My most loved commentary would be the one for "Starship Troopers" - I really wonder why no one has mentioned it yet. Paul Verhoeven is hilarious: he yells, he informs, he argues with the screenwriter (who is very earnest about the whole thing, social commentary etc.)... I love hearing it.
When Verhoeven starts imitating the bugs, he makes perhaps the most frightening scream I have ever heard in my life.
Terry Zwigoff and Roger Ebert contribute an excellent commentary on the (Criterion) dvd of the documentary, CRUMB. One learns not only about the artist and his family, but how difficult getting a film made and released can be, especially a documentary this uncompromising.
A semi-worthless nod to "The Caine Mutiny" which is okay on film production background concerning the property's development, but which then gives us two people who don't know the overall history regarding the book and the play sufficiently. And then, when actors who later became famous for their work on TV pop up, they prove to be abysmally ignorant. It takes them three minutes to fish for the name of Whit Bissell when he appears during the trial scene as the psychiatrist and I am shouting at the screen, "WHIT BISSELL, you morons!" and when they finally do remember one of them says, "the psychiatrist on I Dream Of Jeannie." (Wrong!).
I recognize being a TV history buff is a different animal from being a film buff, but these things should be gone over *before* the recording session begins so we don't have to be subjected to these embarrassing moments that end up leaving a permanent record of wrong information.
"Hong Kong cinema expert" Bey Logan does superb work on the various "Dragon Dynasty" DVD commentaries....he's enthusiastic, rarely leaves a second of film unwasted, and has an obvious love for the Asian action/martial arts genres. I'm always in good hands when I listen to one of his tracks.
Did Ebert record a lot of commentary tracks? The one he did on CRUMB is surprisingly the first one I've heard from him. Maybe he just didn't do them for movies I like...
Did Ebert record a lot of commentary tracks? The one he did on CRUMB is surprisingly the first one I've heard from him. Maybe he just didn't do them for movies I like...
He recorded several that I know of:
Dark City
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (I don't know if it's on Blu-Ray)
Three's not really that many. In a just world*, Roger Ebert would have recorded more DVD commentaries than, say, Leonard Maltin, but I'll bet that's not the case.
The blu-ray of GBU has added a commentary track from Christopher Frayling! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The previous dvd had only a soporific, sleep inducing Richard Schickelgruber ("this is a wonderful scene")
Frayling is not only an expert on the logistics of making film but can really anaylze why it is unique (or derivative in some cases) In particular, his comments on how the film treated the Civil War are outstanding.
Check it out! bruce
ps Frayling talks extensively about Morricone's score (and, references the FSM article written by Yours truly
Terry Zwigoff and Roger Ebert contribute an excellent commentary on the (Criterion) dvd of the documentary, CRUMB. One learns not only about the artist and his family, but how difficult getting a film made and released can be, especially a documentary this uncompromising.
Zwigoff later returned for a solo commentary on CRUMB and it's just as fresh, engaging, and informative as the previous one with Ebert. Highly recommended.
And for a completely different type of film, The Goonies commentary is a ton of fun and surprisingly coherent given the large number of cast involved. Corey Feldman is one charming son of a bitch and Josh Brolin is dryly brilliant.
One worthless commentary I heard a couple years ago was Phil Tippet and another FX guy on "Giant Behemoth." It was nothing more than an MST3K wannabe thing in which their disdain for the movie was non-stop, as well as their ignorance of the film's production or its actors etc. and all they wanted to yap about was the FX and how boring the movie was until they were on-screen. It doesn't occur to them or the idiots who hired them that maybe those who bought the film didn't want to hear a couple ignorant people about the film put it down endlessly. People who want an MST3K style commentary can get the genuine article elsewhere.
MEET JOHN DOE features a commentary that includes VAST silences, which I find incredibly irritating since I've generally already seen the film recently.
Just listened to director Robert Altman's track on the M*A*S*H DVD. Talk about a snoozefest. Long stretches of silence and little information to chew on. Why did he bother? He states how much he hates the TV series and how it perpetuated racism for eleven seasons. Good grief.
Frankenheimer and John Carpenter always make great commentaries.
Absolutely! Carpenter's commentaries are invariably my favourite.
Though I haven't heard it, I have it on good authority that William Friedkin's commentary for THE EXORCIST is nothing short of bland and banal.
Depends on which version you're watching. The commentary on the theatrical version is *okay*, but the commentary on the expanded "Version You've Never Seen", he's simply telling you what you're looking at --- as if you can't see for yourself what you're looking at. (A wasted opportunity to tell us stuff he hadn't told us on the theatrical version commentary, IMO.)
I agree that the cast is not to be had on commentaries. I'm not interested in what they think of the character and their inner workings. What equally doesn't interest me are comments on what lens they used, f-stops and the likes. I'm not a film student nor do I desire to be a cameraman.
If you want fun comments: "Airplane", "the naked gun" series and "Sledge Hammer". Alan Spencer completely lets go his intro to the first season is hilarious and the last commentary on the last disc has a fantastic ending, typically in his style. Those DVDs I always play with the comments on. That to me has now become the main attraction.
