No Lost Love (SD and Blu-ray)

Digital Playground

Genre: Vignette

Director: Robby D.

Cast: Alexis Texas, Charles Dera, Kerry Louise, James Deen, Raven Alexis, Mick Blue, Scott Nails, Sadie West, Kristina Rose

Length: 97:53 minutes

Date of Production: 9/21/2009

Extras: As with virtually all movies by the company, the extras kind of sucked donkey balls on both versions, the best of the batch being the 12:56 minute long Behind the Scenes feature. As far as BTS fun was concerned, this was a minimal effort using some montage of photoshoots and clips of the cast but Jamal Johnson really did little to get anything worthwhile and I can see why some fans (and critics) are suggesting the company is missing the boat when it comes to extras. There was also a slide show (with photogallery on the SD version) and some trailers but the corner cutting was obvious.

Condoms: None

Audio/Video Quality: No Lost Love was presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen using a 1080p resolution with the high definition AVC encoding as shot by director Robby D. for Digital Playground (this SD version obviously weaker). The director had a mediocre 2009 due to the lack of company vision but insiders tell me that he has been trying to get more freedom to expand what he likes rather than keep churning out formulaic series that have been losing steam (and popularity). The results here were mixed though, some editing slips and camera deployment issues subtracting points from some of the better scenes. In any case, the SD version of the movie had some compression artifacts and what appeared to be edge enhancement (using the MPEG-2 codec with a 480 resolution must suck since their movies are shot using the RED system), but this one upgraded the visual elements really well, the efforts of the company to show the world why they are the leader in Blu-ray porn. The video bitrate varied significantly but when I spot checked it, the numbers typically bounced around the 17.7 Mbps mark in 1080p resolution (three times or more the SD version), often going higher or somewhat lower for those who care. The audio was presented in a post-production added 5.1 Dolby Digital English with a 48 kHz sampling rate and 448 Kbps bitrate, none of the vocals showing any separation though the score seemed to during the opening and closing.

Body of Review: Robby D. is virtually the only director at Digital Playground these days, Joone only coming out of hiding for those once every two or three year blockbusters of his. That causes many of the series the company releases to look the same and apply a formulaic approach, the company rarely venturing into true features any more. The latest of their vignette/All Sex titles making it to me was No Lost Love, a showcase for newcomer Raven Alexis to have her first released scene doing a guy, the under achiever doing two men in as many scenes, not exactly setting the ground on fire for a performer in her twenties. Still, a quick look at the gal shows why she could conceivably build a fan base if given the wealth of resources others at the company have been subjected too, the brunette far from the worst looking gals to blog for Xcritic. The company website described the movie like this: "Raven Alexis arrives in the land of opportunity to escape from an abusive lover. Her innocence and girl-next-door looks are only a disguise as she quickly loses her inhibitions. Alexis gives Charles a quick cock-teasing before letting him thrust deep inside her. Raven holds out until the third scene, when she bares her clean snatch for Mick to please. Charles gives Sadie a finger-fucking for the books before returning the favor with her deep-throating abilities. Packed with generous helpings of pussy licking, blow jobs and facials; Kristina Rose's final anal scene provides pleasure that lingers for hours. It's evident that Raven will have no problems moving on from an abusive lover to provide Digital Playground viewers the pleasure they yearn for." Here's a brief look at the scenes by cast and action, noting that no condoms were used for those still interested:

Scene One: Alexis Texas, the well rounded blond from Texas I admittedly adore, was up first as she laid in bed with manly Charles Dera, the others having left them to their own devices. There was an almost surreal look to the high definition version that went along with the enhanced detail and other visual elements but I still preferred it to the plain looking standard definition copy I found online. Alexis greedily unleashed his manhood from his shorts to gobble it up aggressively, a far cry from her early days when she seemed so vacant. She even shook her mighty rump as she blew him and he reciprocated with some fingering (and a touch of oral). They then had vaginal sex in a few positions but she was not as active during the penetration as she was during the oral, some taste testing punctuating the scene before it ended with him rubbing one out on her face.

