Opinion: The Best and Worst DVD Commentary You've Listened To? (1 Viewer)

[Nkosi]

Commentary: Hillarious is probably the best word to describe the commentary. Both Arnold and John Milius really seem like they are having genuine fun reminiscing. Plus, the love Milius put into this film is evident from his comments and insight.

Film: In my opinion it was the best of the Sword and Sorcery type films to come out in the 80s. It's a story of revenge, love, and determination. Tons of action. Good acting. James Earl Jones is the bad guy. A classic score by Basil Poledouris. It's the film that really made Arnold a star. Highly recommended.

 

[Nkosi]

My favorite commentaries:
- Lord of the Rings EE for both Fellowship and Two Towers (4 great commentaries for each film)
- Blade II
- Conan The Barbarian

You can really feel the passion of all those involved through the sincerity of their words.

Most disappointed (not necessarily worse):
Spike Lee's Bamboozled and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (no relation) are two of my favorite movies from two of my favorite directors. However, I was disappointed with both commentaries. I wanted more insight into the philosophies and historical perspectives of each film.

BTW, I have nothing against the surname- Lee.

 

[Nate Anderson]

I've always liked Affleck's commentary on "Armageddon." He spends the entire time making fun of the movie.

 

[Vincent Fok]

Worst: film critic/historian Richard Schickel's commentary on Once Upon A Time In America. Again suffering from the 'simply-telling-what's-on-screen' syndrome, with not much insight. The plain commentary kills an otherwise-okay SE DVD.

 

[Jeff D Han]

I forgot to mention Coppola's trac for the Godfather-
it's a great track. He goes into alot of behind-the-
scenes stuff about how Paramount almost fired him several
times, and how they didn't want Brando, etc.

The Tarantino/ Rodriguez track for From Dusk Till Dawn
is an entertaining listen. Quentin also speaks on
True Romance (he wrote the screenplay).

I just finished listening to Nia Vardalos's comments
for My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I would have to put this
track in my favorite list also. She is warm, friendly
and enthusiastic about the film and the people she
worked with. John Corbett doesn't say much, but when
he talks he comes across as a good guy also.

 

[Will*B]

Ok, here's my opinion:

Best:
'The Limey' (Both tracks are stunning)

Worst:
Tie between 'Fawlty Towers' (my favorite show, but commentaries that will make you suicidal)
and 'Zombie' (Too much Nytol for the participants)

 

[Wouter Heyse]

Good commentaries:
-any commentary by Bey Logan on the R2 Hong Kong Legends DVDs. I don't know how he manages to dig up the incredible amount of information on each film, but if ever there were commentaries giving you information about the movie rather than just describing it, these are the ones to go for.
-anything with Bruce Campbell. It's like hanging out at the bar with him while he entertains you with his stories.
-I gotta second QT and RR on From Dusk Till Dawn, simply a great listen
-Steve Wang, Mark Dacascos, Kadeem Hardison and Koichi Sakamoto on the director's cut of Drive, one of the most natural commentaries I have ever heard. These guys must have really gotten along.

Bad commentaries:
-The Beastie Boys and various others on the Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology (Criterion). It's a great DVD set, but holy lord, were those commentaries ever useless.
-another vote for The Matrix. Might also have been because I expected a whole lot more.
-Roger Kumble on Cruel Intentions. Not that he was boring to listen to, but the fact that he made it so extremely clear throughout the entire commentary that he had no clue what he was doing when he made the movie really got on my wrong side

 

[DaveF]

These commentaries increased my understanding and appreciation of their movies:

Citizen Kane - Roger Ebert. He opened up the movie and taught me a great deal about its art and story construction. Excellent.

Dark City - Roger Ebert. Same as for CK, he brought a lot of depth to an above-average movie. (I haven't listened to Alex Proya's track yet.)

The Talented Mr. Ripley - I didn't really understand this movie initially. After the commentary, I really enjoyed and appreciated it much more. It also showed me many subtleties that I never would have caught.

Dead Man Walking - Tim Robbins. This sublime movie is further enhanced by its informative commentary.

Some others are:
Deep Blue Sea - Killer shark movie, with a surprisingly decent commentary track.

Big Trouble in Little China - Kurt Russel and John Carpenter. They are having a good time and it's initially amusing. But they get so far off track with stories about their kids that I lost interest halfway through.

