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The Official DVD Commentary thread

post #1 of 82
1/14/08 at 12:07am
Thread Starter 
I've been going back over my whole collection, listening to all the commentaries I never paid attention to. Past two days I did Sideways, Ghostbusters, Groundhog's Day, and M*A*S*H.

Groundhog's Day and M*A*S*H commentaries were shit. I think, if you have just the director, for a movie they did a while ago, you're going to have a shitty commentary. They're going to be quiet because they're going to be watching the movie. Harold Ramis, a funny, insightful, and well-spoken man in the Ghostbusters commentary (where he was amongst director and producer), is kinda like listening to your grandpa trail off in the Groundhog's Day commentary. He still had some sweet insights (Bill Murray talking to Andie McDowell when she was asleep was Bill's idea, because he did that on his wedding night) but for one of the greatest comedies of all time, I was hoping for a bit more. Speak up, Harold, you're a funny guy!

M*A*S*H's commentary was worse. I suppose we're lucky that such an important and influential filmmaker even did commentaries before he died (oh how I wish Woody Allen would do the same, but that'll never happen) but Altman's commentaries are always filled with pauses, slow, and rarely scene specific, even when he's with someone like the Gosford Park commentary. It's more like him talking about production while the movie plays, occasionally linking the two.

At first I was disapointed that Sideways lacked an Alexander Payne/Jim Taylor commentary, instead only having the traditionally dull and shallow actor commentary. But this one is aces. Thomas Haden Church has one of the most incredible vocabularies of anyone and is constantly cracking Giamatti up by PERFECTLY summarizing the mood or action of a scene with a verbose turn of phrase. Both of these guys are smart as whips, and even though they can only give insight to the shooting as opposed to the creative side of things (which is what I've been paying particular attention to) it's one of the more entertaining commentaries I've had the pleasure to listen to. It's also interesting to see these two men cringe whenever the obscenities start flying. Maybe it seemed weird to me because they are intellegent men who are able to utilize the language to express themselves sans cursing and I not so much great talk.
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post #2 of 82
1/14/08 at 12:52am
Sometime this week I plan on finally giving An American Werewolf in London and United 93 a listen. Should be quite the double feature right there.
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post #3 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:06am
I've only heard Altman on the Cookie's Fortune disc, and he was pretty dull. Some artists already say everything they want to say with their work, I guess.

The best director-commentator, in my opinion, is Sydney Pollack. Unfortunately, the tracks he recorded for laserdisc back in the day tend not to get rereleased.
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post #4 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Collins
Friedkin is the worst. Especially on either of his two identical Exorcist commentaries. I can't take it.
You aren't kidding. I started listening to the commentary to BUG, and it wasn't really commentary. It was lame ass narration. It was actaully cracking me laugh how bad it was.

As far as good, I'm sure it has been said a million times before, but my favorite has always been the Cannibal: The Musical drunken commentary.
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post #5 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:12am
Thread Starter 
Hahaha. I was just watching The French Connection, the commentary is terrible. At first he opened with a self-depricating joke and I got a little excited, but that was the last good moment. To recreate the William Friedkin experience, read the IMDB plot summary and trivia while watching any film. Be sure to repeat each trivia bit three times.

But the movie is so good that I'll watch it anyway.
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post #6 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:41am
Sideways is a great track. The part talking about gnomes rappelling up one of their backs...Jesus. Good times.

I've always dug the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon track. You wouldn't expect it, but it's pretty damn funny and informative. "Tell the truth, Ang. You did this part to get laid, right?" ".........Yes, that's true."
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post #7 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:52am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, Crouching Tiger has a great commentary. "Jesus, how long in do I have to wait for action to start in an Ang Lee action movie?"
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post #8 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:55am
There's a Panic Room dvd commentary (one of the many on the super mega monster edition dvd of that film that for some reason I bought) by David Koepp and William Goldman that I liked. No earth-shattering secrets are revealed, and the guys aren't particularly funny, but, unlike most commentaries, I'm glad I listened to it. Koepp doesn't treat his writing as something sacred, and he's pretty frank about how his ideas can turn out bad and need to be changed or redone.
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post #9 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:01am
I recall the video Jerry Maguire commentary with Cruise and Cuba acting like stoned butt buddies being pretty bad.
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post #10 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:03am
I found the commentary on the original disc of Ferris Bueller's Day Off to be really painful. If Hughes wasn't commenting on what was happening on-screen, he was remarking about how trite a scene was--and those were usually some of my favorite parts. I have a witness, so I don't think I'm remembering it wrongly.
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post #11 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:18am
Kurt Russel and John Carpenter commentaries are aces, I especially love how, whenever something freakishly violent happens (like that head sprouting spider legs in The Thing) Russel just starts cracking up like it's the funniest shit ever.


