Buttman Comics: Tales From the Crack Review

Directors

John Howard and Scott Philips

Cast

Belladonna, Shayna Knight, Mason Storm, Alicia Rhodes, Haley Paige, Jayna Oso, Taylor Rain, Roxy Jezel, Tiffany Mynx, Evan Stone, Claudio Maloni, Tommy Gun, Steve Hatcher, Brandon Iron, Travis Knight.

Genre

Vignette, Anal

Condoms

One (During 1st scene with Haley, Jayna and Evan Stone)

Female Orgasms

None

THOSE WHO MIGHT LIKE IT

Those looking for gorgeous girls looking their best who deliver raw, hard sexual performances amidst a backdrop of above average production values.

THOSE WHO SHOULD STEER CLEAR

Those who dislike anal, or multiple partner sex, or are turned off by any kind of story or pretext with their porn.

REVIEW:
Ever since DVD guru David Crawford joined the Evil Angel fold, Tricia Devereaux has been expressing excitement about getting this, the first of a sort of live action interpretation of Buttman Comics, into production.  Buttman Comics is a long standing tradition of erotic art in Buttman Magazine, spearheaded by, among others, the drawings of John Howard, whose work is the direct inspiration for the first of Evil Angel's new hardcore vignette series. In this production, five simple and fittingly silly skits are offered as a backdrop to what has become Evil Angel's staple--hardcore, high energy, anal-centric sex with some of the best active performers the industry has to offer.

Belladonna is a biker chick who stops into a bar.  She's reading a comic book and is flirted with by several of the bar's horny male rabble.  Taylor Rain is also in the bar and looking quite yummy, I must say, but more about that later.  Belladonna starts reading each skit from the comic book where the drawings cut to a live action picture of the scene that follows.  At the end of the scene, the reverse happens as the final image of the scene crossfades into an identical image in drawing form.  It's very well done and it's clear that a fair amount of time, planning, and effort went into the production of this feature--from the construction of the scenes, to the quality of the DVD menu layouts.  The minute I popped in the disc, I knew that this would be a cut above your average porn release, and for the most part I was not disappointed. 

Haley Paige, Jayna Oso, Evan Stone

The first skit Belladonna reads begins with Haley Paige.  She's a waitress in a diner who's come out to the dumpster in back to take a little smoke break.  Jayna is a vampire who's come to... er... consume Haley.  The setup is silly, but then again this is a live action pornographic comic book--would you expect any less?.  One thing that's not silly is how fantastic both girls look in this scene.  Haley is just absolutely gorgeous and not only dresses the part in her waitress uniform, but completes the thought with a sexy bra and panties underneath and a fitting hairdo as well.  Jayna is in a black corset and fishnet stockings, and has that pornfully evil look about her.  The lighting here is exceptionally good--both functional, and beautifully revealing of the gentle curves and vibrant skin on these gorgeous creatures.  This is a welcome change of pace from the standard "no shadows" look of most other gonzo/all sex porn these days, and at the same time doesn't make us feel like we're being short changed by excessive shadow.  Evan Stone eventually shows up as the vampire hunter who is there to rid Jayna of all the evil inside her by giving her a nice hard ass-fuck.  Haley is on-hand to assist, and the best part of the scene comes when Haley evidently needs some evil purged from her as well.  There is a condom used in this scene, but truthfully, it took me a while to even notice it, and once I did, it still took a bit of looking to make sure it was still in use.  It didn't bother me in the slightest, but I know that others might not be so forgiving.  Jayna is a good performer and nice to look at, but for my money, Haley is "can't look away" material pretty much no matter what she does, and particularly when she's so generous as to offer her gorgeous ass for the cause.  She's a bit underused here for my tastes, but she gets her fair share of attention toward the end of the scene.  Evan's over-acting and silly shenanigans make it somewhat difficult to keep a straight face at times, but I believe that is precisely the point.  All pretense of story and acting aside, there is some excellently performed and beautifully captured hardcore sex here, and with that, this movie hits the ground running.

