PDA

View Full Version : Johnny English UK DVD


jpdill
08-08-2003, 08:45 AM
Hi!

My family own a video-rental store, and this morning we got our Johnny English UK DVD-rentals. I'll submit my review:

The Film

The film is good, however a little short in my opinion. While it has some good jokes, quite a few of them are really only understood by the British (such as the anti-french jokes and speed-camera). It's fairly good, however the chemistry between Rowan Atkinson and Natalie Imbruglia is frightening! And i know it's not meant to be, but the film does seem a little unrealistic (i mean: The UK as a prison!)

Video

It's a good transfer in my opinion - it's anamorphic 1.85:1. It's not perfect - some bits look like a 1990's Brit-com, where it looks fairly old. Sorta like Power Rangers - when it went into the original Japanese fighting scenes, you could tell as it was filmed in a different enviroment, and used a different camera.

Audio

This is like one of the good bits of the DVD - there's a DTS track, as well as Dolby. Both are 5.1, so there's no 6.1DTS track. The sounds good, and seeing this film was reasonably low-budget, and British, i'm surprised Universal actually bothered making the DTS track. Even though it's present, most of the talking is done with the front 2 speakers and the centre one. So really it's 2.1, but the background music and special effects are 5.1.

Special Features

This is a good DVD-rom DVD. On the normal DVD, you have a 25 minute making of which is good - it has clips of the actors talking about the movie.

There's character stats, where the viewer could learn more about the characters, if they didn't catch in in the main film. It's not really that important.

There's also an observation test, where they show you clips from the film, and you have to answer questions they ask you: eg: what is Johnny's AstonMartin's registration-plate number?

The DVD rom features are like mini-games and are quite addictive (in my opinion) - there's a shooting level.

Final Verdict

8/10 - reasonably good DVD transfer and the films alright. The features are good, but i would have liked to have had an audio-commentary by Rowan or someone from the cast.

The features are good, but there could have been more. However, still ALOT better than the Chicago UK DVD, which was released here last week!

reggie
08-08-2003, 09:06 AM
I thought it wasn't out until Monday??

cg124
08-08-2003, 09:07 AM
The movie just came out in america

reggie
08-08-2003, 09:07 AM
OK. Just read your post properly. Your shop has it. Sorry!!

reggie
08-08-2003, 09:08 AM
Originally posted by cg124
The movie just came out in america

I know! Its because it is a british film ;)

spiderman_2k
08-08-2003, 09:09 AM
Good Review

cg124
08-08-2003, 09:11 AM
Originally posted by reggie
I know! Its because it is a british film ;)

When did the movie come out in your country.

spiderman_2k
08-08-2003, 09:22 AM
Ages ago....around Easter i think....

jpdill
08-08-2003, 09:48 AM
Originally posted by spiderman_2k
Good Review

Thanks. We seem to get our DVDs usually the Thursday or Friday before their release. I'll review all future DVDs when we get them. We should be recieving The Two Towers early, so you can get a UK review from me soon.

Also, I think i'll give you a trade secret. It costs video stores, shops and anyone in the trade £24 to buy The Two Towers Extended Edition in November. Did you know that? It cost my shop £24 to buy the 4 disk DVD.

BUT we have to sell it, if we were going to sell it, for £35, as that's the R.R.P. I personally think Entertainment In Video (the peep who make the LOTR DVDs) are ripping the public off. You may want to complain.

Also, which is funny, is that we got a LOTR brochure thing, explaining the movies profit making schemes, and how it uses its customers. It's quite interesting, as New Line and Entertainment in Video (they made the brochure) treat you lot as chumps, saying you give into marketing.

The Star Wars brochure was awfully nice about the public, as it kept on saying you (the public) were the reason Lucas made the new films, and how it learnt from its Episode One mistakes.

I know you'll think i'm trying to create hatred for LOTR, but i'm just telling you that the companys behind it don't think much of you.

jpdill
08-08-2003, 10:05 AM
Well - basically all companys don't. The UK gets X2 in November, while everyone else gets in in September.

LOL - just watched the speed-camera bit again. Just noticed that the film is set in March2003 (you'd see this when it takes his photo) and eventually up to April at the end.

jpdill
08-08-2003, 10:21 AM
How come the US are so secretive about their secret spy agencies, where the UK is not. I've seen spy-stores in the backstreets of London, and the spy agency headquarters are made public, so you know where the building are. Is it the same in the US?

tedward
08-08-2003, 10:23 AM
Hey jpdill since you work at a store - can you answer a question for me? How much do you pay for a dvd that you will be renting out?

jpdill
08-08-2003, 11:04 AM
It depends really - if we get the DVD way before it's Retail date, it can cost between £20 - £50, depending on how much the difference between renting it and buying it is.
If it's out on rental at the same time as retail, we get the DVDs at £14. The videos we do cost alot more though - they have no fixed price. We have to pay more to buy them, as we make lots of profit.
It cost £14 for the Johnny English DVD (note: we only have one copy - we run a rental section in a bigger shop, which we own), but we do DVD at £2.50 per day. The DVD will be rented at least 30 times by the next month or so, so we're going to end up making £75. Alot more, and also if you include the video of Johnny English, which cost us £30, we're going to also make about another £50.

jpdill
08-08-2003, 11:06 AM
We have to buy the videos at a higher price.

Oh - by the way! Universal have started a new scheme - every time you rent one of their DVDs, you get a free Dominoes pizza (medium sized).

reggie
08-08-2003, 12:07 PM
Originally posted by cg124
When did the movie come out in your country.

April 11th