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| El Mariachi (1992) is a noted Mexplotiation film (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
We will undoubtedly see the demise of DVD's and BlueRays sometime in the future. All in the name of technology they say, but the underlying extra profit from the buying public replacing film libraries certainly is a motivating factor for entertainment companies to encourage new technology. Like VHS tapes, the disc technology is becoming outmoded.
Now streaming video and media available in cloud services is making ownership of movies obsolete. It's sad in a way. I enjoy perusing through someones movies, music, and book collections. A person's collection can reveal much about them and open up conversation. Homes devoid of libraries seem colder and less personal to me.
One of the sad losses if the mediums like DVD became extinct would be those cool extra features one often finds on a disc. Sometimes the features can be as least as interesting and sometimes more so than the movie itself. If I liked a film I will almost always watch the accompanying extra features.
Rarely though do I watch the movie with a commentary running. You might not even realize that many films on disc offer an option to watch the film with a commentary by the director, the actors, or others. While watching the film you can also listen to the commentary describing points about what you are seeing or how things were done. It can often be very interesting, though it is distracting so that you wouldn't want to listen to the commentary if you are watching a film for the first time.
There have been a few films where I have watched a second time with the commentary running. Dark City and El Mariachi come to mind. They were both short films that I found entertaining so rewatching with the commentary was no great chore. And it was interesting to get more insight about the film.
I'd like to watch more films with commentaries running, but it takes time. Time is always in short supply it seems.
Do you ever listen to the commentaries by the directors or others associated or interested in a film? Are there any film with good commentaries that you might recommend? What have been some of your favorite special features or "Making of" shorts that you've seen?
