Audio Commentary Best and Worst

[Jerry2345]

I remember loving Roger Ebert’s commentary on Casablanca.
I also generally love Eddy Mullers commentaries on film noirs.
Ronald D Moore’s commentaries on Battlestar Galactica were also great.
I also loved the original commentary (on the DVD) on Vertigo.

As for worst, I hate commentaries where it’s just people involved patting themselves and each other on the back. Generally, the more recent the film, the more likely it is that the commentary is much more “promotional” rather than informative... Same goes for other special features.

[Canada]

The commentary by the soldiers who fought in the Black Hawk Down incident is one of the best.

[Alister_M]

Best: Schwarzenegger/Milius on Conan the Barbarian and Schwarzenegger/Verhoeven on Total Recall

Worst: John McTiernan on Predator and any commentary by George Cosmatos. Absolute cure for insomnia.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by Alister_M

Worst: John McTiernan on Predator

McTiernan sounds exactly like Dr. Zoidberg on Futurama.

[cardiac161]

Michael Cimino's commentaries for The Deer Hunter & Year of the Dragon are fantastic!

[beamish13]

Peter Bogdanovich’s are uniformly terrific

[ArtVanderlay]

*Ahem* Bey Logan's commentaries

Worst: when I accidentally selected the 'Joke' commentary on Dodgeball thinking it was the actual one.

Unfortunately nowadays I don't have enough time for audio commentaries or special features (Though I make an exception for Criterion special features).

[beamish13]

Originally Posted by ArtVanderlay

*Ahem* Bey Logan's commentaries

Worst: when I accidentally selected the 'Joke' commentary on Dodgeball thinking it was the actual one.

Unfortunately nowadays I don't have enough time for audio commentaries or special features (Though I make an exception for Criterion special features).

Lucky for you that Criterion skimps on the commentaries nowadays (although I am really excited about PARASITE’s)

[celluloidboy]

Craven and Williamson on the first Scream.

[Walter Kafka]

Worst commentary I ever heard was DVD Waiting for Guffman.

[hanshotfirst1138]

Christopher Frayling’s Leone commentaries are gold. He sure knows his stuff. Wish he had some solo ones for OUATITW & OUATIA.

[lesco]

Best: commentaries with
Joe Dante
Leonard Maltin
Terry Gilliam
John Waters
and other commentators who partner up with someone else to give a lively track (Kim Newman, David Del Valle)
Tim Lucas and Tom Weaver are pretty good, depending on the film.

Worst:
Actor commentaries. Every track is guaranteed to have the comment "It was SO COLD / SO HOT out there" make an appearance somewhere along the way. And everything they say is a suck-up.

[Hedrox]

RateThatCommentary.com

[EvilAshLives]

One of the worst is Richard Stanley's Dust Devil commentary, not because of the content, but because it sounds like it was recorded in a wind tunnel; it's sadly unlistenable.

[Monterey Jack]

Originally Posted by EvilAshLives

One of the worst is Richard Stanley's Dust Devil commentary, not because of the content, but because it sounds like it was recorded in a wind tunnel; it's sadly unlistenable.

A lot of these post-Covid "Zoom chat" commentaries sound like the speakers are in the midst of drowning. The recent commentary track on the Kino release of Happy Birthday To Me sounds like shit. You'd think these people could afford a proper mike setup.

[Ben_UK]

Alien was my first ever DVD purchased in about 1999 and it’s still to this day one of the best commentary tracks I’ve ever listened to. I was frankly spoiled I think because the bar was set so high with that. I too have begun to listen to a few Bond commentaries and perhaps because the people involved are just so old now the input they have is pretty vague and not really up to the standard of the best tracks out there.

[Lurtz6]

Ones I go back to time and time again (I definitely prefer more lighthearted anecdotal commentaries):

Richard Linklater: Dazed and Confused
Chiodo Brothers: Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Bruce Campbell Solo commentary: The Evil Dead (not on Bluray iirc, have to get the ultimate DVD)
Any of the commentaries on the Trailer Trauma trailer comp discs, but I'm especially fond of George Reise and Keith Crocker on Trailer Trauma 2.

[sleepaway77]

Originally Posted by Lurtz6

Ones I go back to time and time again (I definitely prefer more lighthearted anecdotal commentaries):

Richard Linklater: Dazed and Confused
Chiodo Brothers: Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Bruce Campbell Solo commentary: The Evil Dead (not on Bluray iirc, have to get the ultimate DVD)
Any of the commentaries on the Trailer Trauma trailer comp discs, but I'm especially fond of George Reise and Keith Crocker on Trailer Trauma 2.

Not having the solo Bruce Cam0bell commentary on any of the subsequent Evil Dead blu releases is a crime. Probably the commentary track I've revisited the most. Even made a girlfriend watch the movie with it on.

[format916]

Originally Posted by Ben_UK

Alien was my first ever DVD purchased in about 1999 and it’s still to this day one of the best commentary tracks I’ve ever listened to..

Just listened to this after watching Romulus and it indeed is very good. A classic for me has to be Joe Bob Briggs for I Spit on Your Grave. It’s hard to pick worst because there are plenty of dull useless ones. I might just need to go with 1978 Halloween with John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis simply because Jamie Lee won’t shut up how every shot is so beautiful.

[moreorless]

Originally Posted by Ben_UK

Alien was my first ever DVD purchased in about 1999 and it’s still to this day one of the best commentary tracks I’ve ever listened to. I was frankly spoiled I think because the bar was set so high with that.

Also my first ever DVD, similar to that I'v always loved Alan Parkers commentary on Angel Heart, great recall of details from a very charming man who didnt take himself too seriously.