of her work. Another porn with her as the leading star simply did not sound appealing.

Despite the film opening with a scene that had Madison masturbating, it is immediately clear that Houston’s films is different – colourful, stylish, good quality, good sound, wild, and intentionally funny. Intentionally is the key word there. Even the music that accompanies each scene fits in line with the humorous, casual atmosphere. It’s not over the top, but definitely lingering close enough to make you sweat.

The ghost of a funk singer inhabiting people and getting them to do “freaky” shit is a very simple plot, but it allows the viewer to know what he or she’s getting into from the beginning and provides a basis for the humor. And like any good film plot, it holds the scenes and characters together, making the scenes fluid and (I’m using this word loosely) believable. Who has sex in a crowded room? Young does if she’s got Rick James’ ghost inside her! She also, apparently, learns how to stop masturbating like she’s having a damn self-induced seizure and really gets down to business with her Hitachi Wand, rope, and glass dildo.

When Young gets to the party, Dylan Rion wastes no time to make her move, which Young intercepts with a bold (and wicked cheesy) pick-up line. They start kissing and fucking with a strap-on against a wall, which at some points was really hot on account of Young’s juicy ass being gripped by Rion’s hands. Rion’s animated playfulness is also really entertaining after the sex part of their scene is over and they’re kneeling behind a couch, recovering and acknowledging their actions. I still can’t stand the noises Young makes or her facial expressions, but it’s not enough to completely ruin the scene.

My favourite scene was the one with Shawn and Vasa because it was the most intense, energetic, fun, and those two are just flat out sexy. They both seemed completely comfortable and happy to be playing their respective parts. I love the inclusion of the water! Obviously, for practical reasons, some “cleaning” was necessary since Vasa just took a piss in the kitchen sink, but watching Shawn spit water onto Vasa’s pussy and then Vasa’s surprised/excited facial reaction was enough to make my hips stir and sexual appetite grow. (Note to self: We need a kitchen sink hose. Oh, and a bigger kitchen.) Nothing about their interaction feels fake, forced, or exaggerated. How fucking hot is that? When Vasa wiped some of Shawn’s nether juices on her face and in her mouth, I almost squealed. Seriously. This is one sexy scene.

In second place, regarding my favourite scenes, would be the one between newcomer real life couple Rozen and Guy Handful. The acting was about what you’d expect in porn (not very good), but their sex scene was much better than what you’d expect. (The second option is more important, if you ask me.) No obnoxious noises, no fake expressions, and Rozen has amazing, natural looking breasts. She appears to completely forget the cameras, bucking her hips hard and screaming.

The last scene was difficult for me to enjoy because I took such a disliking of the half-laughing, half-goat noises Lorelei Lee was making constantly. It would have been fine, really, but when I say constantly, I mean she stopped to inhale. We muted it so that I’d stop yelling at the television and startling the cats. I also took issue with there being ass to vag finger insertion because even though I know they stopped and cleaned/lubed up periodically, I think that porn should be held to a practical, safe standard. Like when Rion and Handful had condoms on their strap-ons – that made sense, that felt appropriate. However, if you’re not paying attention like I was at the time (hawk eyes!), then you probably wouldn’t even notice and, all of that said, it was still a hot “stone femme” on femme scene.

Having seen Bride of Sin already and knowing Young is a huge rope slut, it’s encouraging to know that Houston obviously let Young use the rope for her masturbation scene. Positive female sexuality? Houston’s not all talk. Frequently throughout this simple, fun film we are introduced to notions of gender identity, roles, and how people are challenging them everyday just by leading honest, authentic lives. You can see this fully articulated in the Behind Kink interview where a rather soft spoken, joking, encouraging Houston directs her crew and talks about challenging pre-determined roles, whether it’s directly related to porn or life itself. All of this is worthy of respect, if not titillation. Probably both.

The Naked Truth

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Getting Undressed is better when you tell everyone on the internet!

Provided by Blowfish

Mimi

Of the five videos we received from Blowfish, we were the most genuinely interested in Erika Lust’s Barcelona Sex Project, claiming to offer “six portraits of true intimacy, personal interviews, and real orgasms”. Underneath the description of the film and a brief mention of Erika Lust’s awards and acclaims, there is a section headed with “We Care”, which states that Lust Films of Barcelona (co-founded by Erika Lust) “supports NGOs combating sexual exploitations and fighting for human rights for women” by contributing 5% of their film’s revenue to Coalition Against Trafficking Women, Equality Now, and Womankind Worldwide. Pretty swank. It wouldn’t be your average porn, that’s for sure.

