3
out of 5.00 -
Film:
2
Extras:
4
Video:
2
Audio:
4
-
8/25/2004
Because they've gone out of their way to advertise it, it befalls on me to go out of my way to explain to the reader just what is meant when Vivid claims that
I Love This Business is their first-ever "High Definition DVD".
For starters, that doesn't mean this is an HD-DVD. There aren't any yet, and consumers won't be seeing any for about a year. It simply means that Vivid has shot the movie using high-definition cameras and equipment - which should mean that the DVD has a sharper look to the picture, as opposed to porn shot on a standard video camera or on film. But sadly, that's not the case, either.
I have no idea where the screw-up occurred, but either the director (the usually quite capable Paul Thomas...who attaches his pseudonym "Bo Edwards" onto the flick - always a bad sign) overestimated the ability of the equipment he was using, or someone was using it improperly because the video quality of
I Love This Business is bad...really bad. The movie looks like it was shot in the Batcave. Huge shadows hang over the performers in all of the scenes - sex and non-sex alike; and some of the action is so dark you can't even make out the penetration.
If there's good news here, it's in the fact that the movie really isn't worth seeing in the first place. Thomas wants to give a tongue-in-cheek version of what it's like working in the industry as a director/producer (Steven St. Croix plays "PT", an obvious nod towards Paul Thomas) but the story doesn't really go anywhere, nor is it humorous enough to qualify as a parody.
The only thing that really shows some potential in the movie is the sexual setups - which makes it a double shame that they turned out so poorly on this disc. The opening scene is a bathroom fuck between Savanna Samson and Kurt Lockwood (that oddly switches to the middle of a warehouse for no reason), in which Kurt gets his dick caught in his zipper and Savanna "helps" him out with it. The movie also marks the introduction of new Vivid Girl Malezia, who gets into a four-way on a scaffolding with Jamie Lynn, Nick Manning and Jack Lawrence. It looks like a decent scene...if only we could
see it!
But I will give credit where credit is due. The final sex scene in the movie - a foursome with Savanna, Katrina Kraven, Jamie Brooks and Dale DaBone is much better lit that the previous five - although it is still nowhere near as well-lit as other Vivid releases we have seen that were shot on film or just on standard video. Savanna gets some anal here (as she does in her two other scenes on this disc - the second of which proceeds this segment and is with Steven St. Croix) and Dale gives a nice facial to all three gals at the conclusion.
I'd like to be able to say that the problem is that HD just doesn't transfer well to a non-HD DVD, but Adam & Eve has been shooting many of their features (including the great
Rawhide) in HD for about a year now, and their releases look great. I guess the jury is still out on whether the video quality of this disc is an aberration or something we can expect from the next several "High Definition" Vivid releases until the kinks have been worked out. Rest assured, I'll be watching...if only to save you from having to do the same.
By:
Spooky