Masseuse 10, from Sweet Sinner

★★★☆☆

Time: 2:36, Director: James Avalon, Date: 2017

Screenshots: On our Tumblr

On the web: IAFD

Cast: Aidra Fox (22yo), Logan Pierce (26yo), Kiera Noir (23yo), James Deen (31yo), Marley Brinx (23yo), and Seth Gamble

Source: 1280×720 MP4 downloaded from the Mile High Media subscription site

Pleasure ✓+, Passion ✓+, Balance ✓

Review

Sydney's massage business is focused on 'traditional' techniques, and now it seems they need to 'step it up'. So she goes to see Drew (James Deen), a friend of her colleague Reed (Seth Gamble), who describes Drew as "a bit weird", which is an understatement. But his techniques prove quite valuable to her business.

It's not much of a story, but it has some promise, and the acting is generally quite good (except when Marley Brinx is involved). A fair bit of time at the outset is spent developing the characters, and the story. We really appreciated the focus, in places, on the gentle sensuality of massage, which is presumably the point of this entire series. And it really is well done, even beautiful in places. Some of the massage sequences may go on a bit long, but, again, we suppose that's meant to be a feature of the series.

Unfortunately, the movie ends up being horribly disappointing. The first scene, with Aidra Fox and Logan Pierce, is excellent. The sex is convincing and hot as Sydney gives her first 'sensual' massage to a long-time client. Sadly, though, the other three scenes range from mediocre to bad. The third scene, with Marley Brinx and Seth Gamble, isn't terrible, but the premise is implausible, and she is a lot more passive than we would prefer. But that's where the decent stuff ends. The other two scenes, both of which 'feature' James Deen, are just bad. He's supposed to be some 'Zen massage guru', but the second scene, with Keira Noir, has nothing to do with massage and feels gratuitous. Moreover, Deen does almost nothing to stay in character and just assumes his usual porn persona. We could say much the same sort of thing about the last scene, with Aidra Fox.

We've watched little with Deen, on purpose, since Stoya's revelations, and, frankly, this movie served to remind us why we haven't missed him. When we first saw him—you could check our reviews—we were impressed by how much he seemed to care for his partner's pleasure. But after watching him more, we can see that he doesn't care about his partner. Not really. Oh, he definitely wants the women to cum, but it seems to have little to do with them. It's more to prove what a great lover he is. So his antics basically ruined the movie for us.

All that said, the first scene really is very good. Watch it and skip the rest.

There are some serious issues with the sound, too. There are times it is difficult to hear the voices. The camera work is generally very good, though, except in the third scene, when there are quite a few 'medical' shots, a lot more than we would have expected from Sweet Sinner.

This film was nominated for several 2017 XBiz awards, including Best Couples-Themed Release and Director of the Year in a Feature, for James Avalon. We'll hazard a guess that it doesn't take much for a movie to be nominated.

Scene 1: Aidra Fox and Logan Pierce (♀♂)

★★★★½

Time: 26:30

Features: Analingus, Deepthroat, Handjob, Massage, Multiple Female Orgasms, Spanking

Pleasure ♀, Passion ♀, Balance ✓

Brendon is one of Sydney's regular clients, whom she sees after her visit to Drew. She says she's been practicing some new techniques, and asks him if she can try them on him, one of which involves blowing lightly on his skin...and then reaching under his towel to stroke his cock. It's an incredibly sensual sequence, full of erotic tension.

The actual sex begins with her blowing him. It's a much more varied interaction than one usually sees, though we're not sure it was necessary for her to keep gagging herself. A whole lot of kissing and touching follows, as she gets naked, and he goes down on her, first from behind, then she flips over. They start fucking with her on her back. She blows him again, briefly, then climbs aboard and rides him. (There are some really creative positions in here, if you like that kind of thing.) She then blows him one more time, and finishes him with a handjob, licking his cum off her hands.

The sex itself, then, is very good. It's very natural and passionate. She is the initiator, and is actively involved throughout, rather than just a passive participant. And there seems to be little question that she really enjoys herself. We thought the scene was just a touch long, though, especially if you include the massage. (The time reported starts when she reaches under his towel.)

