One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Watching a few bonuses for The Crazies (2010) reminded me why I normally don't care for them to begin with (unless movie is a certified classic).
Halfway through the 'behind the scenes' I realized I'd had enough...
Once the one guy says (about Iowa) "when your 1000 miles from civilization..." I just had to stop.
Really, buddy? 1000 from civilization? In Iowa? LOLZ. As if he's in the middle of the Sahara or some shit.
And are there really marshes near Cedar Rapids?

Ha.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

ever been to Iowa? the guy is right.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

:suicide:

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

You mean this isn't a poll?

I am going to give my answer anyway...the one reason I normally don't watch bonus freatures is (drumroll): Time.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I normally don't watch because I feel like it takes me out of the movie. I don't want to know how they did the special effects and such; takes away some of the "magic."

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I hate when I turn on the commentary track to rewatch a crucial scene in a movie (whether stylistically or plot-wise), and the director and writer are talking about the food on the set or something completely uninformative. How hard would it be to hire a person who would prep these people and direct them during some of the major scenes in a movie? I can put a bunch of people in a room with a microphone and go to lunch, try to do some prep work for the commentary tracks please.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I stopped watching them because everything turned into a EPK. If I watch one more "behind the scenes" special feature that ends with a montage of the movie and the title card i'm gonna go crazy.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I wouldn't say that...Fincher's most recent films for sure haven't been that. I'm actually very interested what we'll see for The Girl w/ The Dragon Tattoo. Feature length making of, feature length doc on the material adapated etc etc etc. Hmmmm...Fincher.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Agreed. I can't think of a single release of his that didn't have an impressive amount of quality features and it'll be interesting to see what he has in store for Dragon Tattoo (or TGWTDT2011 for those in love with acronyms).

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Event Horizon has a great behind the scenes documentary of the movie. It's about 90 minutes.

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I don't mind watching a documentary if the movie is based on fact or a historical basis but I have no interest or time to watch a 90 minute "making of" about a 120 minute movie.

Early on the I saw the feature on the special effects of The Rock
. After that every time I watched that scene all I saw was the little miniatures. Once you know the secret, the magic trick is not that much fun any more.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I watch bonus features that sound intriguing. I don't put much more thought into it than that.

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I stopped watching Star Wars features when hearing the commentary for AOTC and during the Yoda lightsaber fight scene they acted like they had just created the greatest scene in the Star Wars universe.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I usually just stick to the gag reels and outtakes.


Kinda similar but this happens all the time on the simpsons commentaries and it bugs me. They always waste the first couple of minutes going through introductions and talking to the writers and directors who most of the time have nothing really of value to add. Or you have Jon Lovitz wasting everybody's time asking who does the voices.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I watch it all...commentary tracks, behind the scenes featurettes, making of's, interviews. I love learning more about how a film was made. Picture galleries and trailers I don't bother with.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I can appreciate this perspective, but I confess I'm of a differing perspective. I find that I tend to think more highly of a movie once I've gotten a sense of how elaborate a given sequence was to create. It personalizes the film for me in a certain way. For instance, I always thought Darby O'Gill and the Little People was a weird, goofy movie with a freaky ending. Then this year I finally got around to buying the DVD release and while I still think it's a weird, goofy movie with a freaky ending, I was captivated by the feature about how they created the Leprechauns through forced perspective and crazy sets. I have an innate admiration for craftsmanship, and that feature endeared the film to me in a brand new way.

A few months ago my wife and I were hanging out with a friend of hers and her family and I was setting up their Netflix account so they could stream via their Wii. We started watching Beetlejuice, and their daughter was at first kind of bothered by the movie, overwhelmed by its gruesome design. (She's nine, and they rarely watch anything like this movie.) So I paused the movie during the scene where Adam and Barbara are in the waiting room to see Juno and began explaining how they created a specific character, through makeup, props, costumes, etc. All of a sudden, it was something she could process and now instead of being creeped out by it, she was fascinated and wanted to see more and try to figure out how things were done. It gave her an "in" to the movie that she had previously found off-putting.