Shayna Knight, Alicia Rhodes, Mason Storm, Claudio Maloni

This next skit starts out with Alicia, dressed in a nurse's uniform, admiring her own sexual wiles in the mirror.  She's blonde, boxom, and has a very pretty smile--certainly deserving of admiration.  Soon enough Shayna Knight (a pretty, spunky, German brunette--and definitely my favorite performer of the three featured here) arrives in the doctor's office complaining of a pain in the ass, and Alicia along with Mason (another brunette in a nurses uniform) take Shayna in the back and get her ass lubed in preparation for the doctor.  Once the doctor arrives, very little time is wasted before Shayna's ass receives attention from the nurses' fingers, and the doctor's cock receives attention from Shayna's mouth.  Eventually they pretend to pull out a large dildo that has apparently been the cause of Shayna's anal problems, and the sex finally begins in earnest.  All three girls get anal attention from the doctor here, but Shayna steals the show for me.  Not only is she the prettiest of the bunch for my taste, but she's also the one with the most authentic looking smile throughout the scene, and that's pretty hard for a guy like me to resist.  I'd have liked to have seen Shayna get more attention than she did here, but that's not to say that the other two ladies didn't deserve their share of screen time.  There's some interesting videography interspersed throughout with the some picture in picture and split screen views showing the action captured on each of the two cameras. It's not overdone, and fits in with the spirit of the comic book theme.  Some 5.1 sound also kind of added in its own tiny way to the environment as I heard the doctor being paged repeatedly on an intercom somewhere behind me.  Tricia Devereaux is on hand for a little cameo appearance at the end, and in all, this is a good scene with pretty girls, nicely captured.  It seemed, though, that there was a lot going on, and because I really wanted to see more of Shayna I found myself disappointed when it was over.  Alas.  You can never have too much of a good thing.

Taylor Rain, Tommy Gun, Steve Hatcher

We take a bit of a break from the comic skits and a couple of the bar-guys concentrate their attention on Taylor Rain.  Ah, Taylor Rain.  She's a bit of fire and ice all wrapped up in a downright puzzling little package.  On one hand, Taylor is absolutely my "type".  She's gorgeous, tiny, and up for pretty much anything.  On the other hand, she's always had a kind of passive, doe-eyed performance style that speaks more of her willingness to be fucked in any which way, rather than her rabid desire for it.  This can be good or bad, or both, depending on what you're looking for.  On the looks end of things, she doesn't disappoint here.  In fact, I think the last time I saw her look anywhere near this good was in Joey Silvera's Service Animals #13, and truthfully, when Taylor looks this good, it's hard to see how she could do any wrong.  Moreover, she seems to have honed her performance skills somewhat since her Service Animals days, because she delivers a smokin' scene here.  Although low key compared to many of today's over-the-top performers, Taylor proves that her sexuality can indeed live up to her looks when the chips are down.  There's plenty of throat, pussy, and ass fucking to go around (although no DP, which suites me just fine), and Taylor looks just gorgeous doing it all.  I can't say much more than that.  I loved this scene, but perhaps it was just a matter of me being in the mood for it.  The pretty red streaks in Taylor's hair just made it all that much better, and after the dual facial at the end, I had to take a little break of my own.

Roxy Jezel, Tiffany Mynx, Brandon Iron

The set up for the next comic-skit is actually pretty amusing.  Two cowgirls (Tiffany Mynx and Roxy Jezel) are rounding up "cows", which in this case come in the form of several naked men grazing and mooing among the bushes.  It's funnier than it sounds.  The two girls (skimpily clad in western, ass-less chaps and cleavage favoring tops) chase down the men and hog tie them so that they are lined up on the ground.  A long bout of face sitting and teasing ensues and both girls look good enough to eat.  Roxy is a particular favorite of mine, and although her attire here doesn't quite get me as excited as I've been when seeing her in the past, she still looks mighty lovely.  She's a petite, cockney girl with dark hair and pony-tails.  Tiffany Mynx is a legend in porn, has an ass that won't quit, enhanced breasts that can't be ignored and a performance style that is refined and mature.  She looks very nice here as well.  Eventually, after teasing each guy in turn, they settle their attentions on one Brandon Iron, and end up taking him back to a more private place so that they can have their way with him.  There's some interesting female domination aspects here that I enjoy, but at the same time they somehow fell short, and the scene on the whole seems to drag a bit.  I think it could have done with more judicious cutting and trimming here and there, and on more than one occasion I found myself bored with what I was being shown.  The scene is ably performed, and Brandon eventually demonstrates his more familiar dominant side as it progresses, but for some reason--perhaps it was the western theme, perhaps the mute, man-cow vibe, perhaps the repetitive, stereotypical music, or perhaps just plain lack of inspiration in the sex itself--I just didn't find myself too excited by what I was watching here.  It's a real shame, because these are three performers who can, under the right circumstances, deliver blistering scenes.  For me, although all the usual acts are well represented (including anal for both girls) the elements just didn't seem to come together very well this time.  There is an interesting, amusing, and even kind of disturbing twist at the end when Roxy pretends to brand Brandon Iron with, well... a brandin' iron, as he simultaneously cums on Tiffany's tongue.  The scene definitely has some creativity, even if some of the heat I was hoping for was missing.

