Favorite documentaries?

[Jenaimarr]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

American Hardcore

Mayor of Sunset Strip

Sounds of Underground London

+1 on Mayor of the Sunset Strip... though it did totally bum me out after watching it.

 

[mack11211]

Chang Technically a semi-doc, but the big stampede at the end with two dozen elephants is not fiction. Amazing footage from the people who later brought you KING KONG. Salesman Doggedly optimistic door to door Bible salesmen.

 

[c3cubed]

Anything by Ric Burns or his brother Ken; The series: New York is non-pareil, and is my favourite.
Jazz is good, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago et al. These guys are PBS documentary masters. Virtually anything they do, I purchase for the DVD library.
From the Earth to the Moon series hosted by Tom Hanks is a well crafted pseudo-documentary and extremely enjoyable.

Perhaps Carl Sagan's Cosmos is the first of the great classics of the docu-genre.

On a lighter note, I found that Cloverfield is an amusing and entertaining documentary.

 

[modsquad]

I forgot about Lets Get Lost.

 

[Connemara]

I'm halfway through "Cocaine Cowboys." Great film.

 

[BigHandMan]

Paper Clips.

http://www.paperclipsmovie.com/synopsis.php

 

[Fulcannelli]

if spoofs are inluded then it has to be: man bites dog

 

[Connemara]

Just finished the first half of "No End in Sight," about the government's complete unpreparedness before and during the invasion of Iraq. It's a disturbing film.

edit: I should qualify that it's not a well-made movie. The first 15-30 minutes was interesting for the interviews/perspectives but it soon turned into a "This would've been a great war if there was a withdrawal date" P.O.S.

 

[rolex]

Hoop Dreams

 

[Connemara]

I'm watching CSNY/Deja Vu. It's a doc. made by Neil Young about the 2006 CSNY "Freedom of Speech" tour. Great so far.

 

[Connemara]

This is so great. Their first "southern" stop was in Atlanta and they filmed the crowd as the band started Let's Impeach the President. 1/4 boos, 3/4 cheers...an ABC journalist was following CSNY on their tour and interviewed people coming out of the theater. Some choice remarks: "This country is at war and they have a lot of nerve doing all kinds of crap like that. Neil Young can stick it up his ass." "Like George Bush said, if you're with terrorism, we're gonna gitcha. George Bush is right. He needs four more years." "To do this political stuff, that's bullshit." "They can ************. He's a stupid son of a *****." And the BEST one: "I love old music, you don't have the right to criticize the gov't because they are smarter than you, they have people smarter than you."

 

[Mujib]

Burns' Mark Twain
In Search of Shakespeare

 

[bullethead]

dogtown and z-boys

filth and the fury

overnight

 

[lithium180]

I will soon be purchasing The Ascent of Man

 

[waldenbags]

Originally Posted by v0rtex

As I've mentioned before on this board, anything by Adam Curtis. "Century of the Self" is his exploration of Freud's theories of psychoanalytics being used by Freud's American nephew to invent PR and consumer society as we know it, and how that's changed the path of history. The best documentary I've ever seen (all 5 hours of it) - called into question almost everything I "know". Fantastic. "Power of Nightmares" is an analysis of the rise of neoconservatism and al-Quaeda and how politics has changed from telling people an ideology will make the world better to trying to tell people their lives are in danger unless they vote for a particular politician. It's very dry, but fascinating and the US networks have all refused to broadcast it. His older works (Pandora's Box and The Mayfair Set) are about the small group of capitalists who heavily influenced the history of the UK in the latter half of the 20th Century, taking it from an almost socialist industrialised nation to a capitalist service provider, starting wars and the like along the way. Probably not that interesting if you're not from the UK or interested in British history. "The Trap: What Happened to our Dream of Freedom" is very abstract and personal, Curtis' opinion is that a "cult of individualism" has taken hold of modern society and is turning us all into self-obsessed narcissists who are ultimately unfulfilled and depressed. I wouldn't watch it without having seen his other work, though. I don't necessarily agree with everything Curtis says, and his documentaries are heavily influenced by his own strong opinions - up until the point of actually providing a solution to all the problems he identifies, unfortunately. But then, maybe that's left as an exercise for the viewer. They are beautifully researched and made. They also provide enough information for an informed viewer to come up with their own opinion which is, to me, the sign of a well-made documentary (Mr Spurlock and Mr Moore should take note...) PS. Most of the Adam Curtis documentaries are up on Google Video for free...
Good Call. Curtis deserves another nod.