Lustrous (AKA: Briana's Lustrous)

Antigua Pictures/Briana Banks Entertainment

Genre: All Sex

Briana Banks, Alexis Texas, and Madelyn Marie

Director: Briana Banks Entertainment

Cast: Briana Banks, Alexis Texas, Madelyn Marie, Ahryn Astyn, Chris Johnson, Erik Everhard, Mika Tan, Lindsey Meadows, Aaron Wilcox, Angie Savage, Rocco Reed, Jerry, Marco Banderas

Length: 149:10 minutes

Ahryn Ashton

Dates of Production: 11/12/2008, 12/19/2008, 12/23/2008

Extras: The only extra was the 12:02 minute long Behind the Scenes feature, Briana getting the majority of screen time as a familiar voiced guy worked the camera (Graham Crackherr?). This being her first production for her new company, Briana took things seriously, much of the action shot in her own home.

Condoms: None

Briana Banks and Erik Everhard

Audio/Video Quality: Lustrous was presented in an appealing 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color as shot by uncredited directors for Antigua Pictures/Briana Banks Entertainment in the MPEG-2 codec with 480p resolution as used by standard definition releases everywhere. The lighting was almost always decent; optimal on the bodies as it limited the grain, video noise, and shadows other productions seem unable to get rid of far too often; but the visuals were not perfect either. The composition of the shots weren't always completely flattering to the ladies but at least there was rarely any doubt about what was going on and where it was going; given the quality of the cast, this made it more enjoyable too. The fleshtones were generally accurate and the bitrate hovered in the mid 4.1 Mbps area so it looked very appealing in most ways to my jaded porn hound eyes. There were no compression artifacts and the visuals were generally handled pretty well here too for those that care about the nitty gritty details though the editing by "V. Perez" was on the choppy side to say the least. The audio was presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital English using the standard 192 Kbps bitrate and 48 kHz sampling rate. The music was generic but the vocals; while plain as could be, could be heard in almost all cases; only slightly hollow at times when the ladies were making it clear their limits were being pushed. There was no separation but the stereo track and the dynamic range was limited too even if I had no issues with the audio this time.

Mika Tan and Lindsey Meadows

Body of Review: Antigua Pictures has been distributing some of the strongest titles of late so I was interested in seeing how their first deal with Briana Banks Entertainment would go. For those of you with a short memory, Briana Banks was one of the few ladies at Vivid under their contract system that would literally do just about anything, the curvy blond with the beautiful eyes and husky voice one of the best performers they had for some time (and yes, very worthy of major projects like "Throat"). Well, Briana set out on her own last year and Xcritic caught up with her at the 2009 AEE where we interviewed the lady, her vision of what she wanted to do including all sorts of nasty sex acts not generally associated with contract performers. That said, her first release on her new label is Briana's Lustrous, a set of six heated sex scenes with Briana starring in four of them. That alone made the movie a "must have" for her fans but what about the rest of us you ask? Well, there was some decent action for those of you that aren't yet fans of Briana, hence my detailed review to follow. Here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used for those still interested:

Briana Banks and Angie Savage

Scene One: Briana Banks, Alexis Texas, and Madelyn Marie, were all up first in a lesbian tryst, the gals hair made up (courtesy of Lee Garland) in 1950's pinup style and their lingerie matching the time period. Briana initially went for Alexis' fine ass, licking her and fingering the curvy cutie while Madelyn watched. She then moved onto Madelyn but each gal was given ample opportunity to play with their peers, Briana clearly leading the pack. The oral and toys deployed might have been anachronisms to the initial dynamic but there was a lot of enthusiasm and energy here, the camera work decent if not exceptional. The gals seemed to have been going at each other a lot longer and the editing truncated their fun for the viewer to see but it was still a strokable scene.

