After making her name as a skilled director of erotic lesbian scenes, Kay Brandt turns to more conventional boy/girl action, with a novel spin-off to boot in "Safe Landings". At over 3 hours in length and the usual "big-deal" 2 disks release by distributor Adam & Eve it emerges as disappointingly trivial.
In the "Behind the Scenes" short subject on the unneeded Bonus disk, Kay reveals that it was made on a two day shoot, hardly a big project. And even though the subject matter suggests aeronautical action there are no set-ups on a plane or even a visit to an airport included.
Instead Kay focuses on the interpersonal relationships of a small cast. Central character Elaine is a stewardess played by Brenda James, who previously received an industry acting nomination when piloted by Kay in "Dirty Secrets" (I didn't like her performance there, however). Feature gets off to a rocky start as Brandt devotes over an hour of footage to Brenda's sex scene with husband Ryan (Marcus London), followed by her threesome with pilot Michael (played by Ryan McLane, his first name apparently not causing confusion on the set with London's fictional name) and cute fellow-worker Alison Rey after London leaves on a customary business trip.
The auteur should have pulled a stunt like Frank Capra famously did after a disastrous preview showing of "Lost Horizon" (some 78 years ago!) and dumped the first few reels into a trash bin, starting the film mid-flight. This being porn that would be unthinkable, as once more the sex scenes are the be all and end all of the enterprise. Just as Capra initially fell in love with his footage, only to later do a 180 and accede to audience preferences and the need for pacing, Brandt and company are in love with their porn scenes, at the expense of the whole movie's success.
The story doesn't get rolling until an off-screen plane crash results in many fatalities, but not our intrepid stewardess Elaine. She lives on but is in a permanent funk, suffering from the notorious survivor's guilt, in this case intensified by her feeling that she could have saved more people, especially Michael who went down with his airship.
London becomes convinced there's more to it than that, suspecting infidelity from his better half, and the audience thanks to that sexy threesome scene knows he's right. Parallel story is presented concerning Jessica (stunning new superstar August Ames) and boy friend Xander Corvus. Kay gives us a tease of Xander nude in the shower jerking off, but before the requisite sex scene can occur there is that pesky plane crash.
Jessica is depressed, but both their menfolk urge the women to attend group therapy sessions, led by a psychologist played by androgynous mainstream actor Joe Filippone, who also gives the DVD a stupid quote on the front cover comparing author Kay to Stephen King of all people! (Considering my feelings that King is a supreme hack, whose work I first encountered prior to his success as lousy pastiches published in sub-Playboy men's magazines, I wondered at this marketing strategy, especially in regard to porn.)
The two women bond after splitting before the end of the boring session, and not surprisingly Kay returns to her lesbian roots with an arousing Sapphic sex scene between them. Ames, with ruby red full lips making her irresistible even without the explicit coupling, certainly steals the show from James, and it is ironic that far better actresses than her are shown in an "Auditions" short subject on DVD #2. But what's good about "Safe Landings" is directly attributable to Ames's hot performance in the sack - Kay certainly made a wise decision picking her over the likes of Penny Pax, Chanel Preston and Carter Cruise.
Film's key scene, featured over & over in the auditions' readings, is the fairly corny revelation that it was Elaine who actually saved Jessica's life after the crash. The fact that the other actresses, including unknowns, played this key scene in their auditions better than Ames in the finished version is once again, irrelevant.
Soap operatics ensue for the rest of the show, as Xander improbably gets to hump Ames (to the fans' delight if not adhering to the logic of the story's arc). With Marcus browbeating her, and getting her to admit to repeated liaisons with since deceased pilot Michael, Elaine is in a tizzy, even seeking help from shrink Joe. Masturbating in bed, Elaine imagines a three-way sex scene of Ames serviced by both Marcus and Xander (and trumpeted heavily on the DVD cover as Ames' first "BBG" in the antiquated and kinda quaint "boy/girl" nomenclature pornographers live by). Sure, the fans want to see Ames hump some more, but writer Brandt should have mentioned to director Brandt that Elaine doesn't know anything about her girlfriend's boyfriend played by Xander so how could she have imagined him, right down to his big dick, in this sexual fantasy?
No matter -the film ends shortly thereafter with a slightly up-in-the-air open look to the future as Elaine is leaving Marcus with her luggage at the ready. I couldn't tell if they were splitting up or if, completely out of the blue, she was feeling well enough to go back to stewardessing in spite of her PTSD. I guess we'll have to wait for a sequel to find out, but my money is on an all-girl feature starring Ames and James and Sapphic friends.
As before, Brandt is ill-served by her compadre behind the camera Quasarman, as the feature is presented in quite drab colors, and the sex action is dulled down by tedious back & forth cutting from master shot to closeup and back again. Missing scenes of anything resembling the airline theme (all we get is brief stock footage of a burning engine) is also a big minus for folks like me expecting a real movie.
