Virgin Canvas, The Review

Reviewed by astroknight  on  9/25/2003

Running Time: 97 min.

Production Date: 7 / 31 / 2002

Director: Nicholas Steele and Kay Stanley

Cast: Kate Frost, Lezley Zen, Sondra Hall, Angel Long, Ashley Long, Joelean, Lee Stone, Steven St. Croix, Steve Hatcher, and Julian

Initial Expectations: Nicholas Steele has been very hit or miss for me, so I’m not sure what to expect. Kate Frost and Lezley Zen do give me a bit of hope here!

Initial Reaction: It’s pretty, and at times it feels that heat is sacrificed for pretty.

Who Should Watch It : Anybody wanting romantic and artistic porn

Who Should Avoid It: Anybody wanting something with a bit of depth or substance

Audio /Video Quality: The audio is often a little on the low side and frequently a bit muffled, making it hard to understand when it’s going beyond one syllable words that are almost entirely made up of vowels. The voice overs are also on the soft side, which had me adjusting the volume repeatedly so I wouldn’t be blasted away, and quite a few areas were obviously dubbed. The video has a soft feeling, and although the feature starts out saying that it was shot in high definition widescreen, the movie is presented in the full screen ratio. It’s well lit, but there’s a few areas that appear highly pixelized (such as the first scene when the fucking starts).

Music: The music is provided by Saint, which is noticeable as soon as the opening credits start to role. Saint has an extremely distinctive style which I happen to really love (and hope that someday Adam & Eve will include as a bonus music CD as an extra someday). It’s normally on the loud side, but that works for the style of the feature. Of course, if I didn’t like Saint’s music as much as I do I’d probably be a little annoyed with it.

Menus: The menus are pretty standard. The main menu is unanimated, but looks okay. The chapter menu lets you choose a scene based on a small clip and a scene number, and lets you jump to either the start of the scene or the pop shot.

The Feature: Lila Johnson (Kate Frost) has come to study at the Branford Art Institute, mainly to work under Ansul Williams, one of the artists she admires the most. She isn’t quite sure of her abilities, but slowly learns how to harness some of her skills while working with Steven St. Croix. While studying she realizes there’s a passion inside her, and she starts seeing the passion all around her.

Dean Sondra Hall starts things out with instructor Julian after meeting a couple students. He caresses her breasts through her shirt as she sits in her chair and then lets Sondra suck his cock while they strip down to reveal all the artwork their clothes kept hidden. She gives him great eye contact while gobbling his knob, and then goes directly to riding him reverse cowgirl style on the couch in the next room without waiting for any oral loving in return. They move on with a little doggie style before Julian decorates Sondra’s nicely implanted chest.

This is a pretty decent scene. I really love the loving touch the scene begins with, and Sondra can suck a mean cock! That said, it also drags a little. I was just about to reach for the remote when things switched from reverse cowgirl to doggie, and the camera’s long distance shots often did nothing for me, especially since there wasn’t really anything between them and a close mid-range shot.

Ashley Long and Angel Long, who look like they could be sisters right down to both of them having tongue studs, get it on with Steven St. Croix in Kate Frost’s mind for the second scene. They team up to suck his cock before Steven licks each girl’s twat, starting with Angel and moving on to Ashley, while the girls kiss and caress each other. He also gives Angel the first fuck from behind, and lets her suck his cock clean several times when he moves on to fuck Ashley from behind. The girls take turns reverse cowgirl style before Angel takes the facial. She opens wide so that Ashley can lick it out of her mouth and off her forehead before fading out.

This is an extremely hot scene. There’s a great balance between the girls that really works well here and keeps the heat going throughout the scene. I also love the ending with Ashley licking Steven’s jiz out of her mouth. It’s a perfect ending for the scene after the balance that kept up throughout the scene.

Joelean, wearing a toga and with a wreath in her hair, takes on Steve Hatcher and Joey Ray, both of who have togas, afros, and long horns, and in a roman mythology style scene. Joelean sucks Joey while Steve works her over down under, and then lets Steve go right to boning her from behind. She lays back for Joey to fuck her missionary style while sucking her toes and to suck and stroke Steve’s cock before Joey pops on her pussy and Steve decorates her face.

For some reason, this scene just didn’t do much for me. There was okay chemistry here, but the scene just didn’t feel like it went anywhere. It was also hurt by some funky lighting which gave half the screen a tint while the other half looked normal. Joelean has done some very good scenes before, but this isn’t one I’d count among them.

Kate Frost gets it on with Steven St. Croix after posing for him in the fourth scene. After Steven tells Kate how she’s become his inspiration they kiss passionately and work their mouths across each other’s body. Kate happily impales herself on Steven’s cock to ride him cowgirl style before turning around so he can bone her from behind. They finish things up missionary style before Steven stuccos Kate’s stomach.

This is a nicely done scene. Kate is gorgeous as ever, and seems to get into it nicely while helping to keep it at a very romantic pace. It seems a bit mechanical at times, but flows nicely and Kate looks like she’s having enough fun that I found it easy to get past some of the mechanical parts.

