The Corner Penthouse

Clay Pigeons (1998) was recently released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Read on to find out more about it...

[ SYNOPSIS ]

He has a firm handshake, a ready smile, and some strange ideas about friendship. His name is Lester Long (Vince Vaughn), and when the bodies start piling up, he generously decides to share the blame. FBI agents Shelby (Janeane Garofalo) and Reynard (Phil Morris) have the whole town under observation, and Lester has put his new friend Clay (Joaquin Phoenix) over a barrel. The only way for Clay to set things straight is to beat one twisted individual at his own game of deceit and double-crossing.

[ QUICK THOUGHTS ]

The first 30 minutes of the film was a bit hard to get through. It was boring and full of unlikable characters. After that, the movie started moving along at a better pace. It's a dark comedy made back when Vince Vaughn was looked at as a serious actor. This may have been the film that got him seen as a comedic actor. Director David Dobkin, who wrote the cult classic Ice Cream Man, would later feature him in Wedding Crashers. All of the cast does a great job, especially Joaquin Phoenix, who would later showcase those skills in Joker. In addition to the cast members noted in the synopsis, the film also stars Scott Wilson, Hershel from The Walking Dead, as Sheriff Mooney. The other thing to note is that there is a LOT of smoking in the film. It's significant to the plot for one character, but everyone else didn't need to smoke. You'd never see this much smoking in a film these days.

[ SPECIFICATIONS ]

The movie is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a runtime of 1:44:27. Audio languages include English (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0). Subtitle languages include English.

[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]

Here's a list of all of the special features. First, a note about the "Trailer Compilation": Most studios include "bonus trailers" (sometimes called "previews" or "sneak peeks") on their discs, which are trailers and advertisements that are there simply to promote the studio's other offerings. They're usually shoved in the viewer's face on disc boot-up and are a pain to skip. Kino Lorber does something entirely different. Their "bonus trailers" are more like the Drive-In Delirium and Trailer Trauma trailer compilation Blu-rays. They are trailers that are from the same era or genre/theme as the main feature, or are for other movies with the same leading actor. These trailers are for movies from a variety of studios, most of which have not even been released by Kino Lorber! These trailers are included as actual bonus material and are not there to sell you something.

• Audio Commentary - by director David Dobkin.
• TV Spots (2:51) - Five spots in VHS quality cropped to 16:9.
• Trailers (7:03) - Four trailers; one in 16:9, and three in 4:3. The last one is a soundtrack spot.
• Trailer Compilation - The following trailers from the same genre or era as Clay Pigeons are included: The Underneath (1995) (2:07), City of Industry (1997) (2:05), Bad Company (1995) (2:08), Big Trouble (2002) (2:03), and Playing God (1997) (2:02).

[ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ]

No Digital Copy voucher or slipsleeve is included.

[ PURCHASE LINKS ]

Clay Pigeons is available on Blu-ray and DVD.


This item has been provided by Kino Lorber for review on this site.