I thought the first Resident Evil movie was a decent movie. I liked it, but I wouldn’t have given it high praise for originality or anything. It was a movie where you’d watch in the theaters, be entertained for a while, then forget about. Maybe once every 3 years you’d catch part of it on TV and watch it if there’s nothing else on
However, a friend of mine had the DVD and after listening to the running commentary, it explained a lot and made the movie so much more interesting. I think I prefer to watch it with the commentary on now because it just adds to the movie so much. Part MST3K, part information, the young cast just made the whole experience way better than what came out in the theaters. I could really hear their enthusiasm for the movie and it was hilarious to listen to Milla talk about not wanting her little brother to see her nipples onscreen.
I’ve also heard good things about the commentaries for the early Simpsons seasons, so that I may actually go out and buy them instead of just catching the reruns shown here twice a day.
One movie that I didn’t like the commentary much was in the Lord of the Rings. As much as I liked the actors’ portrayals, listening to Christopher Lee drone on and on about acting with Ian Mckellan was dull and pointless. Often, their voices would drown out the younger members of the cast who actually had something interesting to say.
Any other commentaries add a lot to the finished product?
I have rarely listened to a commentary that actually added anything to a movie. Some are absolutely horrible.
The commentary for Seven Days in May was good, since you had the director talking about the decisions he made and how certain things were done.
I like the commentary on Battlefield Earth. Nothing could improve that crapfest, and the commentary didn’t. But it was hilarious listening to the director talking about how great each scene was.
Ask the Dust is an O.K. romance set in 1930’s Los Angeles. But it has my all-time favorite DVD commentary by writer/director Robert Towne. He grew up in Los Angeles, and his reminiscences about the city turn the movie into a brilliant historical documentary.
What movie was it that had someone not even related to the movie do the commentary? It may have been a comedian or something. I think he even ordered a pizza and allowed the delivery guy to speak some.
I thought Seven was much better after I’d listened to the commentary. I had a lot more respect for Brad Pitt’s performance after listening to him discuss the character and how he tried to get at nuances of his personality.
Oh, and although I loved El Mariachi anyway, learning from Rodriguez on the commentary track what they had to deal with to shoot each scene was really impressive. One scene involved a borrowed wheelchair used as a dolly for shooting, with, IIRC, one of the main actors sitting in it and holding the camera still while Rodriguez pushed the wheelchair.
Lol, the first shot of her when she wakes up in he shower, her pussy is on screen…
Dodgeball is a funny movie, but the DVD commentary is hilarious. I greatly encourage you to watch it (it doesnt last the whole movie IIRC).
It’s like a satire of many DVD commentaries, funnily it sounds like a direct satire of the Snatch commentary. Except in Dodgeball they’re joking, in Snatch, it is obvious that both Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn are total pricks.
John Boorman’s commentary for **Zardoz **was revealing.
He admitted that there were many parts of the movie didn’t quite come off as he intended.
He also pointed out which scenes were literally filmed in his own backyard.
Roger Ebert has done commentary tracks for a very few movies. I’ve heard the ones for Casablanca and Citizen Kane and he did a nice job of explaining the significance of the movies.
Euro Trip. Overall, an adequately funny teen road trip/sex romp comedy, but nothing to write home about.
But the director and writer (and maybe someone else? I forget) did the commentary locked in a room with some pizzas and a bunch of booze, and it made the movie exponentially funnier.
Anyone know how the DVD commentary for Seinfeld is? Would it be worth it to get the season sets for only the commentary? I’ve seen the episodes a million times, hoping the commentary would add something new
I watched all the seasons of Stargate Atlantis on DVD and listened to all the commentaries. They are the standard to which all commentaries should be held, IMO. They gave a lot of industry information, why they did certain shots the way they did, budget constraints, compliments to set designers and set design tricks, how CGI shots worked, how well the actors did and how bad a day they were having off-set, which shots were done months later, and look see how his hair is different, mistakes that made it on-air (see the candy wrapper on the control panel? See the guy in the doorway in the background wearing a toolbelt?), notes and comments on the script and how they had to make sure characters’ stories stayed in sequence through the series because episodes aren’t shot in order, and on and on.
Really neat to listen to. Each DVD made for at least 6 hours of time-killing leisure.
The Katherine Orrison commentary on the 1923 silent version of *The Ten Commandments. *
I rented the dvd a few years ago and got bored after the movie changed from the ancient Egypt and Old Testament section to the United States in the 1920s.
After listening to the commentary, it helped me see the tie ins between the first and second parts of the movies. I also learned a lot about filming epic movies in the 1920s and what Cecil B. DeMille was trying to accomplish in the 1923 film. I now watch it at least once per year.
I like the ones with the actors and Larry David, they often have lots of funny things to say and interesting insights but the real draw is the “Inside Look” featurettes that go with almost every episode, which is like a short commentary in interview form. The special features altogether are astounding but I don’t know whether the commentaries alone are good enough to warrant a purchase.
I don’t know if this is what you’re referring to but I know Carrot Top did the commentary for The Rules Of Attraction despite having no connection to the film whatsoever.