Finesse (Sin City) Review

Distributor: Sin City Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Feature Film Run Time: 112 minutes Rated: XXX Release Year: 2003 Director: Jack Vincennes Written by: Jack Vincennes Cast: Brittney Skye (as Britney Skye), Ava Devine, Aria, Lana Moore, Michelle Lay, Jordan Haze, Steven St. Croix, Steven French (as Steve French), Eric Masterson Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Widescreen, 1.85:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 9 (SS, DL) Special Features: Director's Commentary, Interviews, Behind the Scenes, Pop Shots, Biographies, Photo Gallery, Company Profile, Trailers DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
Steve (Steven St. Croix), Scott (Eric Masterson) and Pierre (Steve French) all belong to a wine tasting club. Steve has a theory that there is a wine to compliment every woman and that he can match every woman to her wine. His theory is going great until he meets Sasha (Britney Skye), for whom he can't find the correct wine.

Audio/Video:
The film is presented with an English 2.0 Stereo track, which is all that is necessary considering the content of the film. As the film is mostly dialog and sex, nothing more is required for your listening enjoyment of the film. The audio is decent, except for an annoying loud pop in the audio that shows up occasionally during the film. It is the same sound that the old Warhol factory films made by Paul Morrissey had, where he turned off the camera to change to the next scene to skip having to edit the film, although I doubt the reason for it's existence is the same. There is also an English 2.0 commentary track included on the disc, but Sin City hasn't included any foreign language tracks or any subtitle options.

Finesse is presented in the widescreen aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1. Unfortunately, like many other widescreen adult films, the disc is non-anamorphic. I like the film like look of film due to the widescreen aspect ratio, however, it would be nice if Sin City went all the way and made the disc anamorphic so that viewers with widescreen television sets can get the most enjoyment out of the film that they can. The picture quality is good, sporting no artifacts, blemishes or glitches. The color levels are fine.

Special Features:
Sin City has collected a nice set of extras to go with the film, many of which relate to the feature film. There is a feature length director's commentary track to go with the film. It isn't the best I've ever heard and has some gaps, but these are always a great feature. There is a behind the scenes piece which features twelve minutes of flubs, off-set shots and other material. There are short interviews on the disc with Aria, which runs for 100 seconds, Lana Moore, which runs for 44 seconds, Michelle Lay, which runs for two minutes, Jordan Haze, which runs for two minutes, and Ava Devine, which runs for six minutes. There are three photo galleries on the disc. A behind the scenes gallery with nine stills that you flip through, a glamour gallery with 29 stills that you flip through and a hard gallery with 27 stills that you flip through. Unfortunately, the navigation for the stills blocks the bottom of the photos. There are text biographies on the disc for Aria, Lana Moore, Michelle Lay, Britney Skye, Jordan Haze, and Ava Devine. There is a compilation of the pop shots from the scenes in the film. There is the company profile which is an advert for Sin City, followed by previews for Underworld and Evolution, followed by some eye-candy soft footage of their contract girls, followed by the music video for “Submission” from the film Beast and finally followed by previews for Quiver and Flash. There are also trailers on the disc for Kiss & Tell, Trouble X 2, Dream Girls, Surfer Girl, and Fatale.

Disc Design/Navigation:
The disc is designed with simple animated menus with background music. There are six chapters available from the chapter menu. Each one is identified by a video clip. There are 35 chapter stops within the feature film itself, including one for the end credits. There is a time code encoded on the disc for the feature film.

General Review:
Finesse is a mixed bag of a couples film, it's nicely shot with some good sex, but a horrible plot. This is one of those films where they should have just thrown away the plotted portions and added an extra sex scene to fill up the missing time as the plot is terrible. There are porn plots that try to be an entertaining film on more levels than just the sex. And then there are others, that go for a simplistic, rather stupid, story to fill in between the sex scene. This is one of the latter. Besides the plot, there is a lot to the film to like.

The film opens with some footage of the grape fields in Northern California shot by Bud Lee, which gives the viewer a positive feeling going into the film. The plot portions may be ridiculously scripted, but they look nice. Some care went into making this film look as good as it can for both the sexual portions and the plotted portions. The shots are nicely set up and give the viewer some nice angles.

The sex scenes are nice and have some variety to them, but don't fit in with the story going on. Viewers that like nastier sex won't find much to like here though. Viewers that like tamer nice looking sex will enjoy the scenes in this film. The nastiest the film gets is a little anal fingering and some anilingus. The girl/girl scene is a bit of a let down. It has a nice start to it and Jordan and Britney have some good energy in the scene, but then it just ends instead of actually winding down. This happens a lot in adult films, but each time it is still a disappointment. The sexual themes in the film are vaginal sex with pussy eating, anilingus, anal fingering, blow jobs, pussy fingering, and lesbianism. For viewers that care about condom use, there are no condoms used in the film.

Scene Synopsis:
The first scene brings us Steven St. Croix and Lana Moore and the scene starts out with Steven eating Lana's pussy and ass and fingering her ass. Then Lana gives him a blow job when she first starts he fingers her pussy but quickly stops. Then she climbs on him for some vaginal sex. He stands up on the bed and sprays his cum on her and the bed.

The second scene gives us Jordan Haze and Michelle Lay and the scene starts out with the two caressing each other before they get into the sex. Then Jordan eats out Michelle. The two switch and Michelle eats out Jordan and fingers her pussy a bit. The scene just ends after a while.

The third scene features Steve French and Aria. Steve starts out with some anilingus and pussy fingering. Then Aria gives him a blow job. The two go into the vaginal sex. To end the scene, he cums in her mouth and on her face.

The fourth scene brings us Steven St. Croix and Britany Skye and Britany starts out the scene by giving Steven a blow job and deep throating his dick. Then they go into the vaginal sex. They alternate between a blow job and vaginal sex for a while before they go back to just the vaginal sex. At the end of the scene Steven stands up and cums on her chest and the couch.

The fifth scene gives us Eric Masterson and Ava Devine. The scene consists entirely of Ava giving Eric a blow job and deep throating him until Eric cums on her mouth and chin.

The sixth and final scene features Eric Masterson and Britney Skye. The scene starts out with Britney giving Eric a blow job. Then the two go into some vaginal sex. The scene ends with Eric cumming on Britney's right breast.

Parting Thoughts:
Overall, Finesse is a grab bag of a film. The plot is useless and ends up just getting in the way of the sex. The film is beautifully shot though and features some nice looking tame sex. If you are a fan of one or more of the stars and don't mind a disposable plot, you might want to give the film a rental. If you like nastier sex or the presence of an attempt at a plot turn you off to the film, then you'll want to pass on this title. If you like the film, this disc gives it a great presentation with a nice collection of extras and a decent presentation of the film.

Screenshots:

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