Scene Two: Kerry Louise, a curvy and heavily tattooed brunette with too much cosmetic surgery, was up next in another bedroom with James Deen, the minimal oral he gave her leading to a generic bout of vaginal boning between the two. She did pick up the pace as time went on but not consistently, the minimal taste testing and choking seemingly out of place as the sweaty pair continued to perform in a mechanical fashion. As with most of Robby's scenes, the camera spent far too much time on close ups and this hurt the end result, the yelling by the gal so over-performed that I wondered if she was taught by someone to do that or if she had an epiphany that anyone wanted to see her act that way. In any case, it ended when he jerked off a nut of genetic juice to her crotch, a few more strokes inside of her looking nasty as a result.

Scene Three: Raven Alexis, the cute brunette featured on the front cover, was up next with Mick Blue, the couple kissing as if to eat each other's faces off. Given the way both of them handled dialogue earlier in the movie, I figured they would be better when keeping it quiet, Mick taking charge by going down on her until she tried giving him a blowjob. The hummer was weak and showed the need for a lot more experience, the clumsy sort of way she attacked his meat such that it at least helped sell the "I'm new to cock" approach taken by her marketing gurus. In any case, the camera work here was less explicit for the penetration and as active as she sometimes became, I was left with a feeling that something went wrong on the set. Mick did his usual capable job and provided a modicum of intensity but I was looking for more of a connection between them to make it work. Mick even tried to get her to up her game by going down on her a second time, working to assist her oral aptitude. They screwed vaginally some more and he launched his load of population pudding into her mouth as a closing point (though he ate her out one last time for good measure).

Scene Four: Raven Alexis, wearing only a man's shirt as she made some breakfast, was then up again in what amounted to poor pacing, her second scene with a guy showing her with Scott Nails. He came on quite strong and she gave off a scared vibe, his hands all over her as they kissed. Scott licked her tit and whispered to her as he massaged her clitoris through her black thong, spanking her as she bent over the counter for him to pound deep. The vaginal penetration was shown as a bad experience for her so I wasn't much into it; the scene showing her taste testing between positions for the ending mouth pop.

Scene Five: Sadie West, a brunette with pretty eyes and a cute figure, was up next in a scene that definitely appeared truncated in some aspects, the camera losing focus a few times and the gal seemingly into Charles Dera. They pawed each other and she provided a short hummer, the two moving to a doggy style vaginal pounding that had him busting a nut on her face all too soon. I watched it a couple of times and it seemed to me that parts were edited out, the real story behind the missing footage perhaps a mystery best left unsolved.

Scene Six: Kristina Rose, the hotty Xcritic performer of the year, was up last with James Deen, the guy eating her out front and back despite a lot of pubic hair in the way. While the guy is no Manuel Ferrara (nor will he ever be), Kristina responded well to his ministrations, inhaling his cock as she actively worked him over in a chemistry filled manner I enjoyed watching. The pounding vaginal action was also a movie highlight but she did not seem as into the anal as elsewhere, at least until the second part where he pulled her hair and otherwise abused her. The coating of sweat on their bodies made it all seem real and the high definition version of the scene was definitely the way to go here, the drab SD version amounting to a snore. For a bit of fighting and heavy play though, the marks left on each other were real enough, the shower blowjob draining his balls dry for him to jerk a wad to her face was a satisfying ending overall.

Summary: No Lost Love by director Robby D. for Digital Playground put a lot of pressure on Raven Alexis to capture the imagination of fans and instill her way into their libidos but it fell somewhat short, the high definition version certainly an upgrade of an order of magnitude but the overall feel it provided being one of a rushed effort. I won't speculate as to why so many of their projects look this way of late but it is clear that the hard times have hit home even here, a company I have long considered recession proof. In any event, the rating of Rent It for both versions of the movie is made with the understanding that I am a supporter of Raven and truly want her to succeed so your mileage may vary but consider picking up a copy of No Lost Love to see what I mean, even talented "A" team crew members like editor Nick P and director Robby unable to make this one work out as expected.