Apatow commentaries are always aces, though the Superbad one had an uncomfortable moment where Jonah, sick of censoring himself (Judd had brought his daughter to the commentary) slips up, and the two go at it, causing Judd to leave with his daughter ("Have fun at F-U-C-K Shwartz!").

Hmmm...this might get me some flack, but I'll take the bullet; the Prison Break commentaries, especially from the writers, are a breath of fresh air because they aren't afraid to point out which plot points are stupid and banal, and where they messed up. It gets especially hilarious when the writers start talking shit about each other ("I liked this actor." "Yeah, you liked to touch him where he peed."). It's a welcome change from writers pretending something worked when it clearly didn't.

And that Ricky Bobby commentary track...ho boy....I skipped to a random scene, and all I heard was "And it wasn't until later that I learned that that was the same shark that had killed my father five years prior." Madness.
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post #12 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:18am
Two punishable offenses in commentaries should be:
1. Just describing whats happening on screen as it is happening OR right before it happens.
2. Saying "Shhh... let's just watch this."
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post #13 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:21am
Ain't no commentary like a Verhoeven commentary.
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post #14 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:27am
Thread Starter 
Christ, James Foley's scene specific commentary for Glengary Glenross is annoying as shit. His voice has this incredibly aggravating tone and he's blabbering on about something or something else, basically saying over and over again, in his bizarre fucking way, that the movie is great. At one point he says something about "getting on my hind legs like a doggie and saying "WOOF! WOOF!"" and he makes actual barking sounds. Ugh.
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post #15 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:41am
Man, I still really wish they had gotten Nicholas Cage and John Travolta to do a commentary on the tenth anniversary Face/Off dvd. Can you imagine how much fun that commentary would've been? Don't get me wrong, love the Woo, but those two zany cats together would've cracked me up. Plus, from an acting standpoint, I'd be interesting to hear there process.
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post #16 of 82
1/14/08 at 3:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd
Hmmm...this might get me some flack, but I'll take the bullet; the Prison Break commentaries, especially from the writers, are a breath of fresh air because they aren't afraid to point out which plot points are stupid and banal, and where they messed up. It gets especially hilarious when the writers start talking shit about each other ("I liked this actor." "Yeah, you liked to touch him where he peed."). It's a welcome change from writers pretending something worked when it clearly didn't.
This sounds brilliant. I have enjoyed TV commentaries more than film ones, on average, mostly because it's more discussion of plot and themes than 'man, it was cold that day when we shot that scene.'

Whedon's commentary tracks are always top-notch.
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post #17 of 82
1/14/08 at 4:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil!
There is no better mind-bending moment than on the American Movie commentary track - during a scene in which Mike Schank is on camera describing the time he took too much acid, he tells you on the commentary track that in this scene, he's describing the time he took too much acid, and then proceeds to describe, in the same level of detail, the time he took too much acid.
It would be great if he had taken too much acid prior to recording the track.
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post #18 of 82
1/14/08 at 5:17am
The movie that almost made me never want to listen to an audio commentary track ever again was Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn on "Snatch." I've never heard two bastards that were more bored out of their minds in my life, rarely if ever mentioning anything about the movie and seeming more interested in talking about the restaurant across the street from the recording studio that served good shepherd's pie, but maybe that was the joke.
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post #19 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:20am
I haven't listened to many commentary tracks but this thread might change that.

