I’d love to hear anyone’s opinions on DVD commentaries for movies or TV shows, or whatever, that are as entertaining as the show itself. There are a few that I can think of that have been terrible (mostly in drama or action flicks that get way too into technicalities, like “how we set up this shot” minutiae) but some have been great, like:
Cannibal: the Musical, and if you haven’t seen the movie already, do. Now. It’s fucking hysterical. The commentary is Trey Parker and Matt Stone and the cast getting drunk and talking about the movie, then meandering into gossip about people they know.
Futurama, Seasons 1 & 2. Unlike King of the Hill, The Critic, and The Family Guy, there’s commentary for every single episode. And it’s sterling. David X. Cohen is the most likeable dork, and the guys who animate and write are all like PhDs in various Math and Sciences. And John Dimaggio has the most infectious laugh ever. And Matt Greoning is… Matt Greoning. I assume the Simpsons DVD commentaries are good too, I’ll find out when I get home from work tonight and rip into my Netflix envelopes.
Strangers With Candy, 1 & 2. There’s not commentary for every episode, but as long as I can listen to Stephen Colbert talk, I am very happy. Actually, I feel the same about Amy Sedaris. She’s just so (insert dreamy high-school girl-on-girl crush sigh)… cool.
Well, shee-it, that’s all I can think of right now, but that’s why I started the thread, because I’m curious to know what other people have liked. And… if there is another identiacal thread out there that I’ve overlooked, let me first say that the search is incredibly slow (and I’ll blame my computer), and second, (sheepish) sorry.
To briefly hijak my own thread , Identity was a terrible movie. I can’t believe more- if any- psychiatrists aren’t vocally outraged about the movie gimmick of the psycho who has been cured, or at least helped- OR HAS HE?!?! It seems to make psychiatry look like quackery always.
heh saying psychiatrists should be upset over Identity is like saying buss drivers should be outraged about Speed not showing accurate buss driving.
Really it’s a movie about style and mood with an interesting twist. (or an incredibly stupid twist if you prefer) but saying it has any reflection on psychiatry is silly.
The commentary on This is Spinal Tap! is great. McKean, Guest and Shearer are in character and improv. through the entire movie. They all think Rob Reiner’s beard is fake, and most of the people in the movie are dead. It is very, very funny.
Also, the Hunter S. Thompson commentary on “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is also very funny and strange.
For scholarly information on a film’s production and cultural context, Michael Jeck’s commentary on the Criiterion Seven Samurai is outstanding. For an entertaining good time, any Kurt Russell/ John Carpenter commentary is not to be missed.
I can confirm that the Simpsons DVDs have great commentary, though occasionally they admit that they’re being too quiet, because they’ve recorded so many commentaries that day.
And I’ll add Red Dwarf. Those are some hilarious commentaries, at least for seasons 1 and 2. I haven’t listened to 3 and 4’s yet. At one point, Chris Barrie’s (Rimmer) cell phone goes off, and someone else jokes that it’s the people from Tomb Raider 2, calling to tell him he’d been cut out of the movie.
I second the vote for This is Spinal Tap. Which is odd, because Rob Reiner’s commentary for The Princess Bride is… well, not very gripping. Neither is William Goldman’s. Rob runs out of things to say for long stretches, and Bill has too many backhanded compliments such as, “We would have done this differently if we’d had more money. I don’t think it matters how bad this set looks.”
Also, Frank Oz doesn’t give good commentary for Little Shop of Horrors. For some reason, he seems flat and unengaged. It’s mostly about shot construction, though there are a few gems.
Oddly, I liked Jonathan Lynn’s observations on The Whole Nine Yards. He doesn’t run out of clever anecdotes or insider information, and he manages to describe technical details (like “shooting coverage”) without being dull.
The Simpsons has generally pretty good commentary, especially considering the voice actors are often present to add their comments on characterization.
Also look into the commentary on Life of Brian and The Holy Grail. The Pythons relate a lot of good stories and keep things moving. One gets the feeling that they had more to say that was edited out.
