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[Weapxn]

I want you to recommend some good ones.

I have Dear Jack and Ghosts of Rwanda. Enjoyed both because I am interested in both subjects (Jack's Mannequin and the Rwandan genocide). Next up, I want Dear Zachary and The Bridge. I might buy both tomorrow night when I go to work. I tend to go for depressing shit (cancer, genocide, murder, suicide so far), but any suggestions are appreciated as long as the documentary will hold my attention.

Isn't there some doc about Pixar and one coming out soon about Disney (Waking Sleeping Beauty, or something)? Anyone seen those? I also vaguely recall one about crazy church kids....Jesus Camp? That looked good.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Danne-Danger]

Find The Last Just Man if you're interested in Rwanda. It's a good one.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355680/

 

[bucsfan0210]

I heard The Cove, which is about the mass killing of dolphins is a really good one. I believe its up for an Oscar this year.

 

[subzero9285]

A couple of very thorough threads.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=382375
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=357700

A comprehensive list featuring some of the best documentaries of the past decade.

25. Food, Inc. (2009)
24. Dig! (2004)
23. Gleaners and I (2000)
22. The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2006)
21. No End In Sight (2007)
20. No Direction Home (2005)
19. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
18. Anvil: The Story of Anvil (2008)
17. The White Diamond (2004)
16. God Grew Tired of Us (2007)
15. Super Size Me (2004)
14. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
13. Jesus Camp (2006)
12. Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
11. Born into Brothels (2004)
10. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
9. Murderball (2005)
8. Spellbound (2002)
7. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006)
6. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
5. Bowling For Columbine (2002)
4. The Fog of War (2003)
3. Grizzly Man (2005)
2. Iraq in Fragments (2007)
1. Man On Wire (2008)

And a few more personal suggestions.

* Tribe
* Galápagos
* Sahara With Michael Palin
* Cousins, by Charlotte Uhlenbroek
* Jungle, Charlotte Uhlenbroek
* James May on the Moon
* Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture
* Last Chance to See
* Congo
* The Lost Gods of Easter Island
* Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
* Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
* Walking with Beasts
* Walking with Monsters
* The Secret Life of Elephants
* The Universe
* The Cove
* The Staircase
* Dear Zachary
* In The Shadow Of The Moon
* Deadline
* Street Fight
* Murder on a Sunday Morning
* Louis Theroux's various series, including The Most Hated Family in America
* Life

 

[painey]

I thought Jesus Camp was shit, expected it to be much better.. you see better 30 min tv documentaries.. check out American Movie its amazing, and really depressed me.

 

[DrForester]

If you have any interest in space travel.

 

[Bioshocked]

If you're into music (specifically White Stripes, U2, and Led Zeppelin) I recommend It Might Get Loud.

 

[brianjones]

 

[Coin Return]

Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade makes a good companion piece to The King of Kong.

 

[Snuggles]

^ Dig! is great, Anton Newcombe is one crazy motherfucker.

 

[Viewt]

This is a great doc, and it's actually streaming on Hulu.

Oh, and Dear Zachary will fuck you up. Try to read as little on it as possible before watching it.

Another favorite of mine, though perhaps not your cup of tea:

It's all about people who dress up as superheroes on the Hollywood Walk of Fame looking to take pictures with people as a living. I loved it.

EDIT: Oh, here's a selling point for CoaS - the guy who dresses up as Batman is fucking insane and pretty much admits to working for the mob and getting away with murder. Conversely, the Superman guy is totally lovable (if completely obsessed with the character), and you really root for him the whole way through.

 

[Maklershed]

My favorite = Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa

It's about people who live in an area of New Mexico that is basically unclaimed by the United States. There's no law enforcement, electricity, or running water. Lots of interesting characters, hermits, hippies, and anti-Government types live there and are featured in the documentary. I highly recommend it.

I also really enjoyed The Yes Men. It's two guys who kind of ambush corporate events to point out the absurdity and/or corruptness of the corporate world and government.

 

[I <3 Memes]

Good luck finding either of these to rent or buy. They are on youtube and google video though.

One year in a life of crime.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382883/

Life of crime 2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181654/


There is really nothing remarkable about the 3 main subjects of the documentaries and yet you wont be able to stop watching. The subjects are small time petty criminals who continuously make the same self destructive choices with their lives over and over again yet they can always convince themselves that this time it's going to be different. The director follows these people through their sad downward spiraling lives for several years even going so far as to follow them through stores with a hidden camera while they shoplift and into some of the worst areas of NYC to buy drugs.

