The Directors Who Said Too Much
Who listens to DVD commentary tracks?
The Onion's A.V. Club does, rounding up the oddest of the not-so-special-features for its Commentary Tracks of the Damned column.
Now the magazine's critics have come up with The 15 People You Meet Listening to DVD Audio Commentaries: the hack helmers who insist that all the good stuff got cut, the dreary academics, the kings of nostalgia (hello, Peter Bogdanovich), the tired and emotional cast and crew reunions.
Despite the proliferation of director's commentary tracks--and I've been listening to them since they were laserdisc commentary tracks--most of them are skippable. Sci fi and horror movies directors and producers who started in the 1980s and earlier love to tell the secrets behind every practical effect and gag, and they tell these stories not just because they're well spoken, funny guys. Fans of the numerous re-issues buy the new editions, and the commentators (Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Wes Craven) actually have something new to say to the next generation of filmmakers.
I'm not sure what can be learned from the contractually obligated chats from the directors of movies like Stealth and The Island, but it's wicked boring to hear how many times a CG visual effect was sent back to the effects house.
It's like hearing an MBA tell you how many times he told his assistant to revise a PowerPoint presentation. That's not making movies. That's manufacturing.