Briana Banks

Scene Two: Ahryn Astyn, a cute blond newcomer to porn, was up next as she made out with Chris Johnson, the montage opener giving a head's up as to what would take place without spilling all the details. They were initially kissing on the couch with him completely dressed and her in her thong, his hand wrapped around her crotch as she pawed for his pecker. That led to him going down on her and the gal reciprocating with an unpolished blowjob. After awhile, she warmed up and wasn't so passive at the vaginal ride, her desire to impale herself mechanical at best but still appreciated. There was some taste testing and he eventually launched his load of genetic juice to her ass, Ahryan seemingly happy about the quantity she milked from him.

Scene Three: Briana Banks, the featured gal on the cover as well as in most of the scenes, was up again as she took on one of the most powerful performers in the industry, Erik Everhard, in the living room of her own house. These two have been going at one another for years so their personal chemistry levels were quite high, Briana slobbing his knob with an aggressive style and Erik completely infatuated with her skillful demeanor. The vaginal screwing showed her to push back to meet his thrusts and led to a bout of anal boning few of her peers could ever hope to attain themselves, Briana on fire as she worked the cock inside of her three holes. Fans of gaping assholes will have something to appreciate too but the strength of the scene was due to the way they pushed each other to higher levels of pleasure, Briana ending the rough sex action with a perfect facial that she swallowed. Yum!

Scene Four: Mika Tan, Lindsey Meadows, and Aaron Wilcox, were up next, the ladies enjoying some quality time together before the moper joined them. Mika was as sexually assertive as ever, going at Lindsey with her tongue and hands, smacking her a little too. For her part, Lindsey sucked the cock as soon as it entered her field of vision, Mika still happy as a clam going down on the now-distracted gal. There was some minor choking and oral by all three of them, the vaginal riding pretty active by both ladies. There was also some heated taste testing, Lindsey coming alive after her first round of screwing to prove her worth as something more than eye candy, Mika truly enjoying the breath play that ensued. The action ended when Aaron busted a nut of population pudding on Mika's ass though, some semen play and caressing finishing things off.

Scene Five: Briana Banks, next up as a horny gal in need of some loving from grease monkey flunkies, was joined by blond Angie Savage, Rocco Reed, and Jerry, in an auto repair facility to satiate her needs. Briana paired off with Jerry, bending over a table for him to spank hark, the sound of her flesh being tested echoing throughout the room. They kissed and had some playful moments, Angie walking in to get some love from Rocco when she saw Jerry going down on Briana (after the blowjob). Briana then gave Jerry a titty fuck as Angie gave (and received) some oral from Rocco, Briana clearly the lead vixen this time. As things progressed, all of them seemed devoted to servicing Briana in one form or another, her attitude expressed being "fuck me 'till it hurts!" The intermittent oral led to some changing of partners, Rocco's erection lost until Briana herself revived it for screwing (meanwhile, Angie took advantage of Jerry's still turgid state), the gals sharing the ending facials as things finished up.

Scene Six: Briana Banks, as big busted as ever, was last up in a gym working out to hone her skills as a boxer. Her cutoff tank top and aqua booty shorts helped with her appeal, Marco Banderas and I think Aaron Wilcox, being the lucky guys to nail her. After teasing with some moves, Marco proved to be the alpha male, sucking on her titties and rubbing her pussy as she kissed her moper assistant. That led to her giving him a hummer as Marco prepared her, each guy getting the benefit of her sensual mouth before they took turns fucking her pussy. She also alternated on giving them head, the sex culminating in a DP where the guys drilled Briana hard in both holes as she screamed out on pleasure. The scene ended with their facials gracing her mouth, the chemistry displayed pretty fair though not the best.

Summary: Lustrous by Briana Banks Entertainment for distribution by Antigua Pictures was clearly a title in the "must have" category for fans of the lead starlet, the frequent issues with choppy editing, out of focus camerawork, and the need for polishing up the production meriting a rating of Rent It for the rest of the world. It was a good first effort by a company though and Briana was just as sexy as ever before so give it a look regardless of what you decide to do afterwards, the footage possibly making more of you fans of Briana Banks given the strength of her work ethic here. In short, Lustrous had something for almost everyone and future efforts will almost certain receive more post production work to look better, the sparkle of the ladies nearly enough on its own to merit additional consideration.