There really isn't any one thing I can put my finger on that makes this 2 part documentary so good. It just is. It's very gritty and doesn't pull any punches. Even all these years later it's the most engrossing documentary I've ever watched.

Anyone else here remember these 2 HBO documentaries?

 

[Massive Nights]

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revolution_Will_Not_Be_Televised_(documentary)

It's a documentary shot by an RTÉ (the national broadcaster here in Ireland) film crew about Hugo Chavez. While they were filming a coup was attempted and they film the resulting events over the next few days. Be forewarned though, it's biased a bit towards Chavez, still fascinating though.

 

[skybaby]

I recommend Helvetica. That movie has changed my view of typography forever :lol

Spoiler

ITS EVERYWHERE

 

[PacoDG]

Another favorite of mine, though perhaps not your cup of tea:

It's all about people who dress up as superheroes on the Hollywood Walk of Fame looking to take pictures with people as a living. I loved it.

EDIT: Oh, here's a selling point for CoaS - the guy who dresses up as Batman is fucking insane and pretty much admits to working for the mob and getting away with murder. Conversely, the Superman guy is totally lovable (if completely obsessed with the character), and you really root for him the whole way through.

Seconded.

Really enjoyed it. By the end I wanted to bang wonder woman, she is cute and only semi-crazy, not full on crazy, seems like a keeper. Also, was streaming on Netflix for a while, not sure anymore.

 

[PacoDG]

Also! Born Rich!

I was surprised how much I liked this documentary.

Here is the descrip right from Amazon:

An Inside Look at the Lives of the Heirs to The World’s Greatest Family Fortunes

Jamie Johnson, 20-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical empire, turns in a remarkable documentary about the lives of the children of the wealthiest families in the world. This 2003 Sundance Film Festival Selection and Emmy-nominated documentary shows Johnson turning the camera on himself and 10 of his friends. Born Rich candidly reveals the great privileges and the excess baggage that go along with their high net worth. For the first time ever in a feature documentary, hear Trumps, Bloombergs and Vanderbilts discuss the one subject everybody knows is taboo—money, and lots of it.

Includes:
Georgianna Bloomberg, media heiress
Stephanie Ercklentz, finance heiress
Cody Franchetti, textile heir
Christina Floyd, professional sports heiress
Juliet Hartford, A&P Supermarket heiress
Josiah Hornblower, Vanderbilt/Whitney heir
S.I. Newhouse IV, media heir
Ivanka Trump, real estate heiress
Luke Weill, gaming industry heir
Carlo von Zeitschel, European royalty

I find it so intriguing how these people are brought into the world and raised, so their views on the world are obviously a bit different

 

[Charmicarmicat]

 

[Zeke]

Beer Wars its on netflix streaming its a real eye opener on how the big three have everyone by the balls and Anheuser-Busch are some ruthless fucks

 

[Spire]

Deliver us from Evil

Fucking superb.

 

[mattiewheels]

everything by errol morris is must-watch. especially the fog of war and the thin blue line. plus, his last one about gitmo, standard operating procedure, was very good.

 

[Weapxn]

Eh, I already know the "twist" of Dear Zachary, but I still want to see it.

That superhero doc sounds AMAZING. Will get.

Thanks for the other suggestions. There are definitely a few that sound spectacular.

 

[Wanace]

I really liked Man on Wire. I highly recommend it. Some great pictures and video footage.

 

[.areyone]

Saw "The Bridge." I thought it was pretty good.

 

[VGChampion]

I thought this was a pretty good documentary. Made me want to get one. :lol

 

[jon_irenicus]

Watched these ones recently and found them pretty interesting:

 

[pubba]

I love a good documentary, too. Here are some good ones that I've just watched recently.

Nanking (HBO Doco) - Harrowing account of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China in 1937. Told through diary entries, etc. Bonus points for featuring Woody Harrelson.
King Corn
The child murders at Robin Hood Hills

I also love mockumentaries. Does anyone have any favorites? I enjoyed

Best in Show
A Mighty Wind
People like us (UK TV Show)
This is Spinal Tap

 

[N4Us]

One I saw recently was 'Marjoe', a 70's documentary about a guy who was the world's youngest ordained preacher at four, and when he grew up he went back into touring as a minister, although he was faking it the whole time. It's worth checking out, kind of an early 'Jesus Camp', though not as creepy.

