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TitanPa 
"Here four more"
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 Posted - 06/29/2007 : 23:40:00
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So does anyone check out the Commentaries on the DVD in the special features? I usually watch the movie firat then I try to check out the commentaries much later. I only play the commentaries if the Stars of the film are commenting. I find that Writers, Directors, etc. are too boring. At least the Stars of the movie can give us interewsting tidbits.
Just the other day I decided to check out 'The Goonies' Commentary. One of the movies that I love from the 80's. WHen I played it, I was surprised and found out something interesting. Something that all commentary pieces should include. During the comentary the movie would pan out and you could see the cast members sitting together watching the movie, laughing and joking and all. I always wondered what the people looked like and where they were while doing commentary. I thought this was so cool. The whole cast (Including Sean Astin......who later had to leave) and Richard Donner (Director) were doing the commentary. MArtha looks so old. Corey looks so stoned and Kerri Green looks hot! Most of the actors arnt doing much anymore (except for Sean Astin) I think the commentary was filmed just a few years ago. I thought it was interesting the banter between the cast. They shared some colorful stories. One last interesting tidbit. Marth Plimpton made a $100 bet with Richard Donner that she could stop biting her fingernails....She asked him about it and he finally paid her. If you like commentaries or even liked 'The Goonies' you should definitly check it out. |
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TitanPa
"Here four more"
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Posted - 06/29/2007 : 23:48:09
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| P.S. After Sean Astin left, Corey made fun of Lord of The Rings and we never got to hear what Sean wanted to say to Cindy Lauper |
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ragingfluff 
"Currently lost in Canada"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 00:34:31
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I agree that many commentaries can be dull and possibly of interest for serious film geeks who need to know every last detail of the making of a film. In many cases, though, the commentary is not only good, it's better than the film (e.g. the commentary for Love, Actually is hysterical; it's mostly Hugh Grant taking the piss out of Colin Firth and Richard Curtis... when he isn't ogling the talent in the film).
I have a couple of special edition DVDs with very interesting commentaries: one is The Great Escape, the other is the 10th anniversary edition of Reservoir Dogs. Neither are "commentaries" in the sense of someone watching the film and chatting about it; it's mostly cobbled together bits from various interviews...but if you're a fan of either film, you would definitely want to listen.
The by far the best DVD commentary I have ever listened to is the one by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church on SIDEWAYS. It is brilliant, funny, insightful, thoughtful and juvenile...in many ways it parallels the emotions of the film perfectly. And what they have to say about themselves is priceless. Oh, and by the way, the SIDEWAYS DVD has a couple of good easter eggs embedded (including a gag reel and a mock "making of"; I forget how you find them. Google Sideways and easter egg.
...Finally, an interesting thread on the FWFR fourum, instead of all this negativity 
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 00:41:04
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Yes, I listen to the commentaries all the time. Some of them are absolutely fantastic in a way you'd never imagine. Some of them are incredibly boring. But in some cases the commentary improves on the film. And when there is rapport between the commentators like you describe, it's great.
I've listened to hundreds, but a bit of a sample...
Garden State with Zach Braff was great. Good rapport with the other actors commenting, but also great insight into the 'first time director' thing, and he really made discussions about choices the actors made fascinating. As you can imagine, he was awed by Ian Holm. I listened to that commentary twice, believe it or not!
Martin Scorcese is aaaaawful. I was so excited that there was a commentary by him on Gangs of New York. I thought 'great, I'll get an insight into what fascinated him about the subject' as well as comments on directorial and acting choices. But nothing. I only listened to about half an hour. If it got better I'd be surprised. I wonder if he is always this boring?
The commentary on Thirteen with the director Catherine Hardwicke and the teenager who co-wrote the film Nikki Reed added to the value of the film. It was also clear that Hardwicke had a great relationship with the young actors in the film.
Sometimes the commentators get so into the film they forget to talk, which is disappointing. I'm trying to remember one recent example of this with two big name actors, but I can't retrieve it. I just remember thinking I hope they weren't getting paid!
Other times the commentators don't talk much about the film, but the chat can be very funny, especially when they starting ragging on the other actors for fun.
I agree that director commentaries when they do it singlehandedly tend to be disappointing. However, the producer or production design/special effects commentaries can be interesting because of the different way they view the whole production. I found this for League of Extraordinary Gentlemen because of how they were trying to be partially authentic to the Victorian period with 'modern' gadgets.
