I was watching some dvds and thinking what some of the best commentary tracks are. Some commentaries can make a mediocre movie a masterpiece. Tracks on a few dvds that I really like are:
The Stoned Age (I've watch this movie with the commentary track more than I do without it, I know many people hate this movie but the commentary is a little-known gem on this disc)
Clerks: The Animated Series (I like all Kevin Smith group commentaries but this one seems to be a little more fun than the others)
Made/Swingers (I love the addition of them being able to draw on the screen like Madden during football games)
There is one commentary that I really look foward to once I get the dvd is the commentary for The Alf Files dvd (canada only release of 3 hour-long Alf specials). The dvd has commentary by Alf, which, maybe I'm setting myself up for disappointment, has to be great.
Those are the ones off the top of my head, I'll add more good ones when I think of them. What are everyone else's favorite commentary tracks?
You can watch Spinal Tap with commentary (IN CHARACTER) by Nigel Tuffnel and David St. Hubbins. Makes it a whole new movie, though some of it sounds pretty improv, still funny.
Kind of like the MST3K crew watching an episode of MST3K and ripping on it.
The commentary track for "Faust: love of the damned" was quite hilarious. Director Brian Yuzna would says things like "This female role is quite good, now that I think of it, she ends up having sex with most the male actors" or explaining that a dominatrix who offered her shop as a setting wanted to see him wearing a latex suit.
Damn, beat me to the Spinal Tap commentary. It's got Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), to. And yeah, I'm pretty sure it was improv, but then, so was the movie.
I love the commentaries on Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are obviously great friends, and their interaction is always hilarious (Bruce never fails to point out the moments when Sam caused him harm).
The commentary track on From Dusk Till Dawn is a good one, with Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. For the life of me, I can't understand why Tarantino decided not to do commentary on the rest of his movies, as it seems to be what he was put on this earth to do. Rodriguez is more laid back than Tarantino (but then, so is the Micro Machines guy), but his enthusiasm is just as apparent, and he somehow manages to get equal airtime. Plus, since, between the two of them, they did pretty much every major job on the movie, it's pretty informative. Oh, yeah, and you could make a drinking game for every time Tarantino utters the phrase "Kick-ass drive-in exploitation film."
The strangest track I've ever heard is the oddly deadpan commentary for the Best of Mr. Bill, featuring an in-character Mr. Bill and Mr. Hands.
The one on 'Cannibal! The Musical' is best I've heard. Trey Parker, Matt Stone and a few of the cast get drunk and talk about the film. The story of its making is fairly interesting and the truth about 'Liane'.
Pete
i second the vote for "cannibal! the musical"---you can't beat the drunken commentary...
-mr. henry
Anything with Bruce Campbell. He's hilarious, and remembers every small detail from any film.
Cannibal Ferox: Director Umberto Lenzi remembers the film fondly and star John Morgan hates it. Their combined tracks constantly contradict each other. Great stuff.
Brazil: Terry Gilliam gives us a history of the films woes and a ton of info on how it was done.
A Night to Dismember: Doris Wishman is hillarious, she barely lets the DOP get a word in.
Boogie Nights: It feels like you're there with them.
And yes, Cannibal The Musical's track is amazing.
I've only listened to a fistful of commentaries - they aren't something I am overly fond of, but the most entertaining of the bunch is the Carpenter/Russell commentary on Escape from New York.
, but the most entertaining of
> the bunch is the Carpenter/Russell commentary on Escape from
> New York.
I liked their commentary on Big Trouble in Little China
The commentary on A Knights Tale was pretty amusing, but then again they were drinking pints while commenting too so it just proves that drunken commentary is better 8-D
Harold Ramis/Ivan Reitman for Ghostbusters- Done silhouette-style, a la MST3K, and it's just fun.
Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead- I think Bruce on his own is even funnier, because he feels free to bash Sam, Rob Tappert, the movie, people who like the movie, etc. Regarding the "Sam hit him with a motorcycle" rumor- "I won't tell you whether that lie is true or not,".
Carpenter/Russell for The Thing- Informative, and Carpenter makes a few vague references to things an all-male crew would do in the middle of the wilderness that he can't talk about here...
Weird Al/Jay Levey for UHF- Very funny, with Al noting the exact addresses of every location and Michael Richards stating the world would be better if everyone drove little Shriner cars and carried handguns.
Peter Jackson/Fran Walsh/Phillippa Boyens, Fellowship Of The Ring- The accents alone make it worth watching.
gotta be Texas Chainsaw Massacre, all though i'd heard all the tales and stories before, it was still pretty cool.
2nd up would have to be LOTR: FOTR
Second UHF, and Big T. in Little C. Hey, who knew Carpenter could sing bass?