The first track I ever listened to was the Way Of The Gun commentary with Chris McQuarrie and Joe Kramer, who did the score. It's a great self-deprecating track.

The track for Clerks: The Animated Series is great as well.

Joe Carnahan did a solid track for Narc.

Zack Snyder's track for DOTD is pretty annoying. I've mentioned it a while back on the forum. You can play a drinking game to it. Just down a shot every time he calls someone a "rockstar" and you'll be out before the birth scene.
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post #20 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:26am
I'll always be a fan of any Gilliam commentaries, with the exception of the one for Brothers Grimm, which was as boring as the film.

*edit- It's been said before, but avoid Tim Burton tracks like the plague, unless you want to sleep.
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post #21 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Shaver
Zack Snyder's track for DOTD is pretty annoying. I've mentioned it a while back on the forum. You can play a drinking game to it. Just down a shot every time he calls someone a "rockstar" and you'll be out before the birth scene.
You could also make a drinking game out of how many times Snyder says, "that's what you paid for" when something violent happens. It's been a long time since I listened to that, so I might be wrong about the exact phrase, but he keeps repeating it over and over. Very annoying.

The ZAZ commentary on Top Secret is awful. It sounds like they're embarassed by their movie.
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post #22 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:39am
Dick Donner gives good commentary track. His Omen one with Stuart Baird and his Superman one with Tom Mankiewicz are both great. Not only are they informative, there's a lot of ball-busting going on, as well.
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post #23 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:40am
Burton's one of those guys who needs a co-commentator to set him up. The Pee-wee's Big Adventure disc pairs him with Paul Reubens, which works pretty well. Danny Elfman's track is great, and he's careful to shut up when the isolated score is playing.

Seconding Whedon. He's very good at balancing multiple topics without losing the thread of the action onscreen.

Also seconding the Cannibal! track: "This is actually a really good song... if someone like Sting sang it, it would have been a hit... yeah, sorry I'm not Sting. FUCK STING!"
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post #24 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Shaver
Zack Snyder's track for DOTD is pretty annoying. I've mentioned it a while back on the forum. You can play a drinking game to it. Just down a shot every time he calls someone a "rockstar" and you'll be out before the birth scene.
Play the same game for "300" when he says, "This was taken exactly from the graphic novel."
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post #25 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Strange
Dick Donner gives good commentary track
Disagree. He has a couple of things to say, and I mist up when he talks about Reeve's accident, but on both Superman: The Movie and The Donner Cut it's painfully clear he hasn't revisited the films in some time, and hasn't had much to do with the restorations at all.

Add to the list of forbidden commentary behavior:

Aged actor pointing out younger self onscreen: "Hey, who's that handsome fella?" etc, every damn time he appears.

"This is my favorite (shot, line) coming up... riiight... heeere... not yet... not that part... it's coming up... it's right... he looks up and... oh I guess that's later on."
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post #26 of 82
1/14/08 at 7:20am
The Shield commentaries are aces. Most of all the first season, but all of 'em are good. There's a season 1 one with the strike team (except for Ronnie!) and Kurt Sutter, the writer for the episode (also played the crazy ass Romainian {it was Romainians, right?} dude with long hair) where they get quiet for the line "muff-rippers" to happen and then they all totally lose their shit. After which, Sutter says, "I got so many calls after this episode. I'd come home, check my messages and hear, 'Dude. Muff-rippers?'" And then they lose their shit again. You can tell everyone loves working on that show.
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post #27 of 82
1/14/08 at 10:11am
This shit begins and ends with BOOGIE NIGHTS. Both tracks are phenomenal.
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post #28 of 82
1/14/08 at 12:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nexus-7
It's been said before, but avoid Tim Burton tracks like the plague, unless you want to sleep.
Listen to his Planet of the Apes commentary. About twenty minutes before the film is over, he goes into this rant about George Lucas, and how silly doing the Star Wars special editions was, this he just blabs for a while, leaving rest of the movie in complete silence. Never says thanks. goodbye, or anything. Very odd.
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post #29 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:13pm
No one's mentioned the in-character Spinal Tap track yet? Shameful. I like that track almost as much as I like the movie.

