I read an article on Audio Commentaries over at AVClub.com It identifies the 15 different types of Commentators you can get on a DVD. As someone who likes audio commentaries, and usually treasures the insights of directors, actors and film critics, I found the whole thing pretty funny. There are "types" - the Academic, the Party crew, the Indifferent Cast members - but I think audio commentaries are one of the things that make DVD such a great format. Sure there's more than enough examples of directors with no sense of historical proportion talking about their films, or hacks who talk about their grade Z flick like it's Citizen Kane, but sometimes those make for fun commentaries too. So, in light of the article, I thought I'd run through a few of my favourite audio commentaries. So, in no particular order.
1) Brief Encounter, w/ Bruce Eder. The AVClub would cast Eder's thorough and insightful commentary into the Irritating Academic Category, but he adds so much to the film in regards to contextualizing the material.
2) Goonies, w/ director Richard Donner, Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen , Kerri Green, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Jonathan Ke Quan. Forget about the fact the 2/3 of these former child actors fell off the face of the earth; forget about the fact that Astin leaves part way through the film and NEVER COMES BACK: this train-wreck of an audio commentary is worth listening to in order to hear Cory Feldmen yell EVERYTHING HE SAYS! You'd think a guy who spent a good part of the 90s dressed up like his hero, Michael Jackson, would NOT be interested in drawing attention to himself.
3) "Buffy," "Angel," and/or "Firefly", w/ Joss Whedon. There are a number of different people who provide commentary on the Mutant Enemy titles (Marti Noxon, David Greenwalt, David Fury), but the episodes with Joss are usually the most insightful. Yes, the false humility-bordering-on-self-deprecating gets a little old, but when he's talking about the show it's clear that he knows what he wants to do and how to do it. Few shows developed season-long story-arches as well (or, frankly, at all) as Joss Whedon shows. To hear Joss explain his vision is a treat. If only he'd tell a little bit more about SMG! I mean, she's rarely mentioned in the commentaries (except how hard she works) and she's NEVER featured in the blooper reel... What's the story, Whedon!
4) "Freak and Geeks" w/ cast. "Freaks and Geeks" was a great show. The DVD set is worth a purchase for the audio commentaries if nothing else. Some tracks are basic "director/writer" stuff, but the real gems are the ones with cast commentary, because time and again people bring up the self-perceived sexual prowess of one Samm Levine!
Honestly, everyone mentions how Samm would always be found hitting on the ladies. That kid hit on anything with boobs. My favourite is a girl-cast only track where the ladies swap Levine stories. It is very, very funny.
5) Clerks w/ Kevin Smith, a bunch of other people you've never heard of, plus a very high, sometimes sleeping, Jason Mewes. Given Mewes long-documented history of drug abuse this probably should qualify as a cautionary tale of the dangers of narcotics... but it's just so damn funny. Recorded in a hotel room while they were shooting Mallrats, this commentary is like a high school party gone bad - people are incoherent, the stories ramble, no one seems to be at their best, and there are a bunch of people you can't figure out why they're there. I love that Kevin Smith has continued to use and include his New Jersey friends, but do I have to hear them on the audio commentary? There's one guy introduced as "the resident View Askew historian." Imagine being saddled with that title. Your friend creates a reasonably successful film and your claim to fame is remembering crap about that film? Ugh. Added to this are the innumerable references to people we don't know (or care about): DP Dave, Walt, the Skipper, Mary Anne, who cares? And a stoned Mewes nodding off and snoring during his own scenes is pretty funny.
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