Examples for good and bad commentaries
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killerparties — 16 years ago(June 14, 2009 12:25 PM)
I've only listened to del Toro's commentary track for
Hellboy
, and not the actors', but I would at least agree that his commentary is excellent. And that seems to be something he can just do well, because his commentaries for
Pan's Labyrinth
and
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
are also really great.
If you want a phenomenal example of some commentary tracks, look no further than the extended editions of the
Lord of the Rings
films. Each film comes with four commentary tracks - one for the director and writers, one for the actors, and two others that are divided up amongst various production people (I believe one involves people who would have been working on set like cinematographer, art director, etc., while the other is for post-production related duties like the editor, digital artists, etc.).
So far I've listened to the commentaries with writer/director Peter Jackson and screenwriters Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyen twice all the way through, and they're very very good. Never a dull moment, you learn a lot of fun behind the scenes stuff, a lot of interesting things about their approach, and the three of them just come off as fun/funny people (there's a great bit in there somewhere about Jackson admitting he was eating Lembas bread props when nobody was looking). I've heard bits and pieces of the actors commentary, and they, likewise, sound like they're having a lot of fun.
Another film with great commentaries is
Boogie Nights
, which has two - one with just writer/director/producer Paul Thomas Anderson, which is mostly just informative (but still fun, especially if you're into filmmaking), and the other consists of Paul Thomas Anderson interviewing/watching the film with virtually all members of the cast. This one is more funny than anything, with lots of behind-the-scenes stories, and Anderson asking every cast member, "Do you think Luis Guzmn was stoned on set?"
Sometimes, I notice commentaries work really well when they're made up of different people edited together. Ridley Scott's
Alien
,
Gladiator
, and the
Kingdom of Heaven
director's cut all have great commentaries with him and a few others. On the other hand, the commentary with Scott on
Blade Runner
(the final cut) is just him, and it bored me to tears I had to turn it off. When he had something to say, I would listen, but he's quiet for long stretches.
The
Aliens
commentary track is also pretty fun, with Cameron, various cast members, crew members, etc. Bill Paxton is beep hilarious in that commentary.
However, the multiple people rule doesn't always pan out - I agree that the
Star Wars
commentaries are terrible. They mostly have what? Four people or so? Lucas, Dennis Muran for the SFX discussions, Ben Burtt for the sound discussion, and Carrie Fisher. They're all boring (sans Fisher), and I agree - the
Star Wars
trilogy should have gotten the
LOTR
treatment in terms of commentaries. And I can't stand listening to the prequel commentaries, because I can't stand to listen to Rick McCallum gush over every single thing George Lucas says and does.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other commentary that was boring, and that was Mel Gibson's track for
Braveheart
. I watched it for maybe 20 minutes before I turned it off, because he wasn't speaking much. I've also been told Tim Burton doesn't say much on his commentary tracks.
Edit:
I just remembered one of my favorites that I can't believe I forgot!
Citizen Kane
has an AMAZING commentary by Roger Ebert.
God is nowhere, God is now here
"Tell them that joke you know." -
Doegred — 16 years ago(August 07, 2009 04:11 PM)
I'm with you on the LotR commentaries, especially the ones for FotR (I suspect they did it while the experience was still fresh in their minds, which is why they're the most lively ones. I might be wrong & they may very well have recorded them all at the same time, but that's how it feels to me.) The one with Jackson, Walsh and Boyens are very interesting and the actors' is a lot of fun to listen to.
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killerparties — 16 years ago(August 07, 2009 04:26 PM)
I seem to remember hints throughout the commentaries that they were recorded sometime after the initial theatrical releases of each film. I definitely get a similar sense though that there was a bit more excitement in the first commentary, as I think they were then in the process of editing TTT. I definitely get the sense that by the time they recorded the commentary for ROTK, they were a bit worn out. I think I even remember a point where Jackson asks the audience, "You guys still here? You sure you don't want to get some sleep or something?" at the start of the second disc. And I definitely remember them talking briefly about
King Kong
on that commentary, so you can already tell they were pretty much ready to move on to the next project.