One last thought is that sometimes there are genuine gems amongst bonus features. For instance, Sin City has some terrific stuff such as uninterrupted footage of the filming of a specific scene that allows us to see various takes bridged by conversations between actors and directors as they work their trade. Also, there's a great segment of Robert Rodriguez walking you through the process of making breakfast burritos from scratch--including the tortillas. Good stuff.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

All I want is a fucking trailer and now 80% of movies don't even have them!

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I sure as hell appreciate trailers for movies that are not yet released, but I never understood the fascination with them being included with the DVD/BD.

Once I own the movie, why would I want/need to watch the trailer again when I could just watch the movie instead? Do people actually turn their home theatre equipment on, take a DVD/BD out of it's case - pop it in the player and sit down just to watch a 2+ minute trailer?

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I don't watch just the trailer, but if I'm going through bonus content anyway, I enjoy looking at how a movie--especially an older one--was marketed. Sometimes it's fun to be revisit trailers that I saw years ago, or TV spots I recall running. It's interesting to see how some trailers clearly display a confusion on the part of the studio, who had no idea how to present a particular film to the public.

With older films, it's interesting to me to see how a movie was introduced to the public before I was around. For instance, I first saw Lawrence of Arabia in the 1990s on VHS. I was fascinated to see its trailers on the DVD release and see how it was originally promoted.

But then, I'm a guy with a background in history. I'm naturally inclined to be curious about these kinds of things. I know most people gloss over the things that interest me.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I often watch them for many of the same reasons already stated... but sometimes I like to see the "deleted" scenes in the trailer that didn't make the movie... also to compar what I thought it was going to be to what it really was...

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

100% agree. I love the trailers, and definitely want to see them again when I have the movie. It's usually the first thing I watched that made me get interested in the movie, so I love to see them again. Also the package doesn't seem complete if it's missing them. (personally I love the trailer for "Unbreakable" I remember getting incredibly curious and trying to figure out what the movie was about after seeing it. - I recommend to youtube the trailer and see the movie - it was really different from what I was expecting - it was great ;) so disappointed when the trailer was missing from the DVD :( )

Also love the other extras. Especially the commentaries when it reveal things that I haven't noticed on my own (In "Dark City," I would have never guessed the room number has any significance or that they never cursed in the film, etc.) And documentaries that reveal some historic importance. (My all time favorite extra is the "From Hell" documentary about the real Jack the Ripper)

For me, more extras the better. There are some special features that I don't care about too, but If I don't like it, then I don't watch it. But I'm sure there are plenty of other people who appreciate them. Just like how I love the trailers which some member here obviously don't appreciate. But the point is that we should have the choice - so studio should put every extra possible :p Personally, I don't understand and get upset whenever the studio don't put the trailer of its own movie on the release. (I know there are some copyright issue to some songs sometimes, but that can't happen all the time - I see it in the preview of other movies :( )

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Time. I can't see myself watching the same movie, only with people talking about it. Especially if they're talking about irrelevant stuff. (Of course what's relevant can vary). I would like to try more commentaries, because I have heard some that were either incredibly edifying about the movie, or just entertaining.

But mostly time. If there were subtitled commentary, I'd try that.

I actually do like trailers, even of the movie that's on the disk. I usually watch gag reels/out takes, but I don't care about deleted scenes as much as I used to.
That said, like animefan, I'd rather buy a DVD that has tons of extras, even if I probably will never watch them, than get a barebones movie-only disk, if they're the same price.

I probably should explore more extras, because even if there's 80% crap, there's still 20% good stuff.

One minor peeve: I wish all extras told me how long they were from the menu. After watching a movie at night, I might watch a ten minute outtake or a fifteen minute 'making of', but I probably will not enjoy a 1 hour featurette.

Second minor peeve - I wish all extras were subtitled. In part because sometimes the sound isn't mixed all that well and it can be hard to hear/understand, but secondly because then I can watch in fast forward and still get the content.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

If you want to see how long an extra is, just hit the counter/display button and it should go from telling how much time has passed to how much time is left.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I think he means before he gets in the feature.

