All Star

Digital Playground

Genre: Gonzo

Director: Joone

Cast: Rocki Roads, Envy, Alex Sanders, Sadie Sexton, Cristian Todd, Bonita
Saint, Steven Jagger, Lora Belle, Eric Lerol, Vince Vouyer, Rebecca Lord,
Mr. Marcus

Length: 84.5 minutes
(note: the DVD case advertised it had "over three hours of video")

Date of Production: 4/12/1999

Extra's: The extras included a photogallery, 4 biographies, ~4 minute blooper reel, ~8 minute
Behind the Scenes documentary, and a solid audio commentary with the Director, Producers
(Joone, Samantha, Davey), and Tabitha Stevens (she wasn't in the movie though). I really liked the commentary a lot as it gave some great insight on the early days of the company that didn't register when I first heard it years ago.

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: All Star was probably the best looking DVD I reviewed for years with great fleshtones, no compression artifacts, solid composition of the scenes, and I knew I had a winner when I said: "The video was very sharp and crisp. The audio sounded a
bit hollow at times but was usually very good. The music was unobtrusive if
forgettable." I could blather on and on about the technical quality of the movie but aside from the audio setting being too high, I was impressed with this one.

Body of Review: A long time ago, on a website not exactly known for credible reviews, I recall checking out a DVD I really liked called All Star by Digital Playground. The technical aspects were great and the scenes also had much to like. Here's what I said about the movie when I had far less experience with reviewing porn: "The only premise behind this one is that some guys get
together to visit a group of hot women. It doesn't get in the way and
there's very little acting going on. The main idea here is to show the 6 sex
scenes. The feature has two angles which are done in real time for the most
part-it doesn't have the more common practice of editing the single angle
into a series of multiple angles-as Vivid does a lot." If that sounded pretty minimal, it was and for good reason; the movie wasn't an intricately weaved feature or a tossed together bit of fluff so much as a showcase for the company just starting out in the competitive world of porn. While they are among the best porn producers in the world now, this was not always the case so here's a look at the vision they provided way back when…:

Scene One: Rocki screws Alex by a pool while Envy watches them. He almost
fists her but holds it to 4 fingers before he gives her what is billed as
her first anal. I was distracted by the fly that kept buzzing around her
pussy but otherwise the scene was very good. Tabitha makes it sound as
though she directed this scene but she was not credited along with the
others at the end.

Scene Two: Sadie and her real life boyfriend ("fuckmate" is what she calls
him in the bloopers real) in a bedroom. He looked fairly lame and the sex
was okay.

Scene Three: Bonita, the bitch from hell, screws her real life boyfriend,
Steven, in the bathroom. In the audio commentary, Tabitha calls her a
"snotty bitch" and she shows us the truth in the statement several times in
the blooper as well as behind the scenes reel. Steven had a lot of problems
keeping erect for this one and I doubt he'll be asked back.

Scene Four: Lora and Eric, another real life couple, this time from France,
have sex on the tennis court. The commentators had a lot to say about her
but the sex was good.

Scene Five: Rocki and Vince screw in what was called the "Aquarium Room".
The lighting was a bit low so we could appreciate the fish in the large
windows in the background. I thought the scene was warm.

Scene Six: Rebecca and Mr. Marcus have sex on a ledge near the pool. She was
a bit too thin for my tastes but the sex was okay.

Summary: All Star was a far cry for some of the excellent releases by Digital Playground these days but considering the competition back when this was first released, I think Digital Playground hit a home run in terms of the visual excellence. I liked it enough to say the following too: "I really liked the extras and multiple angles here as they
enhanced the entire DVD's value. My main problem was with the preponderance
of large implants which looked lame (not to mention the
scars). It's easy to see that this was shot for DVD and that's a trend I can
live with after watching way too many features looked slapped onto the
format without much thought. If you take the time to listen to the commentary track, you'll get to hear
Tabitha ramble on about almost everything. Don't get me wrong, I think she
gives great commentary. I know that I'll always hear about everything
negative that happened when she's talking. The other commentators fill in a
lot of the gaps and it makes for an interesting listen. Learning about the
editor going to jail-and thereby delaying the production about 4 weeks-was
cool, as were the dozens of other observations they made. One observation
got me to thinking. They told how Rocki had sex with almost every guy on the
set-including visitors. (Note to self: make plans to visit one of her porn
shoots.) Aside from the implants, all the women were quite good looking. They all
appeared to enjoy sex as well (well, except for the bitchy French gal). These two factors are very important to me in
considering how to rate the DVD. Add in the extras and you have a winner. Note to Digital Playground: I really wish you had made room for Tabitha to
have a scene-even if it were with Envy, who was completely under utilized.
In the future, try and get an unenhanced cast and I think most consumers
will be happier." I think the DVD is still worth a rating of Recommended even if the length wasn't as long as advertised and the other minor problems but check it out to see what I mean.

This Don Houston "retro-review" was written long ago before the so-called Professor of Porn had much experience writing reviews. Since that time, he has found Digital Playground to have a lot of good releases and seen more porn than almost anyone reviewing on the internet. Keep in mind that his comments accurately reflected his fresh viewpoint of the time he first saw the movie.