For the most part, I’ve never seen much of a point in DVD commentary tracks. I doubt I’ve even investigated more than 10% of the tracks of the various discs that have passed through my hands. I can only think of a couple of tracks that I considered listening to more than once. (The Eurotrip commentary is funnier than the actual movie.)
So, what am I missing? Please share you favorite commentary tracks.
The commentary for the Futurama DVDs is fantastic. There is always at least one, if not two, of the voice actors in there (usually Billy West and.or John DiMaggio), and they are really, really funny. Plus Matt Groeining and David X. Cohen are in every one giving nice background info, plus random other directors, writers, etc…
I have also heard that Dr.Horrible’s Sing Along Blog has on it “Commentary: The Musical!”
Yes, the commentary track is also a musical.
Contact has three different commentary tracks; Jodie Foster, Robert Zemeckis & Steve Starkey(producer), and special effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Stephen Rosenbaum. Each of the commentaries is a nice mix between personal stories and technical and logistical explanations of how the movie was made.
It may not be PC to like anything by Mel Gibson right now, but his commentary track on **Apocalypto **with (co-writer Farhad Safinia) is quite interesting. What really comes through is the affection and respect both men had for the local people that they worked with in Mexico.
I love the commentary for This Is Spinal Tap that has Guest, McKean and Shearer discussing the film–in character.
I love the commentaries for The Simpsons and Futurama. they are informative and seem like a fun group of people to hang with.
Kevin Smith’s commentaries are usually as entertaining as the movie.
As another person posted, Dr. Horrible’s Sing A Long Blog does indeed have a commentary made up of original songs (there is also a more traditional commentary as well).
In the commentary for the original V miniseries, Kenneth Johnson gave out his e-mail address and invited people to write him. I wrote him and he actually wrote me back. Plus the commentary itself is well done if you liked that mini series.
Just a few off the top of my head.
Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog and Arrested Development’s.
Roger Ebert’s commentary tracks are outstanding. The one he did for Citizen Kane is a must for anyone who questions that movie’s status as one of the greats (as I once did), and he has one on Dark City that is very good as well.
I loved the DVD commentary of “Mary Poppins.” It was Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews and had Karen Dotrice, who played Jane, and some others.
If you get good people like that, AND the actors are able to comment off the top of their head a DVD commentary rocks.
Otherwise they can be dull.
I think that’s a big part of my ambivalence about commentary tracks. I really don’t care much about the technical aspects of filming a shot and I couldn’t care less about hearing a room full of over developed egos gassing on about how great they all all are. There needs to be at least some attempt at keeping the commentary light, funny, conversational and maybe a little self-mocking. Lectures and ME!-fests can be ignored.
I second the Ebert commentary on Citizen Kane.
Julian Fellowes , the screenwriter, did an excellent commentary on Gosford Park
The commentaries on Criterion discs are usually good but I especially like the ones by Stephen Prince for various Kurosawa films.
Season One of Rescue Me has a commentary on a couple of episodes by Denis Leary himself with one of the directors, and yes, it is funny.
Easy.
**Joss Whedon’s commentary for Objects in Space **on the Firefly DVD.
The Goonies commentary is interesting to listen to, as it sounds essentially like a reunion party. Not sure how much of it is serious, but it seems to mostly be.
When I listened to the I Heart Huckabees commentary I was surprised to find how serious the director took everything in the movie. After a while he seems almost annoyed that the people he’s with don’t get it. At one point he makes a comment like “It’s like Plato’s cave” to Jason Schwartzmann, who responds blankly. You get the sense he’d rather record the track by himself … turns out there is another track, which is just himself.
The commentary for Spartan is a classic case of ‘nobody is likely to listen to this’. It’s just Val Kilmer making stuff up for a while. Funny in a way.
Yeah, this is what I came in to post. It was one of the first commentaries I ever listened to, and it set the bar so high that no other commentary has come close. Even for shows or movies I really enjoy, the commentary adds almost nothing to it for me.
For those who haven’t listened to this, it’s like Joss Whedon has sat down with a class of bourbon in a dark room and watches the episode while discussing each shot’s allusions and particulars, explaining how the show references Sartre, pointing out when the actress’s balletic training is put to good effect, and so on. Far from being, “Dude, you were so pissed at me in that scene, haw haw haw!” stupidity, it adds a whole new philosophical dimension to what superficially comes across as just a creepy thriller episode.
It’s pretty cool.
Bruce Cambell has a great commentary as The King in Bubba Ho Tep
David F. Friedman has several very enjoyable commentaries on several movies he was involved with like She Freak.
The commentaries for Freaks and Racket Girls are also very enjoyable and informative.
He has another really good one on the Casablanca DVD.
Oops nevermind.
In my opinion nothing beats Das Boot with Wolfgang Petersen and Jurgen Prochnow, Ridley Scott on the Alien DVD is great as well.
Anything associated with Judd Apatow is pretty enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed the 40-Year-Old Virgin + Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
At least one of the LOTR DVDs has no less than four commentary tracks (extended edition, I think). While fun, I think this is overkill.
The Blade commentary is a minor gem, IMO. Wesley Snipes and a writer (mostly Snipes) crack a lot of jokes about the movie about why actresses weren’t showing cleavage that year and how the Blade needs a sex partner (their proposed title for the sequel was “Blade II: Blade Gets Laid”).
Tropic Thunder has Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black, so you know it’ll be amusing. What’s awesome is that Downey does it in character-- just as his character said in the film. As Black pointed out, it must’ve made the six months between the end of filming and laying down the commentary a little difficult.