Your favorite documentaries

I haven't read this whole thread to see if it was mentioned, but this one immediately comes to mind:

Ralph Nader: An Unreasonable Man.

Seriously, watch it.

I've been watching the "30 for 30" series on ESPN, and while most episodes have been forgetable, the one about Steve Bartman was quite powerful. It was shocking how the fans made a scapegoat of this poor guy who did something that just about every one of us would have done if we were sitting there. They had to sneak the guy out of the stadium for his protection. Sad situation, fascinating story.

How to Die in Oregon. So sad.

lots of great movies on this thread. I'd agree to:

Fog of War

Roger and Me

Hoop Dreams

Triumph of the Will

When We Were Kings

Black Is, Black Ain't

Supersize Me

Harlan County, U.S.A.

Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control

Mr. Death

Crumb

must be others I'm forgetting

I saw Fathead, which was very hard to watch and very poorly made. He makes some reasonable points but he does not prove his claims that Spurlock ate the calories he claimed and notice that he criticizes the claims about supersizing when McDonald's stopped the supersizing in response to, and very soon after, Spurlock's film came out. No one could possibly argue that eating at McDonald's is anything but bad for you and the guy in Fathead agrees several times, despite himself. Moreover, that Fathead fails to pay any attention to the role of advertising directed at children in developing fast food habits. If he recognizes that no one is forced to go to fast food restaurants and that we don't need to go out to dinner all the time, he fails to see that there are many things that can be done to make better eating and better living more economical and convenient than recent gov't policies have promoted.

The War Room

the world at war

Surprised that "Exit through the Giftshop" hasn't come up yet, unless i messed it in one of the long lists I skimmed.

And since there need to be more car ppl on LRC:

Senna

The Speed Merchants

jjjjjjjj wrote:

Triumph of the Will

Which, by a natural and easy transition, reminds me: "Olympia," the film of the 1936 Olympics, also by Leni Riefenstahl--still an astonishing movie (and it has tons of great t&f action); and, while we're on Olympic films, Kon Ichikawa's "Tokyo Olympiad"--again, lots of good t&f, and just a great film.

Some of my favorites, a number of which haven't yet been mentioned:

Grizzly Man

Capturing the Friedmans

Crumb

Tyson

American Movie

The King of Kong

Catfish (I'm aware of why this might be a controversial pick)

Finally, Michael Apted's "Up" series deserves special mention as a great documentary project.

Cosmos

just watched hoop dreams based on all of the recommendations from folks on this thread. definitely an amazing movie.

can't believe i hadn't heard much about it. back when i was in 8th grade i had some friends who did a report on the movie/book, but that's the only thing i'd ever heard about it.

i haven't seen many other documentaries and only just started watching them (got netflix).

i recently watched food, inc. and found that enjoyable.

"Pulling John"

It is kind of like "King of Kong" on steriods.

Look for it on netflix streaming

who knew that armwrestling had a star who is greater than Michael Jordan is at basketball?

Dogtown and Z-boys. Horrible title but a fascinating movie.

A couple more:

"Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple"

If you are too young to remember the horrifying Jonestown massacre, or too old to remember its details or its enormity, this is worth watching. Jonestown should not be forgotten.

"There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane"

Liz Garbus produced this documentary for HBO last year. It's fascinating, maddening, and achingly sad.

Maxed Out

Older people will remember this: World at War

Its a 25 part series that aired in the 1970s. For all the great WW2 stuff in the past 15 years, World at War is still the best there is about WW2. Its just really well done. You have to love the opening credits and Laurence Olivier narrating. Also it was produced when a lot of key people in the War who had access to the top leaders were still alive and well and gave good interviews.

Oh God, this is the most horrendous illness I've ever heard of. Poor lad.

english dude wrote:

The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off

http://www.youtube.com/user/0utlookhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466710/plotsummary

Flagpole wrote:

After getting such great responses in the King of Kong thread, I figured I'd open it up generally.

So...what's your favorite documentary film?

I've got several that I like a lot:

Crumb - talk about dysfunction

Hoop Dreams

Super Size Me

American Movie -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Movie

Roger and Me

Will likely see King of Kong this weekend. Got any others to recommend?

Appreciate it!

Lets see, whats the most boring flagpole i know off?

Flagpole wrote:

After getting such great responses in the King of Kong thread, I figured I'd open it up generally.

So...what's your favorite documentary film?

I've got several that I like a lot:

Crumb - talk about dysfunction

Hoop Dreams

Super Size Me

American Movie -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Movie

Roger and Me

Will likely see King of Kong this weekend. Got any others to recommend?

Appreciate it!

My favorite is the documentary on the 1985 Oak Harbor Invitational. If I remember right, some guy got disqualified and the crown voiced its displeasure toward the guy who won the race...

Did you ever see that one, Flagpole?