Director's Commentary on DVDs: Good idea or bad idea?

[Calhoun07]

Generally speaking, I like director's commentary, but how necessary is it to have this feature on a DVD? The commentaries for movies like Election, Airplane and This is Spinal Tap stick out in recent memory as commentaries that added to my enjoyment of the movie...but are commentaries on DVDs a good idea?

The film maker should not have to explain his movie or tell you what he meant in a specific shot or scene. And there are directors out there who refuse to do commentaries for their DVD releases for this reason alone. And I am beginning to lean towards agreeing with them. If they wanted to tell you what they meant, they would have just come out and told you what they wanted to say and they would have saved their time and money doing the movie in the first place!

Sometimes it is good, but in other cases I think director's commentaries are depriving us of thinking about movies that are thought provoking and deserve to have articles and reviews and papers written about them and deserved to be talked about among the fans. When you come out and explain away a vital piece of information in a commentary that wasn't so easy to extract before, something that would take time and effort to extract, it ruins part of the enjoyment of watching that movie to begin with.

I know that director's commentaries are an optional bonus feature, and I don't have to listen to them if I don't want to, and for some movies I have opted not to listen to them. But I wish more directors would just let their work speak for themselves and leave the disecting of the movie and its meanings to the fans.

[James]

DVD commentaries are a fascinating insight into movies and one of the most vital ingredients for purchasing a DVD, IMO of course!

I love watching a film and then being able to compare what I felt about the film with the intentions of the actors/directors/writers
Small stories, little notes, explanation of possible alternative scenes...... if you like films or film making they are an excellent resource (a point mentioned on the American Beauty commentary)

I remember the first commentary I saw was for The Usual Suspects and it came on a separate video to the film! Clunky!

I've noticed a decline in DVD commentaries at the moment which is very irritating. Image stills, Trailers and the like you can grab off the net and interviews are regularly on TV as part of the films promotion - but commentaries - priceless!

Top 5 commentaries I've seen:
1. Fight Club: Interesting and humorous. Brad Pitt comes over as quite a character (I was quite surprised!)
2. Usual Suspects: Fascinating and witty - I like the way Singer can laugh at his own mistakes ("The plane goes into the air with four engines...... and oops comes down with two!.. oh well....")
3. Thomas Crown Affair - Excellent if you are interested in Film making.
4. Gladiator - Same reasons as above.
5. Ghostbusters - Funny, intelligent and you get tiny heads at the bottom like in MST3K!

Pity X-Men didn't have one in the UK, nor did American Psycho - now that's film that would have benefited a commentary!

[Calhoun07]

Of course, I am not against them as a whole, just the ones who feel the need to explain away their movie. Leave it up to the imagination and creativity of the audience to figure out the hidden meanings!

The best commentaries to me are the ones that share the stories and anedotes (I am sure that's not spelled right, so I apologize in advance!) and don't feel the need to explain the movie away to me. I feel the ones that share the behind the scenes stories and how the movie was made enrich my enjoyment of the movie, I feel the ones that explain everything insult the intelligence of the viewer.

The worse commentaries? ANYTHING by the Farrley Brothers! I love their movies to death, but it gets old real real fast to listen to them point out each and individual friend and aquaintance they put into all of their movies. ENOUGH already!

My personal favorite commentary...Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Tim Burton and Paul Rubens really had fun on that one and told alot of stories behind the movie that you would have never known other wise.

[Clayface]

I love 'em, and I usually won't buy a DVD if they don't have director's commentary on them. Unfortunately though, some directors just don't know how to do a good commentary - there's nothing I hate more than listening to a director drone on and on about the way a certain shot was filmed (camera lens, angle, etc), or when they sit there and pat each other on the back (Yeah Bill, you did a great job with the set here. Thanks Bob, you did a great job with the way you delievered the line there. Hey John, you did a great job with the lighting!). Ugh.

[Brian Cruz]

I always try to listen to commentaries on the DVDs I own. Since I'm a film student, I especially like commentaries that deal with the technical aspects of making movies. I loved hearing about all the tricks Alfred Hitchcock used when making his films, which I only found out about from the commentaries on Hitchcock DVDs. I kinda wish cinematographers would do a commentary once in a while, though that would bore everyone else to tears.

[The Clown Prince]

I LOVE em' because I have favorite scenes in every movie that I watch and I love going back and listening to the commentary about that scene. For example in Sleepy Hollow one of my favorite scenes in that movie is when the headless horseman walks into a family's house, kills the husband, kills the wife, then as he is walking out of the house holding onto to the two heads by the hair, he turns around and cuts open the floor with his axe and pulls out the little kid who was hiding underneath. As he is pulling him out you the hear the kid scream. Later we see the horseman walk out of the house synching up his bag he was holding. I went back and listened to Tim Burton's commentary and he said that the horseman DID kill the kid, but he left it off screen because movie goers have problems seeing kids killed, especially in a manner such as beheading. I had always wondered that, and that's one of the many reasons I like commentary.

The Clown Prince

[Lonestarr]

I think it's a great idea. I've listened to two audio commentaries:

1. Austin Powers (Mike Myers and director Jay Roach)

and

2. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)

and I enjoyed them. I really should look into getting Kevin Smith movies on DVD. From what I've heard, they have the best commentaries. Any comments?

[Clayface]

Originally posted by Lonestarr29
I really should look into getting Kevin Smith movies on DVD. From what I've heard, they have the best commentaries. Any comments?

Yeah, the Kevin Smith commentaries are pretty good - a lot of joking around and fun. Personally, I liked the Fight Club commentary the best - lots of great stories and information.