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I'm another who mostly only watches the deleted scenes, gag reels, and occasionally will listen to the commentary tracks. Unless a movie is something I'm a really big fan of or is based on true events with a historical documentary of the real event whatever movie is being based on I tend to ignore documentaries. For the most part they're just fluff pieces anyways.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I will watch documentaries if they seem interesting, the ocassional deleted scene, and the trailers. I've grown tired of commentaries (for reasons already mentioned) and I hate PiP stuff and interactive stuff (like Maximum Movie Mode) because I'd rather watch the movie or how it was made. Constantly jumping back and forth between both is annoying as I find myself more interested in watching the movie and find everything else annoying distractions at best.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I think this is just a "figure of speech", he did not mean he really was that far.

I proudly watch every bit of Extra features, it makes me feel like I am getting more bang for my buck. And some of them I really enjoy.

"The Family Man" had a gag reel that I still bust a gut (Figure of Speech) every time I watch it. Cage is trying to get one of his lines right and he just keeps messing up...him and his buddy in the movie just cannot hold it together.

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It's gotten to the point where they should just stop doing 'bore-us material' for movies unless the people who made the movie REALLY want to. So much of it gets repetitive. Some of my favorite cliches:

"At the end of the day..."

"We brought more to the table"

"(So-and-so) is the greatest (cameraman, helicopter pilot, gaffer) in the business, and we were lucky to get him for this movie"

"When I read the script..."

"My character..." (Proceeds to do an in-depth analysis of the character they play along with clips of every major line they say)

"We wanted to give audiences something they had never seen before."

I'd love to see stuff like this where everyone says stuff like "This movie really turned out to be a piece of shit" and "I hated working on this thing- I was glad when it was over!"

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Another one- when talking about the city the movie took place and was filmed in: "This city was another character in the movie."

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I feel the same way! It's like a Magician, or an Illusionist reveals how they perform their tricks, and illusions. If the audience knows how all the tricks are done, the mystery of magic will be ruin. Can you imagine David Copperfield telling the world how he does his illusions? His career will be over because everybody will attempt, or emulate is work!

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I don't understand this perspective. I love making-of features, but I still find a well-made movie absorbing and magical. I mean, anyone over the age of 7 should understand that what they're seeing isn't real. Once you've accepted that, what difference does it make if you know how it's not real?

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Well I'll give you another example, then maybe you'll understand! If you were a famous gourmet chief, and own a very posh reknown restaurant, that serves exquisite delicacies, (that no other food establishment in town have on their menu,) would you give away your secret recipes? If you do, you will be out of business, because people will start preparing your meals at home. The late Colonel Sanders has never given away his recipe for his famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. That's why!

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Doesn't equate. We're not discussing why film-makers should be protective of their trade secrets. We're discussing whether knowing how movies are made interferes with enjoying movies. So to come back to your false analogy, would knowing what the Colonel's 23 herbs and spices are make KFC less appealing to you than it is today when you don't know what they are?

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

The movie magic being ruined doesn't really make sense to me. My thoughts are from Feynman's book "What Do You Care What Other People Think"... let me see if I can get the quote.

And that last sentence is how I feel.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

A movie is a movie. It's a product made by many people. It's not "magic" in the sense we know what magic tends to look like.

Knowing how a film is made shouldn't at all effect how you feel about the movie. That's a bs mentality. Seeing what they use to make something isn't as important has HOW they use it. Yeah, I really like knowing how Kubrick made that pen float. Knowing it doesn't at all kill the illusion of floating. It just makes me damn appreciative at how fucking smart he was.

Appreciating a film as a self contained element should NEVER be affected by knowing what they did to do it. It may make us not like it at times but as a self contained piece of work..it stands on it's own.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

I don't watch those behind the scenes because it's all promo crap shown on HBO/other movie channel, to get people excited about the film yet not showing anything.

I normally don't watch bonus features unless the movie ends and the cat is sleeping on my chest and I don't want to get up.

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Yes it would! Because the chicken will no longer be special, and different. Then I will be able to prepare it at home.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

jesus christ. just came to check on this thread and it seems my initial reaction is still my current one.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Pen & Teller tried this with a TV special in which they made a sunken ship disappear. They hyped it up that at the end of the special, they'd reveal how they did the trick (and they did indeed reveal it).

That special was a huge ratings disaster.

Re: One reason why I normally don't watch bonus features
 

Just because you know "how it's done" doesn't mean you have the skills to actually do it.