Badmovies.org Forum

What are some of the best documentaries you've ever seen?

For me there's 3 that I really loved:

1) American Hardcore

2) This Film is not Yet Rated

3) Bowling for Columbine

what are some other ones that you liked alot

Three favorites that immediately come to mind:
American Movie
Grey Gardens
My Best Fiend

OK - Three more:
The Thin Blue Line
Marlene
Super-Size Me

AND:
Gates of Heaven
The Atomic Cafe
Burden of Dreams

And some classics!:
Man of Aran
I am Cuba
Nanook of the North

And ALL of the 70's Sunn Classic Pictures "In Search of..." documentaries involving Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, Chariots of the Gods, Noah's Ark, Historic Jesus, The Bermuda Triangle, UFOs, etc.

(http://www.pandora.ca/pictures175/962647.jpg)
               They found it, too!

These are some of my favorites:

1.  WOODSTOCK

2.  THE ATOMIC CAFE

3.  PUMPING IRON

4.  SCARED STRAIGHT

5.  SUPER SIZE ME

American Hardcore
All three Decline of Western Civilization
Punk Attitude
Metal:A Headbangers Journey

UFO's are REAL (vol.1+2-narrated by Stanton Friedman)
MANSON (1972) d. Lawerence Merrick. not what you might expect
The Fall of Western Civiliztion Pt.1 ( the section on the GERMS and Fear are really amazing!)
Lugosi,the Forgotten King-Hosted by Forrest J. Ackerman
the WORLD at WAR Series from the 70's..usta be on PBS all the time back in the 70's and 80's
GIMME SHELTER-the disasterous concert at Altamont.
Aileen Wournos:Life and Death of a Serial Killer(2002) sad and scary.

GIMME SHELTER is a good one.:thumbup:

- (a second mention here for  :thumbup:) MY BEST FIEND...definately up there.  I consider it pretty much a bookend with BURDEN OF DREAMS(about FITCARRALDO) and sort of shares the spot with HEARTS OF DARKNESS.
- American Experience's THE DONNER PARTY.
- VISIONS OF LIGHT, the cinematography doc

...and on the long side...
- Burns' THE CIVIL WAR and the six hour LIBERTY!
- the 13 parter WAR AND PEACE IN THE NUCLEAR AGE...the Taj Majal to the m.a.d.ness of the Cold War.

I tend to be more of a fan of movie-making docos, so Hearts of Darkness and Lost in La Mancha are two good ones for me.  I also agree that Visions of Light is also a very interesting look at cinematography.

As for recent documentaries, one of the guys at work said he saw "Bra Boys" the other night, an Australian documentary about the infamous Sydney Gang/Surfing group.  It's about a few guys who grew up in a broken home in a bad neighbourhood and how they started a group which was firmly rooted in surfing, whilst some still getting into mischeif/drugs etc.

Seems like a good one, and has gone pretty well in the Box Office here the last couple of weeks.

I'll add this three:

- ENRON. The Smartest Guys in the Room (a documentary on the rise and fall of ENRON)

- Cocaine Cowboys (2006), the story of marijuana and cocaine traffic in Miami during the 70s and 80s. Many criminals that survived that era provide testmonies.

- Expedition: Bismarck (2002). Co-directed by James Cameron, it accounts the last days of the nazi battleship with the halp of survivors and provides amazing underwater footage of its present day condition.

Most recently I liked Supersize Me.  Funny yet thought provoking stuff about fast food, particularly MCDonalds.

Michael Moore's stuff is generally the best

Fahrenheit 911
Bowling for Columbine
Roger and Me

The Fog of War
My Best Fiend
Grizzly Man
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

I can remember The World at War airing on Sunday nights on TBS in the 80s, I'm tempted to buy it. Makes me curious what Ken Burns' The War will be like. I liked The Civil War and Baseball (and I hate the actual sport, so the doc gets extra points for getting me to watch) but I hated his series on jazz music and was underwhelmed by his two parter on Mark Twain. It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about the man or his writing and I'm a journeyman at best when it comes to the life of Twain/Clemens.

