MR Round

I was wondering if i could get peoples opinions on why you listen to commentarys on you discs. I have never listened to one all the way through I usually just turn it on for about 20 seconds and turn it off again. But I have been thinking about listening to some and just wanted to see what you all listened to them for?

Graftenberg

For the same reason I would watch any of the behind the scences extras on a dvd to learn more about the movie.

Chad

Listen to a few from this list and you'll find out just how entertaining and informative they can be:

http://www.ratethatcommentary.com/top100.php

A few of my favorites are from John Carpenter, Joe Bob Briggs, Terry Gilliam and Guillermo Del Toro.

JJE-187

If you enjoy the peron who made the film or starred in it then a commentary gives you a chance to hear what that person thinks of the movie and what they thought while making it. I have been listening to John Waters commentary lately because I loved his Stand-Up special and just wanted to hear more stories from him about the movies. The Hairspray commentary sucks though

MrSmearkase

Some of them are just a good listen, IMO. I'll probably never purposefully sit down to watch Batman & Robin from start to finish ever again, unless its to listen the Schumacher commentary. While there are certainly better commentaries than this one, the B&R commentary is probably the best reason to own the film, let alone even watch it.

Also, sometimes I want to watch a movie while I fall asleep, but I know that leaving it on the dialogue will keep me up. If I switch to the commentary, I'll be engaged enough that I can close my eyes and follow what's going on, without giving much attention to what is happening onscreen.

Quick question to the OP: When you said that you have been thinking about listening to some, which films are appealing to you right now? Just curious to what type of commentary has you ready to jump on the bandwagon.

MR Round

Lord Of the Rings Extended editions, The ones on the Matrix ultimate collection is what interested me the most when I read that they had one from people who loved it and people who hated it. and I started looking at my dvds and most of them have commentary's and i thought if that many movies have them there must be something to them

smurr05

Absolutely Agree!

Trevor

The reason you would listen to or read anything about that particular film or film-making in general.

notkevinbacon

I think I may know only a handful of people who ever listen to commentaries.

I love them and find them to be extremely entertaining or informative. Sometimes both.

It depends on what you are looking for in a commentary, but there are many flavors... technical, informative, funny, experimental, DRUNK, done by cast, done by director, done by famous movie critics/scholars, surprise appearances from carrot top, completely sung, done in character (Bruce Cambell's Elvis Bubba Ho-Tep commentary).

Sometimes a bad film can be made great by a good commentary. The Batman and Robin commentary mentioned above is one of them.

I mainly listen to get more information about a film and I love really detailed commentaries that are candid and discuss certain shots and moments in depth.

Some directors and commentaries are pretty bland to terrible. Usually with those I shut them off, or just go to a specific scene I'm interested to hear about.

drmar35mm

Commentaries are kind of a crapshoot. Some are fascinating, some are boring. I usually avoid them when actors are in the majority, because all you tend to get is a mutual admiration society.

orangerunner

They are interesting as they give the viewer so much extra insight into the process of making the film.

Some are better than others. The most interesting are usually classic films and independent films that have an interesting back story of how the film came together on a low budget with few resources.

Anything by John Carpenter is good and movies like The Evil Dead, Road House (Kevin Smith commentary), Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Dazed and Confused (Criterion) & El Mariachi come to mind as interesting ones.

Sometimes I'll flip to the audio commentary during a certain scene and don't necessarily listen to it all the way through.

Mondo Kane

(A couple of NSFW moments)
Joe Bob Briggs' Greatest Hits

Sessa17

I can't imagine not listening to commentaries. Good or bad I listen to every one if I like the movie. I love cinema & want to know as much as I can about a movie I enjoy. I love insight into the process of making a movie. I can't even understand why someone who owns a lot of films, would not want to learn more about the things they are spending so much money on.

manicsounds

I always (when allowed) rip commentary tracks to MP3 and listen to them on commute. Then I don't feel like 'wasting time' in front of the TV set. That's how I like to listen to them. Now with certain releases (like Disney) doesn't allow me to do that.

7Keys

I usually listen to one or two a week while I'm cleaning or doing work around the house. Some are interesting and funny, but I do give up on a lot of them pretty quick. I don't like the commentaries where they do play by play. I've been going through the Simpsons commentaries and I enjoyed them up to about season 5. Now they have some producer, Dave Mirkin I believe, who dominates the conversations and points out everything..."This is Homer getting upset at Bart because Bart does something dumb." I don't need play by play, but I do like it if they point out an obscure reference or give interesting facts about the show/episode.

Giles

^ Mel Gibson does alot of that shot by shot description on the BRAVEHEART disc - it's boring and tedious to say the least.

What I can't stand is when there's dead space in between banter - that just makes me wanna crawl the walls.

I also don't dig it when a commentary digresses to nothing that has to do with anything regarding the film, A recent example, is lead singer 'E' of the Eels where he orders and receives Chinese take out and talks to his dog

Giles

one of the more interesting commentary tracks on DVD (on bluray this type of commentary is more common place) is the original Fame - where the commentary track branches to video of the actors talking/reflecting about the film, the majority of the commentary though is director Alan Parker in audio form (although he finally does appear on screen at the very end)

RagingBull80

I love commentaries; they're my favorite special feature.

7Keys

I could never sit and watch a commentary, but it works as background noise for me.

Another annoying thing is when the commentators say "I don't want spoil this for the listeners" as if people listen to commentaries before watching the movie/tv show first.

LosingMyMind

When that happens, I'm always ROTFLMFAO

Giles

you're obviousily listening to the wrong commentaries

Michael Corvin

Braveheart is my all time favorite film but damn was that commentary disappointing. I think the problem there is the solo commentary where it's just one guy in a room with no one to riff off of. With two people you can at least get one of them to go off on tangents and keep it from being a snoozefest.

There is another one that comes to mind that was stitched together and felt very disjointed. Armageddon, maybe? Like all the actors recorded solo and then they were all spliced together for a giant mish-mash of a commentary.

Giles

^ I'm curious to hear the commentary for APOCALYPTO where Gibson has someone to "riff off of" But back on the subject of BRAVEHEART - he needed a cheat sheet or something on topics of the film he could refer to and talk about during the long stretches where has nothing remarkable to say.

I didn't mind ARMAGEDDON - but obviousily the mass filmmaker/actor commentary track of ALIENS is the best of the best.

MrSmearkase

Yeah, Armageddon is one of those. That type of commentary rarely works, IMO. I much prefer everybody in the same room sharing their stories with the film.

A few DVDs offer video commentary, which is often a nice feature. Jerry Maguire, Mallrats, and I think The Goonies all had one.

Mondo Kane

I've noticed that this happens often on Criterion commentaries involving the actors. Whether it's Johnny Depp, Udo Kier, or James Woods. They're always giving page-long comments to certain scenes. But it always feels like they're still watching the movie with you. Weird.