I know I'm an old man for continuing to buy physical copies of things, but I just cannot help it. As much as I love buying music from the iTunes store, I simply cannot see myself buying movies that way. I want all that added-value content. I especially want the commentary tracks. Here's a list of five favorites that keep me coming back for more.
Roadhouse
After an extended riff about blind guitarist Jeff Healey and his presence in the film Roadhouse was included as part of a video intro to the 10th Anniversary DVD of Clerks, someone at MGM saw fit to contact director Kevin Smith and his producer Scott Mosier about doing a commentary track for the film. As they say, "hilarity ensues."
What starts as a cute and chummy conversation between old friends James Gunn and Paget Brewster, gradually turns super awkward when Brewster brings up a "cult" that Gunn was briefly involved with. I'm kind of amazed that they kept this on the disc.
The Limey
From nearly the get-go this is an awkward track. Screenwriter Lem Dobbs does not mince words when voicing his dissatisfaction with Steven Soderbergh's direction of his script...right to Soderbergh's face. Don't worry though. There's apparently no bad blood between them. Just last year Dobbs wrote Haywire for Soderbergh. Sadly that disc does not get a commentary track.
There are lots of interesting people on this track (actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr., screenwriter James Vanderbilt and producer Brad Fischer) but most interesting is the inclusion of crime author James Ellroy who had absolutely nothing to do with the production of this film. A personal favorite moment of mine is when Ellroy laments the fact that Mark Ruffalo has more hair than he does, Ellroy then consoles himself by stating the fact(?) that he is hung like a mule.
Need a little chaos in your commentary? Just add Kilmer. There is simply no controlling that man. I am particularly fond of the faux contest where he challenges listeners to keep track of how many names he drops over the course of the film's run time.
Any classics that I left out?
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