 

[brianjones]

another good one:

broke my <3

 

[mattiewheels]

oh, also this one, it's one of the best docs about an artist i've seen in a while, and it streams on netflix:

 

[Subterranean]

I recommend Helvetica. That movie has changed my view of typography forever :lol

Spoiler

ITS EVERYWHERE

The guy who made that came out with a new one on industrial design called Objectified, it is very interesting.

 

[jakncoke]

I don't know if Off to War: From Arkansas to Iraq really counts as it was made into a series but it's really good.

 

[hobbitx]

I love political, insiderish, big guy vs. the little guy docs.

 

[Brobzoid]

If you're into music (specifically White Stripes, U2, and Led Zeppelin) I recommend It Might Get Loud.

it's a nice film, but Jack White does go to extreme lengths to appear a fool.

 

[Naked Snake]

I've been watching Richard Dawkins' documentaries lately, just finished this yesterday (it's a 3-parter):

Was quite good, can be watched entirely on Google video it seems http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4471435322910215458#

 

[gdt]

This is a beautiful, and very moving movie.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Operation Filmmaker is really good.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

It wasn't a documentary but it may as well be...

Gomorrah.

 

[richiek]

If you have any interest in space travel.

Not a documentary.

 

[thelooseteeth]

Also: Grizzly Man is complete and total bullshit. Werner Herzog is a master of the faux documentary.

 

[PacoDG]

One I forgot that I really love. For fans of comedy, it is a very good movie:

Amazon.com
If you see Comedian expecting a concert film with Jerry Seinfeld, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for an incisive--almost surgical--examination of the psyche of a stand-up comedian, this is your movie. Comedian zigzags back and forth between the hugely successful Seinfeld, who's trying to get back to his stand-up roots by developing an entirely new act, and an unknown comic named Orny Adams, whose naked craving for success is almost painful to behold. Adams lays bare his ego to an embarrassing degree; Seinfeld is more subtle but just as revealing about the fears and anxieties that drive him to go back on stage. By following these two through comedy clubs, festivals, and spots on David Letterman's talk show, the documentary cunningly explores how jokes are put together, the in-the-trenches camaraderie (tinged with competition) of stand-ups, and the sheer existential terror of trying to make people laugh. --Bret Fetzer

Product Description
Jerry Seinfeld is a working stand-up comic again. COMEDIAN is a candidly revealing, intimately observed, and often very funny look at what it takes to be a comedian. On-stage, Jerry delivers his hilarious brand of observational humor. Off-stage, he struggles with difficult material, confronts self-doubt, revels in small successes, and accepts help and support from friends and colleagues, including Colin Quinn, Ray Romano, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling, Jay Leno, and Bill Cosby. COMEDIAN also discovers the sharp wit of rising young comic Orny Adams -- outspoken, insecure, and fanatical about becoming the "next big thing." What emerge are two fascinating journeys by two contrasting personalities who have some surprising parallels.

 

[Ovid]

Also! Born Rich!

I was surprised how much I liked this documentary.

Here is the descrip right from Amazon:



I find it so intriguing how these people are brought into the world and raised, so their views on the world are obviously a bit different

Love this docmentary. Jamie Johnson also made another good one called "The One Percent". Both were very well done and gave a interesting perspective on the weathly families in America.

 

[Sealda]

All those are crazy fun! Idi Amin doc. may be a little bit boring from time to time, but very fascinating, that man was absolutely crazy.

Enron-Smartest guys in the room is probably the most mainstream of them.

Friends Of Kim are just unbelievable.

 

[Neuromancer]

The Highlander was a documentary and the events happened in real time.

 

[Ramma2]

Started watching Second Skin last night, will finish it up tonight. Somewhat interesting, but probably only because I've played WoW and EQ in the past.

 

[Vyer]

I would like to watch The Cove but Dolphin Slaughter video sounds like a bummer.

Does anybody listen to the Adam Carolla podcast? A while back they were talking about documentaries with his guest and they were recommending one that sounded interesting. Unfortunately I was driving, couldn't write it down and don't remember the name.

I'm hoping someone knows what I'm talking about. I really don't want to have to dig through all those podcasts when I've got no idea where to start...

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

The only one you'll ever need.

 

[JimtotheHum]

go here and watch their documentaries on Liberia and North Korea..

http://www.vbs.tv/

I love this website.

 

[The Interrobanger]

My GF is heading to San Fran soon to start working on her first doc.

Watched a bunch recently:
New World Order
Scared Sacred
Dear Zachary
Capturing The Friedmans

 

[otake]

I enjoyed Inside Deep Throat.