Have bonus features ever changed the way you felt about a movie ?

[Repo Man]

Apologies if this has been covered before here, if this is the case then feel free to lock this topic and let it slip to the realm of forgotten threads. :)

So anyways as the topic title says... Have you ever watched a movie on a DVD for example and then afterwards watched the bonus features like a "making of..." or something and noticed that it made you see the film in a different light ?

I recall occasionally running into these situations, the latest ones would be from the past week as ive been watching all the Star Trek Movies and their documentaries where the cast & crew take a look back at the movies. Good docs and lots of fun little info and stories from the set and interesting to see how all the people involved feel about the movies these days.

So i was watching the bonus stuff for trek 5 and there was an interview from this man and a woman who played these 2 Klingons ( the bad guys, for people who know nothing about star trek ) and they were talking about their roles with some real enthusiasm and how they went into great lengths to do this and that and brought their own little things into the characters and whatnot. I noticed myself starting to think "oh yea, that was kinda cool" and i started to see their characters in a slightly different light. At the same time however i began wondering why was it that i didnt pay attention to this during the actual movie and why am i noticing all this only after watching the bonus features, after all this is a film i have seen several times before.

Anyone else ever had similar "revelations" ?

[WhatsInaName]

Yes. Originally, I did not think much of the Alien movies, but after watching all the special features in the Quadrilogy boxset, I learned to appreciate the movies more.

I'm sure this occured many more times, but that's all I can think of now.

Funny thing is, I don't seem to care much about extras in DVDs nowadays. I just want to see the damn movie.

[Greenleaf1]

When I bought the Chronicles of Narnia 2-disc DVD (not the director's cut, the 2-disc that came out when the movie first came out on dvd), I watched this awesome (and quite long) special feature that went through many crew members (set designer, cinematographer, etc.) and talked to each person for 10-20 minutes about what they did. Everyone had so much enthusiasm that I kept going "man, these special features are better than the friggin movie!"

I dunno if I like the movie any better because of it, but I found it strange how much I liked the special features. I guess I would've loved the features if I actually really liked the movie.

[mutesaint]

Sadly, my example is f a movie being worse because of the features. I really liked superbad when it was in theatres. Thought it was a darn good movie and laughed my ass off. There was always that ending, where the guys are together in the basement, that everyone and there mother made gay jokes at. I was always curious what the guys intended(thinking they just wanted the guys to be close and not intending any 'gayness.' Basically a single moment of respect in a low brow movie.) So when I rented it I listened to the commentary for that part. All 4 or so people in the commentary are tearing into the characters. Talking about how when they woke up, shit and cum were everywhere. Basically throwing one gay joke after another out there. I was so disappointed in the creators, that I don't even eally enjoy the movie as much now.

[cocksmokinclerk]

one word: ridleygrams

[X-Nightcrawler]

The "Thir13en Ghosts" DVD had an uber badass special feature about the ghosts' stories that really made me appreciate the movie more.

[EVILxxx]

The "Thir13en Ghosts" DVD had an uber badass special feature about the ghosts' stories that really made me appreciate the movie more.

That special feature was actually a lot better than the actual film.

Usually a commentary can enlighten me to aspects of a movie that I had missed.

[athf1980]

on Jason X dvd there is sweet Jason documentry that makes me wanna Jason X

The Ed Gein documentary on remake of TCM makes be appercatie TCM movies

[Repo Man]

Yes. Originally, I did not think much of the Alien movies, but after watching all the special features in the Quadrilogy boxset, I learned to appreciate the movies more.

Yea the Alien Quadrilogy had good documentaries on it, i especially enjoyed the docs for Aliens and i really felt for James Cameron who would have liked to carry on shooting but most of the crew wich was british went for their tea break instead :rolleyes:.

[Crimson_Kahuna]

Listening to audio commentaries by Guillermo del Toro for his DVDs made me gain a huge amount of respect for him as a film maker especially for Devils Backbone, Cronos, and Pans Labrynth as I already dug Hellboy. He's one of the smartest and most creative out there as far as I'm concerned.

[TheJadedGamer]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Jesus Christ that movie must have been complete hell to make. I respect everyone that was involved in it, and it made me appreciate the movie more.

[joeyatog]

The first one that comes to mind is Black Snake Moan. After watching the featurettes about music and the blues and how it plays into the film, I started to enjoy the film even more than I already had.

[Raoul Duke]

Sadly, my example is f a movie being worse because of the features. I really liked superbad when it was in theatres. Thought it was a darn good movie and laughed my ass off. There was always that ending, where the guys are together in the basement, that everyone and there mother made gay jokes at. I was always curious what the guys intended(thinking they just wanted the guys to be close and not intending any 'gayness.' Basically a single moment of respect in a low brow movie.) So when I rented it I listened to the commentary for that part. All 4 or so people in the commentary are tearing into the characters. Talking about how when they woke up, shit and cum were everywhere. Basically throwing one gay joke after another out there. I was so disappointed in the creators, that I don't even eally enjoy the movie as much now.

Did you just turn the commentary on at that point?

Because the whole story of why they were making all those very graphic gay jokes was a response to something Johah Hill had said.

Hill had told them about a review he read that went on and on about how they should have had the two characters realize their attraction to eachother and have sex (or kiss, whatever) like in another movie called Yu Tu Mama Tambien.

So basically everyone was surprised at how silly it was that the reviewer hated the film because it didn't end with Evan and Seth admitting their gay feelings for one another...And that turned into a sort of one upsmanship as to who could come up with the flithiest ending to satisfy that critic.

So no fear man, I don't think the commentators were being homophobic like you thought.


EDIT: And also the guys made fun of the "alpha male" types in the audience that snickered and laughed when Evan and Seth look at each other as they part ways right at the end.

[MisterChristian]

Special features on DVDs are now essentially "fluff". A gimmick, and pale in comparison to what the father of "Special Features" does, The Criterion Collection.

[mutesaint]

Did you just turn the commentary on at that point?

Because the whole story of why they were making all those very graphic gay jokes was a response to something Johah Hill had said.

Hill had told them about a review he read that went on and on about how they should have had the two characters realize their attraction to eachother and have sex (or kiss, whatever) like in another movie called Yu Tu Mama Tambien.

So basically everyone was surprised at how silly it was that the reviewer hated the film because it didn't end with Evan and Seth admitting their gay feelings for one another...And that turned into a sort of one upsmanship as to who could come up with the flithiest ending to satisfy that critic.

So no fear man, I don't think the commentators were being homophobic like you thought.


EDIT: And also the guys made fun of the "alpha male" types in the audience that snickered and laughed when Evan and Seth look at each other as they part ways right at the end.

I did catch them taking down the alpha male. Also my feelings about this have lightened quite a bit(to the point that I recently bought the movie off netflix) since I posted. I think I was expecting to hear them just comment that "everyone expected us to make a gay joke, but fuck em. We're classier than that." And it just caused an excessive deflation in my opinion. Still think the apatow commentaries suck, but thats more of a matter of what I look for in one than actual suckage.