Good ones that I can remember from recently: Transamerica, Lords of Dogtown, Walk the Line, School of Rock, The Family Stone, |
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 00:43:38
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| I was composing my post at the same times as ragingfluff. I agree the Sideways commentary was good. I didn't actually like the film that much on first viewing, but appreciated it more afterwards (like someone said in another post, both protaganists are unlikeable, and I think I'm one of those viewers who likes to have at least one character to cheer for). |
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ragingfluff
"Currently lost in Canada"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 00:55:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
I was composing my post at the same times as ragingfluff. I agree the Sideways commentary was good. I didn't actually like the film that much on first viewing, but appreciated it more afterwards (like someone said in another post, both protaganists are unlikeable, and I think I'm one of those viewers who likes to have at least one character to cheer for).
I liked the fact that they discussed the film not just as actors, but as participants in a movie, paying attention to and recalling the camera-work, the choice of lenses, filters, etc.
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TitanPa
"Here four more"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 00:57:17
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If you want a hilarious Commentary all you need to do is Watch 'EuroTrip' It has a drinking game commentary. The 2 writers/directors of the movie play a drinking game while making fun of their own movie. It starts off slow but halfway through the movie they are plastered. They are so drunk that they say anything. Which is hilarious. But towards the end of the movie, one of the guys has to go to the bathroom alot. Which makes the other guy make fun of him too. lol.
Anywas. Ill have to rent and check out Sideways and the commentary. I never had much interest in watching it, until now.
If you'd like another funny Commentary, Pop in the movie ' The Sweetest Thing' . Christina Applegate and Cameron Diaz are great together...But Cameron jast has to answer her Cell Phone. |
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Sean 
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 01:00:18
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Never watched a movie with commentary. I'm one of those people who seldom watches a movie again, unless it's brilliant in which case 2-3 times in 10 years might be what it gets. (There is the occasional exception such as MOTP.)
So the idea of watching a movie while listening to someone talk about it doesn't appeal. I'd rather watch a movie I haven't seen before than re-watch a movie with commentary.
Perhaps one day when I run out of good movies to watch I'll re-watch some with commentary.  |
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Joe Blevins
"Don't I look handsome?"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 01:29:17
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I'm one of those obsessive viewers who watch favorite films (and some not-so-favorite films) over and over again. And I'm one of those viewers who dissect a movie. I like to know the who, how, what, when, where, and why. I devour the special features on a DVD, and best of all is the commentary track. I get pissed when a DVD doesn't have a commentary. I've been listening to these tracks since the days of laserdiscs. (Remember those?) Before they got into DVD, Criterion did some excellent laserdisc commentaries from directors like John Waters, Terry Gilliam, and others.
For my money, John Waters is the best DVD commentator of all time, and he's recorded witty and informative commentaries for all his films from Pink Flamingos to A Dirty Shame. He's so good he's been invited to record tracks for movies he didn't even make, like Mommie Dearest and Christmas Evil. When he's talking about his own movies, his explanations of the jokes are often funnier than the jokes themselves, not to mention his comments about various bit players or minute details of the sets and costumes. Funniest of all is when even he is embarrassed by something in one of his movies. "Oh, God, I'd forgotten this... What was I thinking?" I think JW's last few movies would've gotten better reviews if they'd been released to theaters with the commentary already added.
Besides Waters' tracks, some of my favorite commentaries of all time are on the following DVDs:
* Waking Life (audio PLUS text commentary!)
* This Is Spinal Tap - BOTH the Criterion version *and* the MGM version - they're not the same and you need BOTH!
* Election
* Fight Club
* Ghostbusters
* All the Evil Dead/Army of Darkness movies (Bruce Campbell!)
* The Simpsons TV show - commenataries on EVERY episode!
* Kentucky Fried Movie
Many, many more.
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Edited by - Joe Blevins on 06/30/2007 01:29:51 |
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 06:35:42
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quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
I get pissed when a DVD doesn't have a commentary.
