I just watched a Commentary on the Fugitive, actually this is my first commentary movie I watched since owning DVD's for almost 6 years. I have about 400 Movies, and more than half have commentaries, so I'm starting to watch them especially since I really enjoyed the commentary on Fugitive, I do however have few questions, before I venture out and listen to some more.

1. How would you rate Fugitive commentary to some other ones.

2. I think Andrew Davis did terrific job explaining everything about the movie, But Tommy Lee Jones, only had maybe 15 minutes of total commentary for the whole movie is this normal time for actors???

3. HOw would you rate Tomme Lee Involvement in this commentary, I mean he kinda sounded like he was smoking some weed, and just talking crazy, "This is me on the rooftop in Chicago" or "they do dye river green in Chicago" or "it was cold that day" just simple stuff

4. What are the best commentaries you have heard to date,


thanks

I have yet to have heard one intelligent comment made by an actor on a commentary track, and I've listened to a number of them. If you think Tommy Lee is bad, you should hear Affleck on the Criterion 'Armageddon' or Schwarzengger on the 'Total Recall'. Believe me, if more Californians had heard it, I doubt he would be governor.

Yes, Andrew Davis does give an interesting commentary on 'The Fugitive'. John Frankenhiemer, Wolfgang Peterson, Paul Verhoeven are 3 other directors who give good 'commentary' who come immediately to mind. But if the commentary is by actors only, be warned! Actors are notoriously stupid. And I speak from experience.

Agreed - and another director who provides great commentaries is Guillermo del Toro - check out Cronos, Blade II, The Devil's Backbone and Hellboy.

A few great commentaries are by Roger Ebert: Citizen Kane, Casablanca and Dark City are three of the best commentaries I've ever heard.

Peter Jackson, Terry Gilliam, Kevin Smith, John Carpenter, and David Fincher all do excellent commentary tracks.

Most actor commentaries suck, but there are plenty of exceptions, including Fight Club (Fincher, Norton, Pitt) and the Evil Dead (Campbell)

Trey Parker and Matt Stone did a great commentary on Cannibal the Musical.

I haven't yet heard the commentary on The Fugitive, but I might have to now. Thanks for your review.

Although I don't like the site all that much, these two lists are pretty good:

The Must-Hear Commentary List.

The Bad Commentary Behavior List.

Kurt Russell always does a good commentary.

Oh, come on! Affleck is the highlight of the Armageddon commentary track!

"So, I ask Michael -- 'Why would it be easier to train drillers to be astronauts than to train astronauts to dig holes?' and he told me to 'Shut the fuck up!'"

Paraphrased, but pretty close.

Isn't Tommy Lee Jones a Harvard grad? Not that it necessarily means he's a good commentator, but at least he has to be somewhat intelligent. Right?

One of the best commentary tracks I've ever heard is for Cruel Intentions...the comments by director Roger Kumble are quite entertaining.

Kevin Smith's commentaries are almost always fun to listen to...Mallrats is probably my favorite among the bunch.

The worst commentaries come from director John McTiernan. His track for "The Thomas Crown Affair" is one of the most snooze-inducing commentaries I have ever heard.

It's not an actor commentary but the "fan" commentary on Alias S3 is freaking hilarious.

The actor commentary on Silence of the Lambs was interesting to me but that was one of the first commentaries I ever listened to so my opinion may change now.

Any JMS commentaries on B5 are good. Just be sure you've watched all the episodes before listening since there are spoilers abound.

Guillermo del Toro's commentary on Blade II is quite humorous and informative.

I like Paul Verhoeven commentaries as well except for Basic Instinct (with Jan de Bont joining the track, the dueling accents talking over one another was difficult to deal with after awhile).

I second the Roger Ebert commentary props. You may not like his views but the man knows his films.

Nicholas Myer's track for Star Trek 2. I haven't listened to the one for ST6 but the reviews say it's on par.

Bryan Singer's commentaries are pretty interesting as well.

Listen to Christopher Lee on the LOTR EE commentaries.

Commentaries I like:

Any with Bruce Campbell, including his hilarious one in character as Elvis Presley on Bubba Ho-Tep

The Lord of the Rings: EE filmmaker commentaries, all 3 films

Fight Club- Although some of the actors and Fincher need to get over themselves. This film is not aging very well at all, in fact as the years go by I find it more and more hilarious...and NOT in the way the filmmaker intended I'm sure.

This is Spinal Tap- Hilarious....in a very good way.


Worst commentaries: any Star Wars dvd, especially the ones with George Lucas. Just disappointing.

I would've liked it better if Jones had been recording alongside Davis rather than phoning in his commentary. He must've been too caught up watching the film at times to talk about it. The problem with most actor commentaries is that some seem like they'd rather be somewhere else. And not all of them are movie literate.

I did like the commentary tracks to The Perfect Storm; very insightful on both the behind-the-scenes stuff as well as the historical stuff concerning the real life events and how it related to the film.

The best commentaries all have one thing in common: Multiple participants in a room, watching the film together. Generally best if both the production side (director or writer) and the acting side are present.

Nothing's worse than a pieced together commentary from various interviews, and very rarely is a single participant worth listening to.

And a little alcohol is needed to relax the participants.

No, Harvard does have an 'acting' school, as do a few other big universities. But you don't have to have a brain to be able to act. In fact, it's better if you don't. Yes, I have known a few intelligent actors, but they rarely make it in films or TV.

From Tommy Lee Jones' biography on imdb.com:

Received a B.A. in English literature and graduated cum laude, Harvard, 1969.

And...

Never took an acting class.

Speaks Spanish fluently.



You're telling me he is not even somewhat intelligent? Riiiiiight.

This really sounds like "sour grapes" to me...

Will Smith was offered a scholarship at MIT (although he didn't take it) and was an exceptional student in high school.

Matt Damon attended Harvard University.

Jodie Foster went to Yale, speaks fluent French, holds a degree in literature, and graduated magna cum laude (she was also the valedictorian of her high school).

Lisa Kudrow has a degree in biology from Vassar.

James Woods atteneded MIT.

The list goes on and on...not to mention the TON of working actors who have come from Julliard or other prestigious acting schools in which it takes a lot more than being able to perform on stage to graduate.

I have listened to several of these over the last 5-6 years, and for me, there is no one better then Kurt Russell. He is funny, informative and has absolutely NO ego. The Used Cars commentary was a riot. Almost as funny as the movie.

Even better is the one-two punch of Kurt Russell and John Carpenter. The Thing, Escape From NY and Big Trouble in Little China have some of the best commentaries ever.

The Evil Dead Trilogy also have hilarious tracks as well.

The worst?? For me, The Farelly Brothers SUCK at these commentaries. All they do is point out friends in the cast.