I've long been a fan of filmmaker commentary tracks. It's the first thing I look for when scanning the back of a DVD case for special features. I don't consider a DVD presentation to be complete without a commentary track; and in the occasional case of multiple commentaries for a single film -- usually following the pattern of one with the director, producer or writer (the "technical" commentary) and one with the cast (the "fun" commentary) -- well, that's all the better.
My interest, then, was more than piqued by the recent commercial advertisements for The Dark Knight on Blu-Ray which heavily promotes its feature of enabling Blu-Ray-enabled PC users to create their own commentary track -- whether for a single favorite scene or the entire film -- using their webcam and microphone, and share it with others.
The idea of creating custom, "non-official" commentaries is hardly new. What movie nerd hasn't, at least in passing, had the idea of giving their favorite film the proper commentary justice? Harry Potter fans have been especially enthusiastic about creating their own commentary tracks for others to download (a good sampling here). The creators of Mystery Science Theater created Riff Trax, a site featuring humorous commentary tracks to popular movies that users can download for a small purchase fee.
The only minor problem with these "outside" commentaries is that they play separately from their respective DVD and must be synched properly in order to make sense. The Dark Knight is, as far as I know, the first movie to embrace fan-created commentaries. It seems so natural to give film buffs the opportunity to show off their knowledge of a particular film, that it's a wonder no one thought of it until now.
Is this just a clever marketing scheme? A fad? Or is this the next trend in home movie production? As technology and studio support eases the creation and sharing of personal commentaries, could they become standard? Would directors and actors take the time to sit down and record commentaries, or just let the devoted fans handle it?
Monday, December 8, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Black Friday
I wasn't going to go out this year on the day after Thanksgiving, but I was doing laundry and I was bored and Best Buy is literally right across the street from my apartment, so I hopped over there to check things out. Along with portable GPS units and Blu-Ray players and LCD televisions, Black Friday has been a really good time to pick up dvds on the cheap. They are never the cream of the crop, but the kind that you didn't buy for 25 bucks when they were new, but 6 bucks seems just right. I restrained myself to buying only four, and I highly recommend them. Especially when they are between 4 and 10 dollars apiece! Here's what I got:
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny - Not everyone is a Tenacious D fan, but those of us who are waited a really really long time for this movie to come out, and unfortunately in landed in theaters with a thud. Jack Black and Kyle Gass star as themselves as Tenacious D, the world's most awesome band. Just that sentence should have been good enough to gross at least 20 million, but I don't think the movie was marketed at all, which lead to a terrible 8 million. But now you can pick up the dvd and check it out. Pick of Destiny, for me at least, had pretty high expectations, and did not meet all of them. However, there are a lot of really funny bits and the music is great. The movie spoofs action movies, road trip movies, and even Hard Day's Night style movies about bands. If you like Jack Black, give this one a shot.
Stranger Than Fiction - Will Ferrel's comedic work finally got some notice by the critics for his understated performance in this flick. I think just about everyone can relate to his character, who is stuck in a rut and finally breaks from his day to day monotony only when faced with his impending doom. This movie is good. Real good. It's funny, and sweet, and the story is pretty original. Sure, we all think we are just characters in a novel at some point in our lives (or maybe its just me...) but I aint never seen a movie about it.
Serenity - You probably missed Serenity too when it came out a few years ago. I know I did. It is a movie continuation of the short-lived tv show Firefly, created by Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame. So I'm sure some people dismissed the movie as Buffy in Space, but the only real similarity is that like Buffy and Angel, Firefly, and so also Serenity, has really engaging characters. After I saw Serenity the first time and knew there were further adventures of Mal and his crew, I couldn't wait to watch the Firefly series. Anyways, Serenity involves the crew of the same named spaceship, on the run from the evil government (kinda like Star Wars), and the whole universe has an old western feel to it (kinda like Cowboy Bebop)(but hey, Star Wars and Cowboy Bebop is a good pedigree). In fact, Whedon blends sci-fi and westerns together in Serenity so well, it could be a fine example of either. Check this one out sometime, but be prepared to become hopelessly addicted to a long since canceled tv show and cursing FOX mercilessly.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Jason Segel wrote and stars in this movie about the pain and awkwardness of ending a relationship. This movie is a good example of the Judd Apatow Comedy Machine, even though Seth Rogen is nowhere to be seen, but it could be known a few years from now for a few other things. One is the American introduction to Russel Brand, who is popular (or at least infamous) in England, and even though his master of ceremonies job at the MTV Video Music Awards was panned by just about everyone, could be destined for great things. More importantly is two, this movie could be responsible for the resurgence of the Muppets. Jason Segel is a huge Muppets fan, and one of the plot devices in this movie is his character's ongoing work writing a musical version of Dracula, with puppets. I have heard that he wants to make a new Muppet movie, and will treat Kermit and Fozzie and the rest with respect and reach out the their true audience: older folks who remember that the Muppets were cool once. Hopefully the Dracula musical in this movie will serve as a good enough resume to get Disney to cough up some money to make it happen. Oh and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is good, sorry I got sidetracked there. You should watch it.
