Best Audio Commentary... (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

I'll second Bey Logan's Hong Kong Legend commentaries, the guy's a walking
HK Action encyclopedia.

Listening to Tom Clancy continually bitch about changes to his novel 'Sum of All Fears' on the commentary track was classic, the poor director must have totally regreted having him along, some very rough examples: "now this bit is all wrong ofcourse", "no no he wouldn't be wearing that", "and he wouldn't do that either", "my terrorists are now neo-Nazi's? that's really pathetic", "Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan? Why why why?"

 

[Kevin M]

Many of the Doctor Who commentaries are quite good (however a few are rather boring...) but primarily the tracks that Tom Baker joins in on are absolutely hilarious...he really is operating in a different reality than most people.

Both the tracks on Spartacus are very good...Ustinov is a truly funny (if droll) man. Howard Fast is in turns interesting and bitter...but he has his reasons, and Dalton Trumbo's analysis (read by actors) is fascinating.

I found Kentucky Fried Movie's commentary to be absolutely hilarious but I laughed so hard at Rick Baker & John Landis' track on Schlock that I had to pause it several times to catch my breath.
Landis: Thank you for buying Schlock...
Baker: What if they rented it?
Landis:...YOU FUCKERS! Don't rent this DVD, it's cheap buy the fucking thing!

IMO, all of George Romero's commentaries are as fun as they get.

 

[CraigK]

All time best and most funny commentary ever....

CARROT TOP on THE RULES OF ATTRACTION (he records it, never having seen the film!!!). Absolutely hilarious.

2nd...anything by Kevin Smith and Company (especially MALLRATS).

3rd: Roger Ebert's commentary for Citizen Kane


Worst...anything by Tim Burton (amazingly and surprisingly boring) and anything by Steven Speilberg...wait a tick...my mistake...he belongs on my list of blowhard directors who don't feel the need to record commentaries (C'mon Stevie...even yer buddy Lucas did 2 already!)

 

[Mark Evans]

Obviously the Kevin Smith ones deserve a mention, as they tend to be quite hilarious. The Clerks: Animated Series one is my favorite, as it starts off both humorous and bitter, but once they start making jokes about the Korean animators it launches into the stratosphere far as hilarity goes .

Ghostbusters is also a great one, ditto Army of Darkness which has a lot of jokes about beating up Bruce Campbell. One of my favorite underrated commentaries is the one to Osmosis Jones, which is very amusing and informative. The movie had already pretty much been written off by the time the DVD came out, and the commentary track similarly reflects this, very honest look at things.

The Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker commentary is also rather interesting. Out of Sight and Vanilla Sky I also like.

 

[Scott D S]

I found Kentucky Fried Movie's commentary to be absolutely hilarious but I laughed so hard at Rick Baker & John Landis' track on Schlock that I had to pause it several times to catch my breath.

 

[LeeL]

I must continue to pimp the commentary track for Cannibal! The Musical as the best, and indeed funniest, in exitence.

Any track that essentially begins with the phrase, "We're drinking Scotch, beer, and wine this evening" and ends with "Let's go to the titty bar!" is AOK by me.

 

[Bryan^H]

If you want a fun commentary track try these:

-The Buddy Holly story. Gary Busey is absolutely insane on this commentary track, and I love it. Also a very informative track.

-Big Trouble in Little China. Kurt Russel, and John Carpentar are great. You can actually hear them going from normal fun loving guys to completely buzzed and a little enibriated, fun loving guys over the course of the film. Drink a few beers when watching, and join the club.

-Spinal Tap. Criterion edition you get to hear the actors as themselves: very funny. MGM special edition You get to hear the actors in character:very,very funny.

 

[PattyFraser]

Since this thread has been revived let me say that Gosford Park has a wonderful commentary by its original screenplay writer and Oscar winner Julian Fellows. If you like the movie you should give this a listen, because Fellows' life equiped him to know of what he speaks. He really sheds even more light on the "upstairs, downstairs" life.

 

[Simon Howson]

Any commentary by Paul Schrader, e.g. Forever Mine, Cat People, Light Sleeper (U.K. version).

 

[Brent M]

All Kevin Smith movies have great commentaries, but the best of all may the commentary that Smith and Mosier did for the new Road House SE DVD. I was almost in tears I was laughing so hard as they just basically rip the movie to shreds for 2 hours. It's hillarious!

 

[BradWOO]

Speaking of Kevin Smith, I really enjoyed his joint commentary with director Richard Kelly on the Donnie Darko Director's cut.

Tim Olyphant and Ian McShane were very funny on the commentary for the first episode of the second season of Deadwood.

Finally, the commentaries on the Freaks and Geeks set are great. And there are a LOT of them.

Other honorable mentions:
The philosophers and critics commentaries on the Matrix trilogy.
David Skal for Dracula and Freaks
Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe for Gladiator Extended Cut
Ridley Scott and William Monahan for Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut
Joel Schumacher for Batman and Robin (yes, I own this dvd, sigh...)
Francis Ford Coppola on the Godfather

 

[Kramer Lowry]

 

[Jim Rankin]

Peter Cowie's commentary in Wild Strawberries. Maybe not the most hilarious commentary, but very informative and is the main reason Bergman became one of my favorite director's.

 

[Charles H]

Daryl Hickman"s audio commentary and reminiscences of LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (based on nearly-60 year old recollections) and 99-year old director Vincent Sherman (who passed away in June) recalling THE HASTY HEART (and something startling and moving happens during his commentary on this 1949 film). Let's face it: most commentaries--no matter how entertaining--are academic. Contemporary participants can't afford candor.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Scott MacQueen's commentaries for the silent and '43 versions of The Phantom of the Opera are great. Everything you'd want to know and then some.

Rudy Behlmer is fantastic, too... he speaks for the ENTIRE run of Gone with the Wind. He starts on the overture and finishes about halfway through the exit music. I also enjoyed his commentaries for The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, and Notorious. Anything Roger Ebert does is pure gold. Brian Sibley's commentary for the '56 Around the World in 80 Days is great since a lot of the cameos would go over the heads of today's audiences. I really liked how he tried to separate Mike Todd bullshit from reality. He was a great showman, but if you want the truth...

On the other hand, the worst I've heard is for Metropolis. It's like sitting through a film theory class for two hours (which I have actually taken). That's one movie that should have had Roger Ebert. Marion Keane's commentary for Notorious is equally boring. I groaned when she went into a long explaination how Cary Grant dropping a wine bottle was meant to be a symbol of ejaculation. Hitchcock obviously put a lot of Freudian and other psychoanalytic stuff into his films, but sometime it sounds like people are making it up as they go.

 

[Adam_WM]

I enjoyed the Star Wars commentaries (all 6 of em). George and crew do a basically good job.

In addition, I'm a huge fan of the "pop-up video" style trivia tracks on movies like Back to the Future and Pulp Fiction.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

When it comes to film historian tracks, Behlmer's the best. I wish he'd do all of them!

 

[Lord Dalek]

Anything by Behlmer, Ebert, and Sir Christopher Frayling (a guy who gets less attention than he deserves).