2014 - Louie: season one (commentary)

I love this show with all I've got.  I broke down and bought the sets because I just can't imagine not having them (where's season 3 though?  Come on people!).  I'd heard a lot of great things about the commentary tracks for the episode, so I decided to burn through the entire thing - and he does a lot for this season - it's a bit of a blur, I'm not entirely sure he did every episode, but there's A LOT - and he goes into really great detail about how he works comedy, actors, and right down to tech stuff like his use of lenses, etc... if you're a film nerd or just a big fan of Louis CK in general then this is a must listen to! :)

1881 - Reservoir Dogs (commentary)

Like all teenagers of the 90's I was in love with Quentin Tarantino, and while I've grown away from that unforgiving kind of love with him, there will always be a special place in my heart for this film.  I rewatched it as reference for something, but also just to hear the commentary again.  It's interesting - instead of a group of people sitting around talking they interviewed a lot of people involved in the production and edited it together over the film - an interesting technique - and probably a lot more informative than just a random round-table discussion would have been.  There's an art form to a good commentary, and this is one worth checking out for film lovers in general, especially if you found this film inspiring at all - which most do.
I'll likely revisit the film on it's own in the near future - but for those who are interested in it's commentary - totally worth your hour and a half!

1758 - Knocked Up (commentary

This film is a huge leap forward for Apatow as a filmmaker.  Not only is it visually miles ahead from his first film, but the storytelling feels tighter (even in this extended version) and the emotions more toned.  You get a real sense that he's in command of his craft here.  The commentary was was entertaining enough with Apatow, Rogen, and Bill Hader along.  They start off promising that it's going to be like a film school in a box, but it's not really.  Still enjoyable enough for fans though!  Made me want to re-watch it with the commentary off!
One more night of unpacking in the shop... one more Apatow film :)

1757 - The 40 Year Old Virgin (commentary)

I've been getting my studio space set up for editing my new film Sex After Kids, so I threw this on in the background with the commentary which includes a ridiculously large amount of people.  It's interesting listening to commentaries with actors because you very quickly get a sense of who are interesting and fun people, and who are very desperately trying to be as interesting and fun as the people whom it comes naturally to.  It's goddamn awkward to listen to sometimes.  As I'm going to be working around the studio for the next few days in the evening there's a good chance I'll check out the commentaries on the other Apatow films as well.
Part of the issue with watching an Apatow film on DVD is that you never get the theatrical cut, you get his bloated version - which isn't a bad thing - but it's tricky to make a comedy really work after it's pushing two hours.  It's interesting to hear them on the commentary talking about how most of the crew had no idea how they were going to possibly string this thing into a film in the end.  A large part of what Judd does is he slaps down two cameras and just has the actors throw a bunch of stuff out and see what happens.  I can see how this could work quite well, but it's also a reason that the visual style of the film is pretty damn ugly.  It looks like a badly shot three-camera-sitcom in some scenes - which I'm not sure if I noticed before. 
The commentary doesn't offer a whole lot of insight into their productions, but it is entertaining if you like this group of people.  If you don't, then steer clear.