DVD Commentaries

I love commentaries myself when available, and some certainly are better than others. Great example is on The Phantom Menace DVD, where Lucas and his ILM and technical crew have a variety of detailed insights to share, but where producer Rick McCallum offers up *nothing* but promo platitudes about the whole thing. Amazingly useless. Critierion, unsurprisingly, has an array of good commentaries via their discs -- offhand I'm thinking of the Titanic experts for A Night to Remember and Terry Gilliam for Brazil as highlights. Best commentaries for me strike a fine balance between entertainment and information, and there are some definite winners -- the whole Python crew on Holy Grail and Life of Brian, the 'Wonka kids,' in a great move, for Willy Wonka, and Patricia Quinn and Richard O'Brien for Rocky Horror. The last two in particular are pure camaraderie in action. The occasional 'commentary in character' can work as well -- Spinal Tap, notably, Buckaroo Banzai to a lesser extent.

Allegedly the best commentary ever in terms of sheer amusement is for John Carpenter's The Thing -- apparently it's Carpenter, Kurt Russell, beer and a huge amoung of weed.

I think Criterion Collection is definitely the best. Anchor Bay is also great, with their offbeat cult choices (Herzog, Hellman, Mike Nesmith-related, etc.).

Another idea they should try would be putting in two antagonists to do the commentary (like two members involved in the production who dislike each other both personally or professionally), who argue throughout.

"This is how all great pop songs are written. on the roof of your building, adding hip-hop beats from the nearby buildings - under the moonlight whilst hearing some cats fight. Bish bash bosh - I've written Can't Fight The Moonlight".

(my lars von trier theory = his movies are the pretext for the surrounding interviews and doXoR but that is slightly difft)

That was another idea I was thinking of when I asked when they will get "self-conscious"...one where the commentary interacts with or changes the reality of the film in some way (plot, etc.). I'm sure someone will do it one of these days, if it hasn't been done yet.

Richard O'Brien & Patricia Quinn: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (already cited).
Catriona MacColl & David Warbeck: The Beyond. These two actors have a fabulous good-natured chat about the film, their careers and give a fair insight into British actors' experience of the Italian film industry at the time.

They should do the same for The Breakfast Club, which is crying out for a better release than the bare-bones Region 1 disc out at present.

Film historian Peter Cowie's commentary, though, IIRC, was at times too fannish and not critical enough.

The only worthwhile DVD commentary is the one on "Dude, Where's My Car?".

It's genius to turn on the commentary during Mariah Carey's Glitter when the movie takes it's invariable 'emotional' turns.

Also bought the Region2 'Wicker Man' dbl DVD the other day, w/commentaries from Lee, Woodward and Hardy, 'moderated' by Mark Kermode, oh-oh

Donations welcome.

The new wave of half-baked, compensatory VHS extras are pretty weak, tho'. Missing scenes from Harry Potter -- a whole ten minutes, and they couldn't even let us see any of the Rik Mayall stuff that was apparently chopped out in its entirety. Pants.

Last House on the Left... I saw that horrible film years ago. I seem to recall the badass in it wrote the song 'Speedy Gonzales' -- lovely. And the badass's GF looks like Freddie Mercury with a bouf. (So what, I look like Freddie Mercury with Ozzy Osbourne's hair...) I retain the amusing stuff because on the whole I thought it was v. unpleasant. Which, I suppose, was the whole point, so fair enough.

I had a great idea yesterday - that DVD's should have commentary tracks from YOUR MOTHER! You know, things like:

"Oh look, it's that fella again. Oh! are they married? I thought he was married to that other woman. ... Why did he say that? Where is he going now?"

and so on.

Wimp. They're all pretty good, though definitely more technical in some cases than others.

What I really like when it comes to making the most of DVD is comedy shows. You can have commentaries and outtakes, both of which add an extra layer of value if done well. Anyone who likes Black Books should get the DVD version right away and watch it with the commentary track on, which is Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin whatsername just drinking wine and talking shit while watching their own work. Taking the piss out of each other's hairdos and lines and things. It is hilarious!

Lots of anecdotes, cynisism, outright fibs, gens of truth, and genuinely amusing stuff.

something hilarious about the excess of commentary can be found in the commentary to the Perfect Score. the delusion on the part of the filmmakers is utterly shocking, and i wonder if the act of creating the commentary convinces these people that their art is important. i think the director said that he wanted to make a movie that wouldn't necessarily appeal to everyone but would be somebody's favorite movie. which was a really strange statement about a movie that had so diluted its characters into stereotypes in what felt like an attempt to appeal to everyone. dvd commentary = useless but amusing.

It takes an awful lot for me to listen to more than 15-20 minutes of a commentary. I buy very few DVDs and I'm not gonna watch a rental twice.

that's *HUMAN REMAINS* !!

thanks.

Producer Michael Finnell, screenwriter Richard Whitley and director Alan Arkush deliver an engaging and rather chatty audio commentary. The three men laugh and joke about working on Rock 'n' Roll High School. They clearly have fond memories of their experiences on the movie.

My version cost a fiver, and you can get it as such from Fopp, etc.