I've only listened to del Toro's commentary track for Hellboy, and not the actors', but I would at least agree that his commentary is excellent. And that seems to be something he can just do well, because his commentaries for Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy II: The Golden Army are also really great.
If you want a phenomenal example of some commentary tracks, look no further than the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings films. Each film comes with four commentary tracks - one for the director and writers, one for the actors, and two others that are divided up amongst various production people (I believe one involves people who would have been working on set like cinematographer, art director, etc., while the other is for post-production related duties like the editor, digital artists, etc.).
So far I've listened to the commentaries with writer/director Peter Jackson and screenwriters Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyen twice all the way through, and they're very very good. Never a dull moment, you learn a lot of fun behind the scenes stuff, a lot of interesting things about their approach, and the three of them just come off as fun/funny people (there's a great bit in there somewhere about Jackson admitting he was eating Lembas bread props when nobody was looking). I've heard bits and pieces of the actors commentary, and they, likewise, sound like they're having a lot of fun.
Another film with great commentaries is Boogie Nights, which has two - one with just writer/director/producer Paul Thomas Anderson, which is mostly just informative (but still fun, especially if you're into filmmaking), and the other consists of Paul Thomas Anderson interviewing/watching the film with virtually all members of the cast. This one is more funny than anything, with lots of behind-the-scenes stories, and Anderson asking every cast member, "Do you think Luis Guzmán was stoned on set?"
Sometimes, I notice commentaries work really well when they're made up of different people edited together. Ridley Scott's Alien, Gladiator, and the Kingdom of Heaven director's cut all have great commentaries with him and a few others. On the other hand, the commentary with Scott on Blade Runner (the final cut) is just him, and it bored me to tears... I had to turn it off. When he had something to say, I would listen, but he's quiet for long stretches.
The Aliens commentary track is also pretty fun, with Cameron, various cast members, crew members, etc. Bill Paxton is *beep* hilarious in that commentary.
However, the multiple people rule doesn't always pan out - I agree that the Star Wars commentaries are terrible. They mostly have... what? Four people or so? Lucas, Dennis Muran for the SFX discussions, Ben Burtt for the sound discussion, and Carrie Fisher. They're all boring (sans Fisher), and I agree - the Star Wars trilogy should have gotten the LOTR treatment in terms of commentaries. And I can't stand listening to the prequel commentaries, because I can't stand to listen to Rick McCallum gush over every single thing George Lucas says and does.
Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other commentary that was boring, and that was Mel Gibson's track for Braveheart. I watched it for maybe 20 minutes before I turned it off, because he wasn't speaking much. I've also been told Tim Burton doesn't say much on his commentary tracks.
Edit: I just remembered one of my favorites that I can't believe I forgot! Citizen Kane has an AMAZING commentary by Roger Ebert.
God is nowhere, God is now here
"Tell them that joke you know."
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Doegred
15 years ago
I'm with you on the LotR commentaries, especially the ones for FotR (I suspect they did it while the experience was still fresh in their minds, which is why they're the most lively ones. I might be wrong & they may very well have recorded them all at the same time, but that's how it feels to me.) The one with Jackson, Walsh and Boyens are very interesting and the actors' is a lot of fun to listen to.
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killerparties
15 years ago
I seem to remember hints throughout the commentaries that they were recorded sometime after the initial theatrical releases of each film. I definitely get a similar sense though that there was a bit more excitement in the first commentary, as I think they were then in the process of editing TTT. I definitely get the sense that by the time they recorded the commentary for ROTK, they were a bit worn out. I think I even remember a point where Jackson asks the audience, "You guys still here? You sure you don't want to get some sleep or something?" at the start of the second disc. And I definitely remember them talking briefly about King Kong on that commentary, so you can already tell they were pretty much ready to move on to the next project.
Even with all that, Jackson and his co-writers are still fun personalities (I think a lot of it owes how well they get along with each other) and fairly informative, more so than a lot of the directors who don't have a whole lot interesting to say.
"God is nowhere, God is now here"
-Hey Nostradamus, Douglas Coupland
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mentalcritic
13 years ago
Your opinion is no longer of any interest to me.
The Lord Of The Rings commentaries, especially on the second film, are a classic example of what happens when filmmakers think they are owed adoration and admiration, rather than under obligation to earn them. I forget which hag it is, but her challenge to the audience to tell her how they are going to put in one of her superfluous additions without having Aragorn going over the cliff and prompting the story to stop dead in its tracks proves once and for all that the entertainment industry is in serious need of a proper shakeup. Any first-year creative writing student knows the ideal solution: do not put in the rubbishy addition at all - keep the fu kking story moving forward, thank you!
This is to say nothing of just how arrogant they come across when trying to justify what they retain or cut out from their source material. When their subsequent films began to meet with increasing failure, I remembered their audio commentaries and laughed my butt off at them.
Tim Burton, by comparison, says quite a lot on his commentaries that is both interesting and very revealing. His words about working with Jack Palance or the opening sequence on Batman Returns share more insight into filmmaking in less than ten minutes than Jackson et al could learn if they lived to be a thousand.
By far the best audio commentaries you will ever get to hear are Paul Verhoeven's. Regardless of whether he is solo or with others, his speech about the specifics of getting involved with a film or how they overcame challenges is almost as entertaining as the film itself. On the RoboCop commentary, his writer and producer even goad him along at times, trying to see how overexcited they can get him so he will say even more hilarious things. He is a lot more reserved when he does his commentary solo, but some of the things he shares about how a shot was accomplished or what he was trying to tell the audience in a shot really make one see the film in a whole new light.
George Romero also tends to deliver interesting commentary when the subject is one of his Living Dead films. Particularly interesting is what he and his commentary-mates have to say regarding the casting of Duane Jones in Night (essentially, they did not set out to set a precedent by casting a black man in a hero role, the black man they cast just happened to be best for the job etc).
John Carpenter and Kurt Russell are also indispensible commentators. Their commentaries for The Thing and Escape From New York are priceless. But the real masterpiece is their commentary on Big Trouble In Little China. If you ever wanted to learn a bit about what it is like to be in a film that the studio cares so little for that they do not even bother to promote it adequately, that's the one to listen to.
I would give anything these days to hear Clint Eastwood do commentary for the films he worked on with Sergio Leone. But I hear he is not so big on the commentary.
--mentalcritic
Tom Cruise drikk dovatn!
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