The audio commentary for FIRST BLOOD is actually provided by the author of the book the movie is based on. He talks almost non-stop, giving out a ton of information on not just the movie itself, but how the book was conceived and a lot of other things. Even when he's not talking about the movie, his commentary is extremely entertaining.
BLOOD SIMPLE. Ostensibly by film historian Kenneth Loring, it's all an elaborate put-on scripted by the Coens themselves. The bulk of it discusses a lengthy subplot supposedly cut by the studio, in which M. Emmett Walsh's redneck private eye is revealed to be the son of Bulgarian dictator Todor Zipfkopf (sp?). It then goes into a long, personal rant against an executive at Merchant Ivory. The whole thing is absolutely hilarious, and the guy reading it (Fred Willard's straightman from Best In Show) has terrific comic timing. I actually might have enjoyed the commentary more than the movie itself, which is good, but strangely flat for a Coen Bros. film.
i'm a huge fan of commentaries. i'm wondering if we can merge this thread with these others...
http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,3962.0.html
http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,62868.0.html
i really love the joe-bob briggs commentaries for media blasters' shriek show and guilty pleasures discs. fun stuff. i've always wondered why more discs don't have commentaries by legit film buffs, if the people involved in the films are either unable to contribute to one, or simply won't/can't for whatever reason.
also, the mike nelson "mst3k-esque" commentary on the NOTLD dvd was a bit of fun, and i imagine the others he contributed around the same time were similarly interesting.
My two favorite are
Roger Ebert on Dark City. It was really interesting to hear him critique the movie. I really learned a lot about film, style, mood, from it.
Milla Joevich Resident Evil -She's talks like some stupid high school kid. Almost Totally absent minded.
1) Escape from New York (Kurt Russell, John Carpenter)
2) The Thing (Kurt Russell, John Carpenter)
3) Big Trouble in Little China (Kurt Russell, John Carpenter)
4) Zombie 3 (can't remember their names, but the male and female leads proceed to completely rip this movie apart which is hilarious)
5 Jason Goes to Hell (the director and writer take a great attitude in commenting and making fun of this infamous entry in the F13th series.)
UHF- Weird Al/Jay Levey talking about the making. Informative, funny, and I loved Al getting up and walking around for donuts.
Any Kevin Smith Commentary- Any of the commentaries he's done.
Orgazmo- Trey Parker and crew talk about making Orgazmo. The whole Orgazmo disc is great though.
Cannibal! The Musical- same reasons as stated by previous people here.
South Park- Any of the commentaries of the tv shows. Especially for Imaginationland.
Boy Meets World- The Commentaries on the dvd's are great. Especially during the first season, when they had Matthew Lawrence as a guest. They asked him all sorts of questions, and he couldn't answer them, as he wasn't even a cast member of the first season. He's all like, "I was filming Super Human Samurai Syber-Squad at the time. I wasn't even a cast member of this show until the 5th season."
Oh yeah, and I can't forget to mention Bruce Campbell's fantastic commentary tracks for the 3 Evil Dead movies.
Ozzymandias speaks: Much of what I have are older horror films with historians talking. Some have two British film historians that remind me of Cook & Moore's beer drinkers giving the commentary. It's funny to listen to these guys, but they do know their stuff.
The Gunsmoke 50th Anninversary Part One 55 - 65 is a best of with commentaries from James Arness, Dennis Weaver, Angie Dickenson, Barbara Eden, George Kennedy and Adam West.
On Get Smart season one, the pilot episode has two commentary tracks from Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. Another episode has a comentary by Barbara Feldon.
Blackboard Jungle has a track that is Jamie Farr, Paul Mazurky, Peter Ford (Glenn's son) and another man (a producer?).
All time favorite is Hal Borkske on the Ghastly Ones DVD. He swears like a sailor but is funny. He starts off by saying "This movie is going to suck."
Ozzymandias has spoken!!!
i liked the batman: the movie (1966) commentary. listening to adam west and burt ward coo over the catwoman was pretty hilarious.
any commentary featuring george romero has entertained and informed me, as well. he's just a really great speaker, and knows exactly what his fans want to hear about the goings-on behind the scenes.
the american werewolf in london commentary was similiarly informative, giving your backstory on a few of the little easter eggs that landis dropped in there. another very entertaining director, as a person.
commentary on basket case was a lot of fun, although it's been a long time since i've listened to it. it was refreshing, though, to see that henenlotter didn't take himself, or his film too seriously.
conversely, the commentary on the howling III: the marsupials surprised me in that phillipe mora showed that he actually did take care in crafting the movie, and that while it looks like the movie came out hokey, he intended it to be exactly what he produced.
