the top movie/television commentaries period.

Yesterday I lucked out by finding a copy of the Deluxe Edition DVD of Resident Evil (as opposed to the packaged version of all three movies or the Deluxe Edition DVD of Resident Evil Two or Resident Evil: Extinction) at Target. I'd been keeping an eye out for it ever since I'd rented it from Blockbuster and, the day before it was due back, decided, in a what-the-hell sort of way, to listen to the commentary track. Which turned out to be one of the funniest things I'd heard. Which also made me laugh out loud, no mean feat since I was, I'm fairly sure, in the midst of a pretty serious bout of depression at the time. I think. Depression and its associated medications being what they are, my recall is none too reliable.

But I digress.

Watching my lucky find this morning generated the idea that is the title of this post, namely a list of top DVD commentaries slash commentators. So, without furhering the ado, here it is (in no particular order or rank):

1. Firefly: Unfairly canceled TV series about, in a nutshell, a Chinese western set in the future. What you learn: Joss Whedon had an existential epiphany that played a part in the episode "Objects in Space", and Nathan Fillion had a posterior that, apparently, all of the costume ladies wanted to see. Mood of commentary: Varies. Any of the commentaries featuring Nathan, Alan or Nathan and Alan are riddled with humor. As are the ones with Joss Whedon, but with more of a ascerbic bent. The others are amusing and informational. Kinda like listening in on a group of friends talk about the band they were a part of a while ago.
   
2. Resident Evil: Movie based on a video game that, apparently everyone, acting in or directing the movie, played. What you learn: Michelle Rodriguez knows her way around guns but has difficulty pronouncing Mila Jovovich's last name and both are serious, serious gamers. Also, there was quite a bit of partying going on after hours. Mood of commentary: Like the entire cast and crew got together in a studio, cracked a few (dozen) beers each and talked while occasionally watching the movie. Very funny.
3. Heroes, Seasons 1 & 2: Ongoing TV series about ordinary people developing extraordinary powers. No, I'm not jealous. What you learn: Hayden Panetierre can cry on cue, HRG stands for horn-rimmed glasses and Noah Grey-Cabey is a piano prodigy who played with the Australian Symphony Orchestra at three years of age. And I'm not the only one that thought there was a lot of touching between Adrian Pasdar (Noah Bennett) and Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli) Mood of commentary: Varies, however, thanks to Greg Grunberg, who does many of them, many have a wise-cracking, excited, joshing quality. Grunberg doing commentary is like your good-natured, excitable, big brother talking about the motorcycle he's always wanted and just bought.
4. Usual Suspects: Still number one on my all time favorite movies list, and has been since I saw it years ago. What you learn: That the movie was made with scotch tape, a bent paper clip and every single favor that the screenwriters could call in. Mood of commentary: Two friends talking about the amazing, fantastic, camping trip they took in the Rockies when they were chased by a bear, fell of a cliff and got dysentery from the river water they were forced to drink when their canteens ran out, but survived everything AND found gold buried under the place they camped on the last day.

There are probably more that I'm not remembering at the moment, but the good thing about blogs is that you can always add another post. Adding more to the list. You know, if you forget or anything.