Best Commentary tracks

[Matt1]

I assume most of you are pathetic film geeks like myself who enjoy sitting in a darkened room alone, listening to people talk over movies. So what are the best commentary tracks you have ever heard?

Mallrats- Kevin is a commentary track master. The fact that he's backed up by Affleck, Lee, Mewes and some other cool folks whose names I can't recall only adds to the hilarity. And since the movie bombed they don't take it quite as seriously, as say The Chasing Amy track. Not that they were all that serious on that track.

Big Trouble In Little China-Listening to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell reminisce about the massive comercial failure and subsequent cult-status of this film is just great fun. The two play off each other really well.

Army of Darkness- Speaking of playing well off one another, you've got Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. Just some genius stuff.

Blade 2- Guillermo Del Toro is one funny [censored]. He openly mocks the dialouge in his own movie, and gives the screenwriter so much crap. Plus, he talks alot about comics, which is cool. In a geeky sort of way.

My picks all seemed to lean towards the funny, as opposed to the technical. Sub-question: Which type of track do you prefer, funny or technical?

[Razorback]

The best of the best is Spinal Tap. However, every commentary to a Kevin Smith movie rules!

RB

[JK]

All the ones you listed are just excellent- I would add the Fight Club commentary with Fincher, Pitt, and Norton. The Drawing Flies commentary with Jason Lee is great as well. Another good one is the track on The Thing . You can really tell Russell and Carpenter enjoyed working together.

[Thunderbird1]

I would like to add American Pie to that list. In some places it's actually funnier than the movie.

And, of course, all the Kevin Smith commentaries are brilliant.

[Adam_Poch]

The Fight Club commentaries are great. I love the commentary for Chasing Amy. Anything with Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi.

[DangerSeeker]

If we're going Carpenter/Russell, the Escape From New York (at least on the old laserdisc) was great.

Cannibal: The Musical features Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and various cast and crew doing shots as it rolls, so it becomes funnier and more incoherent as it goes. Hilarious.

The all-time best, though, has to be Blood Simple. It's from a "film historian" about the making of the film that's total BS. One of the funniest things I've ever heard. Exhausting, though.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

If you've ever seen that short "Rejected" there is a pretty cool comentary track on the DVD. Mallrats was the first commentary I ever listened to, and it's one of my favorites. Cameron Crowe has two of my favorite commentaries, as I never really got into his work until I heard those. The Almost Famous bootleg commentary with his mom is priceless. And the Say Anything disc is worth it just because it's the only commentary with John Cusak. Or at least the only one I could find.

[jjcourtright]

The first Austin Powers movie. Mike Myers and Jay Roach talking about the movie is way funnier than the movie.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweeb]

The best technical commentary track that I've ever heard was by Roger Ebert on Citizen Kane. It's non-stop and filled with insights into what made it such a great film. For laughs, nothing equals the commentaries on a Kevin Smith DVD.

[MattSinger]

Most of my favorites have already been mentioned. I'm very fond of the ones on Army of Darkness, This is Spinal Tap, Ebert's Citizen kane, Cannibal!: The Musical, and all those KS tracks (I think the ones on the Clerks Cartoon are my favorites if I had to pick just one).

The one I really dig that has so far gone unmentioned would be Total Recall with Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Do I have to even explain why this is good? Somewhat informative, and awfully funny (Arnold's first comment is: "Yah dis ees Ah-nuld Schwouhzenegger, an' I am flying' achoo vright now!" referring to the Tri-Star logo.)

[Thom]

One of the things I noticed about the commentaries, is that evreyone wants to talk all the way through the movie! Mel Gibson's commentary on "Braveheart" is wonderfull simply because he doesn't feel the need to talk for the sake of talking. He let's the movie play, and only comments when he feels he has something to say, and his comments are relavant, and informative. It's one of the best i've heard.

[Zens_7s]

It appears that my favorites have been covered, so I am here to nominate the most embarrassing/worst commentary moment in a DVD.

Did anyone hear Cameron Crowe calling Shalom Harlow during the commentary of Vanilla Sky? The conversation was dealing with a scene in which she was cut. It ended up being a "I would like to slap rude supermodels" moment. I thought she should have been pleased to be cast at all.

Anybody else come across some bad moments?

[DarthMaulRat]

Ready to Rumble actually has this hysterical commentary track. The movie was pretty much directed towards wrestling fans or friends of wrestling fans, but the commentary has Dave Arquett and Scott Caan who sound drunk off their asses the entire time. At one point they have a 'yo mama' contest for five minutes, which turns into random yelling. They eventually get back on track, ...sort of.

[falco]

Brilliant? Yes, this is a very biased board. Do you all think that Kevin Smith is going to give you a job like his editor in chief for kissing his butt ? Well, maybe he would -
- of course John Waters does the best commentary tracks -
- and the dvd for project greenlight is great - Ben Lo is actually funny - pre JLO
And no I'm not bitter, I'm just honest - unlike this site - "Jersey Girl" best picture? best screenplay? That's not biased Jeffrey Wells?
And tell me people aren't sick of the Jlo and Benlo cr*p.

[Razorback]

Have you considered the fact that many people who come here are Kevin Smith fans and love him and his movies? We are fans and so we naturally tend to love his work.

RB

[Matt1]

I haven't actually heard it, but I believe the director of Battlefield Earth actually recorded a commentary track. And from what I've been told it is seriously delusional. Talk of sequels and such.

[senoritadingdong]

I thought the first 15 minutes or so of the Dude, Where's My Car? commentary was amusing. It consisted of Sean Willian Scott, Ashton Kutcher, and the director making many beer runs and discussing the "hot chicks" in the movie. But then, like the movie, it got old. Kevin Smith makes entertaining tracks, if only for the fact that Jason Mewes is usually there wasted and coming in and out of consciousness.

[Dave]

I can't believe no-one has mentioned the Simpson's Commentary tracks yet. Those are great, great behind the scenes at the best Animated Show of the last Decade (sorry Fish Police you just missed out) maybe ever.

Also another commentary track i love is the ones one the Mr. Show DVD, not inciteful at all, but very odd.