For some reason, I enjoy the commentary for Men in Black, too. Director commentary isn’t always interesting, but Tommy Lee Jones sits in with Barry Sonnenfeld to give the actor’s perspective.
The actors’ commentary for Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers is fun. Billy Boyd and Dom Monahan complain about how the Balrog was hard to work with, never came out of its trailer, never bought a round of drinks…
I haven’t seen a lot of commentary, but I did like Weird Al’s on UHF. He’s obviously well prepared for it. I also liked Ebert’s for Dark City, although during the last two minutes, it’s clear he’s only got one sentence left to say, and he’s dragging it out to fill time.
The in-character commentary on This is Spinal Tap (as stated before) is nearly as funny as the film itself (and that’s saying something). Ebert’s commentaries are usually excellent as both of the ones on Dark City and Citizen Kane are excellent.
I also enjoy all of the Gilliam commentaries, especially the one for Brazil.
Damn you all. Here I am, trying to save money, and you have to go and tell me that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has a commentary track by Hunter S. Thompson himself?
Clerks (the live-action movie AND the animated series) both have pretty good commentaries. Jason Mewes drank a 12-pack prior to the live-action Clerks commentary, which is probably just as well.
While Family Guy didn’t have every show commentaried, the ones that were were pretty good. Especially the one where they define “Cleveland Steamer”.
The commentary to the Jane Fonda film Cat Ballou was pretty funny. It had Dwayne Hickman and Michael Callan yakking and shooting the breeze, like old friends. They both were pretty funny, had that same chemistry as they did in the film (playing partners in crime and uncle / nephew, even though they were the same age).
Callan seemed to be quite regretful that he never got anywhere with Fonda, since “Vadim” (the guy that Fonda was dating at the time) was always hanging around the set. He kept on talking about “Vadim.” Darn that “Vadim.” Hickman seemed to be a good-natured fellow who was now keeping busy with his artwork. Both seemed to be a lot like the characters they played on screen—Callan being a woman-chaser, and Hickman a good-natured, laid-back guy.
The commentary to “Alien” is wonderful in that most of the explanations for how shots or effects were done are like “we had some stagehand on the floor shaking the chair as hard as he could” or “we put my kids in space suits to make the ship look bigger”. I love that sort of stuff.
The commentary to any Farrelly Brothers movie, particularly “Kingpin”, is very funny, self-deprecating, and indicative of a very interesting moviemaking style.
Elijah Wood and Sean Astin, on the other hand, come off as total prats. Every time one of them started talking it was a long wait for them to stop orgasmically moaning about how great everything was. Then one of the other cast members would share a funny anecdote and all would be entertaining again until the next time Sean or Elijah opened their mouths.
Not sure if I agree about the Futurama commentaries. There’s certainly some good stuff in there, and they’re short and sweet, but there seem to be an awful lot of long pauses. And some of the commentaries aren’t much more than occasional chuckles at their own jokes.
The LOTR commentaries are great, though. Even the ones by the effects guys and the production team.
Seven has a very good commentary. It’s largely by some film scholar, but he often acts as moderator, handing you off to the director, the screenwriter, or whomever, for sections of seperately recorded commentaries. It’s very well organized, and it makes sure that there’s always something reasonably interesting being said. It seems like a much better way of doing things then simply having the director sit in a room and say whatever pops into his head.
The commentary in Flesh Gordon, by the director, is so funny and revealing that it could be the storyline of its own movie. It involves shady financing, various law enforement officials trying to shut down the production, and myriad other problems and stories.
The commentary for Fight Club was pretty funny. And speaking of Kevin Smith movies, the commentary for Dogma is great, especially when they start bitching about “Affleck business.”
I’m a big fan of Babylon 5 and have all four available seasons on DVD. I must say for some reason JMS’s commentaries don’t do it for me … I don’t know why, but after a while I get bored and turn’em off. However, on Season 3 there is one (1) episode with commentary by Boxleitner (Sheriden), Wasser (Morden), Doyle (Garibaldi), and Biggs (Dr. Franklin) that is absolutely priceless. Wonderful commentary. Haven’t listened to the season 4 commentary yet, so there may be some good stuff there …
