I still see movies I'm interested in at the theater. All DVD does is make foreign films and indies that don't run in my area available to me after the fact.

DVDs have opened up way more media viewing for me, both in movies and tv (the last few episodes of Firefly come immediately to mind). I'm really looking forward to getting Netflix (it's my "finally out of debt" reward).

ita - where did you pull that quote regarding Oliver Stone from? I have to do a thing on logic fallacies and that would be a good one to use, but I need the source.

I'm a fan of the DVD format because I love the extras, especially the commentaries, at least when they're well-done. My favorite commentaries (outside the LotR movies) are on the Ultimate Toy Box set (the Toy Story 2 one is especially hilarious). Some of the more boring ones where the first Matrix film and 1776 (I hate it when the commentator does little more than say, "And this is where this character says, 'Such-and-such'" just as the character says just that. Tell me something I don't already know from watching the film!

I can possibly see some filmmakers not being crazy over the dawn of dvd because of some of the extras- having deleted scenes and outtakes being considered a standard part of the package, when the director wanted the finished product to stand on its own.

But a filmmaker upset that their film is more available? That's lame. A market flooded with shitty movies shouldn't render anyone incapable of making quality films.

I'm really looking forward to getting Netflix

That whole return by postpaid mailer when you want to thing is just SO good!

Oh, with you all the way Kathy. But worse than the Matrix I extras? Were the Harry Potter I extras. InTERMinable blahblah, some of it.

I love (clueless) commentary tracks on really bad movies. So pompous and self-important.

I wish HP:PoA had Cuaron commentating--it would have been interesting.

The best commentaries usually involve two or more people in the same room, although if the editors do a good job, they can get a good single commentary track out of two or more participants being recorded separately. The two tracks on the Princess Bride SE disc aren't bad (Reiner and Goldman), but would have worked much better if they had been edited together and the more extraneous bits clipped out. The Willy Wonka one is cute (the five kids), but involves more on-the-set stories and obviously less stuff about the creation of the film. I will say that the designers track on the LotREE sets always put me to sleep, more due to Alan Lee's soporific voice than anything that's being said.

ita - where did you pull that quote regarding Oliver Stone from? I have to do a thing on logic fallacies and that would be a good one to use, but I need the source.

lexine ... it's from IMDB. The "Studio Briefing" section dated December 1, 2004.