Don't Listen to Audio Comms.

[steve1992]

I never listen to audio commentaries from my
favourite films because I feel it destroys
the escapism and the memories the film bought to you. Listening to the dir. or star describing how/why they did that in the film
bursts the bubble!

Am I alone in this view??

[pompeyfan]

I don't listen to 'em as I don't find them that interesting (have tried;)). It's like trying to watch a film with someone talking to you.

Although there is one exception - the commentry for This is Spinal Tap, but then thats done in character by the band members.

[sidebog7]

Originally posted by steve1992
I never listen to audio commentaries from my
favourite films because I feel it destroys
the escapism and the memories the film bought to you. Listening to the dir. or star describing how/why they did that in the film
bursts the bubble!

Am I alone in this view??

Or, alternatively, you could say that listening to commentaries on favourite films enhances the understanding of the film and allows a greater appreciation of the difficulties which were overcome to create the film. Also, commentaries can provide you with background to the film such as the time and place in which the film was set and made (i.e. political and social background).
Of course listening to people describe how they did special effects can ruin the effect but I tend to wonder how things were done and attempt to find out myself so the commentaries don't really ruin it for me.

[Tyler Durden]

Commentaries are without a doubt the best type of extras. I listen to them at work.

My faves are :-

Fight Club
Seven
The Thing
Big Trouble in Little China
Robocop
Starship Troopers
Evil Dead II

to name but a few.

Give them a go, you won't regret it ;)

[Paul490]

The Mrs. Doubtfire and Evil Dead ones are great too. Check them out! :)

If you don't like commentaries, don't listen to them. I don't listen to very many, because quite a lot are boring. But there are some great ones too. :cool:

[BigHairyScotsman]

I have to hold up my hand here and so that I dont listen to commentary, and if Im honest I rarely watch any extras either.

The only disc that I have watched and listened to everything was...Spinal Tap, but as pompeyfan pointed out, its probably because its done in character.

The strange thing is I wont touch a bare-bones DVD, for the simple reason, I cant shift it on the classified forums :D


BHS:cool:

[tpr007]

HKL's Bey Logan commentaries are excellent, and I listened to them all!

[Robby]

Fair enough if you don't want to listen to comm's then that's upto you, but you are missing out on a lot. Tyler Durden lists some good ones as are any with Robert Rodriguez (esp From Dusk till Dawn), Armaggeddon, Scream etc.

There is still loads i have that i want to go through. But i only do it because i enjoy them. I also hear the Kevin Smith ones are great too.

[EdgeOfVictory]

It depends if I can be arsed or not to put it bluntly

Some of the ones that I have listened to have been excellent eg the Buffy ones. I think mainly it was because the commentators sounded enthusiastic about them

Conversely, I found teh Legally Blonde one to be a bit dull and fell asleep not far into it

Saying this though, of all the discs that I have with a commentary I have hardly listened to any of them

[SimonI]

There's nothing worse than a boring commentary (Men in black being a good example), but a good one can certainly increase your understanding and appreciation of a film. I just watched the commentary for A Bug's Life and while it did contain a bit of "this was done by so and so who is a brilliant..." on the whole it revealed a whole new perspective on the film. There were loads of things pointed out that I had missed (despite seeing it at least a dozen times) and it really helped me to appreciate how beautifully composed it all is. Rather like having a painting described to you by an art expert, revealing the details of the composition.

[RichB]

If it's a fave film, I'll certainly listen to the commentary

As a rule if I like the film (I rent a lot) I'll more than likely listen to the commentary, and if I'm not keen, I won't bother

I listen to all the HKL commentaries too as I learn so much about HK films from Bey Logan!

[banky]

If I like the film then I will listen to the commentary, I think it maybe it depends on how much you are interested in the film making process. i like Ridley Scott commenteries because he has an obvious pride in his work and this comes across in the commentary. MiB on the other hand was terrible, Tommy Lee jones asking every two seconds whether a shot was cgi or not.
I think if you just say you won't listen to commentaries and that's it, then you may be missing out. But I suppose it's down to the individual.

[dangermouse]

99% of the reason I got interested in DVDs is because of the audio commentaries.

Some of them are like mini-filmschools and people like Ridley Scott and David Cronenberg really can enhance the apprieciation and depth of a movie (as mentioned in above posts)

Although improved picture and sound quality are nice, that would not have been enough on its own to make me ditch VHS (I know Im probably on my own with this view, so be gentle and dont flame me :p )

[davebower]

Originally posted by Robby
I also hear the Kevin Smith ones are great too.

Gotta second that comment. IMHO Kevin Smith commentaries are the best around.
Every movie of his you can sit back and learn loads of info about the movie. The cast always have a great time and you get the feeling they really enjoy watching and talking about the movie. It feels like they want to be there talking about the movie, and aren't just doing it due to contract stips.

One of the best was the Clerks cartoon comm. were they would sometimes just sit there and genuinely laugh at the jokes, and comment how great the show was.

the best commentaries are the ones where you get the feeling the cast actually enjoy the movie you are watching - American Pie is another one like this.

The worst type have to be the spliced together comments of seperate people to make one long commentary. Despite being a forum fave, i find the Armaggeddon one extremely dull, as even though the comments are informative, the editing ruins any flow.
How hard would it be to get the actors in one room?

[kcxdev]

Originally posted by davebower


Gotta second that comment. IMHO Kevin Smith commentaries are the best around.

I'm not a commentary person either but love chasing amy so started to listen to it. Loved his little remark about DVD's :D :D (the commentary was recorded for the criterion LD)

[Michael Brooke]

<B>The worst type have to be the spliced together comments of seperate people to make one long commentary. </B>

Or the best, depending on your point of view - because what they lack in interplay they more than make up for in information: the whole point of editing them in advance means that the dull bits get cut out!

<B>How hard would it be to get the actors in one room?</B>

Speaking as someone who recently tried just that (reassembling the cast of a film for a post-production dubbing session), the answer is "very" - especially if there's little or no money involved, as is usually the case with commentaries! It's hard enough getting shooting schedules to match actors' availability, even when they're being paid!

And in the case of something like Criterion's <I>The Red Shoes</I>, assembling everyone in the same room simply wasn't practical, as one of the commentators was dead (Brian Easdale, whose comments were taken from pre-recorded interviews), many were elderly and couldn't travel, and two sides of the Atlantic were involved, how else could Criterion have done it? And since another commentator (Marius Goring) died shortly afterwards, and two more (Moira Shearer and Jack Cardiff) are, to put it politely, not exactly spring chickens, the track is even more of a valuable historical record.

Getting back to Steve1992's original comment, I think he's missing the point of many commentaries. True, I can sympathise with his desire not to find out "how they did it", but that doesn't apply to many of my favourite commentaries.

RichB is absolutely right to single out Bey Logan's commentaries, as they're a perfect example - he's particularly interesting on the subject of what 1970s Hong Kong audiences would have made of Bruce Lee, who to them was a former child actor who vanished for a decade before reappearing as a martial arts star (or, as Logan memorably puts it, "as though Macaulay Culkin was starring in <I>Rambo</I>"). I find this stuff absolutely fascinating - and far from "destroying the escapism and the memories", Logan's contributions massively enhance them, by teaching you far more about the film and the social and cultural context than you could possibly have got by watching them on your own.

[Roberto]

How do you do it MB? I mean it's Sunday morning and my head hurts from the night before, and yet you sill managed to put together a coherent and intelligible comment. I have two of whatever you're taking mate. ;) :D