| Back in August, if you picked up a Sin City DVD, looked for the extras and found yourself sighing in disappointment, then the following may not be exactly eye-opening for you. But if your experience with special features has never gone beyond the gag reel, then perhaps you should stick around for a few minutes.
Why listen to a commentary?
Wouldn’t you love to know some info about what went into making the movie you just watched? With the answer probably being yes, you’ll find that out of all the special features on a DVD, the commentary is going to be your best bet. Of course, there may be a "making of" or a "how we did it" special, but nothing beats a live discussion of the film as it runs. Be warned, even with limitless entertainment possibilities, a feature length commentary can fall into the wrong hands and you may find yourself listening to an explanation of the cinematic relevance of Charlize Theron’s skin-tight Aeon Flux outfit.
Which commentary is right for you?
While the technical offerings by cinematographers or visual effects supervisors can be enlightening, the information involved is fairly specific and, well – technical. So, unless you have a working understanding of lenses, filters or computer mapping, you may find yourself a little bit lost.
Director commentaries are very insightful in explaining the realization of the director’s vision on screen, and subtle nuances that you missed on the first pass may be revealed to you this time around. And of course, depending on the director, this can either be quite humorous or downright serious.
The real gold, however, can be found in group commentaries. Done by the actors or the actors with the director, they are generally the most entertaining because it can be like listening to a conversation between old friends about all the great stuff they did last summer. You’ll get anecdotes and memories of the production accompanied by personal feelings about the scenes and the people in them. All of which combine to create a new level of enjoyment of the movie.
So try something new – grab a Kevin Smith flick, The Lord of the Rings or any other movie or TV show you really enjoy and push the "commentary on" button. What have you got to lose? At the very least, you’ll have saved yourself from scrolling through the lame image gallery. |
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