DVD & BLU RAY REVIEWS
Reviews by JAIME PINA
The Vagrant
Arrow Films/MVD
Produced in 1992 by Mel Brooks’ company Brooksfilm, this black comedy/horror flick was directed by former make-up effects wizard Chris Walas. He had directed The Fly II for the company a couple of years earlier and this was the last film he directed. It stars fan favorite the late Bill Paxton (Aliens, The Dark Backward) as a fellow who is coming up in a finance company. When he decides to buy a house, there is a homeless guy hanging around the vacant lot across the street and Paxton catches him using the sink as he is moving his first load of stuff into the house. As he sees more and more of the homeless person his paranoia becomes problematic for him as far as work and relationships.
The laughs are dark and while there isn’t a lot of gore the suspense and violent scenes work well. The cast has some familiar faces with Marc McClure (Superman: The Movie, Strange Behavior) as Paxton’s bestie and Colleen Camp (The Swinging Cheerleaders, Death Game) giving an amazingly loopy performance. Also on board is Michael Ironside (Scanners, Total Recall) giving a great performance as one of the cops. And the cops are hilarious in this flick with the “urination beef” scene hitting a perfect 10.
The first pressing comes with an exclusive book and the regular extras include a reversable cover, interviews with Walas, Ironside, Camp, and the Vagrant himself Marshall Bell. Also included are trailers and an image gallery.
DRAGONS FOREVER
Fortune Star/MVD
Sammo Hung is known in the US as the star of the network television program Martial Law from the late 90’s. But he had been working as an actor in Hong Kong since he was a youngster.
His first exposure in the US was when he appeared as the student who spars with Bruce Lee in the opening of Enter The Dragon. Wanting to move on from acting and stunt coordinating, Hung started directing. In this film Hung co-stars with and directs his friend Jackie Chan.
Chan plays a less-than-ethical lawyer who is working on a case involving a factory that is actually a front for drug manufacturing and a women’s property the factory is polluting. Chan gets involved with the property owner’s niece. He also enlists two of his friends to help him out. Hung plays a part-time criminal hired to spy on the woman and niece and Chan gets another friend (Yuen Biao) who is kind of a nutcase to bug the lady’s apartment. Neither one is aware of the other and they butt heads a couple of times aggravating the fuck out of Chan.
This is a lighthearted comedy with some madcap situations and thrilling action scenes with Chan and Hung once again showing their love for American comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd with their physical comedy and face-making.
There are three different versions to view here, the Hong Kong cut, a Japanese cut, and an international cut, and all have differences with the Japanese cut running longest.
There are TONS of extras including documentaries and interviews. Also included are a book with photos and info plus a reproduction movie poster.
MEN AT WORK
MVD Rewind Blu-Ray Review
Brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez (sons of Martin Sheen) co-star in this mildly amusing comedy/thriller directed by Estevez. Estevez gets points for paying homage to his star making turn as Otto in Repo Man by casting Sy Richardson as the fellas’ boss. And there is a quick reference to the Circle Jerks if one pays close attention.
Sheen and Estevez play goofball surfers who are employed as garbagemen in the beach town of Las Playas. They dream of someday opening a surf shop but when they witness a local politician yelling at his assistant from across the street, Sheen pulls out a pellet gun and lets the guy have one in the ass. Little do they know that he is involved in a toxic waste dumping scheme on the beach and is about to rat on his superiors. The next day, while on their work route with Keith David (The Thing, They Live, HBO’s Spawn) as a tough third party observer, they discover the politician’s corpse in a waste disposal can and assume the pellet shot was the reason and freak out.
As the boys and David get deeper and deeper into a ton of ridiculous shit the movie kind of takes off with David being the MVP of the film. He pretty much steals the film from the stars and makes the running time and effort put in by the viewer totally worthwhile. With a score by Stewart Copeland of The Police and a lot of reggae songs all throughout, the film has the residue of Repo Man and The Trouble With Harry in its DNA. There is a glaring continuity error and during a stunt, the safety wires are plainly visible but these mere trifles when you look at the overall picture. You know what? I take back my mildly amusing remark and change my opinion to corny, oddball fun. I laughed a lot and was entertained. And if you are in the right mood, you will be as well.
As per MVD’s Rewind series of releases, this is short on extras but contains a mini poster, comes with a reversible cover, and has the usual “We Must Remind You To Rewind” faux sticker.