Hatrack River Forum: Commentary tracks of the blessed

This is topic Commentary tracks of the blessed in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :

I like the idea of DVD commentary tracks, but most of them tend to be kinda dull, and usually I skip them. (The few ones I've liked = the commentary for the original Donnie Darko movie, commentaries on Firefly.)

The Onion just ran a bit on good DVD commentary tracks. Anyone have any faves of their own?

http://www.theonionavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=4112&f=2

Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :

Off the top of my head...there's an episode in the fourth season of Stargate SG-1 that is hilarious. The commentary track for that episode is almost better than the episode itself. I nearly cried, I was laughing so hard.

Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :

I almost never listen to commentaries. I listened to one or two of the Firefly ones, but that's pretty much it. I dunno, for some reason I think they just aren't for me.

Posted by Lady Jane (Member # 7249) on :

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

John Hughes is hilarious, and it's been so long that he's not worried about his next job and is honest about the experience.

Posted by fiazko (Member # 5812) on :

I like the Goonies one a) because it involves the entire cast, and b) because of the way it's set up--sometimes they shrink the movie and show the cast, which is cool, but also, the movie volume stays loud enough that you can still hear what's going on, unlike most of the commentaries I've experienced.

Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :

Fight Club, Donnie Darko, off the top of my head.

I know there are more that i like.

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

The cast commentary for Ocean's 11 (the new one) with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Andy Garcia is hilarous. And I don't suppose I need to add the LotR cast commentaries... but I will anyway.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Miro, I'm in the middle of SG-1's fourth season. I mostly skip the commentaries.

Which one are you referring to, so I know not to skip it?

Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :

Window of Opportunity. It's the time loop episode.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Drat. I already watched that one -- I just mailed it back on Monday. (It is a GREAT episode, though!)

Oh, well. Someday I'll be independently wealthy and own the set. [Big Grin]

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

quote:
I almost never listen to commentaries. I listened to one or two of the Firefly ones, but that's pretty much it. I dunno, for some reason I think they just aren't for me.

I think it has something to do with your dislike of analysis, twinky [Wink]

.

I like most commentaries, although I prefer behind the scenes rather than actors, unless the actors are more than usually witty. The firefly ones I've listened to parts of two episodes, but the one I was most enjoying (for 'Serenity') gave a little too much away, so I stopped it.

I love the art direction ones for the Lord of the Rings. They're so very interesting. I also like ones with the writer- learning what they were thinking etc, although those are generally the most painful, because you have to consciously make the "it's real/it's not real" distinction.

I prefer to watch actors ones with friends and the rest alone, mostly because however interested I think my friends are they invariably roll their eyes when I ask them to watch the directorial commentary with them... *sigh*

EDIT: I really enjoy commentaries on movies which I watch for laughs- someone mentioned Ocean's Eleven. That is one of the funniest commentaries [Smile]

.

[ March 31, 2005, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Teshi ]

Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :

I loved the commentary track for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I remember the commentary for The Station Agent being better than the actual movie.

There were a couple episodes from the fourth season of The Simpsons that were written by Conan O'Brien where they got him to come in and do the commentaries. They were so hilarious I was just about wetting my pants.

I really like how the South Park commentaries are done. The creators note, quite rightly, that most people have a few minutes worth of interesting stuff to say and then pad the rest with nervous laughter and comments like "I really like this scene." So, in order to preclude that, they just do commentaries over the first five minutes or so of each episode and then when they run out of stuff to say they go to the next one. All the commentaries end up being packed with good stuff in bite-sized form.

That's all that I can think of right now.