I like collecting movies. I love going out to the video store’s holiday sales and pick up several for cheap (since I worked at the big chain – I know that’s when they have the good sales). Lately, I’ve been big on preordering via Amazon – I get it the day it comes out and usually at the market price.
I’ve always been weary when a new film comes out that looks as though will have an “extended edition” that will come out later – or a film is released with just bare bones and no special features.
So, when I heard that Avatar is coming out with just a bare bones edition – I thought – “no dice I’ll wait”. To me it’s a good enough film to have around for when I need some popcorn entertainment – and a special edition is coming later in the year – which includes all the wonderful bonus features and 40 minutes of additional movie put back in. THEN after that there will be a 3D version coming in 2011.
Then I really started thinking about it.
How often do I partake in the special features? I’ve got some disc 2’s that have never left the case – but I insisted on having them.
Did I enjoy the film that much that I may want to watch the extended edition with the added 40-minutes? It’s a long enough movie as it is!
Home 3D? I only tried it once – and it gave me a headache. PLUS, my TV is NOT big enough to REALLY enjoy all that was offered in the theater – which was an awesome experience.
Maybe I should just go with the regular edition and be happy with that? Or is this how they get you to spend more money?
I'm not a huge fan of DVD extras. There's a real art to doing a good commentary track, and very few people have that art. So I find most commentary tracks not worth the effort. I never watch the theatrical trailers. Occasionally there's a featurette on the movie that is worthwhile, and occasionally there's an interesting interview.
ReplyDeleteFor me it depends on the company. If it's a release from someone like Mondo Macabro or Something Weird I'll always check out the extras.
On the very rare occasions when I buy modern movie (this happens about once a year) I've found that the extras are almost never worthwhile.
The more I think about it the more I'm starting to think that I shouldn't care either - because even with a technically challenging film like Avatar - will I really want to watch 3 hours of film - then "how they made it"?
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't admit to it - but I really haven't been listening to commentaries that much - mostly because a lot of them seem half-hearted. I find the strangest of commentaries things I actually enjoy listening to - like Robert Rodriguez on Spy Kids 2 who talks about how to make a film on a budget - or Steve Zahn on Joy Ride who basically mocks his performance the entire time...