Toy Story - John Lassiter and co. This was just fun. And he clearly understand the value of monkeys

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory A great idea, having the now-grown children watching the movie together. But, at the end, I was mildly disappointed. I had very high expectations, but they didn't really say much that grabbed me. It's interesting, but missable. Don't buy the movie just for the commentary.

 

[Jon Martin]

One of the funniest I have heard is the commentary for CAN'T HARDLY WAIT with the two directors and star Seth Green. Green does the first hour of the commentary with a British accent for no reason. The three are very funny together.

One of the worst, RUSHMORE. Just incredibly dull. I loved the film and Wes Anderson, but hard to get through staying awake. Another awful one, John Hughes for FERRIS BUELLER. He has no sense of humor and it is another deadly dull listen. "Straight" commentaries for comedies do not work.

And have to agree, CONAN is a great commentary. To clarify, the opening is Arnold saying "I am John Milius" and Milius saying "And I am Arnold" and then Arnold saying "And if you believe that, there are little Richard Simmons' running around".

 

[David Brown Eyes]

My favorite will always be Jim Lovell from Apollo 13.

 

[TommyT]

Oh, c'mon now! Haven't you heard the cast & Brian Yuzna on the Millennium Ed of Re-Animator? They're all quite jazzed about doing the track & you can tell they had a lotta fun making the film! Give it a listen, it may be your one exception.

Other good cast commentaries: Boogie Nights, Se7en, Chasing Amy.

Also, the commentaries from MP & the Holy Grail: "Commentary by Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones, plus general complaints and back-biting by John Cleese, Eric Idle & Michael Palin."

BUT, the best Python track is definitely the one from The Life of Brian, esp where they talk about where the idea for the PFJ vs JPF came from. Also, Palin points out a spot where he almost lost it filming a scene with Pilate.

 

[Matthew Marino]

Best: From Dusk Till Dawn
Worst: Kingpin. The entire commentary is the Ferelly brothers pointing out that every extra is someone they know. Too bad we don't know them or care.

 

[cwhite]

Best: "Ronin" by John Frankenheimer. Film school in a box-like a classroom lecture, very informative.

Worst: "The Matrix"

 

[Kevin M]

Every track I have heard by Guillermo del Toro has been nothing less than fascinating & certainly not lacking in humor, I particularly like the track on The Devil's Backbone.

I feel the same way (with one well known exception) about all of John Carpenter's track's, my personal favorite being Assault on Precinct 13.

The only track of William Freidkin's that I haven't found exceptionally good is The Exorcist:TVYNS.

 

[Jim Blackie]

Best-
Terry Gilliam - Brazil
Ebert - Dark City & Citizen Kane
Campbell - Evil Dead 2

Worst-
Carpenter & Russell - The Thing (beer drinking and cigarette smoking laugh fest)
Fawlty Towers - Bad audio control, mostly silence or breathing

 

[Kenny Goldin]

Best:
3. Romero/Lustig "The Crazies" (Just listened to it today)
2. Myers "Star Trek II"
1. Forget who "Silent Night, Deadly Night II" Seriously. This is a riot and the movie is really really bad but I love it for some reason.

 

[Dan V]

You really can't go wrong with anything by Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott, David Fincher, or Roger Ebert. One of my favorites I don't recall being mentioned is the Wolfgang Peterson commentary on Das Boot. Very informative and entertaining as well. I also found Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to be disapointing as well .Not a horrible commentary, but they really didn't delve into anything of any substance

 

[Estevan Lapena]

Best: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson.
Nothing can beat a wacky drugged out writer, ever.

 

[James T]

I knew it was something along those lines. It's been years since I heard the commentary. It is a pretty hilarious commentary. I liked the part when Millus and Schwarzenegger are talking about Conan finding the Atlantean sword and how Arnold really fell down those stairs and was really bleeding.

And I had Army of Darkness for years, but have yet to listen to the commentary...I guess I'll listen to that sometime soon.

 

[Vincent_P]

One of the best (for all the wrong reasons): Roger Christian on BATTLEFIELD: EARTH. Seriously, it's fascinating to listen to him talk about this turd of a film like it's some sort of misunderstood masterpiece.

Vincent