DVD commentary tracks worth sitting through

I agree with all of that.

 

I think Rosemary Clooney's commentary on White Christmas is worth watching.

I thought Michael Jeck's commentary from the '88 laserdisc, as well as subsequent DVDs, of Seven Samurai was informative. I look forward to hearing the new commentary on the '06 release.

 

The only two I have ever sat through were:

Blazing Saddles and Airplane!

 

If you're a fan of John Waters, his commentaries are always entertaining. In addition to his own films, he has provided a commentary on the most recent dvd release of "Mommie Dearest."

 

How about the one Weird Al does on UHF? My fave.

 

I agree with the Simpsons commentaries, those are great.

I watched all of the commentaries on Fight Club, which had four or five, can't remember at the moment. The one with David Fincher, Brad Pitt and Edward Norton was possibly the best, and confirms that those three knew exactly what they wanted to put on the screen, and they did it.

Jason

 

Amy Grant's reminisces about the music videos featured on her Greatest Videos DVD.

 

The best commentary I ever heard was on the Criterion LASERDISC of High Noon. The cast commentary on the first Lord Of The Rings film is a lot of fun. The directors commentary on all three is quite good as well.

I agree about the Kevin Smith commentaries although Clerks 2 wasn't what I'd hoped.

The worst are when the commentator narrates the film as it goes along. WTF?

Most disappointing commentaries are from 1776.

On the Laserdisc version the director sounded like he had the flu. Lots of coughs & throat clearing & it got a little stomach turning after a while. On the DVD a new director commentary was done & the screenwriter was added. "Cool", I thought! The screenwriter mostly narrated the film as it went along: "Here's where Jefferson attempts to write the Declaration". I can see that!

Frustrating.

 

i was just going to mention this one.

there's a moment late in the film when pitt and norton's characters are brutally fighting in an underground garage. pitt grabs norton by the scruff of the neck and throws him down a tremendously long stair case. as norton's body is bouncing down the staircase, fincher, on the commentary track, says: 'i had the stunt man do that trick 10 times...and i printed the first take."

later, chris

 

The 2 Tool DVDs from Lateralus that were released with commentaries by David Yow and Jello Biafra were hilarity of the highest order - especially in contrast to the videos!

 

Never saw the movie, never listened to the commentary. Weird Al isn't exactly one of my faves...

 

I'd have to disagree. From my review (http://www.dvdmg.com/whitechristmas.shtml):

"I looked forward to this track because Clooney seemed able to provide a unique perspective on the film and the era. Unfortunately, the resulting commentary is deadly dull and adds extremely little in the way of useful information.

The vast majority of the track passes without any remarks from Clooney; her statements are few and far between. Even when she does speak, it’s rarely to offer any details about the production or anything insightful. Instead, she usually just laughs or echoes what the characters in the movie say; she doesn’t seem to understand that she’s supposed to tell us stories or details and not just mutter an occasional phrase as she watches the picture. Every once in a while, Clooney gives us some nice information, usually about Crosby and her relationship with him. For serious fans of White Christmas, Clooney’s commentary may merit a listen, but anyone less than absolutely in love with the movie or its cast should skip this dull and frustrating track."

 

It's not a particularly good track:

"Waters talks about the movie’s reception and reputation, the real-life Joan Crawford, differences between Hollywood in Crawford’s era and today, and his take on the flick. He doesn’t think it’s all that campy, and he defends it much of the time. Waters mixes some catty comments with honest insights, and this works at times. However, he just doesn’t have a lot to say, so he repeats some of the same ideas. He apologizes for Crawford’s behavior much of the time and frequently makes similar comments. Waters presents a decent track that moves at an acceptable pace, but if you skip it, you won’t really miss out on anything."

 

I love commentary tracks, though I admit to not having found the time to listen to all of them -- but I eventually will! One of my favorites is Jim Lovell's on "Apollo 13", as he explains the differences ("poetic licenses", as he calls them) between what actually happened and what is shown in the movie.

Some of you have mentioned laserdiscs, where it all started (I believe the first was "King Kong"). In those days, commentary tracks were only present in expensive deluxe editions on Criterion Collection and similar premium releases. Now they've become the norm on DVD so unfortunately the quality has decreased accordingly. In some cases they just have the director or an actor watch the movie with a clip-on microphone so you can hear all his laughs, caughs and ad-lib comments, but very little in the way of behind-the-scenes information. There are also those who just state the obvious. The commentary for one of the editions of "The Exorcist" sounds like it was prepared for blind people: the director just describes what you are seeing!