Even with all that, Jackson and his co-writers are still fun personalities (I think a lot of it owes how well they get along with each other) and fairly informative, more so than a lot of the directors who don't have a whole lot interesting to say.
"God is nowhere, God is now here"Hey Nostradamus
, Douglas Coupland -
mentalcritic — 15 years ago(December 04, 2010 08:20 PM)
Your opinion is no longer of any interest to me.
The
Lord Of The Rings
commentaries, especially on the second film, are a classic example of what happens when filmmakers think they are owed adoration and admiration, rather than under obligation to earn them. I forget which hag it is, but her challenge to the audience to tell her how they are going to put in one of her superfluous additions without having Aragorn going over the cliff and prompting the story to stop dead in its tracks proves once and for all that the entertainment industry is in serious need of a proper shakeup. Any first-year creative writing student knows the ideal solution: do not put in the rubbishy addition at all - keep the fu kking story moving forward, thank you!
This is to say nothing of just how arrogant they come across when trying to justify what they retain or cut out from their source material. When their subsequent films began to meet with increasing failure, I remembered their audio commentaries and laughed my butt off at them.
Tim Burton, by comparison, says quite a lot on his commentaries that is both interesting and very revealing. His words about working with Jack Palance or the opening sequence on
Batman Returns
share more insight into filmmaking in less than ten minutes than Jackson et al could learn if they lived to be a thousand.
By far the best audio commentaries you will ever get to hear are Paul Verhoeven's. Regardless of whether he is solo or with others, his speech about the specifics of getting involved with a film or how they overcame challenges is almost as entertaining as the film itself. On the
RoboCop
commentary, his writer and producer even goad him along at times, trying to see how overexcited they can get him so he will say even more hilarious things. He is a lot more reserved when he does his commentary solo, but some of the things he shares about how a shot was accomplished or what he was trying to tell the audience in a shot really make one see the film in a whole new light.
George Romero also tends to deliver interesting commentary when the subject is one of his
Living Dead
films. Particularly interesting is what he and his commentary-mates have to say regarding the casting of Duane Jones in
Night
(essentially, they did not set out to set a precedent by casting a black man in a hero role, the black man they cast just happened to be best for the job etc).
John Carpenter and Kurt Russell are also indispensible commentators. Their commentaries for
The Thing
and
Escape From New York
are priceless. But the real masterpiece is their commentary on
Big Trouble In Little China
. If you ever wanted to learn a bit about what it is like to be in a film that the studio cares so little for that they do not even bother to promote it adequately, that's the one to listen to.
I would give anything these days to hear Clint Eastwood do commentary for the films he worked on with Sergio Leone. But I hear he is not so big on the commentary.
mentalcritic
Tom Cruise drikk dovatn! -
KateB819 — 16 years ago(July 05, 2009 10:36 PM)
The commentary for Underworld (the first one, not the other two) was hilarious. Kate, Scott, and Len were priceless in it.
THE place for Underworld:
http://s11.invisionfree.com/Lycan_the_Underworld/ -
cljohnston108 — 16 years ago(July 13, 2009 07:27 AM)
The commentary for Underworld (the first one, not the other two) was hilarious. Kate, Scott, and Len were priceless in it.
Oh, definitely! I never realized what a wonderful sense of humor Kate Beckinsale has!
When Kate teases Len about "playing with dolls", and Scott asks "What dolls do you play with?" Priceless, as you say. -
the_evil_loc_nar — 16 years ago(July 06, 2009 11:40 AM)
I think Paul Verhoeven added always very good commentaries to his movies on DVD, especially Starship Troopers, Total Recall and Robocop.
Another commentary highlight is in my opinion on the "Willow" DVD (by the leading actor Warwick Davis) . Good are also "The Omen"(original, not remake) and "Star Trek 6", by the directors.
Bad commentaries? Well, for example "Conan, the Barbarian". As much as I like the movie and Arnie, the commentary is horrible. There are some directors being obviously unable to add any useful DVD commentaries to their movies, whatever the reason may be for example German director Roland Emmerich (ID4, Stargate) or Tim Burton (I really like his movies, but the commentaries are waste). The Star Wars movies have been mentioned. I also do not like their commentaries. -
cljohnston108 — 16 years ago(July 13, 2009 08:05 AM)
I think HELLBOY is one of the finest examples for audio-commentaries ever.
