DVD Bonus Features

One thing I seem to always get asked is, people will come up to me and say "Regis... what's the greatest DVD bonus feature of all-time?". And my answer in this imagined scenario is always the same: the "Memento" DVD feature that allows you to watch the whole movie in chronological order.

But a possible rival to that feature has emerged. I'm really late to finding this out but I was recently re-watching "Apollo 13" and was stunned to see a second commentary track with commentary by Astronaut Jim Lovell and his wife Marilyn Lovell.

Such a commentary track could potentially rival the movie itself. The only thing that could be better than a movie about a real astronaut going to space is hearing from the man who lived it.

Is it the NEW greatest bonus feature of all-time? Well, no. The thing I most want from space travel is an indication of what it's like - the sights, the sounds, the feeling. Lovell isn't a touchy, feely guy though, as an astronaut from the 60s, he's very technical and stoic. So you get a lot of talk about "at this point I had to decrease the rate of ascent or we might not make it" and comments about the capsule rather than a first-hand account of the experience.

Still, one of the things I always wonder about movies based on true stories is how true they really are. And Jim and Marilyn's commentary is great for that aspect. He's very good about saying what things really happened, what was poetic license, what was generally true but with some details changed, etc. And it turns out, "Apollo 13" is even more accurate than I had thought. Even things I guessed were made up for the movie turned out to be real.

So is it the best bonus feature ever? No, but I'll give it second place. And re-watching "Apollo 13" is something I would recommend people do anyway.

If you're like me and want a movie about the experience of going into space, you HAVE to see "In the Shadow of the Moon" (2007). It gives me chills just thinking about it.