How could I forget "Grizzly Man"! That must be the best documentary EVER.

american hollow-children undergroung-high on crack street-dark days

A few that I've rated 5 stars recently on Netflix:

HELEN OF TROY - Bettany Hughes gives tremendous detail about life in the bronze age

THE TRUE STORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT - re-enactments with (English Translation) reads from major source material

THE REAL OLYMPICS - analysis, discussion and re-enactments of the Olympics in Ancient Greece, as well as the evolution of our modern games.

AMAZING JOURNEYS IMAX - major movement in the animal kingdom

HOW THE EARTH WAS MADE - by far, hands down, the best documentary on the history of the earth I've ever seen, and they lay to rest a whole bunch of BS that is popularly "known" in contemporary "science" but not supported by either fact or logical analysis.

THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK - glimpse into the Darfur genocide and the US government's (non) response to it.


I have not seen that particular one, but other Cameron "documentaries" I have seen are laughably stupid and incredibly pretentious.  He's not as smart as he thinks he is, and some of us "science types" that watch his drivel get a good laugh.

Bob Ballard's under sea exploration/discovery stuff is orders of magnitude better, in my opinion.

Two that I've seen recently have been Crumb and Bowling for Columbine, both were excellent.

I particularly like music documentaries like American Hardcore, Until The Light Takes Us, The Decline of Western Civilization, etc. 

A couple people have mentioned Werner Herzog documentaries he is among the best, a couple others he made that I really enjoy:
Journey To The End of the World-A look at Antarctica and the people that choose to live there. 
Into the Abyss-A look at people on death row and how they got there.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly-The real life story behind the inspiration for his later film "Rescue Dawn".

I also love music documentaries and these are some of the best I've seen.
Dig (2004)-One of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Taking a close look at two bands "The Brian Jones town Massacre" and "The Dandy Warhols". Initially they are friends but as the Dandy Warhols rise to quick fame tensions begin to rise with the other band. So many amazing quotes in this one. Whether you know or like that bands is irrelevant as this is just pure entertainment.

Some Kind of Monster (2004) A look at Metallica recording St Anger one of the most notoriously bad albums of all time. With a shrink on call, conflicts about creative decisions and James kicking booze there is a lot going on here. These are some sensitive guys, but wait to you hear Dave Mustaine whine!

On the topic of movies:
The Battle over Citzen Kane-This comes with many special editions of Citzen Kane. This is an awesome documentary about Orson Welles and his feud with Hearst. This along with Ebert's commentary over the film itself greatly enriched my appreciation of this legendary movie.

The Fear of God-British critic Mark Kermode present's this excellent documentary about The Exorcist and its legacy. This is on the blu ray and dvd special editions.

 :thumbup: :thumbup: Werner Herzog.  JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE WORLD was top notch and incredibly interesting.

I've got both LITTLE DIETER and RESCUE DAWN in the Netflix queue, but have not watched them yet.

I have never been able to make it all the way thru this one. I've tried to watch it twice (when it first premiered on VH1 a couple of years ago I recorded it) but both times I've fallen asleep halfway thru. I'm gonna have to pick an evening when I'm not so damned tired and watch it all the way thru!

Since my last post I also remembered another doc I enjoyed recently: "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters," about the battle to claim a World Record high score on Donkey Kong.

Good pick on King of Kong, I wouldn't mind watching it again actually.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIBrcU768Cg

Also just remembered "Overnight" which follows Boondock Saint's director's Troy Duffy rag to riches story. Going from working at a bar to directing a Hollywood film his ego ends up repelling those around him and leaving him alone and penniless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUEG0IYCETA

Gates of Heaven
This Film is not Yet Rated
Best Worst Movie

Erroll Morris' THE THIN BLUE LINE, about an innocent man on death row in Texas.

The funny thing about "King of Kong" is that if I didn't know better, I'd almost swear it was a "mockumentary" ala Christopher Guests's "Best in Show" or "Mighty Wind." But nope, these are actual people...which is kinda scary.  :teddyr:

OFFICE SPACE was a pretty good documentary.    :bouncegiggle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r29kM2j78_E

Chi Guy: Weapons of Mass Decibels (2008)

 :thumbup: :thumbup: I love KING OF KONG.
My favorite random moment was when they briefly showed the Frogger champion, and he looked exactly what I expected him to look like! 