Couldn't agree more!
Selma Blair was so adorable, especially when talking about Rupert's mis-matched socks.
And Ron was great when they were talking about the scene with the kid on the rooftop.
He tells how they'd made five dozen cookies for the sequence, and when they broke for lunch there were four cookies left.
Jeffrey:
"How many cookies did you eat?"
Ron:
"Well, what's five dozen? Let's do the math"
I love Jeffrey's signature line: "I should read the script. I hear it's good."
Kurt Wimmer's solo commentary on
Equilibrium
was great.
Kate Beckinsale was hilarious on the first
Underworld
.
Ben Browder & Claudia Black were fantastic together on the
Farscape
DVDs.
I'm very disappointed that there were no commentaries from Tom Hanks on either
Apollo 13
or
From the Earth to the Moon
.
And just why the hell was there no commentary from Robert Downey, Jr. and/or Jon Favreau on
Iron Man
?! I boycotted that 2-disc "Ultimate Edition" for 6 months because of that! -
borgter — 16 years ago(August 16, 2009 07:05 AM)
I know its not a movie, but I've always really enjoyed the
Martin Gero
commentaries for
Stargate Atlantis
. I love that guy. Especially his featurettes like,
"Road To A Dream"
on the Season 2 DVD. Lol.
Oh and anything by Joss Whedon
Such an interesting and witty guy
I Thought Only Kryptonite Could Hurt Superman. Not A Broken Heart.
From Beneath You, It Devours -
Joe-the-Drifter — 16 years ago(February 03, 2010 07:11 AM)
Best:
Del Toro's ones.
Rob Zombie's actually are pretty good.
James Cameron's and William Wisher's fro T2: Extreme Cut.
Worst:
Tim Burton's. Sorry.
Terminator 3
Taken
Spider-Man 1 and 3 ones, 2 was pretty good
I WOULD LOVE to hear Nolan's for Batman Begin and TDK, RDJ and Jon Faverau on Iron Man, and one with Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby, and Gran Torino. One great one with QT fro either Kill bill and/or Basterds would rule.
As you can see I'm alot happier- Joker 89 -
kodak007 — 16 years ago(February 20, 2010 11:31 AM)
I think Ridley Scotts commentary on BLACK HAWK DOWN is pretty jerkish. He sounds like a know it all, no fun, lame.
Fight Club is a lot of fun, just cause the three of them (brad, ed, fincher) are having fun being jerks. they obviously loved the process and give some good advice. -
pandora1515 — 16 years ago(March 04, 2010 01:38 AM)
I totally agreed about the commentary on Hellboy, it was great! I really enjoyed Del Toro's commentary on Pan's Labyrinth as well.
The absolute worst commentary I have EVER listened to was for The Exorcist! I was truly saddened by it. It was basically as though the script was being read for you as you watched the movie, or a play-by-play of what was happening on screen. The whole time I just kept thinking "Wow, I've seen the movie, I know what happens, how about something cool?"
I always have a wonderful time, wherever I am, whomever I'm with. - Edward P. Dowd -
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jimmy-wharton — 15 years ago(October 10, 2010 09:05 AM)
I watch all the commentaries which include Seth Rogen because they just don't take it seriously and have a laugh.
For example in the Superbad commentary when Judd Apatow and Jonah Hill have an argument which results in Judd leaving is hilarious.
I'm not sure if it is staged or not but it is pretty damn funny. -
Room_On_Fire — 15 years ago(December 05, 2010 01:56 AM)
The commentaries on Clerks are very informative to anyone just getting into filmmaking. There's also a good commentary on the first Harold and Kumar with the writers and their friend who inspired one of the lead characters. They also talk about how they got on the scene. I think one of the worst I've heard was the one for John Tucker Must Die. Don't ask why I was even listening to it; much less watching it at all. I just remember a lot of unnecessary information given by the director and her admitting she never even learned a lot of the casts' names; she just called them whatever their character was named.
"Oh, my God. Bear is driving! How can that be?!"