Barbershop: Special Edition (2002) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Comedy |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio Audio Commentary-Filmmakers Featurette-Behind The Scenes-The Final Cut Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Set, Press And Style Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Finishing Touches Featurette-Hairdo's And Dont's Deleted Scenes-7, With Optional Commentary Outtakes Theatrical Trailer Music Video-Trade It All Gallery-Photo |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2002 | ||
Running Time | 98:05 (Case: 102) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (077:30) | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Tim Story |
Studio
Distributor |
MGM |
Starring |
Ice Cube Anthony Anderson Cedric The Entertainer Sean Patrick Thomas Eve Troy Garity Michael Ealy Leonard Earl Howze Keith David Jazsmin Lewis Lahmard J. Tate Tom Wright Jason Winston George |
Case | ? | ||
RPI | $29.95 | Music |
Terence Blanchard Ice Cube Eve |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Portuguese Greek Hungarian Turkish Croatian English Audio Commentary |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | Yes | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Calvin Palmer, Jr. (Ice Cube) is a frustrated dreamer, constantly trying to lever himself out of running the ghetto barbershop he inherited from his father, and into an easy life of record-studio riches. One morning, his latest scheme having fallen through, Calvin agrees to sell the shop to shady local businessman Lester Wallace (Keith David), who wants to turn it into a strip club. As the day unfolds, however, Calvin comes to realise the value of what he has just given away. The barbershop is a place for his community to meet, laugh, and talk fearlessly about anyone or anything. It’s a link to a living past, represented by elderly barber Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), and to a better future for reforming youths like Ricky Nash (Michael Ealy). But Lester won’t sell the shop back for anything less than twice what he paid for it – and Calvin has only until seven p.m. to get the money. Can he do it?
Plot is less important here than atmosphere: the story is just a way to package a day in the shop into a movie. While a subplot about two numbskull thieves (Anthony Anderson and Lahmard Tate) trying to open their 400-pound stolen ATM has its moments, it is inside the barbershop that the film really comes to life. The large cast have an easy camaraderie, and their wandering, hilarious, sometimes outrageous conversations embrace everything from how to distinguish a “woman with a big ass” from a “big-ass woman”, to whether Rosa Parks really deserves credit for launching the civil rights movement. This last topic was edgy enough to ensure that a few humourless types called for the scene to be cut; the resulting publicity helped ensure this movie was a success. Ultimately, the film works because the barbershop is a place you want to be: full of good conversation, great music, and a developing sense of maturity and self-respect.
The aspect ratio is 1.78:1, essentially identical to the theatrical ratio, and the transfer is 16x9 enhanced.
Barbershop is a great-looking movie, especially given its bargain-basement budget of US$12 million, and it has made the translation to DVD in pretty good style. The picture is sharp and clear, and the many scenes that take place in dark or shadowy rooms show a lot of shadow detail. There is a visible grain to the image, fine but constant; this is a property of the film, rather than the transfer, and is only really severe at 65:40.
Colours are bright and plentiful, from Lester Wallace’s supremely sharp powder-blue suit through to the gorgeous red of the roses that rotund West African barber Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze) gives to lovelorn colleague Terri (Eve). There are no colour artefacts.
There are some MPEG artefacts, though. Aliasing is a recurrent problem, particularly on the brickwork at 5:21, the blinds at 6:24 and 12:36, and Cedric the Entertainer’s glasses throughout. Moire effects appear on the bricks at 5:23, and on Ice Cube’s beret at 28:24, 40:26, 56:35 and 91:44. And the print from which this transfer was taken was not quite pristine: a small white fleck will appear somewhere on the screen every minute or two. None of these problems is severe enough to distract from the film.
The subtitles are well placed, readable, and accurate – and there’s a subtitle stream for the commentary track, too! It’s good to see a studio make such an effort for their hearing-impaired customers.
This is an RSDL disc with the layer change at 77:30, reasonably positioned on a cut between two scenes.
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Overall |
There are two audio tracks on this disc: a default English Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 448Kb/s, and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 commentary track encoded at 224Kb/s.
Dialogue is the centre of this film, and it comes across beautifully in this transfer. You may still have no idea what the heck Cedric the Entertainer is saying, but you’d be no better off if he were in the room with you. The commentary was also very clear, the different participants being easily distinguishable and always intelligible.
There were no problems with audio sync whatsoever; the integration of ADR with original on-set dialogue is superb.
There is no original score for this film, but rather a soundtrack of hip-hop, soul and funk put together by Terence Blanchard and edited by Todd Bozung. Apart from the fairly anodyne track over the opening credits, Trade It All (Part 2) by Fabolous, the music is terrific, and an integral part of the movie. Usually a background texture to the dialogue, the music sometimes takes over completely – as when Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give It Up (Part 1) defuses a fight and brings the whole neighbourhood to a stop at 67:19. At these times the music fills the room nicely, subtly supported by the surrounds.
Those surrounds won’t see much use otherwise, though. This is a very front-heavy transfer, as befits a low-action film about people talking to one another. There were some missed opportunities for surround usage – it would have been nice, for instance, to spread some of the barbershop voices around the room in certain scenes – but gosh-wow sound effects aren’t really what this movie is about.
The lack of explosive action also diminishes the call on your subwoofer, although it certainly gets plenty of work supporting the bass-heavy music from, for instance, white barber Isaac Rosenberg’s (Troy Garrity) tricked-out SUV.
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Overall |
Spurred by unexpected theatrical success, MGM have put together a substantial set of extras for such a small film – and some of these are actually worth your time!
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The video quality is largely very good, despite some minor artefacts.
The audio quality is very good.
The extras are more than you would expect for a film like this – more, in fact, than the film really needs.
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Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony DVP-NS730P, using Component output |
Display | Panasonic PT-AE500E projecting onto 100" screen. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
Amplification | Onkyo TX-SR601 with DD-EX and DTS-ES |
Speakers | Jensen SPX-7 fronts, Jensen SPX-13 centre and rear centre, Jensen SPX-4 surrounds, Jensen SPX-17 subwoofer |