Lisa

From: [email protected] (Patrick Riley)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.erotica
Subject: Lisa, a quality plotted movie that won't send you to sleep
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 97 21:21:04
Organization: Not Organized At All


I just got the 12th Edition of Halliwell's Filmgoer's Companion and
just for a lark was looking up the wife's favorite actors when I came
across the following quote from Brad Pitt:

"The truth is, I don't want people to know me. I don't know a thing
about my favorite actors. I don't think you should. Then they become
personalities."

So what do we spend out time doing on this NG? Converting the
performers into personalities. We don't see the actor in the role she
or he is playing but as a person. I want to screw Janine (I don't
really!), not the character she happens to be pretending to be in a
particular movie and I can't separate her from all the other
performances I've seen her in. Given the lousy acting, horrible
scripts and generally unbelievable movies we have today this probably
doesn't matter too much and certainly the studios like to push the
personality rather than the role but occasionally you come across a
movie where it destroys what the director is trying to do. One wonders
what would happen if by some miracle all the mfgs returned to
producing the plotted movies of the seventies.

Lisa (below) is a movie where the director (Kramski) has tried to do
something different but it suffers from the phenomenon referred to
above. Kramski also was responsible for the unusual Sexhibition
series, a set of three movies you might want to check out as well. I
think he has lots of potential.

For those of you not familiar with my rating system, a little
explanation. I review (as opposed to just providing a synopsis) about
1000 movies per volume (aprox a year). I choose which movies I review
so already the movies offer a potential for erotic arousal (there are
a tiny few I review as a favor or because someone forces me to). The
1000 get one of four possibilities: MUST SEE, GOOD, nothing, or BAD.
MUST SEE means you should buy it, go to the next town to rent it,
steal it, somehow see it. Volume VI had 13 MUST SEEs, volume VII looks
like it will have less than that. GOOD means it's worth asking the
video store for or checking out other video stores to see if they have
it. Maybe you might buy it if you like the actress or if you normally
buy movies because of your location. About 30 GOOD's in volume VI.
"nothing" means "read the review and see if there's something that
jolts your subconscious" but generally I wouldn't rush around trying
to find it. BAD is for undisclosed compilations, movies that are
technically unwatchable, movies that dump on the males, or movies that
are nauseating. There are very few BAD's because of the aforementioned
pre-selection. E.g., I can generally tell undisclosed compilations
from the box and don't rent the movie.

Lisa is a GOOD.

LISA
GO GG AN JO
1997--Sin City Video
Producer/Director: Kris Kramski
Featuring: Liza Rose Harper, Houston, Tatianna Cortez, Bobby
Hunter, Jeremy Steele, Alec Metro, Michael J. Cox

This one almost got a MUST SEE and certainly would have if
the star had been someone other than Liza and a little bit
more attention had been paid to the story/characterization
after the first hour or so. The problems I have with Liza is
that she's not very pretty, looks too old to be the
girlfriend of Jeremy Steele and has been though the
raincoater mill too many times to be credible other than as
a hard whore who knows the ropes well. For example she
angrily says to Jeremy that she let him anal her and he
knows she doesn't like "that shit". Well you could have
fooled me! Liza's asshole has be worked over by every guy in
the business, or so it seems. On the other hand if you
haven't seen her as many times as I have or are better able
to suspend disbelief, you may think the movie is better than
I did. Other items of note are the absence of music while
the people are screwing which allows the natural noises to
be heard (every porn maker should learn to do this),
reasonable music at other times, lots of location
shooting--not just anonymous driving down the street--some
reasonable dialog, the cast (except towards the end) on
their feet or clothed enough of the time to appreciate what
they look like other than when flatbacking (bad for Liza
because she looks too tall but the idea is good), and sex
scenes that are not just the standard three p's and a pop.
In fact the first two (or three if you count the
masturbation) of Liza's scenes are really quite
extraordinary. In both they stop and restart several times
with in the second one Liza and Alec stopping for
cigarettes, twice for drinks, and a couple of times just to
recharge the batteries. This seems a much more friendly,
natural and non-porno way to screw--none of the "have to get
it over in the standard ten minutes"--but I suppose the
raincoater will be annoyed because he can't whack off in his
normal time. There's no big story to the movie: Liza feels
(and is) used by men so after a couple of incidents she goes
off with lesbian lawyer Houston. Normally that would get a
"dumping on the males" lecture but the guys here are really
assholes and Liza doesn't do it as a retaliatory action but
rather out of exasperation--even I felt a little sorry for
her. It opens with Cox arriving at an isolated house and
finding Jeremy and his girl, Liza, in process of screwing.
Jeremy obviously has different priorities and suggests they
get a beer but Liza protests she hasn't cum yet so they
settle down to a long three way including anals by both guys
one of which ends in a pussy cum shot with a nice after
view. After that Jeremy tells her to get them a beer at
which she explodes and hits the road. While window shopping
she's picked up by Alec (well done) who gains her confidence
and they go back to his assistant's motel on the pretext of
picking up business papers but really so he can screw her
(long, fun and erotic). That morning he goes off for coffee
and she masturbates. When he doesn't return she notices her
bag, money and car have been taken and while she's moping in
the parking lot Houston drives in and commiserates with her.
Houston takes her back to her and Jeremy's house and along
the way they stop off in some desert area and do a g/g while
intercut we see that Jeremy, despite telephoned protests
that he's going to change, isn't allowing the grass to grow
under his feet and has Tatianna (credits: (just) Tatianna)
and Bobby (credits: Cassidy Nova--see {Anal Maniacs #5})
around for a three way. This scene is not too good. The
girls make fun of Jeremy, deliberately calling him by wrong
names and treating him (I suppose the idea is) like he and
Cox treated Liza in the first scene. Unfortunately this
doesn't work the other way around and has the added downside
of insulting the predominantly male viewer. Liza catches
them, yells at Jeremy and flounces out to ring and get
picked up by Houston. No 2257 statement on the movie; date
of release on the box: 4/15/97.

  
--
Patrick Riley
        The X-Rated Videotape Guide volumes I through VI
        The X-Rated Videotape Star Index
        Politically Incorrect and proud of it!