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Not counting the Chomsky/whoever faux FOTR commentary, I think the best commentary I've ever heard is for "Charade".
It's the director and the screenwriter, and they actually have interesting discussions because they are on somewhat equal footing. Unlike, say, the primary Forrest Gump Commentary. One of the first things is an argument about whether anyone would ever watch just the commentary of a movie without seeing the movie separate. Does anyone do this? If so, the makers of Charade went to some trouble not to spoil it for you.
I was also really delighted with Charade, not having seen it before. Is the remake, "The Truth about Charlie" really as bad as they say?
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I watch the normal director/writer/star commentaries on occasion, but I much prefer the Mystery Science Theater variety.
Posts: 224 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I love Charade. One of my favourite movies. But I think it's public domain. There are about a million different versions out there. I own a cheap $7 copy with no special features. Was it the Criterion version that has the commentary you're talking about? I keep meaning to get that one.
I think my favourite commentary, of the ones I've actually bothered watching, is on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's a beautiful, poetic, serious movie. But the commentary has the director and the screenwriter doing MST3K on their own work. They had good information, but it's really refreshing to see someone take their movie so un-seriously. My favourite excerpt: there's a scene in the movie when a group of protagonists ambush the Jade Fox on Yellow Hill at night. During the fight, the Jade Fox takes a sun-moon ring (a circular, bladed weapon) from one of the protagonists and throws it back at him. There's a long Sam Raimi-esque first person shot of this ring traveling about 50 feet and burying itself in the guy's head. The screenwriter says, in reference to a previous scene, "come on, he can catch a dart with a pair of chopsticks, and he couldn't dodge that?"
I swear, Joel and the Bots couldn't have done a better job. Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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Ghostbusters has video commentary that's very MST3Kish. You can see the outlines of the people commentating sitting in a movie theater watching the movie (it looks exactly like the MST3K set up). They aren't necessarily acting like they're on that show, but it's still cool.
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I was really amazed that Barry Sonnenfeld (the director) did the commentary for Big Trouble. The film really tanked at the box office, but I think it was mainly due to being a dark comedy only 7 months after 9/11. I thought it was a very funny movie, and the commentary was also entertaining. It ends with
"There's nothing better than staying at [some hotel] watching the topless women sunbathe. Except, of course, for playing with your kids or going out to dinner with your wife."
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Big Trouble is like a comical fungus, not that great the first time, but with repeated exposure, it grows funnier each time. I'll have to check that commentary.
I don't get a chance to view commentaries that much because there is always that one person that walks in as I'm pressing play that says, "Oh, I've never seen this straight through."
That said, I enjoyed FOTR & TT (both extended) commentaries. Aronovski's (Pi & Requiem) weren't very good. Kevin Smith's (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks cartoons, etc) have been funny, even when I didn't fully enjoy the movie. The one I have to get my hands on is Spinal Tap, with the boys doing the commentary in character.
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