Lanny Barby! (click for trailer)

Control 1 (Blu-ray)

Digital Playground/Handheld Pictures

Gigi

Genre: Vignette

Keri Sable

Director: Robby D.

Ashley Roberts

Cast: Lanny Barby, Scott Nails, Gigi, Keri Sable, Mr. Pete, Ashley Roberts, Rita Faltoyano, Andreas Moranti, Tereza Ilova, Chanel Chavez, Tommy Gunn, Brooke Haven, Jade Hsu

Rita Faltoyano!

Length: 180:23 minutes

Date of Production: 3/13/2004

Tereza Ilova

Extra's: This single disc upgrade had a slide show and trailers to movies like Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge (Blu-ray), Island Fever 4 Blu-Ray, A Jungle Story Blu-Ray, Control 6, Hard Candy 3, Pirates BR, Ass Addiction 2, and Island Fever 3 BR as well as a 26:38 minute long bonus scene as described below between Jade Hsu and Tommy Gunn.

Chanel Chavez

Condoms: One

Brooke Haven!

Audio/Video Quality: Control 1 (Blu-ray) was presented in 1.78:1 widescreen color as shot by director Robby D. for his own company, Handheld Pictures, for distribution by Digital Playground using a 1080i resolution and the usual AVC codec favored by the company for their high definition releases. The visual elements of the movie were consciously designed to look as they did with a slightly rough look to support the thematic concept of the show. The flesh tones were accurate, the composition of the shots well done, and all the lighting suited the ladies in their respective scenes. The DVD was mastered well enough that few compression artifacts were observed and no video noise popped up, completing a very nice visual presentation that worked all around even if the video bitrate was on the low side, often hovering in the low teens (such as 13.7 Mbps). The audio was presented in a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround using a 448 Kbps audio bitrate and 48 kHz sampling rate with a minimalist leaning that seemed unique in most ways. Absent was the fancy, and typically lame, porn music many of Robby's peers rely on to mask various audio flaws. Also absent was a lot of talking in most of the scenes, relying on the visual elements alone to carry the weight (and heat) of the scenes. My impression of the talented director has long been that he favors the visual aspects of directing almost to the exclusion of the auditory experience, perhaps his greatest weakness holding him back at this time (for all my kidding with him over the years, anyone who actually reads my reviews will know that I hold his skills in the highest of regard; certainly higher than the majority of his peers in the business). In all though, the manner in which he put the visuals and audio together were a nice change from the over produced material he makes with "Celeste".

Jade Hsu in bonus scene w/condom

Body of Review: Robby D. has long wanted to direct a series where he had complete freedom to do as he pleased rather than serve whatever master he was working for at a given time. If you look closely at his Action Sports Sex series back at Vivid, you'll notice a bit of anarchist in his work, and an attitude slipped in on a regular basis that went largely unnoticed by his bosses. As time went on, he was more open about how he did this but he always longed to make porn that he himself would find perfect for his needs rather than the generic, canned porn he was sick of renting at the local smut shop. In recent years, his bosses have given him more freedom to do as he liked but it was always within certain constraints and those who know the creative mind also know that constraints, however far away and reasonable, will gnaw at them like crazy. Well, Robby's wait is over with his latest series, one completely unrelated to the Jack's Playground franchise he's been working so busily on for the last few years, a title called Control 1 (Blu-ray).

Control 1 (Blu-ray) expands some of the concepts that Robby's been introducing over the years though so I see it as a natural extension from his current body of work. Some of the scenes were masturbation, others were blowjob only, and still others were simply hot looking gals prancing around in sexy lingerie for the viewer's delight. Contrast that with almost every porn scene made in the 13,000+ movies released most years where a specific formula was followed; typically tease, oral, three position vaginal, perhaps a bit of anal and the ending facial. Not knowing exactly what you're going to get can liven up the mix a bit for the end user of porn, rabid review readers aside, and that's the impression I got when I discussed the series with Robby while gawking at gals in the Venetian at the 2006 AEE Show together a few years back. The sex was great and the overall package was exceptionally interesting to me but here's a quick breakdown of the scenes for those unwilling to be surprised by the original double disc set of this single Blu-ray disc upgrade, noting that only one condom was used and that was in a bonus scene:

