“But I think we pulled it off” and other DVD audio commentary inanities - Page 5

Mr. de Lauzirika is in a definite position to know for sure.

I have to second the director's commentary for this flick. Guillermo Del Toro is too damn funny! For example, when Damaskinos makes his entry in the movie, Del Toro makes mention of the fact the actor originally had a wig for the scene, and Del Toro exclaims, "It's f$@kin' Michael Bolton!". Then to see the wig in the deleted scenes, makes it even more funny!

8^B

Some are paid, some not. Usually not, I should think.

For example, Bill Paxton mentions not being paid (except for a beer) in the new Aliens commentary.

Big name stars probably demand a fee, and critics and historians who put in homework probably do too, but from what I can tell, anyone without a load of clout is just expected to contribute gleefully.

Well.......yeah!




I find Friedkin is interesting when he actually likes the film he is talking about, in fact about the only track from him that I dislike is the one on Exorcist: TVYNS as I think that he wasn't as personally interested in making that version as he was on his other "original" films (he has stated elsewhere that that it was for William Peter Blatty that he did that cut anyway) so he phoned it in IMO.

Brian, you are correct, he is in DVD production and played a large part in the Alien Quad set.

The best-known example occurred when Schwarzenegger got 75 grand for Total Recall - stirred up a big controversy around these parts...

If you tend to fall asleep listening to commentary, look out for Paul Verhoeven's commentary on Starship Troopers. At one point he starts shouting about something. That'll wake you up.

my most HATED commentary is the 'mock' commentary on blood simple. just awful. i dont mind if a commentary is a little boring, but this one just annoyed me. and i forgot about my favorite commentary of all time in my first post. i thought it was boogie nights, but it is indeed the commentaries on the first season of the upright citizens brigade. they are just as funny as the episodes themselves. which, if you are a fan of the ucb, says a lot. gold, jerry, GOLD!

CJ

Case in point: Spielberg.


(a) I wish I could get my hands on a copy
(b) Reminds me of high school literature class: when studying Hemingway's Old Man And The Sea, the teacher was going on about how the lions he dreamt of represented this and that, then in a later class, he told us Hemingway himself said that the lions didn't represent anything at all.

I recently listened to Cameron's commentary on T2, which he did with the writer (whose name escapes me). Whilst Cameron certainly had a lot of interesting stuff to say (making this for me a very good commentary), one distraction was the sheer number of times Cameron cut off the other guy. Fair enough, Cameron was the director and creator of the franchise, but it struck me as being a bit rude, especially since when the writer spoke, his stuff was also pretty interesting, and some of the times, when he got cut off, his remarks seemed to preface what might have been something quite interesting, but the moment passed and he never got back to it since the movie had moved on. Don't get me wrong, this is a fine commentary and a must-listen for any fan of T2, but it's a minor gripe.

You're applying logic and good form to an industry that frequently lacks both.

I think I'm being overly fair in saying that 99% of all commentaries are done for no pay. I would bet serious money that the real percentage is actually higher.

And there you have it. Thanks Charlie.

-V

Which must be pretty close to being a definitive statement on the matter. Many thanks for letting us know, Charlie.

Which leads me to wonder: why? Given that we all tend to think rather cynically about the movie business, why are these people willing to do something for free which will assist the studio in making even more money? I'd like to think it's because they enjoyed the experience in making the movie, and welcome the opportunity to reminisce and share their views and experiences with the audience, but the cynic in me thinks about residuals, improves the back-end (if the person in question gets a cut), it's marketing the person, if the movie in question was a big success, and so on.

One assumes, though, that nowadays contracts will include as part of the scope of duties participating in making any subsequent DVD release of the movie, either by giving interviews for featurettes, providing a commentary, or such.

Here's an excerpt from the Ichi The Killer Commentary, done by the director and manga artist:

"- I got really irritated by this girl, [actress name], while shooting this scene.
- Why?
- She was just irritating, and I got even more irritated as the filming went on.
[actor is hitting the actress on screen]
- It was originally two blows but I made it four later."

Although the participants weren't prepared at all for this commentary, it's still a fun one, because of their unbelievable candidness..

Might I suggest director Jack Sholder's commentary on The Hidden. He's quite entertaining and very forthright about his film and cast.

"The fella who plays the doctor and the woman who played the nurse are just atrociously bad actors."

My favourite comment regarding the film's star, Jack Nouri:

"When I started to work with Michael for the first few days I was thinking this guy's like Cary Grant. He's good looking, he's smart, he's funny. Why isn't this guy the biggest star in Hollywood? Unfortunately I found out.
We had some personality problems."

Adam

Thanks Charlie, you know audio commentaries are usually my favorite extras so I am thankful to those people that take their time to do one even if they're not getting paid for it.

I always figured that people like Arnold The Governator were more the acception than the rule, and now I basically have it confirmed.

This is not to single you out here, Mark, but to touch upon this point in general.

Is the consumers’ decision in choosing not to listen to a commentary track and paying it no mind at all dissimilar to there simply not being one in the first place?
One must not loose sight of the fact that what may not be considered worth while to one consumer may well be considered so to another. The replies thus far in this thread in fact prove this fact, with many voicing their different preferences for commentaries.
At the end of the day, a commentary track may be on a DVD and yes, it may be good or it may be bad, yet, it is simply a matter of choice whether one chooses to listen to it or not. Many seem to forget, though I can’t establish why, that there's no obligation to actually do either.


