The X-Rated Videotape Guide VIII

Rating:
Summary: Reasonable, no more
Review: I would advise you to use this guide as a starting point. Though I am not as harsh in my criticism of the book as the previous reviewer, there are obvious weaknesses in the book. The lack of a rating system is one, for sure, though there are comprehensive descriptions which will enable you to form a view of the content. Riley does have his own standards, and in terms of production quality, those standards can be ridiculously high; his concept of feminine beauty is also an intensely personal one which readers of the guide may not share. As an avid viewer and collector of porn, I view this guide as a tool not as slavishly prescriptive of what I will enjoy - I know what I like, and Riley's guide can point me in certain direction, but whether I choose to follow his pointers or not is a matter for me.

Rating:
Summary: Excessively negative and harsh
Review: The problem with this book is precisely the glaring, intensely personal standards Mr. Riley employs to evaluate the quality of the movies and formulate his reviews: first and foremost, how good-looking (or usually not good-looking) are the female stars? This is by far the most striking characteristic of this book, in addition to Mr. Riley's redundant listing of which sex acts are performed in each video(who cares?).

As Mr. Riley unabashedly states in his introduction, each movie actress should have world class looks, otherwise, why make any movie at all! As a frequent consumer of adult videos, however, I personally think feminine beauty and type of sex acts is a very personalized and one-dimensional format for evaluating the overall quality of a given film.

As I read his reviews, I found myself continually thinking that what Mr. Riley actually presents here in criticizing the female form--and he criticizes it in the harshest terms in virtually every review-- most closely resembles womanspeak, that is, the characteristically hypercritical outlook of females when either evaluating their own bodies or the bodies of female competitors. I did not find this sort of criticism helpful, as Mr. Riley's reviewing system naively presumes there is in fact some ideal standard of feminine beauty, namely his own! I did not find any parallel between Mr. Riley's unique "fetishes" and my own, that is, when it comes to appreciation of female anatomy and his odd penchant for clinically dissecting each actress into her respective body parts.

Presenting my own counterpoint as a male consumer of adult videos, I believe differing actresses' body types hold differing erotic appeals, depending on how closely they resemble women I actually know and fantasize about, not just a fixation on some idealized body type or parts as Mr. Riley insists. I select my videos based on whether they will be a useful vehicle for fantasizing about the women I know, not women who look good to Mr. Riley!

Riley also maintains that he holds each video to the direction and production standards of a Steven Spielberg movie--I do not believe anyone else has such an absurdly high standard for adult movies. In fact, I believe this was just an excuse Mr. Riley used to consistently trash most of these movies in the name of professional criticism! Such negativity was characteristic and pervasive, and as a true fan of the movies, I did not find such overwhelmingly negative reviews helpful or informative. In fact, I resented it!

I was surprised that Mr. Riley does not offer a stars rating system...1 star... 4 stars, etc. Instead, he offers a short criticism of each movie, a brief listing of the type of sex acts performed in each film, something about the plot(if any), and any obvious editing and plot anomalies.

Fully 50% of the movies in the guide are not reviewed at all, the only details given were director/producer, year produced, actors/actresses, and type of sex acts...

Mr. Riley straighforwardly admits that he uses his own personal arousal levels as the final standard for each film. However, I did not find this helpful in making my own judgments about whether the film was worthy of my time/money.

As a frequent consumer of adult videos, I would have preferred a different rating system, for example, one that states whether or not the box cover presents a fair view of the contents(usually they are just a come-on), budget dollars invested in the production of each film(probably a good indication of quality and production standards), some evaluation of acting ability(there is none), whether or not there is a sustained and developed movie plot, and even whether there is any humor in the movie(which I personally believe makes for more enjoyable viewing of adult films).