Lezley Zen and Lee Stone get it on in the penultimate scene. She strokes Lee while kissing him before moving down to mouth his manhood. Lee returns the favor as Lezley braces herself against the railing on the stairway landing they’re getting busy on before slipping it to her from behind. Lezley turns around for some standing missionary before letting Lee fuck her from behind again. Finally Lee gives Lezley a nice taste of his milk of man-esia.

I really like Lezley Zen, but I was disappointed with this scene. It seems very mechanical and I had a feeling that both Lezley and Lee were struggling with the location of this scene. The editing and camera work also seemed just a little off, which finished off this scene at an average at best level for me.

Finally, Kate Frost takes on Julian. Julian eats her as she leans against a staircase railing before she returns his oral affections. They move on through a bit of doggie style and missionary before Julian decorates Kate’s amazing chest.

This is an okay scene to finish things up with, but once again something just felt a little off to me. Kate and Julian both seem to get into it very nicely, putting nice energy as well as good spirit and chemistry into the scene. I think that what it might be is the “pretty” camera work, which seemed more concerned with seeing how many different distance shots it could put into the scene than actually showing the action.

The Virgin Canvas is a beautiful porno, which both helps and hinders it. It does a very nice job of keeping a sensual feel about it. There’s supposed to be a passion about the art, and if flows throughout the non-sex portions of the movie as well as the sex scenes. It’s very nicely done, and seems to fit Nicholas Steele’s style incredibly well. On the other hand, it also feels like it holds the sex scenes back by keeping things at a distance. To me, many of the scenes fought a little between trying to keep things soft and letting them flow. The Virgin Canvas is a beautiful and sensual movie, which ends up as both a blessing and a curse but still lets it end above average.

Extras: The photo gallery includes about twenty very nice looking snapshots that come with a nicely done caption to let you know who’s in each photo. Bios are included for Sondra Hall, Angel Long, Kate Frost, Joelean, Ashley Long, Lezley Zen, Joey Ray, Steve Hatcher, Julian, Steven St. Croix, and Lee Stone. Each bio includes a photo, a little personal information, and a link to one of the star’s scenes. Trailers are included for Private Moments, A Witch’s Tail, A Wolf’s Tail, Taboo of Tarot, Sweetheart Trilogy, Jewel De’Nyle’s Wild Ride, and Caribbean Undercover. There are also credits, bonus scenes, and a behind the scenes featurette.

The first bonus scene features Anna Malle and Steve Hatcher and comes from Backstage Passes. Anna and Steve strip down a bit before Anna devours Steve orally. Steve returns the favor, including a good tongue fucking for Anna’s ass, with Anna never dropping her enthusiasm a single notch and even squirting a couple times. She continues to squirt as Steve fucks her from behind and in a standing missionary until she finishes things taking a nice facial and oral pop, including swallowing some down. It’s an extremely hot scene that’s probably the best scene I’ve seen from Roy Karch, who normally puts me to sleep.

The second bonus scene comes from Amateur Angels 4 and features cute bottle blonde Trinity and black Leo getting it on in the kitchen. Leo plays with Trinity’s pussy a little before tonguing it and then lets her give him a little oral loving to get him going. They move on through a bit of reverse cowgirl, doggie, and missionary as they work their way around the kitchen before Leo finally decorates Trinity’s stomach. This is a very nice scene and does a great job showing how great Luc Wylder is at catching the natural sexual feeling between couples.

The final bonus scene comes from Naked Hollywood 8: Women on Top and features the excellent Keri Windsor and Dale DaBone. Keri teases Dale a little, including giving him a slow strip-tease, before letting him attack her gash with his tongue and fingers, and then returns the favor with one of her normally amazing blowjobs. Dale moves on to fuck her missionary and doggie style before giving her ass a creamy spunk shower. This is a very nice scene that hits everything right. It isn’t either nasty or soft, but has a good intensity that shouldn’t scare couples away or leave them bored. It’s a great scene to show why this series is so great for couples.

Finally, the behind the scenes featurette lasts over twenty minutes. You get to see a bit of the scenes being shot, as well as the still photos. There’s also a few interviews with the stars and a little screwing around on the set. There’s a nice balance between it all, but sadly it’s held back by some noticeable pixelation through almost the entire featurette.

Themes: Straight, group, lesbian, cum swapping, and toe-ing

Condom Usage Between Sonda Hall and Julian

Raincoat Factor: Medium high

Overall: Currently, most of Adam & Eve’s Premium Collection DVDs can be found online for between $13 and $22, with many stores offering them for around $18. This is a fair price for what you get here. The movie is soft, romantic, and artistic. The DVD also has nice technical aspects and extras.

Note to Adam & Eve: Please find a few different male leads other than Julian, Steven St. Croix, and Evan Stone. I know there’s a shortage of male performers in the industry, but it seems like the ones here and Evan Stone are the only ones you use!

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

Other reviews by Astroknight