American Dreams Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  6/22/2005

The Little Details

Running Time: 79 min.

Production Date: 11 / 12 / 2004

Director: Michael Raven

Cast: Julia Ann, Stormy, Alexis Duval, Austin Kinkaid, Dani Woodward, Katja Kassin, Matsumi, Lexi Marie, Melissa Lauren, Kurt Lockwood, Trevor Zen, Randy Spears, Steven St. Croix, and Kris Slater

The Short Story

Initial Expectations: Michael Raven, Julia Ann, and Stormy. How could I not have very high expectations?

Initial Reaction: It’s okay, but far from Raven’s best.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting beautifully captured sex

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting something with a bit of nastiness

The Technical Stuff

Audio /Video Quality: The technical aspects are a bit on the artistic side. The audio is nicely done, but it sometimes lets the music dominate the audio or adds in a few other effects. The video is much the same way. To start with, it’s presented in non-anamorphic widescreen, which is always a disappointment (especially with Wicked’s resources). I’m thrilled to see them going widescreen, but non-anamorphic always looks like the Mal-Wart way of doing it. There’s a little grain and it’s nicely lit, but there’s a few effects added in that work to varying degrees in places.

Music: The music is pretty well done. It has a sexy feeling and varies its balance throughout the scenes to help the scenes out.

Menus: The main menu nicely works together the boxcover still with a bit of the movie. The chapter menu is pretty generic and lets you choose a scene based on a small clip of each scene and a chapter number.

The Feature

With American Dreams Michael Raven goes with the vignette style. I guess this one’s to be about all things American, or to capture different slices of the American experience. Each scene has its own theme, and none of them appear to be connected in any way.

Scene 1 - Alexis Duval and Kurt Lockwood

Highway starts things out with brunette Alexis walking down what looks like a Texas highway in jeans, a long sleeve shirt, and a cowboy hat. She finds Kurt with a broke down truck, and after a little quick chit chat they make their way behind his truck where they help each other strip down. Alexis sits on his tailgate so he can tongue her twat before reciprocating with a bit of knob gobbling for Kurt. Kurt moves on to fuck her from behind before fucking her missionary style on the tailgate of the pickup. They even get in a little cowgirl work with Kurt fingering Alexis’ ass before he pops a nice load over Alexis’ eager mouth.

This is a pretty good scene. I like the artistic feeling to it, especially how the music dominated the audio until the sex started. At the same time the scene felt a little rushed and choppy, which held it back. Alexis and Kurt appeared to have some nice chemistry and both put in pretty good energy. This is a pretty good scene, but something about it seemed to be missing.

Scene 2 - Julia Ann and Trevor Zen

Sunset Ride starts with Julia going for a horseback ride in the great wide open. When she gets back to the cabin, she finds Trevor waiting to greet her with a kiss in a plaid shirt and a cowboy hat. They kiss passionately before Trevor works his way down to Julia’s nicely enhanced chest. They exchange oral favors before Trevor fucks Julia doggie and missionary style. Trevor moves up to titty fuck Julia Ann, and finally lets his cock explode on her chest.

This is another pretty good scene. Once again it feels a little rushed at first, but Trevor and Julia both look to be nicely into each other. The audio seems hollow and dreamlike here, which didn’t fit the scene too well in my humble opinion, and held the scene back a little for me. Other than that, it’s beautifully captured and does a good job showing just how beautiful Julia Ann is.

Scene 3 - Katsumi and Kris Slater

Katsumi starts the third scene wrapped in the American flag, and little else. After a quick dance she’s given a cock to suck (which belongs to Kris Slater although you never see his face in the scene). She works it into her throat and wraps her mouth around her partner’s balls before letting him go straight to fucking her ass from behind. Katsumi goes back to sucking it, and finally lets it explode over her tongue.

This is a pretty artistic scene, and it didn’t quite work for me. The scene goes back and forth between fucking and Katsumi showing off the flag, and the flag sequences really interfered with the sex for me by breaking it up badly. Katsumi looks great and gives a very good performance, but the overall scene but didn’t work too well for me.

Scene 4 - Katja Kassin, Randy Spears, Melissa Lauren, and Steven St. Croix

Home Movies goes for the feeling of just that. When couples Katja and Randy and Melissa and Steven get together for a backyard barbecue, they decide to get a bit wild after a bit. They all exchange oral favors with Melissa doing some great deep throat work on Steven. After fucking a bit they change partners so Randy can ream Melissa’s rectum and Steven can fuck Katjapussy from behind as well as her throat. Randy finishes things up with a nice creamy load across Melissa’s tongue before the scene fades out.

Technically, this is a great scene. The editing is very well done and the filters are done in a way that makes it look just like a film reel that’s been found after gathering dust in the attic for thirty years. Sexually, however, it didn’t work for me nearly as well. I can really appreciate the style of the scene, but the jumpiness, the flashes of light, and the grain all held the scene back for me. I’m sure some others might be able to get into it pretty well since both Melissa and Katja put some nice energy and vocals into it, but I just couldn’t get into it that well.

Scene 5 - Dani Woodward and Kris Slater

The Mechanic finds pretty boy Kris pulling up to the auto shop to go at it immediately with butch Dani. They kiss passionately outside the shop before Dani drops down to suck Kris’s cock and take him into her throat. She strips down the rest of the way and turns around for Kris to fuck her from behind before lying back for a little missionary work. Finally, Dani gets down to suck and stroke Kris to an impressive facial.

This was a pretty hot scene. Dani and Kris put in some very nice energy and both appeared to be into each other nicely. The camera captures everything beautifully, and I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was a little too beautiful. There’s something about the scene that makes it seem a little toned down and that held it back a little. It’s still a hot scene, but it felt like it could have been a little hotter.

