Documentaries

I knew I forgot another good one; Inside Deep Throat.

Also, John's Not Mad (1989) following a teenage boy with Tourette's syndrome. There was a follow-up called The Boy Can't Help It (2002) when John was 30, and another I Swear I Can't Help It (2009) which I just watched.

I like you now.

I also like the following documentaries about eccentric dudes doing crazy shit:
Man on Wire
Grizzly Man
Big River Man

You must watch them all, Levi, if you haven't already! They so good.

Oh I've been meaning to watch Man on Wire for a long time now. I was going to ask if anybody else has seen it just now. lol

I Swear I Can't Help It is my favourite documentary of all time. All time. Holy shit.

One I watched recently on Netflix was The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
It's about a guy who's trying to beat the Donkey Kong world record.
I liked it a lot, especially because I'm totally into that kind of thing.
It's totally biased against the current record holder, but it's an interesting story and I was vocally rooting for the underdog because I wanted the smug look wiped off that other bastard's face.

The guy who was #3 in the world at the time that documentary was made is now the World Record holder.

Yeah, I was reading about it on Wiki last night. As long as it's not Billy Fucking Mitchell

Bill Maher isn't any more pompous for sticking to what he believes than the Jesus folks are for sticking to their own beliefs. There are opposite extremes represented in both cases.

The difference is, Bill Maher and guys like him (critical thinkers, debunkers, rationalists, etc...) have never inspired people to blow themselves up or torture other people for some invisible entity. There have been no bloody crusades in the name of reason. Ever.

Also, Bill Maher would still defend their right to believe what they want, in spite of its effects, and I can guarantee that the religious right would not return that favor if they had the chance. I know this because my parents still get those newsletters from all the big religious networks, telling which laws to vote for and how best to keep gays form getting equal rights and stop all abortion and kill real science in schools and teach creation instead.

But that's not proof of anything, I know. It's one anecdote.

The best proof is to take a look at the countries, either today or throughout history, where people don't have an option on religion. The countries where laws reflect archaic, Bronze and Iron Age rules supposedly handed down to them by God or prophets. Would you describe those countries as free and happy, or as oppressed?

Where there is no choice, no freedom, to be religious or not... there is no freedom.

Okay, rant over....

i watched The September Issue. It was really good.

Ever? I'm pretty sure the Nazis were very anti-religious. What about Russia's longtime stance against anything non-atheist. Maybe you should just move there. Bill Maher still sucks. He purses his lips too much, and also he's not funny and he's weak-minded. Also, you listen to the wrong people. Rant also over.

I'd add the Communist Chinese destruction of any religions. You know what else they destroyed? A lot of cultural things. Not very reasonable if you ask me.

I do like Bill Maher to a certain extent. Then he comes across as an arrogant cunt.

I watched After Innocence, which was interesting. I also watched Tourettes I Swear I Can't Help It. It was alright, doesn't make me want to download the previous documentaries.

Watching Ben: Diary of a Heroin Addict now. It's sad.

I think it has to do with the fact that that could have been me, but I quit doing what I was doing just in time. Before I ever got that dark.

I liked the White Stripes rockumentary. It's out on DVD now. Under Great White Northern Lights.

Such a poignant documentary. The video diary aspect was so strong, mainly as it came across far less preachy than a lot of drug documentaries.

Ben's mother was on This Morning about a month later. It was amazing how strong she was despite her husband dying so soon after her son did.

wow i love docs too. Love the one called zoo bout the guy who got sodomized to death by a horse. He had a whole group of friends they would party have drinks then go mingle w/ the horses. I feel bad for his kids. how do you tell your children how there father died?

I love:
The Aristocrats
Supersize me
Bowling for Columbine
anyone have good suggestions? I need more to put on my list [/quote]

Super high me was interesting and the aristocrats was like damn bob saget. there is a cool one about a trans beauty pageant in vegas called transtasia
also free held was good it was about this cop who was dying who wanted her same sex partner to get her benefits

Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
An Evening With Kevin Smith (yes it's still considered a documentary)
The 11th Hour
Sicko
Baraka
Microcosmos
What the Bleep Do We Know?
Capitalism: A Love Story
The U.S. vs. John Lennon

And as far as television documentaries go:
Planet Earth
Morgan Spurlock: 30 Days
Penn and Teller: Bullshit

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
A gripping account of one of the greatest figures of the 20th century, the first black man to become world heavyweight boxing champion and a man whose life remains a provocation to this day.

This very detailed film manages remarkably to recreate the atmosphere of 100 years ago, through music (score and arrangements by Wynton Marsalis) and more especially dozens of photos and films. Narration by Keith David, Johnson's writings read by Samuel L. Jackson, other voices by many other prestigious actors.