Belladonna, Travis Knight, Steve Hatcher

Belladonna has had enough of reading erotic comic books.  She's horny and it's time to do something about it.  Luckily, her newfound bar buddies are on hand to help her out.  Belladonna is as energetic as ever here--perhaps too energetic for my own tastes.  I don't know.  She heavily favors the bouncy-ass stripper jig as a warm up to the main event and she does it with plenty of gusto, but for whatever reason her energy isn't working for me here.  Although the setting and the lighting are particularly well achieved, I've seen Belladonna look better.  It doesn't take long before she once again proves her mettle by taking a fair amount of pool cue up her ass, coupled with a deep-throating, high-energy, choke fest as she attacks both guys' cocks.  The energy never abates, and I know for a fact that Belladonna lovers will just eat this scene up.  Even those who aren't great fans might find themselves converted by the time it's over.  For me, however, it all just seemed a smidge too over-the-top and manufactured--at least in terms of what I might have been in the mood for when I watched it.  The desires of a porn fan are a fickle thing, and for some reason this scene had all the ingredients but just didn't end up stoking the fire.  There's plenty of serious deep throat and ass fucking offered here, and I certainly don't mean to belittle Belladonna's abilities, or the innate sexiness she brings to the table simply because she... exists.  I almost felt as if the scene tried too hard, and because of that, I had a hard time connecting with it.  Still in all, it's a high energy scene that scores high in nastiness while being ably captured.  That should be enough for most porn fans to get off big time, even while they give me a look of total confusion and say "What the hell are you complaining about, MLyons?"

TO SUM UP:
Although certainly not the perfect porn movie, this one definitely had its moments.  It starts right off the bat the instant you put the disc in the player.  The menus, normally something I pay little attention to, do a great job of "setting the scene" as well as building the anticipation that what's to come is going to be in some way, special.  For the most part, the feature delivers on this promise.  The setup is simple, but interesting.  The marriage of comic strip and live action, hardcore sex is innovative and nicely done; the production values are particularly eye catching; the cast is well chosen; and the sex is inventive and everything I've come to expect from Evil Angel.  I ,for one, love a little context with my porn, and although the vignettes offered here had an air of absurdity about them, that was entirely in tune with the comic-strip genre that inspired the movie.  My favorite scenes were the first three.  Between Haley Paige, Shayna Knight, and an absolutely smokin' hot Taylor Rain, you can't really go wrong.  I have to give the overall edge to Taylor's great scene, but they all had their moments in different ways.  The final two scenes did less for me, but I fear that might all just be personal preference.  Roxy and Tiffany's scene with Brandon is inventive, if a bit draggy, and Belladonna's scene is pure hard-core energy, even though I didn't find much to connect with in it.  I especially appreciate the obvious care with which the scenes were shot from a technical standpoint.  I'm not sure I've seen Haley Page or Taylor Rain ever look better than they did here, and that's in no small part due to some nice lighting, nice costumes and a more than cursory attention paid to how the action was captured.  It's those details that add a special zing to the already ably performed scenes, and I'll look forward to more of the same in the inevitable next "issue" of the Buttman Comics series.

EXTRAS:
There are a ton of extras offered with this movie--so many in fact that it requires two discs to hold everything.  On the first disc is the feature itself along with obligatory biographical information on John Stagliano, more specific information on the history of Buttman Comics, and cast filmographies.  Also on the first disc is a cast list by scene, and a full length audio commentary by Tricia Devereaux, David Crawford, Tiffany Mynx, and Belladonna (accessed through the audio setup menu).  If you poke around a bit, you'll also find an interesting easter egg on the disc.

The second disc is full of all kinds of goodies.  First of all there's a 50 minute featurette focusing on the pre-production process, and I found this to be most interesting, especially the beginning sections, which focus on the early development meetings between the directors and John Stagliano.  It also runs the gamut of topics from shopping for props to the casting process and more.  A second 50 minute featurette focuses on the production process itself, including some fun behind the scenes action from all the scenes.  There's an interview with Scott Philips (one of the directors), a fetish menu and a blooper reel.  In addition, 5 separate photo galleries offer more glimpses of the girls, production stills, behind the scenes and casting shots, and some of the artwork that formed the basis of the movie.  Finally, there's another great easter egg, and a short amount of extended tease footage featuring the delectable Taylor Rain.