Each participant – three men and three women – sat on a stool amidst a completely white background and spoke candidly about his or her life, including jobs, hobbies, romantic interests, pets, and other comfortable, casual subjects. They were also allowed to bring a camera so that they might offer the viewer an extra peek into their intimate, everyday lives. Then, after the some more sexual questioning about masturbation and fantasies, we get onto the masturbation.

The settings, although sparse, are carefully chosen to create a clean, stylish sense of place, separate from “normal” life. I can imagine that masturbating and achieving orgasm on camera is not terribly easy, especially if someone needs to come in and powder your forehead, but based on the behind-the-scenes footage, Erika Lust and all of her crew appeared to approach the work in a very encouraging way, with humor and consideration.

Admittedly, the interviewing sequence can be a little boring at times because just like in real, regular old life, you simply can’t be interested in everyone you meet. Some people just don’t do it for you. However, if nothing else, I could imagine him or her naked or masturbating, then compare that with the semi-orchestrated reality of the screen. As an American who has never been outside of the U.S. and Canada, it was also interesting to see a film made in another country with an emphasis on the inhabitants and how they live, sexually and non-sexually.

I spent a good portion of the film and thereafter comparing and contrasting in my mind, on various levels, and much less of it feeling extensively turned on. It may be because I do not fantasize much about other people masturbating alone. I am much more turned on by watching the interactions of two, three, four, etc. individuals, or if someone’s masturbating could mean some play for me. So while I could recognize that certain portions were hot, I still did not feel inclined to whip out the Hitachi and buzz myself to bliss.

If you enjoy watching people masturbate, and especially the idea of gorgeous, “average” people masturbating, then this DVD will probably be more than thought provoking for you. It contains none of the ugly, mainstream porn aesthetic (brownie points, indeed) and, best of all, the atmosphere is one of respect and positivity. Fabulous.

As a writer, director, producer, and activist encouraging a positive, feminist perspective on sexuality, Erika Lust has been added to my mental list of people who should be paid attention to, and most definitely adored.

Joseph

Because of my overall distaste for porn, this film was the one that I was most interested in out of the movies that Blowfish sent to us.

Since the breadth of how it is different from a typical porn case (hot blank on blank action) is covered quite well in Her review, I will just say that to me it reads more like a documentary complete with obligatory percentage to charity. Which is good. Which is fucking awesome.

After watching it, I maintain that it is more of a documentary than a porn. I guess you could call it an orgasm documentary. I think that the interview portion before the self therapy commences is wonderful. At first I actually liked the candid interviews better than watching people gild the lily.

As I watched on I became more pleased with the pleasing oneself section. I originally liked the interview part better because I felt more of a connection with the individuals talking about their jobs, family, day-to-day lives, etc than when they were beating around the bush (Get it? Huh, huh?). However, after seeing a few of them churn the mayo, I felt like both sections were equally intimate.

The fact that I thought listening to these people answer some fairly cursory questions was more intimate that watching them masturbate is a good illustration of what I have come to expect from porn. After seeing countless people have sex on screen, I began to feel more and more detached from them. And it is not hard to see why. Traditional porn does nothing to try and make the experience feel organic or intimate at all. The average porn scene is full of fake body parts, fake noises, fake sentiment, and fake standards. Being contrived and ridiculous is now a standard. I’ve come to associate porn with detachment so strongly that I don’t even expect a sex scene to be interesting anymore.

The Barcelona Sex Project was just the opposite. Care was taken to make these scenes feel natural. The people were encouraged to do whatever they wanted, they brought their own toys from home and the sets were carefully matched to each person’s personality. All of this care and personality really shines through and by the second half of the film, I was enthralled by the wankin’ scenes because it felt like an extension of the interview, like another bit of that person’s personality rather than a calculated bit of pornography.

Erika Lust single handedly revived my hopes for porn. With more people like her behind the action, porn could eventually become something worthy of attention and respect. It could become the art form that it should be. Sex is beautiful, intimacy is beautiful, film can be beautiful so it stands to reason that porn should be beautiful instead of the garish and exploitative thing that it is.

God’s speed Miss Lust.

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Getting Undressed is better when you tell everyone on the internet!