Quote from: ToyMan on August 22, 2008, 09:29:12 PM
i liked the batman: the movie (1966) commentary. listening to adam west and burt ward coo over the catwoman was pretty hilarious.
any commentary featuring george romero has entertained and informed me, as well. he's just a really great speaker, and knows exactly what his fans want to hear about the goings-on behind the scenes.
the american werewolf in london commentary was similiarly informative, giving your backstory on a few of the little easter eggs that landis dropped in there. another very entertaining director, as a person.
commentary on basket case was a lot of fun, although it's been a long time since i've listened to it. it was refreshing, though, to see that henenlotter didn't take himself, or his film too seriously.
conversely, the commentary on the howling III: the marsupials surprised me in that phillipe mora showed that he actually did take care in crafting the movie, and that while it looks like the movie came out hokey, he intended it to be exactly what he produced.
Agreed on the Romero commentaries. I'm a big fan of his.
when i was living in chicago, i saw him at a convention/screening (the crazies/creepshow/day of the dead) and he was so nice and warm-hearted. you get the sense that he's really happy that he never let himself get absorbed into the hollywood system, and went his own way, for his own reasons.
also, whenever he does his dario argento impression, the audience cracks up. great stuff.
Although I'm not a huge fan of audio commentaries in general, Guillermo del Toro's job on
PAN'S LABYRINTH taught me more than I would have thought possible and pointed out images that affected me subliminally, but that I never would have noticed in my own.
Quote from: ErikJ on December 20, 2002, 03:57:02 PM
, but the most entertaining of
> the bunch is the Carpenter/Russell commentary on Escape from
> New York.
I liked their commentary on Big Trouble in Little China
I agree. That one was pretty funny, especially when they start talking about what went wrong with the marketing.
Newspaper ad: Who is this man and where is he going? Kurt Russell: "Who gives a sh!t?"
That and the studio suits just not understanding the movie. Funny stuff.
i don't think we need a whole different thread for worst commentaries, so i'll just put this here-
the commentary for starship troopers has to be the most disappointing one i've come across yet. first off, it's actually a little difficult to understand verhoven from time to time, and worse than that, he spent way too much time talking about the political ideals that inspired the film, and not enough time providing anectodes about its production. i mean, the film is pretty blatant in what it's saying, he didn't really need to spell it out for us, did he?
i'm also mildly disappointed by commentaries where it's really just a bunch of stitched-together audio clips of two or three people talking about the film, especially if it's not scene-specific. i think, off the top of my head, that the commentary for candyman was like this. while it was better than listening to people tell the same old stories they did during the documentaries, or listening to minutes of dead air between scenes, it's just not as entertaining as a "live" commentary, if you ask me.
back to good commentaries, though-
has anyone heard the commentary on the region 2 (uk) edition of they live? is it especially good? when i bought the region 1 disc, i felt like it could have offered more features, and when i found out that the other disc offered a commentary, i felt a little slighted.
My favourites are The Goonies and Big Trouble In Little China. :thumbup:
Quote from: HamishT on December 20, 2002, 07:28:36 PM
2nd up would have to be LOTR: FOTR
Which one? If you get the extended DVDs they have, I believe, FOUR different commentary tracks. (Yes, four!)
Quote from: circus_circus on August 23, 2008, 02:44:45 PM
My favourites are The Goonies and Big Trouble In Little China. :thumbup:
the goonies on is great :thumbup:
No standouts in my mind except maybe "The Incredibles" (or was this supposed to be limited to B-Movies). I'm kind of an animation geek, so I loved all the behind the scenes stuff.
A general comment though: I've decided that producers and directors are going to have interesting stuff to say, stuff I'm glad I learned. And actors, as a general rule, not so much. Partly that's because the actors just weren't aware of 90% of what was going on aside from the brief time they were on the set.
The Old Dark House: Commentary by star Gloria Stuart.
It Came From Outer Space: Tom Weaver brings up some interesting and thoughtful points that inspired a great thread one time at scifilm.org's old message board.
The Day the Earth Stood Still: Robert Wise and Nicolas Meyer
Those stand out in my mind.
C.H.U.D. - The funniest cast commentary I've ever seen. Starts out serious for the first few minutes and then goes total MST3K of their own movie. A must see (or should that be hear?)
Re-Animator, the track with the cast is great, you can tell the really love the movie and had a good time making it.
Bruce on the Evil Dead films, although I remember a spfx guy on ED2 track that was really annoying. Bruce did a good commentary on Thou Shall Not Kill Except... :thumbup:
I'll have to check out those Carpenter/Russel DVD tracks. :cheers:
Quote from: inframan on September 11, 2008, 01:41:49 PM
Re-Animator, the track with the cast is great, you can tell the really love the movie and had a good time making it.
Wow, be interesting to hear what Barbra Crampton had to say about that one particular scene (don't play dumb, you know what I'm talking about!) :)
Just edging out over some others is the commentary from The Hills Have Eyes (the original). I originally didn't think too much of the film (didn't dislike it, just wasn't that impressed) until I watched it a second time with the commentary on, and it made the film much more enjoyable, to me anyway.