Cherry Bomb

Vivid Entertainment

Genre: Feature

Director: B. Skow

Cast: Monique Alexander, Derrick Pierce, Missy Monroe, Tom Byron, Marcus London, Hillary Scott, Flower Tucci, Jay Huntington, Alektra Blue
Non-sex roles were uncredited

Length: 141 minutes

Date of Production: 5/24/2006

Extra's: There were some decent extras offered up this time, including my favorite of the bunch being the 16.5 minute long Behind the Scenes feature by Graham Crack Herr. There was some interview material, additional nudity, and a sense of playfulness amongst the performers and crew that served to establish the movie as full of chemistry. There were four bonus scenes that fans will probably enjoy too, but they were from older flicks and looked poorly mastered so your mileage may vary. There was also a short text biography for lovely Monique Alexander, two photogalleries, a second side for the DVD cover that showed four new titles released on DVD (instead of the less explicit version of the primary cover as the company has used for years), some spam (including a front commercial that could be skipped by remote control), and trailers to movies like Dinner Party, Sexy Young Thing, Colors, and Illicit.

Condoms: Yes

Audio/Video Quality: Cherry Bomb was presented in the same 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color it was shot in by director B. Skow for Vivid Entertainment. For those unfamiliar with his background, suffice it to say that his experience outside of porn is superior to many inside the industry and it shows up in his movies, including this one as shot in HD, though presented in the SD format (for now). The lighting was reasonably well handled as was the camera work, limiting the grain, video noise, and other distracting flaws seen all too often in porn these days. The composition of the camera angles managed to enhance the look of the ladies while complimenting the suspenseful portions of the feature, a trick that I really wish the director could share with some of his industry peers (not just at Vivid either). The fleshtones were largely accurate and the DVD mastering well done, making it one of the better looking titles in recent memory. The audio was presented in a 2.0 Dolby Digital offering with the vocals sounding flat and the music pretty decent. For some reason, the levels were lower than usual but aside from the added background noise from doing so, the dynamic range was average and the separation of the vocal track nonexistent.

Body of Review: B. Skow is probably the most reliable director at Vivid Entertainment these days in terms of providing exactly what he's shooting for and providing the kind of quality fans are coming to demand of the higher end production companies. One of the difficulties in shooting a porn feature is that it is so easy to either focus too much on the sex (making the plot portions laughable and/or lame) or to focus too much on the plot (making the sex portions too watered down) so I was happy to see he was at the helm of a Monique Alexander showcase feature called Cherry Bomb; knowing full well that he'd be able to do it justice. The story is a bit like a porn take off of Basic Instinct where Monique is accused of murder by a detective; the audience never quite knowing whether she was completely innocent or not until the ending. The cover said it like this: "Cherry (Monique Alexander) is under investigation as a suspect in four separate crimes. But, throughout the reenactments, it appears she is not as innocent as expected. The reenactments include Cherry and Romeo (Derrick Pierce) in a hot bedroom scene. Cherry then gets drilled by her pimp (Marcus London) in a hotel room. Then the girls get into the act when Cherry and Jaz (Alektra Blue) make it on a desk and plenty of toys are involved. Plus, Madame (Flower Tucci) and her side kick (Hillary Scott) double team Samson (Jay Huntington) in which he performs anal on both women and makes Madame squirt! Then legend Tom Byron performs anal with Missy Monroe in a hotel room. It is an explosive whodunit." Okay, with a bit more dialogue and a more open ending, I think this would have been a major award winner for Vivid as a feature, not just for the great sex scenes. There were some condoms used but they were never a problem for me, so here's a quick look at the scenesby cast and action if you're still interested:

Scene One: Monique Alexander, the hotty featured on the front cover, was up first as a call girl wearing a school girl outfit used to entice Derrick Pierce. Her masturbation and tease were first rate and the knowing glances she gave him indicated her ability to detect how it worked for him as much as her control of the situation. It was suitably slow and heated, leading to the pair going at one another very seductively rather than the usual bump & grind porn style I'm so used to. The building up of heat and chemistry was a great way to start the movie, culminating in some extremely well handled oral by both of them (again, instead of the "lick 'N stick" porn style usually used) that took plenty of time to increase their connection to one another. She then actively rode his cock as though getting into it, proving her skill level to be very high with an equal nod to the passion resulting from the action. I didn't mind the condom and I enjoyed how she jerked him off onto her mid torso for a light load, albeit with some assistance from his own hand at the very end. Yum!

