Documentaries

[C DUB YA]

Saw a good new doc last night on HBO.

DIRTY DRIVING: THUNDERCARS OF INDIANA

It’s from Jon Alpert – the director who did the “Life of Crime” series for HBO in the early 90’s. Those 2 films are still some of my fave docs - has anyone seen them?

Jon also did Locked Up on Rikers Island and High on Crack Street, also very good.

And while we are on HBO financed docs - Paradise Lost is still awesome too and they just released it on DVD not too long ago.

[TomAz]

Is it as good as "Don't Look Back"?

[C DUB YA]

No, but worth the viewing for sure

[Neutral Milk Hotel]

Best documentary=Gates of Heaven

[real talk]

The last documentary I watched was called "Please vote for me" and it was about a third grade class in China having a democratic election for class monitor. It wasn't great but all the kids had rat tails which was rad.

Last one before that was that Morgan Spurlock Bin Laden one which I thought was good.

I watch a lot of documentaries but I'll have to talk about more of them later.

[C DUB YA]

Gates of Heaven is great - my fave doc though is When We Were Kings.

[bmack86]

Kings of Kong, word life

[stuporfly]

Gates of Heaven is great - my fave doc though is When We Were Kings.

When We Were Kings is terrific. Ali is mesmerizing, and both James Brown and the Crusaders are really astonishing. I try to watch that at least once a year.

[C DUB YA]

Yeah I watched Kings a few months ago fo the kazillionth time - Ali - still amazing.

King of Kong a super duper too.

[bug on your lip]

When We Were Kings was amazing... King of Kong:fistful of quarters was soooo entertaining

The Gate of Heavenly Peace was the one movie that really changed my life..it is a documentary of the Tiananmen Square massacre

it is really hard to find tho, but u can view it at large University libraries usually

[rskapcat]

I loved King of Kong.

[bleep]

Daughter from Danang (2002) was an interesting watch: happy start -> Vietnamese adoptee happily reunites w/ birth mum -> birth mum expects daughter to take care of her -> daughter doesn't understand why she has to -> sad ending

[Hopeless Semantic]

The Gates of Heavenly Peace is definitely one of the better documentaries I have ever seen. It was shown to us by a professor in college that actually had relatives that were protesting during the Tiananmen massacre. Apparently, on of his cousins who partaked in the protests, is still unaccounted for...The family has long since given up finding answers from an otherwise shady gov't.

The Bridge If you haven't seen this one, its understandable. It is a docudrama capturing the allure that the Golden Gate bridge has for those seeking a suicidal way out of this world. It shows some squeamish parts where the camera actually captures the jumpers making their moves and the proceeding splash. It was somewhat controversial and raised some eyebrows, but it was generally a great watch.

Inside the Vietnam War-If anyone managed to catch the documentary on Nat. Geographic on Sunday, they'll attest to the sheer vivid imagery and the gory exposure represented in the 4 hour shockfest. Probably the most extensive cover of the Vietnam War, there were photographs of how destructive war can be. I'm not talking about what it does to the buildings and other inaminate objects, but showing the blown apart corpses from both sides and the continuous effects on the veterans.

There were some other ones that I've enjoyed...including the one about how the auto industry changed after the release of Red Asphault...another one about Lake Chad dying off that I've forgotten the name of...

[sydaud]

Cocaine Cowboys details the coke trade through Miami in the late 70's/early 80's. Absolutely riveting. Also made me want to drug traffic.

[CalmerThanYou]

Gonzo: The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson

[menikmati]

Am I the only one who hates Don't Look Back? The makers of it came to one of my film classes and we got to meet them, and they did a showing of Primary with some Q&A afterwards.

[ivankay]

Almost finished watching Ken Burns' "Frank Lloyd Wright". Great doc.

[kitt kat]

I saw RELIGULOUS this past weekend. It was definately interesting, but I couldn't tell if the conclusion was overly impassioned or just amusingly ironic.

I'm in a documentary production class this semester, and my teacher keeps showing us all these USC Graduate Docs. There were two that really stood out.

One was called "DOG PEOPLE" (unfortunately, it was made in the late 90s, and since USC has a policy of no thesis films on the internet, I couldn't find any info about it.) It followed several people who were unhealthily obsessed with their dogs---a furry couple (they showed us their furry wedding video...) where the wife had a young daughter but openly admitted loving her dogs more than the girl and never interacted with her daughter, an overweight scary Venice beach man who gave up on love and focused on his dog instead, the most adorable old lady whos first dog was eaten by a runaway boa constrictor and is adjusting to her new dog as her companion (she wasn't obssessed, though; just a very sweet old lady who treated her dog like a friend), and a creepy 30-something handbag designer who broke up with her fiance because he wouldn't allow the dogs on vacation (and who also took nude photographs with her and her dogs together).

The other was this one: http://www.geocachingthemovie.com/

Geocaching (n) - A sport or hobby that involves the hiding and finding of objects using Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Discoveries are logged by location, which is then shared with other participants (a.k.a. geocachers).

This documentary explores the emerging world of high-tech hide-and-seek called geocaching. Meet TRUROKR, family man; his rivals, the Ventura Kids, and lovable geek Aerospacecase. A humorous and poignant portrayal of four fascinating people and their feelings about competition, community, and the quest for the elusive Tupperware container.

It was pretty much the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

[CalmerThanYou]

Jesus Camp

http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/

one of the more disturbing films i've ever seen.

[kitt kat]

^It's all posted on YouTube. BTW.

I'm sure everyone's seen it, but SPELLBOUND was definately heartwarming. (And made by another USC grad too...Who then went on to make ROCKET SCIENCE, which absolutely sucked.)

I saw a great one at Sundance last year, and it's getting limited plays across the US. It's called PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE (http://www.dreamoflifethemovie.com) and it had the coolest cinematography in the world. Plus, Patti Smith is a badass.

[CalmerThanYou]

you pretentious bitch

[amyzzz]

hahaha

[LooseAtTheZoo]

When We Were Kings
Jesus Camp
Deliver Us From Evil
Join Us
Spellbound
The Fog of War
Man on Wire

These are some great ones I can think of off the top of my head.

[bug on your lip]

I saw a great one at Sundance last year, and it's getting limited plays across the US. It's called PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE (http://www.dreamoflifethemovie.com) and it had the coolest cinematography in the world. Plus, Patti Smith is a badass.

i know someone who sees all music-related movies & she was RAVING about this one


plus, i can't believe there wasn't a single "epic" in kitty's review...
maybe she put a secret anagram in there

[LooseAtTheZoo]

Another great music documentary is Tupac: Resurrection. There are many more, but a lot of people unfortunately lump in concert films with "music documentaries"

[CalmerThanYou]

a good concert film is Phish's IT

tee hee.

[C DUB YA]

Almost finished watching Ken Burns' "Frank Lloyd Wright". Great doc.

I like Ken's stuff - I have the Baseball box set - awesome.

[Hopeless Semantic]

I like Ken's stuff - I have the Baseball box set - awesome.

Meh. After the Civil War doc, I thought he got a little too repetitive with the style in which he did his documentaries. I know that's the Burns' trademark, but I'm hoping he does something different if he does a Vietnam doc.

[C DUB YA]

I LIKE his stuff - I don't love it. But being a huge baseball guy - the scope of the baseball one is unrivaled in its greatness.

[Hopeless Semantic]

I LIKE his stuff - I don't love it. But being a huge baseball guy - the scope of the baseball one is unrivaled in its greatness.

I wasn't contesting whether you liked or loved his stuff, I just added my .2. The baseball one is probably the 2nd best one in my opinion. Although, the WWII was an interesting take.