I'm continuously baffled by what seems like a growing sense of greed in regard to the consumer expectations of supplementary material with DVD, most notably with commentary tracks where we seem to settle down and bark “entertain me, damn you!” as we sit and listen. It’s all part of this rather disturbing trend now where we'll moan if we don't get something, then moan if we do!
I was left bemused when recently reading reaction to the announcement of a special edition of Panic Room for instance. Some eighteen-months ago so many were stressed that there wasn't one, now there is, it's three discs no less, and some people see fit to knock its very existence.

I know Brian’s thread was created with innocent enough intentions to garner response as to what commentaries many considered sub par, but discussion seems to have progress to the level where I feel this point can be made. I do have to wonder, have so many lost all ability to be grateful of at least being given choice in what we watch and listen to?

Dan (UK)

Whereas I love this. Does it tell me anything at all about the film. No. But it is bloody funny, and provides great entertainment.

What do you mean it tells you nothing about the film? Within the first half hour I learned that an entire sequence was shot backwards for no apparent reason and that the dog was a very advanced animatronic.

Regards,

Charlie, I was just joshing you I know it can't be easy. I'm listening to the Aliens track now (thanks, I might add).

And I'll second what Dan said. The culture of consumer entitlement has stretched beyond all reasonable proportions. The only legit gripe about a commentary should be if one is advertised when a purchase is made, and subsequently is not a part of the product.

Like movies, some commentaries are good, and some bad.

And CdL, for the NEXT edition of Aliens, please contact me for MY commentary. I watched that film on loop during the summer of 1987 (or 1988, whenever my buddy taped it off HBO for me). It will be well worth my $200,000 (and a date with Jodie Foster) fee.

Thank you,
Chuck

So you think it's not fair for us to want an informative commentary track? Why are you saying that I don't have the right to be upset with something that I just spent over an hour listening to and expect a certain amount of value with? You make it sound like we shouldn't expect 'quality' from the extras. Shouldn't we have the right to demand 'good' commentary tracks in exchange for the storage space they take away from the video quality? That's what I meant by " if you're not going to produce a worth while commentary track, don't bother to include it on the DVD" - Don't take away video quality to produce 'sub-par' extras. Yes, I'll agree that not everyone can agree on what is considered a 'quality' commentary track, but there are many points we all seem to agree upon - the LONG pauses are definitely a big complaint with consumers. This is VERY evident in the South Park 3 commentaries where Matt and Trey have limited the commentary to no more than 4 or 5 minutes because they mention how they hate it when directors sit around and have nothing to say about the film.

I need to go back to this again. Why must you make everyone feel like a bunch of whiny babies? Please let us discuss our issues with DVD's without the lecture.

As far as the 'nit-picky' things that we are all discussing, these are just being mentioned to keep an engaging conversation going...Considering the commentary tracks are marketed mainly toward film buffs (i.e. the average J6P doesn't care to listen to the commentary tracks), I think it's fair to assume that most people on this forum are what the commentary tracks are produced for, so all the comments should be heard. Not that EVERY complaint should be addressed and changed, but there are plenty of issues that should be seriously looked at when producing a commentary.

Since my last post was long winded, I thought I'd litten things up a bit.

I recently got the "Triumph the Insult Comic Dog" CD that came with a bonus DVD. The DVD had a commentary track, it was hysterical because this is how it started off:

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

The cast/John Chambers commentary on the new Planet of the Apes is a horrific offender on the dead silence front; since it's not scene-specific I don't understand that. Why not just let it run, and be done before the film is??? The Goldsmith commentary is a different issue, since his talking is only in the segments where there's no music (but not an isolated score, "damn you all to hell").

One track I liked but pissed me off at the same time was the one for The Goonies. It was cool that they got all of them to participate and the video segments were a great touch. But everyone was cutting each other off left and right. I remember Sean Astin wanting to tell a story about an encounter he had with Cindi Lauper during the production but he couldn't get the other actors to pipe down long enough to tell the story. To his credit, Corey Feldman tried to help him out and get everybody to quiet down, but to no avail. Then Astin dissappears midway through. I kind of wish they had edited those parts out because it just ended up being a tease. The problem with commentaries like that is alot of the time it's all "Oh remember when we did that?" "Yeah that was fun!" and you don't learn much about the film. It would have been nice if "The Goonies" also had a solo Donner track as well.

Double Post, excuse me

Of course, this does bring up an interesting point about films in general. That somehow comraderie, jovialness (if that is such a word), and "happy endings" are irritating and the only good honesty on Earth is brutal.

I agree with people's annoyance with self-congratulatory commentaries, but I'd hate to think that it's wrong for people to have a blast while making a film and to have them share their stories with other people. Not every revelatory moment in life has to involve misery.

Which makes the Goldsmith track a true annoyance. Who cares if he talks over the music? It's the same soundtrack I can hear elsewhere if desired, so there's no reason for him NOT to talk over the music. The absence of an isolated score just makes Goldsmith's track another standard commentary. He's good when he talks, but that fills so little space that the commentary is massively frustrating, and all the dead air serves no point since it fails to present an isolated score...

Yeah but it also sounds like you're saying that it is perfectly fine for you to offer up your opinion on the subject/thread but it isn't ok for him to put his two cents in on the subject. I mean I personally didn't see him single out anyone in particular, just a general observation of the prosess of greed/complaint in regards to DVD extras (in this case commentaries).
Nothing wrong with that as far as I can see (whether I agree with him or not), hell even the thread starter agreed with him on most of his points.

there was one part in the Snipes/Goyer track that made me laugh out loud:

Goyer: when the execs first met Guillermo, there were a bit reticent with the idea of him directing Blade2
Snipes: if by reticent you mean they didn't want him to do it, then yeah...