Thanks for the links! I'm downloading the Game commentary from rapidshare as we speak.

Well I am a fan of the Funny commentaries. I occasionally listen to just technical or informative ones but I make it a point to listen and in some cases re listen time and time again some of the funny ones.

My favorite commentaries are by Kevin Smith and his View Askew crew,Bruce Campbell,Edgar Wright and/or Simon Pegg,John Carpenter,George Romero and/or Tom Savini and The Rock. My 1st commentary I ever listened to is still my favorite tho. The Evil Dead II commentary. It was hilarious and very informative. But all of the people mentioned above always get me to listen to a commentary,and sometimes buy stuff I wouldn't otherwise(like Thou Shalt Not Kill....EXCEPT with Bruce Campbell being the most prime example as quite frankly that movie is AWFUL,but the commentary is hilarious and informative much like the Evil Dead II track). And after watching the films,and listening to the Commentaries of Kevin Smith,I have over 200 hours of entertainment(probably closer to 300) when you consider his films,the fantastic documentaries,and the hilarious commentaries,then add the his Podcast-SModcast which is at about 120 episodes(at the moment) all at least 52 minutes in length,and some going over the 2 hour mark,and then due to that it leads to even more hours of entertainment in SModcast's "Sister" Podcasts TellEmSteveDave and The Mo & Glo(ria) Show Podcasts. So if it wasn't for commentaries I would never have found such a love for Kevin Smith,and wouldn't have all those hours of entertainment. So I guess Commentaries mean alot more to me than I ever realized.

Sorry for the rant

/\ I just started listening to "Tell 'Em, Steve Dave," good stuff

I highly recommend not only Smith's commentaries on his View Askew films, but also the one he and Mosier did for Road House.

If it's a movie I really enjoy, then I like listening to comments from relevant parties that much more. I typically listen to a few at a time when doing work around the house or something.

Thanks for this one! Quite a few there for movies I've seen in threatres (or at TIFF) but don't yet own on disc. Had to get software to unstuff them on Mac, but it worked smoothly after that. These will definitely save some time later on now that I don't have to run the discs again in their entirety or mess around with trying to rip the tracks. Once again, the studios appear to be missing out on a small source of revenue by not making these things available to iTunes, etc. for a small fee. Too bad . . .

I use UnRarX for Mac, it works like a charm.

You used the term unstuff, which leads me to believe you have installed or at least are familiar with Stuffit which can also handle rar files.

Quite a few on that list I agree with. I can't believe though that Ridley Scott's commentary for Blade Runner is on that list. It's one of the most un-informative, boring commentaries I've listened to, and also one of the biggest disappointments I've had, especially since his commentary for the single disc of Alien was so incredible.

The reason James Cameron didn't record a full commentary for The Terminator is because it was before he started recording commentaries. His first was on others' work, like Soderbergh's Solaris remake (which he produced), and finally he did his first track on his own film with T2.

I like funny commentaries, particularly if they're from a "reminiscing" standpoint, although the Apatow commentaries are generally good at countering the "we just filmed this and it's all great" angle. At first, I didn't like Criterion's edit-together system either, but over time I've come to really like it. You only get the good stuff.

So I don't know much about the history of the Criterion James Bond commentaries. I see these three were "banned," but what about the rest of the Criterion James Bond commentaries? On one of these links, I see more than the three banned ones. Were any of the others not included on subsequent DVD/Blu-ray releases?

Another question. That workprint trading site has this listed:

Se7en Criterion Laserdisc (TWO DISCS)

This version contains the audio commentary track from the Criterion laserdisc, that was not included in the DVD version. It features director David Fincher, actors Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, production designer Arthur Max and special makeup effects designer Rob Bottin. Please note that this DVD only includes the commentary track, not the standard audio. The second disc contains the laserdisc supplements which includes TV Spots, Dailies, Production Design, Photographs and an Early Opening Sequence.
2 x NTSC DVD-R, Widescreen, Quality A, 2:06:57

My DVD and the upcoming Blu-ray both have a commentary track with Fincher, Pitt, and Freeman listed. Is the track from the Criterion laserdisc an entirely different track that also features Fincher, Pitt, and Freeman, as well as the screenwriter, etc.? Or is it the same track?

Only the three were 'banned': Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger... others may or may not have gone OOP for normal reasons (note that these were the only James Bond films released on Laserdisc by Criterion), but here's the story on those three and the intentional suppression of them, from various people's descriptions:

"Shortly after releasing the first 3 James Bond films on Laserdisc in a 2-disc CAV format in 1991, Criterion was asked by EON Productions (Producers of the James Bond Films) to recall all unsold Laserdisc product. It was felt that the audio commentary tracks on the 3 titles where unacceptable to Albert R. Broccoli, one of the original producers of the 3 films.
The 3 films had later been re-packaged by Criterion into a single disc format, and re-issued without any of the supplemental features. When MGM released their DVD’s of the first 3 films in the mid 1990’s, they contained different audio commentaries. Now, the original 2-disc [Laserdisc] Criterion versions go for big bucks on Ebay."

"The problem was that the people on the commentaries speak their minds and don't hold back negative comments. Like the screenwriter of From Russia With Love calling Ian Fleming a "Snob", or Director Terance Young recalling Chris Blackwell's pot smoking habits."

