Review: The Thing (2011)

Director Matthijs van Heijningen and producer Eric Newman deliver the commentary for this highly problematic remake-sequel-reboot of John Carpenter's 1982 classic.

It's an enjoyable track, full of interesting production details, and both guys seem very likable, unfortunately they fail to address any of the burning questions a dedicated fan would have. Besides the obvious - Why make the film at all? - they barely mention the controversial CGI effects, or talk about how much they tried to shot practically. They praise Mary Elizabeth Winstead constantly. Apparently she was a sweetheart, and that probably prevents them from noticing how utterly miscast she is.

This track was recorded weeks before the premiere of the film, so they don't yet know how bad it's going to be received. That might have done them some good, because they seem clueless as to how inferior this film is to the original.

Availability: DVD and Blu-ray releases.

Review: Event Horizon (1997)

One of those classic "they-sound-nice-but-I-wish-they-had-a-bit-more-to-say"-tracks.

Director Paul Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt get off to a fairly good start, even though Anderson often sounds like he thinks Bolt is an idiot. They cover a lot of ground - differences in acting styles, deleted scenes, technical details - and especially Anderson is very honest about the movie's shortcomings.

The pair provide a lot of information, but they don't have time to get into enough details. There are too many breaks and they often point of obvious stuff ("this is Sam Neill"). After a while they get caught up in the action scenes, making it quite clear they haven't seen the film for a while.

All in all, you'll probably be better off watching the feature length documentary.

Availability: The Special Edition version of the film, on both DVD and Blu-ray.

Review: Stir of Echoes (1999)

Director David Koepp does the commentary track for the film alone. Koepp is a good talker and the track is both entertaining and informative. The director manages to talk about the technical aspects of making the film, working with the actors, and the script. Although Koepp is the only one doing the talking on the track he manages to keep a nice flow going and never runs out of subjects. He also throws in some funny anecdotes making this a great commentary track for fans of the film.

Availability: The track seems to be included on every DVD and Blu-ray we've come across.