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Ditto
quote:
For my money, John Waters is the best DVD commentator of all time, When he's talking about his own movies, his explanations of the jokes are often funnier than the jokes themselves, not to mention his comments about various bit players or minute details of the sets and costumes. Funniest of all is when even he is embarrassed by something in one of his movies. "Oh, God, I'd forgotten this... What was I thinking?" I think JW's last few movies would've gotten better reviews if they'd been released to theaters with the commentary already added.
I'm sold. I'm a fan of his movies - but I don't think I've ever rented on DVD.
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 06:36:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
So the idea of watching a movie while listening to someone talk about it doesn't appeal. I'd rather watch a movie I haven't seen before than re-watch a movie with commentary.
Perhaps one day when I run out of good movies to watch I'll re-watch some with commentary.
Not the thread for you then, eh |
Edited by - Shiv on 06/30/2007 06:37:23 |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 07:18:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
So the idea of watching a movie while listening to someone talk about it doesn't appeal. I'd rather watch a movie I haven't seen before than re-watch a movie with commentary.
Perhaps one day when I run out of good movies to watch I'll re-watch some with commentary.
Not the thread for you then, eh
Perhaps it is. Recently I've been starting to worry about running out of good movies to watch. I watch 200-250/year and there's no way in hell does the world make watchable movies at anything close to that rate.   |
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 12:10:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
So the idea of watching a movie while listening to someone talk about it doesn't appeal. I'd rather watch a movie I haven't seen before than re-watch a movie with commentary.
Perhaps one day when I run out of good movies to watch I'll re-watch some with commentary.
Not the thread for you then, eh
Perhaps it is. Recently I've been starting to worry about running out of good movies to watch. I watch 200-250/year and there's no way in hell does the world make watchable movies at anything close to that rate.
With my postal DVD service, I get about that amount of movies per year - 5 a week. But I'm thinking of reducing that to 3 a week, because good choices are certainly getting harder to find. If I remember rightly, you won't be turning on the TV as an alternative! I'm a TV watcher too. I don't sleep a lot - so contrary to how this sounds I also have a life
It's hard to explain my fascination with commentaries and special features on DVDs. I can't remember what your stance is on knowing lots about a film before watching it - but I even watch films with the commentary first! Like Joe B said above, sometimes I am really disappointed when a certain film doesn't have a commentary - or at the very least some kind of 'making of'. Memories of Murder, for example - I really wanted to know more about the story behind that film and the representation of the characters. I got this film out after reading the thread on it - and I want to buy it. I would imagine if there is a commentary, it's in Korean. But I've watched Japanese commentaries before with subtitles.
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randall 
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 13:58:56
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The most entertaining commentary track I�ve ever heard was recorded for the Coen brothers� BLOOD SIMPLE. It�s done by one �Kenneth Loring� of �Forever Young Films,� the unlikely �restorer� of a ultra-low-budget movie that�s only fifteen years old. Sporting an erudite British accent, the deadpan �Loring� proceeds to deconstruct in absurd detail what is obviously, from our concurrent visual evidence, hand-to-mouth filmmaking: according to him, a fly that happens to land on M. Emmet Walsh�s temple was created digitally; to get the illusion of oncoming headlights in what our eyes tell us is a standard �poor man�s process� shot, the performers were suspended upside down and recited their lines backwards; a common phone-filter voiceover was achieved by having the actor, just off camera, pinch his larynx and speak into a Dixie cup. Then �Loring� ignores the film altogether and launches into an epic rant about a complex discarded subplot involving esoteric Eastern European dictators, breathlessly culminating in an account of his own assault by a periwigged Nick Nolte in the office of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. This magnificent vocal performance is made even funnier by the fact that all the while, BLOOD SIMPLE is earnestly playing out on the screen!
I've since learned that the uncredited commenter is Jim Piddock, a member of Chris Guest's rep company, and that the Coens actually wrote his monologue. It's hands down the best commentary track ever, IMO.
Francis Coppola is also good at it. |
Edited by - randall on 06/30/2007 19:48:41 |
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ragingfluff
"Currently lost in Canada"
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Posted - 06/30/2007 : 14:27:24
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i don't want to start a new thread on this, but does anyone know a good website source of information about so-called easter eggs on DVDs? I mentioned the ones on Sideways, but I forget where I found out about them...I'd never heard of this easter egg business until a couple of months ago, and now I'm wondering just how many goodies over the years I've missed by not knowing.
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Chris C 
"Four words, never backwards."
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DVD Commentaries
