(click to supersize)
There Will Be Blood (Two-Disc Special Collector’s Edition)
There Will Be Blood is scheduled to be released on DVD April 8, and we’ll have a choice of two editions: “bare bones,” and “bare bones in a classier package.” Although the cover art for the 2-Disc collector’s edition is cool enough to be Criterion, the early word on the extra features is typical perfunctory Paramount (notice they’re not calling it a “special” edition; just a “collectors” edition, so at least they’re not making empty promises).
What do we get to “collect”? A couple of deleted scenes, one of which we’ve already seen online (the haircut); teaser and trailer; and something called Dailies Gone Wild (fingers crossed that’s a typo for “Day-Lewis Gone Wild” — now that would be worth the extra 10 bucks.) Disc Two will also include a vintage 1923 silent movie called the “The Story of Petroleum” (but inexplicably omits the much sexier sequel, “The Story of Petroleum Jelly.”)
The cover art is elegant as hell though, and way more appealing than the generic floating heads formula on the DVD artwork somebody designed in their sleep for No Country for Old Men (Marketing Nitwit: “What can we do to homogenize this movie so that it blends in inconspicuously with every other box at Blockbuster?”)
Nothing listed in this advanced peek at the special features sounds half as interesting as the clip of an interview with Paul Thomas Anderson at the Acrlight you’ll find after the cut.
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=M1us8RFaTSA&feature=related[/youtube]
Think how fun 2-and-a-half hours of scene-by-scene voiceover like that would be. But alas, according to “definitive PT Anderson resource” cigarettes and red vines:
…there is no commentary track, nor will there ever probably be one again. paul mentioned to me how alot of the buzz has been taken from doing them because people quote them back verbatim to him in interviews and fun/flippant comments are regarded as gospel. (not a quote, but the gist of what was said)
(“fun/fippant remarks regarded as gospel” — I feel ya. )
Yeah, I’m bummed about the lack of commentary. There goes my chance to pretend I’m sitting next to PTA on my living room sofa (or better yet, his living room sofa) and attaining Bodhi tree enlightenment the way I was able to do with his extraordinary commentary track on Boogie Nights. But I’ll still be buying this collector’s edition, just for the pretty box. (Go ahead and make a snide remark about packaging and marketing savvy vs. substance and content. I’ll kick your ass.)
25 Responses for "There Will Be No Commentary"
Is the film on the disc? K, then it’s worth buying.
You people and your special features. Calm down.
No, the movie’s not included, Chris. That’s what really sucks. They’re really milking this ‘limited release’ thing.
It’s not the lack of features that’s aggravating as it is Paramount’s generous offer to let us pay twice as much for an extra disc of nothing much.
I’d like to hope P.T. Anderson is holding out and saving his commentary for an actual Criterion release in the future. There’s another director named Anderson who manages to get the film-school-in-a-box for all his films. Maybe if Bill Murray had played Daniel Plainview…
Does anyone have a link to this original trailer that he’s talking about?
I agree with everything except the swipe at NO COUNTRY’s DVD cover. The colors are pretty sexy as is the deranged expression on Javi’s face.
According to Video eta and Amazon Diving Bell will be released on April 29.
The original teaser he is talking about isn’t online anymore, but you might have seen it without realising it – it’s the one tht=at has footage from the film cut to Daniel Plainview’s “I hate most people” monologue. It’s pretty slow and quiet but really effective. I remember thinking how good it was when I first saw it and being surprised that a studio would have allowed a trailer like that to be released. Now I know that Paul Thomas Anderson did it without them knowing, it makes a lot more sense.
It’s a tad annoying since this is one film where a commentary track would prove most helpful/interesting.
daniel day lewis does it again, man that guy is hardly recognizable when he’s acting vs. not acting
The original teaser is this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QccjgwyaYBs
But hurry up because Paramount will probably also remove this one very soon. Completely retarded. What’s the harm? It’s an amazing trailer.
(Princess of Peace, Thanks. I was looking at bad old wrong info about the release dates in April. Mistake fixed.)
A lot of the recent DVDs don’t seem to add much. INTO THE WILD’s “2-Disc Edition” only has two documentaries at about 20 and 17 minutes, respectively. I don’t think DIVING BELL, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and other stuff coming out in April add much either.
But you know what’s really sad? As much of a gip as I think this is, I bet you I’ll pre-order all of them as soon as I have $120 to burn. I don’t have the patience to wait for the ultra 10-year anniversay special editions.
Thanks Ryan for the interesting heads up about these releases. I’m really looking forward to watching the clip after work.
“The Story of Petroleum” (but inexplicably omits the much sexier sequel, “The Story of Petroleum Jelly.”) LOL!
Can’t say I’m overjoyed at this precious news.
I don’t really understand why Paramount is putting this out on DVD in April when it wasn’t released theatrically in many markets until January. It would be nice to have a window of time to go back and enjoy it (either once more or several screenings) at your leisure.
With a film this rich and of this scope, I think watching it in a theatre is going to beat the home experience right into the ground.
I have to agree with PTA, i really dont see the point of a comentary… is like Inarritu said after releasing Babel, he has never done comentary in his dvds because he wants the audience to take and interpret the movie for what they think. I loved this movie and i dont want anyone telling me what is it that i missed or what who how when or where this masterpiece was constructed, im happy taking out my own conclusions.
The only commentaries I really enjoy are for older films, like Ebert’s for Citizen Kane and Casablanca. I always tell people to watch the CK commentary since it’s hard to have an appreciation for the effects involved since they’re so commonplace today.
DVDs are so confusing these days. Will there be a criterion of Darjeeling Limited? Will there be a better edition of No Country? Is Blu-Ray worth it? Or will we get another format in two or three years? Good Grief.
I must concur with Ryan (and Sasha) here! This is one film that cries out for a commentary. But this is the old “milk the consumer” ploy, as in all likelihood, a comprehensive release will follow months down the road, after all of us have forked up for this “bare bones” set.
Oh just give me the movie in glorious HD picture and sound and I’m happy
This is a rare instance where the DVD cover art is actually better than the movie poster art. (As someone said earlier, the NCFOM DVD cover art is AWFUL.)
I think both the No Country and Blood dvd releases suck, but I am going to buy them both anyway.
*claps* Good work on featuring this.
So disappointing that it has no commentary or anything like that. Still, people should happily buy the best film of 2008 even without commentary. The picture quality is the only thing I am interested in with this package.
Where’s the commentary?
Is PTA all of a sudden going Kubrick or shit on us? I hope not.
BTW, anyone read that European interview where he praised fellow filmmakers…including Rob Zombie?
Yes, Rob Zombie. That’s awesome.
To be specific, it was in Total Film Magazine UK, where he praised Rob Zombie.
Too bad PTA doesn’t like commentary (anymore.) His for Boogie Nights is top.
I’m supporting this idea all the way! I can not imagine who would disagree with it. On the whole – make posts like this more often.
[...] to this site it’s because he dislikes it when things he says in commentaries are taken out of context or taken [...]
Leave a reply
All comments should respect the Awards Daily House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please let us know, quoting the comment in question.