The camera work is pretty good, but she is more the focus than he is. There are a lot of wider shots that include him, but it just isn't as well balanced as one would really like.

Scene 2: Kiera Noir and James Deen (♀♂)

★★½☆☆

Time: 40:00

We join Drew with Kiera in a large bathtub, as he massages and washes her. They kiss and caress for a while, and he strokes her pussy as she lies back against him. She stands, and he licks her pussy from underneath. She then sits down on his cock and rides him—and the rest of the scene devolves into fairly typical porno sex.

It is definitely not your typical "suck eat fuck" sequence, and we appreciated that. But, first of all, there's no introduction. We almost join them in the middle, even though there is some gentle touching and such at the beginning. As a result, there's not much sense of any connection between them—and the 'massage' theme is completely absent. Worse, Deen regresses to his typical porno persona, of which we long ago grew tired—even before the revelations. As far too often, he gives every indication that he regards his partner's pleasure as a reflection on him—he's a man because he can get women off—and that's not exactly hot. We're not sure what happened to the sensual masseur, but he's definitely not present in most of this scene.

There are some great closeups of their bodies as they touch and caress each other. But we can't say anything about the photography in the rest of the scene. We fast-forwarded through it.

It would have been a completely gratuitous scene even if it weren't terrible.

Scene 3: Marley Brinx and Seth Gamble (♀♂)

★★★½☆

Time: 18:00

Features: Massage

Pleasure ✓, Passion ✓, Balance ✓

White Lotus is now doing home visits, so Reed pays a visit to Olivia (Marley Brinx), who seems to have other things on her mind than soul-body relaxation. As does he it would seem.

The premise is a bit implausible, especially when she strips with him in the room, and her butt in his face—then continues the massage on her bed. There is, at least, attention again to the massage, but this one feels from the start like a massage between lovers. There's not much professional about it—he is kissing her back very early—so that distracts a bit from the story, and from the fantasy. There's much less sexual tension than there could be.

When the sex does start, the attention is very much on her pleasure, as he goes down on her for quite a while. She sucks him as he lies back on her bed (a sequence that is not terribly interesting or varied). She gets astride him and rides his cock, and he pulls her up onto his face. They switch to spooning, and he rubs her clit a bit, and she then sucks him a bit. They start fucking again doggy style, and he then flips her over. He pulls out and cums on her pussy.

In the end, the sex just isn't terribly passionate. She in particular is very unconvincing. She is also much more passive then we'd prefer to see. We fast-forwarded through a fair bit of this one, too.

The photography is all right, but there are an unusual number of 'medical' shots for these movies. She is also much more the focus than he is, for example, when they are spooning. It certainly is not as good as in the first scene.

The time again reports the duration of the clearly sexual activity.

Scene 4: Aidra Fox and James Deen (♀♂)

★★★☆☆

Time: 33:00

Features: Analingus, Deepthroat, Handjob, Multiple Female Orgasms, Rough Sex, Spanking

Sydney pays another visit to Drew, partly to thank him for what he has taught her. But also, apparently, to have sex with him.

It starts out with some kissing, sut she is 'massaging' his cock within about three minutes, which makes it a very long scene. She grinds on his leg until she cums, with him choking her, and then he rolls her onto her back and feeds his cock into her mouth. She stands up, and he enters her from behind, then falls onto her knees, and he fingers her while licking her asshole. They switch to spooning, and she masturbates, with his help, to several orgasms. They move to the massage table, with her reclining on it, then to the ground, again, with him on his back. She finishes him with a handjob.

Deen again assumes a very dominant persona, which maybe means that Drew isn't who Reed thought he was. But it didn't make a whole lot of sense to us. What's with all the spiritual trappings, then? A ruse? Or is it just a badly written, or badly acted, story? In any event, the complaints we registered earlier could be repeated here. She also felt a lot less natural here than in the first scene—really, really loud.