Pin-Ups 2 (Studio A) Review

The First Word:  While not his best work, this gorgeous looking (and sounding) film is yet another example of Andrew Blake's brilliant cinematography, easily rivaling that of any mainstream filmmaker.

What's It About?:  This is a vignette film -- a series of unrelated scenes each with its own theme, typically the format of "artsy porn."  The film begins with a visually stunning title sequence that not only identifies the cast but also gives you a good idea of Blake's visual style. Following the titles, there's a 16-minute montage that contains quick cuts of solo, lesbian, and male-female sex. At first glance it appears to be nothing more than a preview of the action in the rest of the film, but it contains completely different footage. From there, Blake launches into a procession of named sequences, each one starting with a whispering female narrator who briefly introduces the scene:

• Submissive Anita - Wearing corsets and garter belts, Temptress and Dita tease blindfolded Anita Blond, in a fairly tame scene that features a lot of kissing, light spanking, and the use of the transparent buttplug-shaped dildo that often appears in lesbian scenes today.
• Dita in Distress - This threeway lesbian scene starts out with Dita making a phone call in defiance of her mistress. She's discovered by Anita and Nina, who tie and gag Dita. As Dita struggles, the two 50's-clad mistresses spank, paddle, and fondle her. As with the previous scene, there's no hardcore penetration or oral sex.
• Gender Mix - A staple of Blake's is the cross-dressing woman, who dresses up like a man and sports a strap-on dildo, and Pin-Ups 2 also has such a scene, this time with somewhat of a film noir look to it.
• Up-Skirt Montage - As the title of this vignette suggests, this 20-minute scene begins as compilation of women in skirts and lingere, either solo or in lesbian situations. After about six minutes, the scene breaks into two hardcore sub-scenes, the film's only boy-girl between Inari Vachs and Dale Bonet, and a girl-girl between Anita and Dita (who use a wickedly curved clear dildo).
• Leg Sex - This short segment is mostly solo masturbation with a little bit of girl-girl toe sex and foot worship.
• Corset Glamour - The scene begins with Dita teasing the camera, wearing the elaborate black corset that she's wearing on the front cover of this DVD, while Anita, wearing a top hat and tuxedo-inspired lingere, masturbates with a riding crop while wearing a top hat. Then Dita begins to kiss the Nina's breasts (what a cutie!) before introducing her to the previously mentioned clear buttplug-shaped dildo.
• High Heel Dildo - In a scene that must have been inspired by the "Three Musketeers" vignette in Zazel, Anita dons a platform shoe who's heel has been replaced with a dildo and then penetrates Dita with it.
• 50's Bedroom - Wearing a peach-colored 50's boudoir ensemble (garter belt, stockings, heels, bra, and robe), Dita begins the scene by masturbating on the edge of a round-shaped bed. The scene closes with Anita and Nina in the most explicit lesbian sequence in the film, as Nina goes down on Anita.

What I Liked: Gorgeous women: Every single one of the girls in this film are perfect tens...very attractive, natural, and leggy. They're about as close to supermodels as you'll ever see in an X-rated film. In particular, the corseted Dita and the innocent looking blonde Nina were my two favorites, although I genuinely liked all of the women.

The audio soundtrack: First of all, the audio is a true Dolby 5.1 soundtrack, with full use of all channels (including noticeable bass). The surround effect is quite striking when you hear the female narrator whispering from different speakers and in some cases, "walking around" your seat as the sound pans 360 degrees. Another notable feature of the soundtrack is the musical selection (important because there is no production sound...the only background is the music and some disembodied moaning). The music is a mix of opera and electronica with a very heavy beat. For those of you who play video games, the soundtrack is very similar to that of the Playstation game, Parasite Eve. If there was a separate audio category, this DVD would definitely get a 5 out of 5.

What I Didn't Like:  Quick cuts & effects: Although I'm a fan of Blake's visual style, I though the editing was a bit overdone. Not only are the interwoven shots very, very short (no more than a few seconds on any one girl), but the number of transition effects is mind numbing as he uses pretty much every shot-to-shot transition in the book. That may work well for music videos, but it's a little irritating for an adult film. While the cuts serve as a "teasing" effect, it's frustrating to be teased throughout, especially when you see a girl that you really like! I guess I just prefer the lingering, slow shots that Blake used in his earlier days.

Too softcore: I should slap myself for saying this, since I'm a Blake fan and since I appreciate less-than-hardcore erotica. However, there wasn't enough explicit sex...there was lots of nudity, teasing, and Penthouse-style nudity (hard R), but very little visible penetration or oral sex. Maybe I've been watching too many Michael Ninn movies, but I think Blake could have added more explicit sex without ruining the overall effect. Anyway, this is a minor detail, since what is there is pretty damn hot.

Inari's Makeup: Okay, quick gripe...I don't know why they had to make the gorgeous Inari look like a tramp with heavy eyeshadow and mascara. Normally, she looks like the girl next door with the sexual abandon of a tramp (and I mean that in a flattering way), but with the very harsh makeup, she looks like a prostitute. Someone suggested to me that it was probably an intentional creative decision to give her that look, but I really think it looks out of place in a film about glamorous pin-up girls. 

DVD Extras:  This is the one glaring weakness to this otherwise fine DVD -- there are almost no extras, except for a photo gallery. No fancy menus, nor the typical full-motion video chapter selection menu that's a staple of DVDs today. I would have welcomed some text-only production notes or biographies as well as trailers for Studio A's other DVDs. In today's world, it's asking an awful lot to have a very expensive DVD stand on the merits of the film alone. At least with extra features, there's some value added content that can complement the movie.

A/V Quality:  In short, it's amazing... Except for a nasty moiré effect (video flickering due to finely spaced horizontal lines) from the the window blinds in the third scene, the video quality is impeccable. The video is crystal clear, with no pixelation or source defects. And, as I've already mentioned, the audio is even more spectacular...among the best I've heard on an adult DVD and rivaling that of mainstream DVDs.

The Last Word:  This is truly high class pornography here, folks. It's not for everyone--the raincoaters and couples will hate it (not enough action, no story, and heavy girl-girl), but Andrew Blake is the caviar of porn and has been for the past decade. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who puts out porn that looks and sounds so good...

- Saki (saki@my.adultdvdtalk.com)