"Look how young we look!"
"We were even younger back then!"
"Yes, that's what I meant."

"This was filmed on a street cul-de-sac..."
"A street called 'De Sac'?"
"Named for the Marquis de Sac."

"What kind of conditioner did you use back then, Nigel?"
"It was one a' them Two-in-One jobs."
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post #30 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:24pm
Can we get a moratorium on using "aces"?

The ROUNDERS re-up has a great commentary with Dahl, Koppelman, Levien and Norton. It's an interesting dynamic, with Norton (who clearly wrote or improvised some of his most famous lines - "snow and pierogies and shit"; "You've been rollin' fags in the Village again") and Koppelman and Levien. But it works well, and the guys clearly like each other.

Val Kilmer is an interesting case. After reading something here on the boards I listened to the KISS KISS BANG BANG commentary and didn't like the way his sense of humor worked with Downey and Black (who were trying to talk about the movie and at least that day in the studio seemed to be on a totally different wavelength). However, if he's by himself it's singularly entertaining. Like on SPARTAN, where he pronounces Mamet's name as Da-VEED MOM-ay.

I completely support the shoveling of shit on Friedkin's commentaries. I listened to his for TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA in utter amazement.
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post #31 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:25pm
Mel Brooks almost turned me off of commentaries forever.
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post #32 of 82
1/14/08 at 1:30pm
Nothing comes close to a Russ Meyer commentary. Nothing.
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post #33 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin K
No one's mentioned the in-character Spinal Tap track yet? Shameful. I like that track almost as much as I like the movie.

"Look how young we look!"
"We were even younger back then!"
"Yes, that's what I meant."

"This was filmed on a street cul-de-sac..."
"A street called 'De Sac'?"
"Named for the Marquis de Sac."

"What kind of conditioner did you use back then, Nigel?"
"It was one a' them Two-in-One jobs."
I love that one more then the movie, I think.
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post #34 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:07pm
Back in the laserdisc heyday I used to love commentary tracks ... but this is a bonus feature that has been abused for DVD. It's such an obligatory feature now that good commentary tracks are the exception, not the rule. It's like directors check their inspiration at the door.

I'd say the same for deleted scenes. When Alien came out on laserdisc it was a big deal to see the lost footage. Enough time had gone by that these scenes had developed a mystique to them. Today, though, deleted scenes are just garbage that got cut from a film. There's no mystery to them. How can something 6 months old have any kind of mystique to them?

That being said, I've been listening to the commentary tracks on Hostel this week and have enjoyed them. Eli Roth occasionally comes off as a fratboy douche, but he's a lot smarter than he lets on.
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post #35 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:20pm
I really enjoy Stallone's commentaries (shocker!). His solo one for FIRST BLOOD and the group for one COP LAND are both good listens. I gotta make time for the track on BALBOA one of these days.
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post #36 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:28pm
Christ, I hope so.
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post #37 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:48pm
The Russell/Carpenter commentaries are definitely worth the time. You can tell that those two are good friends...they naturally riff of each other. I love in the EFNY commentary when they rip on each other's ex-wives. I was disappointed in the BTiLC commentary though; they spend too much time reminiscing about family (Wyatt playing hockey, for example) than talking about the movie.

Roger Ebert did a really good, informative commentary track for 'Dark City'.
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post #38 of 82
1/14/08 at 2:53pm
Ebert was the king of the "I had nothing to do with the making of this movie but I've seen it a bunch of times" style commentary. He was always prepared, always had tons of interesting observations and comments, but he never made it feel like a lecture. (For the converse, the guy on the new Criterion Seven Samurai set comes to mind. It's a movie, not an economics seminar, egghead!) The fact that, in all likelihood, Ebert will never be able to do another commentary track is a real tragedy.
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post #39 of 82
1/14/08 at 3:06pm
Ebert's commentary on Dark City, the Evil Dead II commentary, QT's commentary on True Romance, Edgar Wright's commentaries. The guys involved with The Simpsons

Those are good commentaries.

