The Portrait

Wicked Pictures

Genre: Feature

Director: Skye Blue

Cast: Nicole Sheridan, Voodoo, Ashley Long, Steve French, Lisa Marie, Jezebelle Bond, Mario Rossi, Kelle Marie, Stormy Daniels, Pat Myne

Length: 78.5 minutes

Date of Production: 1/20/2004

Extra's: Wicked Pictures is one of the premiere companies in terms of providing value added extras to their DVD releases. Unfortunately, my screener disc was limited in terms of what would work on my DVD players (both home and computer) so I really didn't get to see the extras for myself. The box covers Wicked Pictures puts out usually are truthful so here's what it lists on the back: a bonus sex scene with Stormy, an All Access: Behind the Scenes look at the movie, photogallery, star galleries, Star Stats, Interview with Stormy, promotional material, Wicked Casino, Wicked Web, "Stormy Gets Plastered" feature where her body parts are immortalized for all time, Wicked Award Winners and Nominations, company profile, trailers, and a double sided DVD cover. They tend to have Easter Eggs too but I have no way of knowing what was present without a fully functioning DVD.

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color that the movie was originally shot in. The colors looked accurate and the grain was minimal on my computer screen (my copy was a limited version screener that wouldn't play on either of my home players) with a fair amount of care put into the artistic composition of most shots. There was some pattern noise and minor artifacts were not uncommon but I'm told the full version of the DVD looks better. In short, my copy sucked in some ways but even then, the movie looked pretty good. The audio was presented in the usual 5.1 Dolby Digital stereo English that Wicked uses on their big movies. To be fair, the separation between the channels was nothing special but I did seem to think there was a little use of the soundstage this time, something usually not the case in porn. The dynamic range was okay and the audio mix better than I expected too, making the auditory experience pretty solid.

Body of Review: Wicked Pictures is easily one of my favorite companies these days. Even after Jenna Jameson and Serenity's contracts expired, the company continues to find newer gals with just the right combination of beauty and talent to make a jaded old porn hound like me happy. Depending upon whom you speak with, Stormy Daniels is their best asset of the moment and while I really like several of their stars, a good case could be made to support her candidacy for that position. Her flowing blonde locks of hair, her sleek body, and winning smile combine with an aptitude for showing the audience that she has more than the ability to mechanically milk a nut, she has the ability to make us forget we're watching the limited genre of movie known as porn. Her latest movie is a little effort by veteran director Skye Blue (who usually directs for Sin City), The Portrait. In the movie, an everyday slob, played by Pat Myne (Stormy's real life, lucky bastard, husband) sees a painting of a beautiful young lady and his heart starts to flutter. The painting is, of course, of Stormy. The rest of the movie is loosely tied around him trying to bridge the gap of time and reality in order to hook up with this honey, something I could imagine him trying in real life too. If you enjoy the usual style of feature porn that Wicked Pictures makes, you'll likely enjoy this one too although it was a lot shorter than most of their recent releases. Here's a breakdown of the scenes by cast for those of you who are still interested:

Scene One: Nicole, a foxy blonde with a curvy body and more heat than most men will ever handle, had a scene with her real life husband, Voodoo, in the opening scene. The sex was far more limited than I've seen her in before but even so; she looked hot. The blowjob was energetic and the straight sex enough to make me forget her ability to outshine other anal queens, but it wasn't her very best work, even for Wicked Pictures.

Scene Two: Ashley, a leggy blonde that is also known for her anal antics took the pace down a couple of notches by having an oral and straight scene with Steve (with no anal). She was very attractive and talented, so even without her usual circus act sex, the sex was pretty good. I think the chemistry levels were lower than the first scene but the energy levels slightly higher, balancing things out fairly well.

Scene Three: Lisa, a petite gal with a cute face and body, Jezebelle, one of the more energetic gals I've watched of late, and foreign stud Mario were next up in the movie. The gals did some lesbian action with one another, using a strap on dildo to warm up for Mario, but the overall quality of the scene was decidedly mixed in the weakest scene of the movie. I've always enjoyed looking at Lisa and Jezebelle's sexual skill is very well known so I'm not sure what happened to kill the heat here.

Scene Four: Kelle, a stunningly attractive gal that makes the term "pretty" seem very inadequate, had never looked better than in this lesbian scene with Stormy. The Storminator took the lead in my eyes and the kissing with rubbing seemed a prelude of things to come but soon fell flat when the payoff wasn't there. To have two such awesome babes in the same room would be enough to get most men off but they just didn't click here. Maybe it was a case of two forces of nature competing (but edited to keep it off camera) or maybe they had a bad day but the bottom line was I felt a little bit cheated when watching this scene and pinning it down is something I just couldn't do.

Scene Five: Stormythat hotty on the front DVD cover, had her penultimate scene at the end of the show. She got to work with her real life husband Pat in a scene that showed their chemistry together. To see her give herself so freely on so many levels was a pleasure to watch but the oral and straight sex didn't last nearly long enough to satisfy me (Pat's own movies have much longer scenes; I'd sure like to see him direct his wife in a few scenes with plenty of tease and fetish gear…YUM!). I enjoyed watching the scene more than once but I wish it had something more to enjoy, more tease, more oral and more boning with her as the focal point.

Summary: Director Skye Blue has proven her skill over the years as a performer and as a director but there was a rushed feeling to this one and even a fan of the cast, particularly Stormy, like myself could only push the rating up to a Rent It. I'm sure the value added extras were solid but I can't really comment on them since they weren't available on my disc and that limited my ability to provide you a complete picture of The Portrait.

Note: You can see recent candid shots of several of these performers by visiting: My Photo's and read about their antics at 2004 AEE Show.