Scene One: Lanny Barby, arguably one of the most attractive contract gals in porn these days (especially one with almost no limits sexually), was up first in a scene with Scott Nails. She's the hotty on the front DVD cover and the scene started with her in a transparent plastic body bag in the trunk of a car. I know that sounds really creepy and disgusting but bear with me a moment, okay? To quote the popular song, Barbie Girl, by Aqua: "wrapped in plastic, she's fantastic." In any case, Scott throws her over his shoulder and brings her inside the house where the viewer gets to see her in bondage gear on a chair as he dominates her (starting with a Lucite hand paddle). When eventually given the chance, she inhales his penis in an energetic manner but gives the camera a knowing look as though she enjoys the action. This eased my conscience over the misogynist opening and helped me enjoy the action. Power fucking a meat rod with her mouth is nothing new to this gal but she does it so well that you'll want to see more but the action then moves over to stupid anal sex tricks where her ass is opened up with a metal device to prepare it for the hammering action it gets afterwards from the real, live dick (ATM was present too). She rode his dick in her tight ass very passionately and he responded fairly soon with a pop shot to her face, even hitting her eye. I think Lanny is a fantastic gal that can elevate the heat of any scene she's in and this one was no exception to the rule. Whew!

Scene Two: Gigi, a very cute gal with light hair and a voice much like Teagan Presley's, was up next as she apologized for not wearing panties. She then begged to suck Scott Nails' cock, using those incredible eyes of hers to convince him it was okay. Her oral was less about tearing through with energy like Lanny's was than about the kind of playful tease a gal can use to prolong a session a very long, nearly excruciatingly long, time and it caused her to tear up a little. The subtlety she showed as she worked him over made me think of her as a virtuoso of skin flutes and my only regret is that I haven't seen nearly enough of her work in the recent past. The scene ended quickly, it was just a hummer scene after all, with the usual load to the mouth but it did provide a nice change of pace.

Scene Three: Keri Sable, the skinny bleached blonde who went from gonzo to a contract with Wicked Pictures to leaving the industry in far too short a time frame, was up next with Mr. Pete and Scott Nails. Her fashionable red skirt and black tube top were no match for the prying hands of Pete who whispered sweet nothings in her ear (like she'd be the next Jenna). Her red platform stripper shoes made her taller than him by a significant amount and Scott was content to watch them at first as his shaft slowly filled with blood. Pete kept spanking her before sucking that sweet ass and Keri seemed to appreciate the attention as goose bumps rose all over her skin. This scene was reportedly one of her last gonzo-styled scenes before signing her contract and director Robby squeezed an awful lot of mileage out of it as she blew them both while blindfolded, never missing a stroke, until she rode them like crazy in her pussy. I thought she'd do anal since Pete stretched her ass with his finger but this never happened and she ended the scene by draining their ball sacks orally and swallowing them down. It was another well done scene and while it wasn't on the level of Lanny's scene, it was still fun to watch more than once.

Scene Four: Ashley Roberts, a skinny blonde I haven't seen in a very long time (in one of the Jack's Playground titles), was up next in a wide black leather bondage collar, stockings, black skirt, and aqua tube top. She looked almost scared but posed and teased the camera as though she on display for sale. There was no music or talking and her overdone eye shadow was kind of eerie but I'll admit she had a smoking hot body. In general terms though, she was only teasing here and not even masturbating so the scene served mostly as a breather from the "real" scenes.

Scene Five: Rita Faltoyano, the extremely popular hotty with the long, light brown hair and sleek physique, was up next as she started the scene inside a cage marked "bitch". If she was in heat, it wasn't readily apparent but aside from the overdone make up, she was looking fine. Her partner for the scene was Andreas Moranti, a guy she's shown considerable chemistry with in the past, and he teased her through the walls of the cage for full effect. At one point, she appeared to start losing it to the confining structure of the cage but he provided her a safety blanket in the form of his hard cock to suck on for security after some kissing. After he let her out, he fed her milk in a bowl, paraded her outside, and then dragged her back in to gently brush her hair. This led to another swell blowjob where she combined playful elements and messy slobber to get him ready for some anal antics well worth checking out. Rita's never been a stuck up diva so I knew she'd be in fine form here as he jammed his cock in her ass like she was on fire. That came after the vaginal work but in the strictest sense of the meaning; she's a very well balanced lady able to get a guy off in any way he likes. She wasn't as aggressive in bouncing back on his dick as I've seen her do elsewhere but I got the impression that this was due to his need for controlling her so thoroughly. Still, Rita is always welcome in whatever capacity she chooses to be in the movies I review and this was no exception. It ended with the nut to the face with her back in her cage. Yum!

