3 by Paul Thomas

Date sent:        Mon, 21 Oct 1996 17:14:26 +0200 (MET DST)
From:             Sean Matthews 
To:               [email protected]
Copies to:        [email protected]
Subject:          Reviews: 3 from Paul Thomas: Trouble Maker, Blind Spot, New Lovers


I saw three movies by Paul Thomas this weekend. Or, officially, one by
Judy Blue and two by Paul Thomas. These are just some short notes; the
scene listings are already in the review archive, but I disagree with
some of the things in the reviews.

New Lovers (Judy Blue)

First up we have New Lovers by Judy Blue, which is basically Ashlyn
Gere and Tony Tedeschi with extras.  This is a cheapo non-plotter of
the sort PT releases under a pseudonym.  Four scenes, as I remember:
i) Ashlyn & Tony; ii) Three girls masturbating separately, then doing
each other with strap-ons; iii) Ashlyn and two guys (maybe with Tony
watching); iv) Ashlyn and Tony again.

The only thing positive about this tape is Ashlyn, who is sexy,
vivacious, cuddly, and generally gives the impression of being someone
who is not only fun to share a bed with, but fun to be around in
general.  Tony has all the charm and presence of a piece of office
furniture.

Blind Spot (Paul Thomas)

You see a movie which opens with two girls and a boy, wearing Ray
Bans, fucking almost soundlessly in the doorway of the huge empty
white hall of a house that looks to be on the beach in LA.  You
naturally jump to the conclusion that this is a movie by Andrew Blake.
Wrong, this is Paul Thomas's attempt at another section of the
`couples' (=respectable middle-class nice people)
market. Unfortunately Paul doesn't have Andy's eye for these things,
and it shows.  For instance he has decided that Blake equals
sunglasses, so he has a `plot' which *requires* everyone to wear
shades *all* the time.  Blake would never do this; he would realise,
for instance, that although Lena is not just a very pretty face, being
also the possessor of a spectacular body, we might nevertheless like
to appreciate her very pretty face occasionally. He wouldn't use the
welders masks that Paul has handed out either.

I could go on with the design criticisms: for instance in a big
poolslide four girl set piece (very Blake), some of the bikinis look
like they were picked up in a sale at Woolworths.  In the middle of
all this, attempted Blake mannerisms (e.g. a beachball with panels in
that shocking pink that smears so effectively on a TV, to match the
bathing suit on one of the girls) just jar.

Or, moving on from design to choreography and editing, it is also
clear that Paul doesn't know how to get Andy's slick abstract feel:
scenes are too long, or too fragmented, or too overcrowded.  For
instance we several times cut to an evening scene of a crowd of men
being entertained by girls mingling among them, who are stripping and
playing with each other (again very Blake: voyeurism and lesbianism,
with the girls in fetish/nightclub clothing), however most of these
(sub)scenes are prefunctory encounters (a quick lick and a feel), not
given enough time to develop, and anyway the set is so crowded that
they can't be properly filmed.

In short Paul doesn't have the skill or visual sensibility to do this
sort of thing.  The most interesting thing about this tape is maybe
how he shows up all the Blake mannerisms by attempting them and not
being able to get them to work.

cf. Jamal Dunbar's review:

http://home.eznet.net/~rwilhelm/asm/reviews/rev-240.html

Trouble Maker. (Paul Thomas)

On the other hand, the standard complaint about Blake is that there
are no people in his movies, but Paul, on his better days, is really
quite good at this, and seems to be getting better. In other words,
I'll finish with an positive review (in response to Imperator's
lukewarm comments).

We don't have much plot here, but we do have something: Celeste has
just been murdered (throat slit --- an event that we most definitely
*don't* get to see) and the explaination is provided as flashbacks to
Celeste as Shayne corrupting newly-weds Asia Carrera as Rita and Eric
Price as George (they don't seem to need much corrupting, it must be
said).  The plot, underdeveloped though it is, is important, because
by trying to create real people it makes the movie *sexy* (as opposed
to *nasty*) in a way that, e.g., Stagliano or Collins couldn't manage,
by attempting to give some idea of real people who lust after each
other, and who give the impression that they enjoy a wider range of
sensual pleasures (you know, weird, heavy shit like touching, kissing
and necking) than John and Patrick are likely to choreograph.

Not all the scenes work that way (or even any way), but enough of them
do: e.g. the extended opening threesome (Celeste, Asia, Eric) is very
nice, starting off with necking, before gradually developing into a
proper sex scene (in fact two).  Or where Celeste and Asia seduce
Tammi Ann's waitress; this is really, at least by porn movie
standards, ambitiously (=sexily) done: We see Celeste talking with
Asia over a coffee and flirting with her, then they neck and kiss a
bit while Tammi, fascinated, watches them surreptitiously while
clearing tables, just like you imagine a waitress might if she saw a
couple of notably attractive girls affectionately but explicitly
necking at a table.  Before anything further develops though, the
scene cuts to something entirely different, and it's only ten minutes
or so later that we return, to have Celeste flirting with and, after
inviting her to sit down, playing footsie with, Tammi. Asia looks
mildly outraged at first, before amusedly going along.  Then, of
course they all pile into a pickup to go back to Celeste's place, but
we've been given some genuinely believable, extended and very sexy
flirtation first. Another example: Eric goes down on Celeste in one
scene and Celeste doesn't scream and riggle and jump around, she just
relaxes into it, letting her body going limp, and her eyes unfocus, as
if all her concentration is on what Eric is doing between her legs.
This is not athletic, but it's sexy.

Finally, it should be said that Celeste and Asia are both gorgeous,
and manage to be believable as actors; granted, neither of them is
Isabelle Huppert, but they give the impression of real people.  Eric
Price, on the other hand, does a brilliant job of playing a inane,
shapeless dork who couldn't land a rep job as understudy to a corpse
(modulo his dick): It's not clear why Asia doesn't dump him and move
in exclusively with Celeste the moment they first met, honeymoon or
no.

OK so it's not a work of art (and I agree with some of imperators
other comments), but it is, definitely, a respectably *sexy* movie
that isn't interested in competing with Stagliano et al.  I'd like to
see more like it, and hopefully better.  (The review of Things Change
(I & II) in the archives, suggests that it qualifies as a candidate; I
haven't seen it, though I'd like to --- if anyone knows where I can
get PAL copies of both, I'd be *very* grateful for the information).

cf.

http://www.gti.net/director/reviews/imperator/part23.html
http://home.eznet.net/~rwilhelm/asm/reviews/rev-58.html

and, on Things Change,

http://home.eznet.net/~rwilhelm/asm/reviews/rev-472.html
http://home.eznet.net/~rwilhelm/asm/reviews/rev-471.html


Hey Paul, if you are listening, we'd (or at least I'd) like more of
this sort of thing. It's much better than ersatz, or even real, Andy
Blake. (And could fire Bud Lee while you are at it?).

Sean

P.S., r.e. remarks on sunglasses, style etc. for `Blind Spot' above:
one little highpoint of `Trouble Maker' is when Celeste appears
wearing a slinky black pantsuit paired with an equally cool pair of
sunglasses; she can only be described as stunning, and at least as
sexy as she ever is with her clothes off.

P.P.S., and finally a trivia question.  Anyone know who is the pretty
smiling girl with long light brown hair whom we see several times in
the crowd, watching Asia and a Blonde on the pool table?