Shit commentaries: All Venture Brothers and anything by Friedkin.
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post #40 of 82
1/14/08 at 5:05pm
For the Venture Brothers commentaries, there's a bit of sadness, for I'd love to hear more about their thoughts on the stories and characters they've created rather than what toys they grew up with.
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post #41 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:05pm
Just listened to the cast & crew commentary on Titanic which is actually quite interesting. Kate Winslet echoes a very grudging admiration for Cameron, while it's heavily implied from several diffent people that DiCaprio (who doesn't particpate) hated Cameron's fucking guts.
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post #42 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syd
For the Venture Brothers commentaries, there's a bit of sadness, for I'd love to hear more about their thoughts on the stories and characters they've created rather than what toys they grew up with.
You'd think that especially because of a show like that but instead it's just straight up jacking around as if they were mandated to do commentaries they didn't want to do and basically said fuck you to Cartoon Network. That's what I'm seeing from this. Or it's some kind of hipster move. *shrug*
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post #43 of 82
1/14/08 at 6:50pm
For fans of the US "Office," the commentary tracks they do on episodes are definitely worth your time. It's more "anecdotes" than "this is how we did it," but they're really fun. Other great TV commentaries are on "Firefly" (as one guy mentioned, Whedon commentaries are always worth your time) and "Deadwood." I mentioned this in another thread, but there's one from the third season with W. Earl Brown (Dan), Sean Bridgers (Johnny) and Jim Beaver (Ellsworth) that's awesome -- especially when they start quoting Red Dawn.

I tend to enjoy commentaries with actors more than directors, for some reason.

My favorite commentary of recent years has to be the one for "40 Year Old Virgin." I've listened to that one more than once. Haven't gotten to "Knocked Up" or "Superbad."

Oh, and Paul Thomas Anderson's one for "Boogie Nights."
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post #44 of 82
1/14/08 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Collins
I very much dislike lame actors screwing up an otherwise good commentary,
like Sean Astin in the LOTR films, or Corey Feldman on the Goonies commentary.
Good actor/commentators are rare. Most of them (naturally) tend to talk about themselves and their careers rather than the material at hand. A surprising exception is Brad Pitt. He's always keyed into the subtext of a scene, and he's very generous to other actors.
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post #45 of 82
1/14/08 at 8:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quarant
Can't say I enjoy the Simpsons commentaries very much. The producers ran out of stuff to talk about long ago. But Futurama commentaries are killer, particularly one ep where Maurice Lamarche discusses the Shatner sabotage/sabatage debacle. Those guys are just fun to listen to.
I can imagine that especially in the later seasons when you've ran out of things to talk about. However, in the early years there was definately some good stuff.

I even found the commentary to The Simpson's Movie to be interesting.

But the one to Family Guy with the exception of "Wish you upon a Weinstein" sucks balls.
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post #46 of 82
1/14/08 at 10:47pm
Guillermo's are indeed great, that man is awesome.

I've had no problem with the Simpsons commentaries, I haven't heard any after season 8 but I found they were all entertaining enough, especially the few with Conan O' Brien. Too bad when cast members are present they're practically mute.
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post #47 of 82
1/15/08 at 12:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Eko
You can't talk actor commentaries without mentioning the king of them, Bruce Campbell.
**On screen, Demon Bruce tears off a screen door**

"You're really milking that screen door, Bruce."

"That was his screen test."

"I wanted more screen time."
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post #48 of 82
1/15/08 at 12:39am
Thread Starter 
The Bill Bob Thorton and the Coen's track on The Man Who Wasn't There is great. I think it's the only commentary the Coens have ever done, and even though they're still being somewhat withholding here, it's very entertaining. They're constantly ripping on the film and actors ("Joe Pilato looks like Wooly Willy, or one of those guys who looks the sames upside down as rightside up") and goofing off. Occasionally, insight even happens.
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post #49 of 82
1/15/08 at 8:47am
The new track on the Hot Fuzz 3 disc set with Edgar Wright and Tarantino is endlessly entertaining.

When Wright rags on The Perfect Storm during the credits, I nearly lost it.
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post #50 of 82
1/15/08 at 9:00am
Dammit man, you're making me want to double-dip.
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