Scene Two: Missy Monroe, back when her short hair made her look kind of like a dyke, was up next as she bent over for legend Tom Byron to suck her ass by the window. The dynamic of this scene was substantially different than the last one as these two skipped the pleasantries to go right at it without the romantic angle of the last scene. Missy has long been a cock hungry gal and while she has tentatively retired from the industry at this writing, the scene served to showcase exactly why she was appreciated by fans everywhere. She practically inhaled his cock aggressively, trying to unleash his load of population pudding early with the help of a heated titty fuck, but it didn't happen that way since Tom wanted to plunder her other two holes as well. The use of some nontraditional positions (ones that don't typically look as good on camera but help display the heat best for those who actually watch the movies rather than speed through them) as well as the standards we all like to see helped make this one a solid stroke-fest too as Missy rode him just as hard in her pussy and ass as she did with her mouth. There was no condom this time (for those who care) and her dirty talk was superior at making this a nasty scene her fans (new and old) will love, ending with a facial as expected. The energy levels alone were enough to make it a fine scene but the other elements were well handled too. Yow!

Scene Three: Monique Alexander, this time wearing a skimpy red dress in a bed at night, was up with a different sexual style with Marcus London. They pawed each other and savagely went at it, him eating her with no concern for the niceties that Derrick employed earlier and her loving it just as much. As in real life where we sometimes like sex rough and nasty, she showed her darker side with the reciprocal hummer, stroking and sucking him as though she were truly lost in the moment. While I know this is largely the result of her acting or performance skills, it was another dynamic fully explored in such a way to prove her versatility in screwing heatedly, marking another reason to enjoy the flick. He hammered away at her cookie in several positions as she masturbated, sheathed in a rubber, but her fit young body was exceptionally fun to watch as her cheeks rippled in response to the way they banged, ending in the belly pop he rubbed out without assistance. I would have preferred she be the one to do it and that was the only real weakness of the scene in my eyes.

Scene Four: Hillary Scott, a world class cock sucker, and anal queen squirter Flower Tucci, were up next in a scene with muscular Jay Huntington. The location was a living room at night and he had hired the ladies for some fun, each showing a different yet equally aggressive style. Hillary took the lead in blowing him but Flower helped guide the youthful hotty as they shared the cock. For his part, Jay did not act like a lump as he gave some oral too with Flower sitting on his lucky face while Hillary pounded her lithe young frame on his rod. All three of them were active throughout the scene with the ladies adding something special by using dirty talk to work themselves up too. Knowing who these two gals are, I also knew that both of them would be doing anal and I was right in my belief as they actively rode him that way too. Flower provided her trademarked waterworks show (call it what you like, a little goes a very long way for me even though I think she's a great performer) and the excitement levels of the show were as high as any of the other scenes, combining the way the two ladies love cock as much as the way the scene included just about every position and kink you could expect (lots of taste testing from all four holes too). It was bareback and resulted in a pop shot to Flower's ass as Hillary licked the semen up to close things out. Whew!

Scene Five: Alektra Blue, playing the hard edged, straight laced interrogator at police headquarters, showed her kinky side in the ending lesbian scene with blazing hot Monique Alexander. Monique seduced her as part of her effort to go free, spreading Alektra across the desk as she tore off their clothes for better access. While I thought her previous two scenes in the movie were better on the merits of how the sexual dynamic played out, the scene was a solid choice to end the movie as well as the sexual portions of the show. The color balance was off more than a little this time, less real considering how such situations tend to be brightly lit (watch any cop show and you'll see how bright lights are used to put the perpetrators on the spot) but the chemistry between the ladies largely made up for it and resulted in a heated pairing between them. There was a lot of fingering, oral, and dildo play, the gals savoring the moment nicely before it all ended.

Summary: Cherry Bomb by director B. Skow for Vivid Entertainment was clearly a solid effort worthy of being Highly Recommended. The sex was off the charts much of the time, the ladies all attractive and skilled at their craft, and the technical elements were very nicely handled as well. The stroke and replay value along with the fuck for the buck quality of the show were decidedly better than most features, with Monique giving her best acting performance to date by far. In short, Cherry Bomb was a winner on all levels and another notch on the belt of the director worth bragging rights. Great job!