What are some standard DVDs that have hours upon hours of extras? Extra points if it has extras that explain the subject matter of the DVD ... i.e. the documentary on the drug trade from the Blow DVD.

Please don't count commentaries as extras.

Citizen Kane has a documentary about William Randolph Hearst, The Lord of the Rings extended editions have hours of documentaries, as do the Peter Jackson King Kong DVDs. Why don't commentaries count as extras? They are certainly among the most interesting and informative when they are done seriously by the directors...

Because it's my thread

I never got into commentaries. It's watching the movie again and you don't even get to hear the story.

Before studios began the assholistic trend of releasing a regular edition and a 2 disc Special Edition, most high profile releases had a lot of extras. Shrek, Shrek 2, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, almost every WB 2 disc release, almost every Criterion, suprisingly for everyone, LA Confidential. What depends here is your definition of standard.

That's because you're listening to the director while they EXPLAIN the movie. How in the world does that not count as an extra? Wouldn't two hours of (good) commentary be far more informative than 30 minutes of behind-the-scenes?

Audio Commentary is the only extra I really even care about. Some of the docs/featurettes are interesting, but I would much rather listen to the creators talk about the film while I'm watching it.

I just meant (standard) DVD as is not (High-Def) DVD

I think of commentaries (good ones at least) as a long documentary.

It is the director (or whoever) talking about the movie for 90 minutes, two hours, whatever length the film is.

Why would you rather watch a documentary of talking faces over a documentary with the movie in discussion playing in the background?

Good commentaries are just as good as most documentaries.

Amen.

Audio Commentaries are the only extras I really care about. Deleted scenes (to include extended scenes and alternate endings) are a close second.

Sorry GatorDeb, to get back to your original (albeit strangely handcuffed) question, there are hundreds and hundreds of examples. I'll look thru my collection sometime and post a few.

Black Hawk Down three-disc should qualify

Wonderland, if only for the 2-hour "Wadd" documentary. Besides that there is some pretty disturbing actual crime scene footage. Decent movie too.

I'll assume you meant "...commentary with the movie in discussion...".

But to answer your question, it's just different preferences. I enjoy a good commentary, but I enjoy watching good documentaries on the making of a movie more. It's just my preference.

I second that one - on all!

The original "House of Wax" comes with an entirely different movie that it was based on some 20 years earlier as a "special feature"...

I would recommend Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut 4 disc set... really loaded with extras!

Universal Collector's Editions come to mind....Mallrats (Collector's Edition), American Graffiti, The Blues Brothers, Animal House.....but then Universal just screwed it all up by re-releasing them all with some of the extras and shitty cover art

The Abyss

The Devil's Rejects is chock full o' goodness and has a feature-length doc on the making of the film that's longer than the movie itself.

Knocked Up (2-Disc)

1941 had a TON of bonus features on it for a single disc release. Heavy Metal was another one. Those were two DVDs I bought in my early days of collecting that just blew me away in how much fit on one disc. Which is why I hate bare bones DVDs these days.