Inspired by DVD for Archer TV series, but seems just as applicable for movies, so putting it here.
I gave up on commentary after more than a few snoozers.
I like the “Making of…” especially if it’s some weird location shoot. The documentaries that end up being a collection of cast interviews of everyone saying how wonderful everyone else is to work with get turned off.
I started giving Deleted Scenes a pass when every single one of them was deleted for a very good reason as in, “we showed this elsewhere” or “this was already said.” Most of them get deleted for time. 'Nuff said.
Alternate endings are sometimes better, especially when focus groups/the Studio made them change it to something more palatable, but in the end they’re should’ve would’ve could’ve’s.
I love me some Blooper Reels. Why don’t you like Blooper Reels?
And I don’t care about the packaging.
Purchase DVDs?
Yeah, blooper/gag reels 4lyfe! “Making of” and behind the scenes shorts can be interesting, too.
For every six George Lucas commentaries, there are a couple Phantom Editor, Brad Bird, or Merry & Pippin commentaries, ranging from genuinely insightful to very interesting to hilarious.
Commentaries are huge. They’re a mixed bag, but when the director is engaged, personable, and talking in nuts-and-bolts detail about his or her craft, they can be not only entertaining but (to the budding filmmaker or movie geek) invaluable too. Peyton Reed’s commentary for “Down With Love” is a good example of a great commentary – one that is fascinating regardless of how much (or whether) one liked the movie.
Other - now I always look for the packs with the Digital Copy.
Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog </thread>
Heh, I do think “Commentary: The Musical” is actually better than Dr. Horrible, but I digress.
I love good extras, and I do wish we could get more bloopers with some sets. I actually prefer commentaries and documentaries, but I love special features in general. I also refuse to buy certain movies on Blu-Ray because they’re missing the extras. Two prime examples are “Master and Commander” and “Kingdom of Heaven”.
Both have awesome special feature DVD sets (2 and 4 disks, respectfully) with TONS of extras. However, the Blu-Ray versions of each are basically just the movie. Why would I double dip if I’m not getting all the other good stuff I want? In some cases I can do that because ALL of the extra content is on a second disk, like “The Fifth Element”, but in the cases above, this isn’t so, sadly.
So yeah, extra features are insanely important to me. A good example of how to do it right, I think, is the recent Scott Pilgrim Blu-Ray. 17 hours of extras, for fuck sake.
Hmm, I share the same opinion on deleted scenes, they are almost always deleted with good reason, and really boring to see. Alternate endings…eh, I think the only one of those I can remember liking better was the Will Smith Omega Man movie, and it still was crappy.
Commentary is a mixed bag, sometimes its really funny, or just really insightful and interesting. I actually really dug the animated Justice League Unlimited and Batman commentaries. Lots of interesting stuff about how animation has changed, about what they could and couldn’t show, and stuff about how the episode was made and the voice actors. But more often than not it’s really boring.
Criterion has really perfected the idea of extras - fitting, as they invented the audio commentary. The release of 8 1/2, by way of example, has an hour-long doc on Nino Rota (Fellini’s longtime music collaborator), a documentary on the original ending, and Fellini: A Director’s Notebook, a short film Fellini made for Italian television that is only available through that set. I took film classes that had less information than this release has.
That’s amazing duder. I only have one Criterion release, The Last Emperor. I need to rectify that.
I hate the idea of DVDs without commentaries, but at the same time, I find I rarely listen to them.
Isolated score soundtracks are nice, as well, especially if you’re dealing with something by Bernard Herrmann.
I love it when they drop the love fest and talk about how it really was. But its so rare to see that.
My favorite: The commentary track on The Limey actually features the director and the writer arguing, vigorously, about the extensive cuts the director made to the script. Every few minutes you hear the writer butt in - and here is where the scene where I explained X was, so this used to really mean something. Then the director would counter about how it wasn’t necessary, etc. I love it.
When I know there’s something grand, only then must I have it. Like this deleted scene from Silence of the Lambs. I still can’t believe they cut this, could’ve been the best dialogue in the entire film!
hehe, I’ll have to check out the Limey.
Funny, the commentary is the whole reason I snagged The Limey and, while I’ve watched the movie itself, I totally forgot about the commentary. Thanks for the reminder!
Came here to say that. Or something similar. Criterion = the best extra features. My favorite extra was on Criterion’s Life of Brian, where the Pythons had decided they were too good to be directly interviewed, so all of them sat in directors chairs looking snooty in the background, while they had some hapless extra field questions.
To be honest, I don’t typically bother with extra features on DVDs. Too much else to watch, and I don’t very often -want- to know behind the scenes details as it spoils the magic for me. However, I do appreciate the extended cuts of the Lord of the Rings movies (and probably will appreciate the same for Watchmen, haven’t gotten around to watching it at home yet.) If anything, I think that’s what I’d pull for - reintegrated additional film content that was cut for time, not for sucking.
I own a few hundred DVDs and Blu-Rays, I cant think of any extras I have ever used at all. What I want in a movie? Get right to the main menu ASAP when I put it in the machine.
The commentary track on The Sum of All Fears is pretty good as well… Tom Clancy pretty much goes through and points out every thing they did wrong with the director there.