The entire documentary in 2 parts :

I saw Catfish last night.

Play safe on the internet, kids!

I remember someone posted a link of a site with free documentaries I think it was lofi...anyway does anyone have that link?

Anyone else watched Inside Job? A lot of information in there, and very neatly put together. The finance industry (worldwide, but in the USA in particular) is utterly reprehensible, and none of the banks, ratings agencies, insurance companies, brokers, etc will ever have to answer for any of it.

Jane posted on Amanda's wall about a documentary being really good called:

A Film Unfinished

Being the lurker I am (I get a lot of great recs from them two) I added it to my Netflix instant queue.

Amazing movie!

This potent documentary uses a long-lost film reel to illustrate how the Nazis controlled images of Jewish life during World War II. Though the Nazis made a propaganda movie of contented Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, the missing spool exposes the truth. Director Yael Hersonski shows how the imagery was staged to distort historical knowledge and, with the aid of Jewish survivors' testimony, chronicles the horrifying reality of ghetto life.

I saw this at the weekend. It was so well done, enjoyed every minute of it.

Storyline
In the early 1980s, legendary Billy Mitchell set a Donkey Kong record that stood for almost 25 years. This documentary follows the assault on the record by Steve Wiebe, an earnest teacher from Washington who took up the game while unemployed. The top scores are monitored by a cadre of players and fans associated with Walter Day, an Iowan who runs Funspot, an annual tournament. Wiebe breaks Mitchell's record in public at Funspot, and Mitchell promptly mails a controversial video tape of himself setting a new record. So Wiebe travels to Florida hoping Mitchell will face him for the 2007 Guinness World Records. Will the mind-game-playing Mitchell engage; who will end up holding the record?

I watched Restrepo a couple of months ago and really liked it. And was shocked to learn Tim Hetherington, one of the directors, was killed a couple of weeks ago fiming in Libya. Unfortunately, the dangers that made Restrepo so riveting to watch cost him his life. It's a shame.

The Story of Anvil and When You're Strange are also very good (especially When You're Strange--huge Doors fan).

The Documentarian: Bunch of quality stuff to check out.

Food Inc
Food Matters
Collapse
Religulous
Casino Jack
I.O.U. USA
Maxed Out
Heckler
I am Comic
Aristocrats
Super High Me
Endgame
The Obama Deception
911 Truth Rising

I watched The English Surgeon not too long ago. It was a pretty good documentary, kind of depressing sometimes, but mhm.

The Century of Self, is genuinely good. A very intesresting look at the psychology that helped shape the 20th century, amoungst other things.

"Exit Through The Gift Shop."

Awesome documentary about street art.

That Bill Hicks one, American, is hella entertaining. They took that whole multiplane animation technique to another level there, cutting up and layering all those pictures.

This Is The Last Dam Run of Likker I'm Ever Gonna Make. Its only on youtube but its really cool.

Standing in the Shadows of Motown was really good. It's about the band behind all those classic hits. The Funk Brothers had more number 1 hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined.

I agree, very interesting.

I watched this Herzog movie Into the Abyss after i found out it was filmed in the shit town where i live. I could walk out of my house right now and see places that were in the movie. It's weird because this little random crap Texas town was interesting to the best documentary filmmaker around. But yeah, watch Into the Abyss and you'll see my neighborhood and the typical townsfolk around here. It sucks.

Funny you mention that movie. I had plans on watching it tonight.

It drags a bit and it's kind of boring but it's a good movie.

Ok. I snuck in a jog just now before it started storming again so I'll probably end up watching it tomorrow. I need to shower then go to bed. Another early day tomorrow.

Finally watched Into the Abyss. It did drag a bit, but it was still a good doc.

Yeah i recognized every place they filmed except for the bar in Cut And Shoot. I live right next to Cut And Shoot and my friends give me shit for it all the time. There's a part where they pass Crystal Creek and i go over that every day. There was a Subway i eat at all the time. Even the prisons in the other towns i pass when i go to Dallas or to Lake Livingston. I can't believe he filmed all around my house and i never knew.

I want to watch Louis Theroux - Extreme Love: Autism so bad! It aired last night, and I'm downloading it now, but it's going sooo sloooow..

Ooh, you'll enjoy it Imke! Funny but also really miserable.

I'll probably watch it in the morning!

I just saw that a couple days ago. I figured he was going to come to a point about how capital punishment was bad and how there might be some evidence in favor of those two, but I didn't see any. In fact, I kept rooting for them to hurry up and kill the guy and got pissed when the other guy got off with a life-sentence just because his prison dad came in and gave a sob story to the jury. Where were the victims at to not come in and give their sob story too? ugh. If two people were more deserving of getting executed, I ain't seen 'em!