Scene Six: Tereza Ilova, was up next in a schoolgirl outfit consisting of a white top, tie, plaid skirt, and knee high stockings (with her hair in pony tails). She wore no underwear and looked younger than I've seen her elsewhere, selling a look that a lot of fans want to buy. There wasn't a lot of touching going on her so much as presentation of her look for the camera with bits of bondage gear used to enhance the mood a little. Robby played with her a little bit but this was another breather scene for me (and in a bad spot since the changing of a disc should've had the disc two opener as a full sex scene in my opinion).

Scene Seven: Chanel Chavez, an attractive gal with a thin frame, was up next as Robby stalked her from outside the apartment. I laughed out loud when Tommy Gunn surprised him as though he was completely caught off guard since he didn't want to get caught acting like a pervert. She changed into a bathing suit and hung out by the pool for awhile when Tommy abducted her with tape on the mouth and carried her inside. Okay, this was the second time when I was creeped out by the scenario, even knowing it was all make believe. Getting past that, she responded well to his attentions as he felt her up and readied her for the dick in her mouth that she greedily inhaled as though it were her lifeline full of air. Skipping right to the anal, he poked her repeatedly but she didn't actively participate so I didn't like it as much as I otherwise might have if she participated far earlier in the scene. It ended when he jerked off on a glass table and she swallowed bits of it down after moving it along the table top.

Scene Eight: Brooke Haven, a very talented and curvy porn star, was up last as she posed on the bed for Scott Nails. She was wearing a form fitting ensemble that was white with black polka dots as he took her picture with a set of cheap disposable cameras. The tease alone nearly coaxed a load out of me and the anal tricks that followed threatened to do likewise until she switched gears and started slobbing his knob. It wasn't the best blowjob of the show but it was a lot better than I got last night (to give you a comparison point) and served to prepare him for the anal sex that took place afterwards. They did a short titty fuck and he went right to the ass, skipping that fine pussy altogether. She did ATM and rode his face before going back to the ass (with gassy noises and more active riding as time went on), eventually getting a load to her mouth. It was a solid scene in many ways although I might've moved it up a bit if given the choice.

Bonus Scene: Jade Hsu, a 22 year old tiny Asian gal, played a schoolgirl scenario out with the muscular Tommy Gunn after walking through the apartment building with no panties on underneath her skirt (across from the Comerica building). She smoked and did a terrible impression of Courtney Love on the roof before donning fetish attire for her scene. Sexually, the scene was oral and vaginal only with a condom used for safety (making me think it was shot around the time of the AIDS outbreak in the spring of 2004). It was a raw scene with no music, little talking outside of Robby's direction, and some decent screwing by both partners. He rubbed out a load onto her face and it lasted over 26.5 minutes so as a bonus scene, it was pretty cool.

Summary: Control 1 (Blu-ray) brought a great many random thoughts to my head, from thoughts of the song by the Motels to the wish to discuss the show more with Robby having now seen it (discussing something only one of us had watched made for some awkward moments last month). Trying to put down even a smattering of my personal thoughts on the movie proved to be fruitless though I could sum it all up by suggesting Robby used more creativity and depth to his domination themes than peers like Jules Jordan or some of the lesser names in the business these days. Not needing to show abusive antics or degrade the women to convey the themes present probably took a lot more effort on his part but I think it paid off. I'm rating the movie as Highly Recommended for all the right reasons (technical, casting, chemistry, passion and the like) but make no mistake that there were parts I wasn't enthusiastic about (the abduction sequence and initial opener come to mind) that may work even better for some of you out there. I hate that it has taken so very long to get some of these scenes on the market but in terms of quality gals, it'd be tough to come up with gals hotter than most of them here and there's more to come from what I've been told (a lead time of nearly two years is virtually unheard of in porn). If the past is any indicator of future performance though, this series is going to showcase Robby's skill more than all his current series combined and it ought to be a lot of fun to watch. I did find it strange that the original cover was replaced with this new one, especially given the strength of Lanny Barby's performance over Jade's condom clad scene but now that Lanny is a free agent again, maybe Robby will make it up to her by shooting some more hardcore smut with her in the lead.