Best DVD Commentaries

[godman99]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

The commentary on "The Way of the Gun" is also fun, simply because it's the only commentary where the director apologizes for making such a crappy movie.

[MacG]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

I enjoyed the director commentary tracks on Die Hard and Identity...

Really? McTiernan??

The guy could lull any insomniac into a coma....

DIE HARD 3 offered an interesting commentary, though, if only for Jonathan Hensleigh's insight into the process.

[roscoegino]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

I actually liked Ebert's Casablanca commentary better. Not as overtly technical as Citizen Kane. Damn, Rog, I get the shadow stuff already.

[alipali]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

"Hello, I'm Tom Clancy. I wrote the book they ignored."

I've been ignoring his books for years. I commend the director for doing the same.

The last commentary I listended to was for Copland - had James Mangold and Sly Stallone talking about working with Keitel and Deniro. Recommend it.

[DarrenJSeeley]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

Generally, most of the commentaries with John Carpenter are great, esp, "Escape From New York", "The Fog" and "The Thing".

Both the commentaries on "Platoon" SE (#1 with Oliver Stone, #2 with Dale Dye) are top notch.

Most retro commentaries are nice simply because there is time to think about the stories to tell. This includes both "The Princess Bride" commentaries, one with Rob Riener, the other with William Goldman.
Randall Wallace on "Man In The Iron Mask" is prety good.

There's a B movie called "Komodo", where FX wizard turned helmer Micheal Lanteri gets out a good director/tech commentary.

I also liked Jake Kasdan on 'Zero Effect", and Anique Faqua's commentaries on "Tears Of The Sun" and "King Arthur". Then there's the Criterion Edition of Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic".

Best commentary TV: Ken Johnson on the pilot of "Incredible Hulk" and the "Married" episode.

Now, as for the wierd commentaries: Micheal Mann's gotten better, but that commentary with James Caan on "Thief" doesn't kick in well until the credits roll. Then they really talk about the film- and get cut off. Also, as much as I loved "Spartan", I have to concur: one of my favorite actors, Val Kilmer, needs caffiene in his coffee, something. It's not as bad as say, Pierce Brosnan on "Die Another Day", or the nice novelty that wore out in twenty minutes: Celluar. The only thing worse than a lone actor making themselves look like the morning hangover, is the commentary where instead of discovering movie magic, director/actor stories, battles with the MPAA or studio etc. and don't discuss specific scenes. No, in this, they call the execs, other producers, actors, editor and writer on thier cell phones during the commentary.You hear the apple polish session, switch the audio channel and switch to Spanish. You may not understand Spanish, but it's better than the commentary track spoken in perefect english which is nothing more than a fluff piece.

Which reminds me. The worst commentary man is Kevin Smith.

[jmgogdog]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

Come on. If you truly want great film commentaries you need look no further than MST3000.

[Bad Liver]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

I was gonna mention Carpenter's The Thing, too. It sounds like Carpenter and russell are just drinking beers and shooting the ****.

I really got a kick out of Raimi and Campbell on Army of Darkness. A real lesson in low budget film making.

The in-character commentary for the movie "Man of the Century" is as funny and weird as the movie itself.

[britwrit]

Re: Best DVD Commentaries

There also seems to be a whole sub-genre of mediocre b-movies that have pretty good commentaries... Urban Legend. Final Destination 1 and 2. Valentine. Butterfly Effect... When you can take or leave the story itself, the filmakers concentrate on the nuts and bolts of actually making the movie.