"In 1991 The Criterion Collection released the first three Bond films on Laserdisc featuring audio commentary by Terence Young, Peter Hunt, Guy Hamilton, Ken Adam, and Richard Maibaum. EON was displeased with the frank nature of these commentary tracks and demanded they be recalled to be sanatized. Terence Young made the most contriversal remarks which included bashing the frivolous spending the later day films and a breif comment about Lotte Lenya's sex life."

"Terence Young said Lotte Lenya was still screwing at 80 and EON spent money on those later films like "drunken indians".
EON would understandably get touchy about these sort of comments. You have noticed the Inside documentaries are nauseatingly polite. For example on the Live and Let Die docu that it dosen't even mention how Yaphet Kotto was even being remotely uneasy about the film."

"The commentaries on the Criterion versions of Dr.NO/FRWL & GF are so much better than the latter dvd ones (which sound like everyone loved everyone, and they all got on like clams), the Criterions are pretty much "no holds barred", including Terence Young recalling on Dr. No, when Sean Connery met the wife of the High Comissioner of Jamaica, how "something" accidentally popped thru his shorts, because he wasn't wearing underpants beneath! You know, "run of the mill stuff" like that!"

"the legendary commentaries for Criterion's original CAV pressing of the first three Bond films. They were quite informative and VERY acerbic; so much so that the commentaries were banned after MGM sued Criterion to repress them."

"I also recommend tracking down Criterion editions of the first three James Bond films. The running commentary is outstanding, so much so that MGM/UA threatened to sue Criterion if they didn't pull them from the shelves. Criterion only did just that and continued to sell only the versions without the commentary. The only drawback is that these were never released on DVD and you'll need a laser disc player, assuming you can even find these editions."

"[The Criterion Bond commentaries were] the honest opinions and stories of the making of these films from those who participated. They are particularly great commentaries because Terence Young and Richard Maibaum are dead but left behind some wonderful stories. I remember Young laughing at the producers once and saying, "they threw money around like drunken Indians." He had stories about people involved in the films that you would never see anywhere near an EON licensed product. Peter Hunt was also very likeable (he is one of my favorite Bond crew members) and had let some things out that are priceless. If you can ever find these laserdiscs (only produced as far as Dr. No-Goldfinger), I highly recommend that you pick them up."

Here's the details of all the Se7en DVD commentaries, from DVDCompare:

- "The Stars" audio commentary by director David Fincher, actor Brad Pitt and actor Morgan Freeman
- "The Story" audio commentary by professor of film studies/author Richard Dyer, screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, editor Richard Francis-Bruce, New Line president of production Michael De Luca and director David Fincher
- "The Picture" audio commentary by director of photography Darius Khondji, production designer Arthur Max, editor Richard Francis-Bruce, professor of film studies/author Richard Dyer and director David Fincher
- "The Sound" audio commentary, with isolated 5.1 music and FX cues, by sound designer Ren Klyce, composer Howard Shore, professor of film studies/author Richard Dyer and director David Fincher

It only has Fincher, Pitt, and Freeman, doesn't include the other participants from the Criterion LaserDisc one (Walker, Max, & Bottin), so it is definitely a different track. Anything the Blu-Ray will have is surely either carried over from the DVD or is unique.


Useful reference links:

Wikipedia list of all Criterion LaserDisc releases (in LD release order, sortable to other orders; lists title, director, theatrical release year, LD spine number, and DVD spine number if rereleased on DVD):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Criterion_Collection_Laserdisc_releases

LaserDiscVault list of all Criterion LaserDisc releases (in LD release order; lists title, director, theatrical release year, and LD spine number):
www.laserdiscvault.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=36

CriterionForum list of all 'lost' Criterion commentaries only released on LaserDisc:
www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27#p13899

I like Bey Logan's commentaries on Hong Kong films because he's very knowledgeable about the subject and he's got the right voice and delivery to keep us interested.

Raquel Welch is very amusing as she rags on MYRA BRECKENRIDGE during that commentary.

Burt Reynolds is supposed to be very good on THE LONGEST YARD. I started listening, then realized I hadn't seen the film in 30 years, so I'd better watch the film without the commentary first. I started doing that and found the film hard to take for some reason and stopped watching. I've gotta try again. I may just watch it with the commentary on anyway. I don't have time to watch these things twice in a row.

First time I went to the site and checked the rating for the first Austin Powers film. Couldn't believe the high rating it has considering it's mostly dead air with sprinkles of, "He improved that" and "That was funny".

I have 2 out of those 3 James Bond CAV LD's (I am missing Goldfinger) and I remember trying to track down GF for the LONGEST time to complete the trilogy...

You can complete the set today if it's worth $50 to you.
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300433262532

Anybody know where I can find the audio commentary for Trick R Treat? I'd like to listen to it during my commute(s) to work.

I have the Blu-ray, but no BD Drive on my computer. I can hook my BD player's audio cables up to my PC, but that would involves me pulling the player out to get to the back. A download would be so much easier.

I did some searching for you, but didn't find it.

You could...:
- just go ahead and hook up the blu-ray player's audio to your computer
- or buy a copy of the DVD for under $10 (unfortunately there's no really-cheap used copies on Amazon yet, when the $3 shipping is factored in): www.amazon.com/Trick-r-Treat-Anna-Paquin/dp/B002LMSWN2/
- or perhaps use this as an excuse to upgrade your computer to a blu-ray drive.

Thanks!

I don't think the Commentary is on the DVD is it? Only for the short that Michael Dougherty produced, right? At least that's what I gathered from reading the back of the DVD. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Otherwise, I'll just watch the movie with the commentary. I have plenty other ones to keep me busy during my commute.

Thanks again!