[Calhoun07]

I think the commentary for Dude, Where's My Car is a very fun commentary, and should be listened to.

I like commentaries, as a whole, but hate the ones where the director feels the need to explain his movie to the audience. An artist should never have to explain his work.

[Patrick McCart]

I personally like commentaries. It's like watching a preview with the director (or other cast/crew) and showing how it was made.

The commentary on the Superman: The Movie DVD is exceptionally informative...not to mention entertaining. Richard Donner and Tom Mankewitz give a wealth of information about styles (and goofs...like Donner's reflection in a window!)

There's a few movies that don't need any extras such as a commentary like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but there's a lot that really would be good with a commentary.

I hope that when the LT/MM DVD's are released, there's some sort of commentary for the cartoons with animation historians like Lenord Maltin, Jerry Beck, and Will Friedwald. There's so much information out there, and the commentaries make a film interactive.

[Eraserhead]

I, too, love the commentaries..But its becoming a problem for me now because when I watch a movie, (For some reason) I expect the commentary to be better!! Looks like I need to slow down a bit...

But yeah, recently I was extremely disappointed with the 5-STAR edition of "Die Hard". Now, to me, that film is perhaps the best pure action film I've ever seen, so I was expecting a dynamic audio track from director John Mctiernan & Tech. advisor for the film. But maan, what a complete bore this was...As for the text commentary? Well, if you're a slow reader, you're in trouble.

Now I understand if you have goals of becoming a filmaker then much of the techincal data may come in handy. But as for us "movie-lovers",
We're just more into the origins of the story,trivial stuff,and a few jokey remarks. That does'nt mean that I'm anti-techincal or anything like that, In fact the VERY first audio commentary I've ever heard was, and still is, the most fascinating Ive heard yet. It was Robert Rodriguez's EL MARIACHI. Now the very first time I saw this movie was on ppv back in '92. Since I did'nt know NOTHING about this film, I just thought it was another one of those "critically-acclaimed" foriegn movies. Flash-Forward about 5 years later
and I catch EL MARIACHI on "All-Access" IFC equppied with an "Audio Commentary"? What? Rodriguez is American? This movie was made for only $6,000?? Its the simple stuff like that which is what keeps me amazed about commentaries.

To keep this post short, I'll just name some of the other terrific commentaries I've heard:

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACREUndoubtedly, a film that I've ALWAYS wondered what went on behind-the-scenes. Good info on this, plus you get to hear "Leatherface" talk!

GLORY-Excellent video track with Broderick,Freeman,and director Ed Zwick.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP!-I never thought this movie was that funny untill I hear the "group" do the commentary for the special edition.

SE7EN-The 2nd track with Pitt & Freeman ain'nt bad, but the 1st one "The Story" was all I needed to know and more.

T2:JUDGMENT DAY-Probably the best constructed track created so far. Scene-by-Scene examination to the fullest!

BRING IT ON-Believe it or not! This commentary happens to be a personal favorite and you'll probably see why. This guy (Peyton Reed) is signed to direct the FANTASTIC FOUR film and I'm dying to hear what he has to say about that one.

[Calhoun07]

Eraserhead, I just wanted to say it's good to see you back and posting! It's been a while, hasn't it? You missed my Laura Palmer wrapped in plastic avatar, or did you get to see it? Anyway, I've been wondering if you were still visting the boards!

[James]

The Doctor Who DVD commentaries are quite good too. The Remberance Of The Dalek commentary is very good - with McCoy and Aldred taking the seat. It also has small balloon boxes like 'pop up video' scattered throughout when you watch the commentary giving you some extra insight into the production!

Is it just me though, or are commentaries becoming few on DVDs?
Please tell me it's just me!!

[Eraserhead]

Thanks for the welcome, Calhoun. And yeah I did spot your Laura Palmer pic a while back....Clever!

[Calhoun07]

Originally posted by SJJ
The Doctor Who DVD commentaries are quite good too. The Remberance Of The Dalek commentary is very good - with McCoy and Aldred taking the seat. It also has small balloon boxes like 'pop up video' scattered throughout when you watch the commentary giving you some extra insight into the production!

Is it just me though, or are commentaries becoming few on DVDs?
Please tell me it's just me!!

I hope you realize how fortunate you are that you get Dr Who DVDs before those of us across the pond. I just hope that these commentaries on the Dr Who DVDs are included on the American releases.

[Bird Boy]

I watched the Directors Commentary on the Return of the Joker DVD. I enjoyed it. I would prefer if all DVD's came with it. I just can't imagine watching a commentary on a movie like "Bounce"..who would wanna watch that?

-BB

[James]

Originally posted by calhoun07


I hope you realize how fortunate you are that you get Dr Who DVDs before those of us across the pond. I just hope that these commentaries on the Dr Who DVDs are included on the American releases.

Can't you hack your DVD player to play region 2? These are BBC's own (although done through their BBC worldwide platform) so I'm not sure what they will do for our American counterparts like yourself.

If it makes you feel any better, there are SO many R1 DVDs which are hacked to pieces before they get to R2. Dark City has it's 30 min feature hacked to 5 min on R2 and no other extras at all. Pathetic...

[Bird Boy]

Originally posted by SJJ


Can't you hack your DVD player to play region 2?

My brothers APEX player has this secret menu on it, where you can change it to any region you want. And when you get to the menu, it says "You are not supposed to be here" ..it's funny....

Anyway, it's not like he'll ever use it..it's just one of many cool things to have... even if it's not gonna be used..

-BB