The Best and Worst DVD Commentaries

[kbm5]

One of my favorite features of DVD's are the commentaries. What are some of your favorites? Here are my favorites:

A Bug's Life(John Lasseter & Friends, better than either of the Toy Story Commentaries, which are still good)
Fantasia (Includes Walt Disney Himself)
Bring it On (Director Peyton Reed has non-stop fun!)
Pleasantville (Randy Newman's commentary along with his isolated score - I'm a film score buff!)
The Matrix (Don Davis, isolated score + commentary, for the same reason as the Randy Newman commentary)
Bowfinger (Frank Oz, the first commentary which really opened my eyes to the art of editing a film)
Clerks: Uncensored (The short-lived Animated Series, with the whole entire View Askew crew -- funny as all get out!)
Contact (Jodie Foster -- the first commentary I ever heard, filled with lots of good stuff!)
Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger, the author, gives some great background on Gloucester fishermen and the storm)
Bride of Frankenstein (More of an essay than a commentary, but nevertheless very informative)
Men in Black (An Audio AND Video commentary in the truest sense. Neat use of technology!)

The worst (or most disappointing, I guess):

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee and his producer "MST3K" the best picture of 2000. Extremely embarrassing!)
Superman (Richard Donner and Tom Manckewicz spend their time either praising themselves or saying, "oh my.&quot
The Matrix (The first commentary with cast and crew. Boooring...)
Dinosaur (The first commentary. Way too technical for its own good)
What Lies Beneath (Robert Zemeckis and Producers just don't get their own show, IMHO)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoven -- "Digital Johnny, Real Johnny, Digital Johnny..." 'nuff said!)
North by Northwest and Vertigo (Never have senile, 85-year old men participate in commentaries AGAIN!)

 

[Locutus of Board]

I've never been to bored to watch the commentaries except for the Matrix.

I'd rather be neffing here.

 

[yellowperil]

One of the best commentaries is on the Usual Suspects DVD. In fact, that's one of the best reasons to own it (seeing how the transfer is just average).

 

[kami]

Funny ones:
The movie isn't that great, but the commentary on Armageddon: Criterion Collection (you won't get it in the regular version) is friggin hilarious.

The cast commentary on American Pie is also damned funny! The guys spend the whole time crackin jokes about one another and saying what chicks are hot. LOL

 

[tasslex]

From what I've heard, Cannibal the Musical has a commentary track where the dudes from South Park (who starred in it I believe) get all loaded and commentate, but I haven't listened to it myself yet.

 

[kbm5]

<< The movie isn't that great, but the commentary on Armageddon: Criterion Collection (you won't get it in the regular version) is friggin hilarious. >>



I've heard that one too, but didn't include it. I hope you meant it was unintentially friggin hilarious. I loved it when Bay apologized for continually using the f-word during his commentary. I kept on thinking, &quot;this is a pg-13 movie, but the extras are definitely rated R!&quot;

 

[gmrickards]

I must say that I couldn't never sit down and watch a dvd commentaries. I think they are a waste and all really boring. The only special feature that is good is deleted scenes.

 

[Zenmervolt]

While it wasn't especially funny or impressive, I really enjoyed the commentary on The Tao of Steve, can't put my finger on why I liked it but I thought it was good.

Zenmervolt

 

[arod]

I thought the Cast Away commentary was boring in fact I didnt even finish watching it... on the other hand The Patriot was really good. The director and producer actually added more to the movie with the commentary including what they originally wanted to do and what was actually done.

 

[kbm5]

<< I thought the Cast Away commentary was boring in fact I didnt even finish watching it... on the other hand The Patriot was really good. The director and producer actually added more to the movie with the commentary including what they originally wanted to do and what was actually done. >>



I haven't heard the Cast Away commentary yet, nor do I necessarily want to. Zemeckis and his producing team can sure make some AWESOME movies, but they couldn't talk about them even if their life depended on it!

 

[UberNeuman]

I differ on the Superman commentary - it's provides great insight into the movie and things that went on behind the scenes and it's great to hear the people who made the film are still in love with it.

Big Trouble in Little China also has a great commentary, as Carpenter and Russell sound like a couple guys just shootin' the *h*t - at one point they both start talking about their kids, then realize they both forgot about the movie playing in front of them... Very funny.

 

[Nickyct]

Contact is my favorite. It's so neat to know how the scenes were done at different location and combine into one scene. How they tell us about the special effect being used and we didn't even know about it.

Crouching Tiger hidden dragon. The stuff they had to go through to get the movie made.

Pretty woman. Gary marshall is such a good talker

that's all I can think of right now.

 

[mlip129]

dogma

 

[kbm5]

<< I differ on the Superman commentary - it's provides great insight into the movie and things that went on behind the scenes and it's great to hear the people who made the film are still in love with it. >>



Another problem with the Superman commentary -- besides what I mentioned above -- was that a lot of the behind the scenes info was just regurgitated from the Documentaries. I saw the documentaries before I listened to the commentary. To hear the same thing again was disappointing.

 

[luv2chill]

Mallrats!!! It is a video commentary (the only non-porn DVD I've seen that uses the multi-angle feature). That whole disc rocks.

l2c