Recommended Commentary In Movies

[Top Dollar]

Currently listening to David Cronenberg's commentary on Videodrome. This man speaks like a University Professor. Everything is explained with incredible clarity. Friggin' awesome.

[El_Jay]

I watch commentary tracks for different reasons, so my suggestions may not do much for you.

I usually watch the cast ones for entertainment instead of the filmmakers. It occasionally takes away from the 'wonder' of the movie, to me if they dissect each shot too much. I still listen to them for movies I really love, but generally I listen to the cast ones to hear funny anecdotes and see if the actors really do have chemistry, etc.

I like cast ones like all of the Apatow movies (plus the sorta extended Apatow-family movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall), where it sounds like they are just having a party.

Arnold and John Milius (I think) on Conan is legendary, since he is hammered.

Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang is hilarious because Shane Black wants to talk about the movie shot-by-shot, Robert Downey Jr. is trying to support Shane and talk about the movie, but Val Kilmer is just cracking jokes, doing accents, making a joke out of everything. I thought it was great.

Step Brothers is great, because Ferrell, Reilly and Adam McKay are all nutjobs and they just crack jokes the entire time. They also spend much of the commentary playing a keyboard and singing their commentary instead of speaking it, to make things different. That one was a lot of fun.

[Dubstar]

all of Joe Dante's commentaries are engaging, informative, and very entertaining

[Top Dollar]

Never knew that about Conan, & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, will definitely check out both.

[Danchez]

For some reason, I've always been completely fascinated and amused by the commentary for the first Resident Evil movie by Paul Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, Michele Rodriguez, and Milla Jovovich... mostly due to the hilariously inappropriate commentary by Milla.

Apparently, it was the first time that she had ever done a commentary before, and she makes it quite apparent, saying stuff like:

When other three commentators have praised the opening scientist scene as a great intro to the RE series:
"... I think it sucks. Honestly, I think it would've been much better if it was me."

After about ten minutes of commentary have elapsed:
"So, are we just gonna do commentary on, like, the whole movie? ...Oh, AWESOME!"

When Rodriguez comments that the doomed people in the elevator are about to get screwed by the zombie outbreak:
"Oh, I just love to see people get screwed onscreen."

At her first on-screen appearance:
*Hushing the other three*
"Excuse me, can I do my commentary now? ...Okay, so this is me. This is me, like, waking up. And remembering stuff... I'm kinda cute!"

On Anderson's directorial style:
"Paul's main direction to Michele was, 'Do the eye thing.' And for me, it was 'Don't ever do that again, I hated it.'"


...Obviously, alot of the humor is in her delivery and goofy voices, but it still had be cracking up.

[Moviefan2k4]

I enjoy the commentary tracks on the "Back to the Future" films, by Bob Gale and Neil Canton. Both are very informative, and a few jokes pop in at times as well.

[bigshot]

Ralph Bakshi's commentary on Wizards is better than the film itself. It's an important document of an undocumented period in the history of animation.

[Banned User]

Chucky's commentary on Childs Play.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Most of John Carpenter's commentaries are both entertaining and informing.

Nicolas Meyer has a really good one for Star Trek II. He really gives a lot of great insights into film making.

[I KEEL YOU]

Stand By Me picture in picture commentary. Highly informative and entertaining.

The best commentary I've heard for a movie is Hoop Dreams DVD, which probably won't come out on blu (would be very pointless if it did, at least). It has two commentaries, one by the makers of documentary and the other by the two kids from the movie. Because it's a documentary, the commentary actually gives a whole new dimension to the movie, unlike with conventional movies.

[BouCoupDinkyDau]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

Stand By Me picture in picture commentary. Highly informative and entertaining.

Another good P-I-P commentary is on The Goonies DVD. Really fun, and really cool to see most of the actors all grown up. I don't know if that got ported over to the blu though.

[Guitar Joe]

My favorites are the ones that are funny and entertaining.

The Tropic Thunder one with Stiller, Black, and Robert Downey Jr. doing his 'black' voice the whole time is a good one.


I wish Troma would put out Cannibal! The Musical out on blu-ray with the drunk commentary track.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Top Dollar

Currently listening to David Cronenberg's commentary on Videodrome. This man speaks like a University Professor. Everything is explained with incredible clarity. Friggin' awesome.

I consider Michael Cimino's commentary to be one of the best ever done.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Ralph Bakshi's commentary on Wizards is better than the film itself. It's an important document of an undocumented period in the history of animation.

Ralph looses his cool with fellow commentarian Lance Laspina on the "Fire & Ice" dvd/bluray but of course it's no surprise he's a little bit of his rocker in the first place.

[Adrock]

Very neat thread idea, OP!

[mjcavinder]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Ralph Bakshi's commentary on Wizards is better than the film itself. It's an important document of an undocumented period in the history of animation.

I just ordered Wizards the other day, I'll have to checkout the commentary thanks.

[Jumpman]

Underworld commentary with Kate Beckinsale, Len Wiseman, and Scott Speedman.

If you had a crush on Beckinsale before, wait until you listen to her for 134 minutes. She's a riot during this thing. I've listened to this commentary at least 6 times over the years mainly for Beckinsale.

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by Guitar Joe

My favorites are the ones that are funny and entertaining.

The Tropic Thunder one with Stiller, Black, and Robert Downey Jr. doing his 'black' voice the whole time is a good one. .

"I don't go out of character until after the commentary!"--

That cracks me up. Robert Downey Jr's commentaries are some of the best. His one on Sherlock, which is downloadable via bdlive, is excellent as well.
I haven't listened to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's commentary, but someone else mentioned it earlier.

[Sponge-worthy]

Stallone's commentaries in First Blood and Rambo (2008) are exceptional.

Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp have a great commentary track on Pirates: Curse of the Black Pearl.

Tom Dey, Owen Wilson, and Jackie Chan from Shanghai Noon is one I remember fondly.

For entertainment value, commentaries on Tropic Thunder and Spinal Tap are great.

And of course, Commentary! The Musical.

[Guitar Joe]

Originally Posted by Banned User

"I don't go out of character until after the commentary!"--

That cracks me up. Robert Downey Jr's commentaries are some of the best. His one on Sherlock, which is downloadable via bdlive, is excellent as well.
I haven't listened to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang's commentary, but someone else mentioned it earlier.

I don't usually get into the BD live stuff, but I'll try to remember to check that out. Is it just him by himself?