In the "Behind the Scenes" short subject on the unneeded Bonus disk, Kay reveals that it was made on a two day shoot, hardly a big project. And even though the subject matter suggests aeronautical action there are no set-ups on a plane or even a visit to an airport included.
Instead Kay focuses on the interpersonal relationships of a small cast. Central character Elaine is a stewardess played by Brenda James, who previously received an industry acting nomination when piloted by Kay in "Dirty Secrets" (I didn't like her performance there, however). Feature gets off to a rocky start as Brandt devotes over an hour of footage to Brenda's sex scene with husband Ryan (Marcus London), followed by her threesome with pilot Michael (played by Ryan McLane, his first name apparently not causing confusion on the set with London's fictional name) and cute fellow-worker Alison Rey after London leaves on a customary business trip.
The auteur should have pulled a stunt like Frank Capra famously did after a disastrous preview showing of "Lost Horizon" (some 78 years ago!) and dumped the first few reels into a trash bin, starting the film mid-flight. This being porn that would be unthinkable, as once more the sex scenes are the be all and end all of the enterprise. Just as Capra initially fell in love with his footage, only to later do a 180 and accede to audience preferences and the need for pacing, Brandt and company are in love with their porn scenes, at the expense of the whole movie's success.
The story doesn't get rolling until an off-screen plane crash results in many fatalities, but not our intrepid stewardess Elaine. She lives on but is in a permanent funk, suffering from the notorious survivor's guilt, in this case intensified by her feeling that she could have saved more people, especially Michael who went down with his airship.
London becomes convinced there's more to it than that, suspecting infidelity from his better half, and the audience thanks to that sexy threesome scene knows he's right. Parallel story is presented concerning Jessica (stunning new superstar August Ames) and boy friend Xander Corvus. Kay gives us a tease of Xander nude in the shower jerking off, but before the requisite sex scene can occur there is that pesky plane crash.
Jessica is depressed, but both their menfolk urge the women to attend group therapy sessions, led by a psychologist played by androgynous mainstream actor Joe Filippone, who also gives the DVD a stupid quote on the front cover comparing author Kay to Stephen King of all people! (Considering my feelings that King is a supreme hack, whose work I first encountered prior to his success as lousy pastiches published in sub-Playboy men's magazines, I wondered at this marketing strategy, especially in regard to porn.)
The two women bond after splitting before the end of the boring session, and not surprisingly Kay returns to her lesbian roots with an arousing Sapphic sex scene between them. Ames, with ruby red full lips making her irresistible even without the explicit coupling, certainly steals the show from James, and it is ironic that far better actresses than her are shown in an "Auditions" short subject on DVD #2. But what's good about "Safe Landings" is directly attributable to Ames's hot performance in the sack - Kay certainly made a wise decision picking her over the likes of Penny Pax, Chanel Preston and Carter Cruise.
Film's key scene, featured over & over in the auditions' readings, is the fairly corny revelation that it was Elaine who actually saved Jessica's life after the crash. The fact that the other actresses, including unknowns, played this key scene in their auditions better than Ames in the finished version is once again, irrelevant.
Soap operatics ensue for the rest of the show, as Xander improbably gets to hump Ames (to the fans' delight if not adhering to the logic of the story's arc). With Marcus browbeating her, and getting her to admit to repeated liaisons with since deceased pilot Michael, Elaine is in a tizzy, even seeking help from shrink Joe. Masturbating in bed, Elaine imagines a three-way sex scene of Ames serviced by both Marcus and Xander (and trumpeted heavily on the DVD cover as Ames' first "BBG" in the antiquated and kinda quaint "boy/girl" nomenclature pornographers live by). Sure, the fans want to see Ames hump some more, but writer Brandt should have mentioned to director Brandt that Elaine doesn't know anything about her girlfriend's boyfriend played by Xander so how could she have imagined him, right down to his big dick, in this sexual fantasy?
No matter -the film ends shortly thereafter with a slightly up-in-the-air open look to the future as Elaine is leaving Marcus with her luggage at the ready. I couldn't tell if they were splitting up or if, completely out of the blue, she was feeling well enough to go back to stewardessing in spite of her PTSD. I guess we'll have to wait for a sequel to find out, but my money is on an all-girl feature starring Ames and James and Sapphic friends.
As before, Brandt is ill-served by her compadre behind the camera Quasarman, as the feature is presented in quite drab colors, and the sex action is dulled down by tedious back & forth cutting from master shot to closeup and back again. Missing scenes of anything resembling the airline theme (all we get is brief stock footage of a burning engine) is also a big minus for folks like me expecting a real movie.