The Best DVD Extras

I’m talking about the best, most insightful, most educating, most revealing, most entertaining… even those extras we enjoyed more than the movies themselves!

My list – in no particular order:

Lord of the Rings Trilogy: 
Jam-packed with great stuff relating to all of the above. As a once animation student and someone who loves drawing it was wonderful to see so much of the concept work.

King Kong:
Here’s a film I was not that hot on, but really liked the extras, I watched the weekly blogs as it was being made and bought the dvd, I’ve watched to film 1 and half times, but I’ve watched to extras about ten times!

Frightners (Special 3 disc addition):
Where Peter Jackson begun his foray into extras and what a great job he did. I love the outtakes of Michael J Fox shouting “Doc!” and the script read throughs where he filmed the floor, just to get an audio recording (Never thought to put the camera up so we could see faces!)

Hellboy:
3 hour behind the scenes of every stage of production. 

Matchstick Men:
Again, a film I did not like, but the documentary on the extras was great, very insightful and an amazing look at how Ridley Scott works.

Twelve Monkeys:
The Hamster Effect is an amazing film documentary.

The Adventure of Baron Munchausen (Special Addition):
Another brilliant documentary that clears up a lot of the rumours surrounding this legendary and disastrous shoot.

The Desperado Trilogy (Box Set):
The three desperado films by Robert Rodriguez, especially El Mariachi. He’s commentaries are very insightful as well. I also like his ‘Look inside Troublemaker Studios” every filmmakers dream, the guy has it sorted. And his ten-minute cooking schools are fun! I think a must for any young filmmaker.

Sin City (Special Addition):
More Rodriguez, more great advice. The guy has a “Can do anything” attitude that is very inspiring.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind:
George Clooney’s directorial Debut. Mind boggling switch-a-roos here as sets are changed before our very eyes and right under the camera’s nose. Impressive stuff.

Brazil:
Another look into the labyrinthine mind of Terry Gilliam. Brilliant skit with Michael Palin.

Singing in the Rain & Robin Hood (Special Additions):
Great documentaries on the old Hollywood studio system.

That’s all for now!

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Just as an aside on the best behind the scenes Documentaries as stand alones:

The Kid Stays in the Picture: 
The fascinating, often hilarious, self narrated story of Bob Evans. 

The Celluloid Closet:
A look at the hidden Homosexuality in Cinema.

Visions of Light:
A talking heads docu on the world of some the most legendary cinematographers in Hollywood.

Overnight:
An absolute must-see for any film student, this how NOT to make it in the business. A fascinating documentary on the rise and fall of one of the most obnoxious people you’re ever likely to see on screen. It’s cringeworthy view, I’ve never wanted to dive behind the couch so many times in one sitting, but you cannot look away as this guy gets the opportunity, no, gets TWO opportunities of a lifetime and systematically brings about his own down fall as his ego inflates to the size of the moon.

Easy Riders Raging Bulls:
Another talking heads docu, with some rare footage, of the rise of the new Hollywood crew, Scorses, Speilberg, Coppolla, DePalma et al.

What are your best extras?