Some of my other favorites:
THE BRIDGE and DEAR ZACHARY: A FATHER'S LETTER TO HIS SON are both pretty amazing.....if you like to feel miserable.
METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY
THE FILTH AND THE FURY
the WESTERN CIVILIZATION docs
ANOTHER STATE OF MIND
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP



I like that one, if only for Torben.   :bouncegiggle:

In recent years I've found some great documentaries.

Salt - not the movie with Angelina Jolie, but a doco about the Australian landscape photographer Murray Fredericks who spent years traveling to the Lake Eyre salt flats and taking photos of the stars and surroundings.  He travels and lives alone for weeks on end and comes back with the most spectacular images.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyXGwB9B6bQ

Samsara - the latest movie from the people who brought us Chronos, Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi, this is a nonverbal movie with some of the most stunning imagery I've seen on screen.  They traveled through 25 countries over five years to capture this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp967YAAdNk

Legend of a Warrior - a movie by filmmaker Corey Lee, who's father is White Crane and kickboxing legend Frank Lee.  For those of you who like HK action cinema, Frank Lee was the trainer of Billy Chow, the tall mustachioed kickboxer who regularly appeared in Jackie Chan movies like Dragons Forever.  Corey hasn't trained with his father for 25 years, preferring to go into film making, so he goes back to train with his dad and hopefully reconnect with him.  It's a great biopic as well as moving story about a martial arts family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB8uJHNi9Zo

Taiwan Revealed - Cinema Formosa.  This Discovery Channel doco follows the development of the Taiwanese blockbuster 'Warriors of the Rainbow', which depicts a historical battle between native Taiwanese and Japanese occupying forces.  A fascinating look at the state of Taiwanese cinema and how big movies are made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYZXdE6mA-w

And who can forget 'Anvil - The Story of Anvil'.  The band Anvil came into being during the 80's but never had the same success as their contemporaries like Metallica and Poison.  But decades on and they are still rocking it out in their 40's and 50's, holding down jobs so they can stay true to their metal dreams.  The film follows them as they go on a very mismanaged European tour, fraught with accidents and disappointment.  The upside is that after this was released, Anvil got a massive upswing in popularity and have gone on to tour with big bands from that era.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF4H8lB2Y_o

http://www.youtube.com/user/anvilthemovie

Yep. came in to post this one. it's on youtube now, great doc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3agMIAZkdM





Strangely enough I said almost exactly this when I was talking about it with someone the other day. It fits right in with that spoof genre even though it's real.

For movie fans, here are three of my favourites:

Not Quite Hollywood [doco on Australian genre films from the 70s and 80s such as Mad Max and the like.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLm1ppE_Ib0

Machete Maidens [pretty much the same as above but about the south east asian industry with folk like Roger Corman etc.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0VBjLNT2Vw

Both feature a heap of explosions, babes and blood and is a hell of alot of fun.


Baadassssss Cinema [Doco on Blaxploitation films.]

Couldn't find a trailer, but here's some of it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9wdJ_lnMws

I saw this one last year, I found it very entertaining and informative. Later I checked out some of the movies it mentions more prominently, and boy, I was not disappointed. a must see for trash / exploitation cinema.

I'll see if I can find the other two.

Harlan County USA- Miners vs mine owners. Top Notch.

Ken Burns' Baseball, Civil War, Prohibition etc.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster- Covers steroid abuse from a social viewpoint.

Double Dare- Looks at the rise of stuntwomen in the film industry in general and in particular Jeannie Eppers and Zoe Bell, who doubled for Lynda Carter and lucy Lawless respectivley. Very interesting.

Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman

Medieval Lives -by Monty Python's Terry Jones

Tesla: Master of Lightning -because Tesla Rocks!

The Day the Universe Changed-James Burke explores key moments in Western History where new knowledge in science changed the way the modern Western world thinks.

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

When We Were Kings-A documentary of the 1974 heavyweight championship bout in Zaire between champion George Foreman and underdog challenger Muhammad Ali.

I don't know if it really counts or not, but I've seen this a few times now.

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q6G_WqLp1w