Scene 6 - Julia Ann and Stormy

Burn Baby Burn lets Julia Ann work on busty fellow Wicked contract star Stormy as firefighters in a burning building. They strip down with Julia taking the lead on her knees eating Stormy’s pussy. They roll back onto an old mattress for Stormy to kiss Julia on both sets of lips before Stormy lets Julia return the favor. Finally, they finish things up with a passionate kiss.

This would be a very hot scene except for one thing, the audio. The girls look to be into each other very well and there’s a nice balance between them. Unfortunately, almost all of the audio is completely dominated by the music, which really held the chemistry back for me. It’s helped out a little by letting the girls be heard near the end, but it’s almost too little too late.

Scene 7- Austin Kinkaid and Lexi Marie

Finally, Brunette Austin and dirty blonde Lexi kiss by what almost appears to be the ruins of an old demo derby or a junkyard. After a bit of kissing, Lexi drops down to tongue Austin’s twat as well as giving it a finger or two. Lexi sits on a wreck to let Austin tongue and finger her in return before the scene fades out looking like it still had much more to go.

This is an okay scene. The girls are cute, but they never really drew me in. Some of this was due to the camera work focusing on close-ups a bit much, going back and forth between gyno-cam shots and face shots. The bigger part was that it ended feeling like it was only half a scene. This was not a good way to end the movie!

American Dreams is a nicely artistic movie that worked okay for me. Michael Raven has always had a nicely artistic eye, and it’s a lot of what drew me to his movies when I first saw his work. Here, however, it just didn’t work as well. Technically it’s well done and has some nice ideas. Although the execution didn’t work that well for me, I love the idea of the home movie section and have to give Raven a lot of credit for how well he did with it. The entire movie looks beautiful, but there was just something missing. Maybe it was a more common theme to connect it, as the American idea just seemed a little loose to draw it together. Maybe it was that he got a little too beautiful and it interfered with the heat, as is often the case with couples movies. I really can’t say for certain, but I do know that on paper I really like a lot of what’s going on in American Dreams. Unfortunately there’s something about the execution that doesn’t let it catch up to what’s on paper.

The Extra Stuff

Trailers are included for American Dreams, Space Nuts, Killer Sex & Suicide Blondes, Eye of the Beholder, Fluff & Fold, and Beautiful. Star stats are included for Julia Ann and Stormy, which include personal information, a Wicked filmography, a still of the star, and a link to one of the star’s scenes. There’s also a box cover shoot featurette, a behind the scenes featurette, a bonus scene, and weblinks.

Several photo galleries are also included. The feature photo gallery lasts about four minutes.. Star galleries are included for each of the ladies, each of which lasts between about two and two and a half minutes. In each case, you get about seven seconds per very good looking snapshot or full screen photo.

The box cover shoot lasts roughly four and a half minutes. You get to see Julia getting made up and getting her outfit just right for the photo shoot. It looks like there’s quite a bit of dialogue, but it’s almost all cut out for some light music instead. At the very end there are a few words from Julia Ann about the DVD and the movie. It’s a nice little featurette that Julia Ann fans won’t want to miss.

American Dream Girls lasts about two and a half minutes. It’s set up much like the box cover shoot, and lets you see the girls posing for their stills with some music playing for the audio. It’s a pretty little featurette, but nothing too fantastic.

The behind the scenes featurette lasts just over twenty minutes. After a quick look at Katsumi’s scene being shot things move over to Lexi Marie and Austin Kinkaid for a few words and their scene being shot. Katja Kassin is next, talking about going for her California driver’s license and her idea for a script before things move on with her scene. Melissa Lauren and Alexis Duval are next, who each talk about getting into the business before shooting Alexis’ scene. Julia Ann’s western scene is next, followed by Dani Woodward’s scene. Finally, there’s a little chatting with Stormy and Julia Ann before their scene. It’s an okay behind the scenes featurette. The interviews with the stars are okay, but nowhere near as nice as the ones done by Mark Stone, or before him, Red Ezra. There segments showing the scenes being shot didn’t really add much, possibly because there weren’t any outtakes or anything to really add something to what was already shown in the movie. Finally, I was a bit let down that there wasn’t much of Michael Raven in the featurette to talk about what he was going for in this movie. This is an okay behind the scenes featurette, and the best thing about it is that it covered all of the movie.

Bonus Scene - Julia Ann and Steven St. Croix

The bonus scene comes from Michael Raven’s Pin-Ups. Julia plays the 1930s starlet who poses around the hood of Randy’s car before he gets out to get it on with her. Randy kisses his way around Julia’s upper body, including teasing her by sucking on her necklace, before moving down under. Julia mouths his manhood in return before climbing up to ride him while fingering her ass a bit. She also lets Randy take her from behind before finally sucking and stroking him to a nice facial.

This is a nicely done scene. Julia Ann shows all the class one would expect out of the thirties style film star, and Raven does a great job hiding her tattoos to complete the image. There’s also nice chemistry and energy between Julia and Randy to make this a hot scene.

The Down -n- Dirty Sex Stuff

Themes: Straight, titty fucking, interracial, anal, and lesbian

Raincoat Factor: High

Condom Usage: 100%

The Bottom Line:

Currently, many of Wicked’s DVDs can be found online for between $15 and $30 with many stores offering them for around $21. I’d rent this one before buying it. The sex is pretty good, but it might be a bit artistic for some people. The technical aspects are nicely done, and there’s some nice effort put into the extras. This is a pretty good movie on a nicely done overall DVD.

Note to Wicked : It’s great to see you using the widescreen format, but please take your support all the way to anamorphic widescreen like your competition has.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail me .

Other reviews by Astroknight