 

Compared to someone providing a "professional" commentary, no, she doesn't rattle off non-stop historical facts about the film as in a classroom setting. But it's a pretty light-hearted film to begin with. Not sure what you'd expect to find out about it that could be chalked up in the important column.

For me, it was as close as I'll ever come to sitting on my couch and watching a movie with Rosemary Clooney. She laughs, she watches, she tells stories here and there. Just hearing her saying "Go Danny," as she proudly watches Danny Kaye trying to keep up on the dance routine made tuning in worthwhile for me. I suppose I must be a diehard fan.

 

I don't know if this strictly qualifies as "commentary", but the soundtrack sessions with Richard Thompson at the end of Grizzly Man are better than the movie itself.

 

favorite recent commentary tracks:

"The In-Laws" The original film not the REMAKE!

"Bull Durham" - the Commentary by: Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins is hilarious!

"The Duellists" - great great Commentary by Director Ridley Scott on his FIRST Film!

That's it for now.

 

I have gone back to listen to the commentary track for a few movies I really enjoyed. You have to really like the movie to sit through it again. Hoosiers is one of my favorite movies, and I enjoyed the director and writer's commentary. They offered some interesting tidbits about the movie that I didn't know. As far as flat-out funny, the commentary for Used Cars is great. IMO, it is as good as watching the movie with the straight dialogue.

The commentary for Spinal Tap is very funny, as well. It is all the main characters doing the commentary as their movie role characters. It is a real hoot. Although an overlong movie, I also enjoyed the commentary for Dances with Wolves and the above mentioned Roger Ebert commentary for Citizen Kane.

In Fly Away Home there is an isolated soundtrack with commentary by Mark Isham. Unfortuneatly, he talks through a lot of the soundtrack so you can't really hear the entire isolated soundtrack.

 

Enjoyed the commentaries by Paul Mazursky on a couple of his films -- Next Stop, Greenwich Village and An Unmarried Woman (a favourite of the missus's ). He always seems to have something interesting to say, especially about the locations. In the latter film, Jill Clayburgh chips in a few neat tidbits about filming different scenes (especially the one the ends the picture).

 

The commentary track on Slap Shot is hilarious. Just the three Hanson brothers, saying whatever pops into their heads.

 

Wow, this'll have to be another "agree to disagree" - I hated that commentary:

"I looked forward to this piece, as we don’t often find two major stars placed together for a session. However, it turned out to be a major disappointment. During much of the commentary, neither participant spoke; Costner’s giggles made up a lot of the piece. When they did talk, Costner dominated, and we mainly heard how much they liked the film and how great everyone was, with a particular emphasis on Shelton. Along the way, a few decent tidbits and funny moments emerge, but not many. This was a frustrating and generally boring commentary. "

I agree that this is a good track:

"A veteran of quite a few similar tracks, Scott seems at home with the form, and that comes through during this lively and informative discussion. He begins with notes about how he became involved in the movie, and he then proceeds through a variety of topics. He covers the cast, the challenges of a low budget, his attitudes about coming from the world of commercials, sets, locations, photographic issues, and many other subjects. Scott chats about the film with passion but he never simply praises it. Although he starts to fade somewhat during the third act, Scott mostly gives us a nicely compelling and useful look at his debut. "

 

I guess. I'm not - I don't like the film, but that doesn't keep me from enjoying good commentaries. Heck, I loathe "Logan's Run" but really enjoyed that track.

As for Clooney's discussion, I thought it was a total bore. What do I mean by "important"? Substantial content - actual info about the production, not just giggles and quotes from the movie. There's tons of dead air and almost no real information. What's the point?

 

I agree that this is a good commentary:

"This one starts slowly, as in the early moments, Jim does little more than say "Remember that?" to Marilyn. However, once the two of them get more comfortable with the format and the movie's action heats up it becomes more compelling. Jim offers a lot of good details about the factual side of the mission; he points out how the movie differs from reality and helps fill in some of the gaps.

Marilyn doesn't say much but she does provide a welcome emotional component to the track. Unsurprisingly, Jim doesn't deviate from the detached flight jock tone during his comments, so it was nice to have someone attach some feeling to the events. All in all, it's a fine commentary; as with Frank McCourt's track on Angela's Ashes, it's very cool to be able to hear the person being Depicted on screen describe the events."