So in summary, not all the movies in the bargain bin are total crap. Certainly not around the holiday season, which should provide you a great opportunity to fill out your, or someone you love's, dvd collection.
Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny - Not everyone is a Tenacious D fan, but those of us who are waited a really really long time for this movie to come out, and unfortunately in landed in theaters with a thud. Jack Black and Kyle Gass star as themselves as Tenacious D, the world's most awesome band. Just that sentence should have been good enough to gross at least 20 million, but I don't think the movie was marketed at all, which lead to a terrible 8 million. But now you can pick up the dvd and check it out. Pick of Destiny, for me at least, had pretty high expectations, and did not meet all of them. However, there are a lot of really funny bits and the music is great. The movie spoofs action movies, road trip movies, and even Hard Day's Night style movies about bands. If you like Jack Black, give this one a shot.
Stranger Than Fiction - Will Ferrel's comedic work finally got some notice by the critics for his understated performance in this flick. I think just about everyone can relate to his character, who is stuck in a rut and finally breaks from his day to day monotony only when faced with his impending doom. This movie is good. Real good. It's funny, and sweet, and the story is pretty original. Sure, we all think we are just characters in a novel at some point in our lives (or maybe its just me...) but I aint never seen a movie about it.
Serenity - You probably missed Serenity too when it came out a few years ago. I know I did. It is a movie continuation of the short-lived tv show Firefly, created by Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel fame. So I'm sure some people dismissed the movie as Buffy in Space, but the only real similarity is that like Buffy and Angel, Firefly, and so also Serenity, has really engaging characters. After I saw Serenity the first time and knew there were further adventures of Mal and his crew, I couldn't wait to watch the Firefly series. Anyways, Serenity involves the crew of the same named spaceship, on the run from the evil government (kinda like Star Wars), and the whole universe has an old western feel to it (kinda like Cowboy Bebop)(but hey, Star Wars and Cowboy Bebop is a good pedigree). In fact, Whedon blends sci-fi and westerns together in Serenity so well, it could be a fine example of either. Check this one out sometime, but be prepared to become hopelessly addicted to a long since canceled tv show and cursing FOX mercilessly.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Jason Segel wrote and stars in this movie about the pain and awkwardness of ending a relationship. This movie is a good example of the Judd Apatow Comedy Machine, even though Seth Rogen is nowhere to be seen, but it could be known a few years from now for a few other things. One is the American introduction to Russel Brand, who is popular (or at least infamous) in England, and even though his master of ceremonies job at the MTV Video Music Awards was panned by just about everyone, could be destined for great things. More importantly is two, this movie could be responsible for the resurgence of the Muppets. Jason Segel is a huge Muppets fan, and one of the plot devices in this movie is his character's ongoing work writing a musical version of Dracula, with puppets. I have heard that he wants to make a new Muppet movie, and will treat Kermit and Fozzie and the rest with respect and reach out the their true audience: older folks who remember that the Muppets were cool once. Hopefully the Dracula musical in this movie will serve as a good enough resume to get Disney to cough up some money to make it happen. Oh and Forgetting Sarah Marshall is good, sorry I got sidetracked there. You should watch it.
So in summary, not all the movies in the bargain bin are total crap. Certainly not around the holiday season, which should provide you a great opportunity to fill out your, or someone you love's, dvd collection.
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