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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Friday (1995)

Friday (1995)

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Released 16-Jan-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Black Comedy Menu Audio
Dolby Digital Trailer-Rain
Theatrical Trailer
Music Video-Friday-Ice Cube (3:42)
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 1995
Running Time 87:40
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Gary F. Gray
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Ice Cube
Chris Tucker
Nia Long
Tiny 'Zeus' Lister, Jr.
Regina King
Anna Maria Horseford
Bernie Mac
John Witherspoon
Case C-Button-Version 1-Dual
RPI Box Music Various


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Friday is the story of Craig (Ice Cube), who is having a really bad Friday. The day before (his day off), he lost his job, and now his friend, Smokey (Chris Tucker), has got him into the bad books with a local drug dealer. Also, the town bully, Deebo (Tiny 'Zeus' Lister Jr.), is on the prowl and Craig just dumped his girlfriend. The solution? Craig must find enough money to save himself and Smokey, plus put an end to Deebo's rough antics and find a new girl all in the one day.

    Sitting through the film for the first time, I was rather bored. The film was going nowhere, and I didn't get too much of the "Hood Humour". At around the seventy minute mark, things finally started picking up, though even after the film finished I was still dissatisfied. But, oddly enough, a day later I had second thoughts about the film. Some of the lines seemed funny and Chris Tucker even started to grow on me.

    Friday is a comedy that appeals to African-American society, but I still liked it, even though I didn't realize this at first.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Friday sports a serviceable transfer.

    It is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The first thing I noticed when spinning up this DVD was the black level - it was perfect. The opening credits have a black background, so this showed up immediately. After further inspection I noticed that the transfer was also sharp, but not to the point of other reference discs such as The Whole Nine Yards. In close-up shots the prominent feature in the shot looked defined but the background details exhibited lower resolution, blending together. Shadow detail was fairly good apart from a couple of close-ups of Chris Tucker while he was inhaling.

    Colour was ever so slightly muted, but the colours shown were quite drab anyway, so they were probably an accurate representation of the film's colour spectrum.

    Grain was noted at around 6:47. This seemed to be a problem with that specific film reel as it doesn't crop up too much during the rest of the film. Aliasing was present on the ever-so-problematic venetian blinds, especially when Smokey is robbing Deebo at 67:24. An odd artefact that I could not name was at 6:52-6:57, involving lines running vertically down Craig's face. I could not tell whether this was a reflection or a mastering artefact. Some small marks were also noticed on the film at times.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    A decent audio mix is present on the disc.

    There is only the one soundtrack present here, which is a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix that has been surround encoded.

    Dialogue was clear at all times, even with Chris Tucker's accent.

    Audio sync was perfect and no forms of distortion were present.

    The mix itself was dominated by the front soundstage. I didn't notice any use of the surround channel at all. Some imaging effects were used like the one at 9:36-10:00, but other than that the mix sounded very much front-and-central in the sound field. The lower frequencies got a slight workout from some of the bass-heavy music.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    A small number of extras are present on the disc. All the extras are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and are 16x9 enhanced, even the music video.

Menu

    A still menu with a theme playing in the background.

Dolby Digital Trailer - Rain

    Is this becoming the new Dolby Digital City? I am starting to think so, as it is just as loud and boring as its colleague.

Theatrical Trailer (2:32)

    This is of excellent quality - better than the feature surprisingly. Only some very slight aliasing is present. There is a pop in the soundtrack right at the end. Presented with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

Music Video - Ice Cube - Friday (3:42)

   This isn't exactly my type of music. The clip is of decent quality although a little diffuse and suffering from some grain.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    In Region 1 this disc is available separately as a New Line Platinum Edition. It has its own cover art, which is much better than the Region 4's cover art.

    The Region 1 version misses out on:

    The Region 4 version misses out on:     On the basis of the deleted scenes and the interviews, the Region 1 wins in this case.

Summary

    Friday is a decent film that fills in the time for around ninety minutes.

    The video quality is above average.

    The audio is acceptable, but a more lively mix would have been nice.

    The extras are shallow.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Andrew Siers (I never did my biography in primary school)
Monday, February 26, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-626D, using Component output
DisplayToshiba 34N9UXA. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationYamaha CX-600 Pre-Amp, Yamaha MX-600 Stereo Power Amp for Mains, Yamaha DSP-E300 for Center, Teac AS-M50 for Surrounds.
SpeakersMain Left and Right Acoustic Research AR12s, Center Yamaha NS-C70, Surround Left and Right JBL Control 1s

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