DOCUMENTARIES

[RCMerchant]

I just bought AILEEN:LIFE and DEATH of a SERIAL KILLER,directed byNick Broomfield. It's a doc on Aillen Wuornos,a Florida serial killer raised in Troy,Mich. who killed men while workin as a prostitute.Maybe you seen the film MONSTER,which won awards a few years back. A disturbing look into the mind of a psychotic. Right before her execution,she goes off on a rant about how the police knew she was killing johns,yet let her do it because they wanted to keep people from picking up hookers!
 Any way-It got me to thinking about subject I don't think has been discussed on this board and thats documentaries. I own quite a few,good (RAMONES RAW) and bad (OVERLORDS of the UFO). What documentaries have you seen? I like music and true crime ones,myself.

[BeyondTheGrave]

I'm big into rock documentires and here some I have seen and own:

The Decline of Western Civilization all three Punk, Metal and Guttterpunk.

Metal: Headbangers Jounerny.

Punk Attitude

American Hardcore

End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones

Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Eyeballs (Its a documentry that came with the re-issue of that album)

[zombiedudeman]

I've got an Errol Morris box set, his documentaries are about stuff that's mundane yet odd. "Hated:GG Allin and the Murder Junkies" and "Sick:The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan" are my two favorite documentaries, really disgusting stuff, Hated has poop eating and Sick has a penis being nailed to a piece of wood, but both have an inspirational message.  I got some Werner Herzog documentaries too, I prefer his regular movies but still great documentary maker.

[Scott]

HEARTS OF DARKNESS (1979) - The making of APOCALYPSE NOW is the best documentary about a movie that I can think of. It covers the money, time, talent, and stresses of Francis Ford Coppola's making of this film.

[Menard]

Does Ken Burns count in this thread? Although I had some issues with his Civil War documentary, they were minor and the overall quality of the presentation and storytelling is astounding. The one thing for me which really brought it to life is the conversations with Shelby Foote.

I catch occasional documentaries on PBS. I had seen one earlier this year and for the life of me can't remember the name of it. It was about an acting troupe in the 70s and an accident which happened to the playwright who organized the troupe which effectively robbed him of his talent, and much of his life. It was an interesting documentary; actually the story which inspired the documentary was interesting, the documentary itself could have been better.

I have yet to see Les Blank's Burden of Dreams, a documentary on Werner Herzog's struggle with the many downfalls which came along with making his classic Fitzcarraldo. From what I have read of the constant tragedies which befell the production, the behind the scenes struggle seems more interesting, at times, than the struggle which faced Fitzcarraldo.

Eh, just a few comments.

[Jack]

I watch tons of stuff on the various History and Discovery channels.  I especially like documentaries about ancient Egypt, or anything to do with outer space.  There was one about supermassive black holes that was really cool, they used a lot of music from the Disney movie of the same name.  Great computer animation in that one as well.  Seeing what is really out there always makes science fiction seem so unimaginative in comparison.

[Doc Daneeka]

March of the Penguins because it was playing in biology class, I am not much of a documentary fan. (at least not whole movies, TV is sometimes fine)

[Dennis]

One of the best history documentary series I've ever watched is Connections, hosted by James Burke. He starts each episode with a statement such as "We were able to go to the moon in 1969 because several hundred years earlier the Duke of Burgundy invaded the country that we know as Switzerland three times, he then goes on to prove his statement, usually in a funny but also intresting and informative way.
This a great series and it can be enjoyed by anyone.   

[Ozzymandias]

Ozzymandias speaks: I like the compilation type films of the 70s. That's Enteratinment started the short trend. Britain copied it with a film called "To See Such Fun." There was also a film that aired on PBS a lot when I was a kid that featured a ton of movies and focus on how America was depicted in films. Don't remember the title, but I'd love to see it again. There was one that was advertised quite a bit about animals in movies. My all time favorite of these was It Came From Hollywood. That's Entertainment and It Came From Hollywood are the only ones with any real narration, although the one film featured the titles written on the stripes of a flag at the begining of each sequence. "To See Such Fun" would be better with identification.

Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

[Rev. Powell]

I just bought AILEEN:LIFE and DEATH of a SERIAL KILLER,directed byNick Broomfield. It's a doc on Aillen Wuornos,a Florida serial killer raised in Troy,Mich. who killed men while workin as a prostitute.Maybe you seen the film MONSTER,which won awards a few years back. A disturbing look into the mind of a psychotic. Right before her execution,she goes off on a rant about how the police knew she was killing johns,yet let her do it because they wanted to keep people from picking up hookers!
 Any way-It got me to thinking about subject I don't think has been discussed on this board and thats documentaries. I own quite a few,good (RAMONES RAW) and bad (OVERLORDS of the UFO). What documentaries have you seen? I like music and true crime ones,myself.

I was thinking of starting a topic on favorite documentaries and decided to resurrect this one instead.

I was going to mention Nick Broomfield.  I haven't seen AILEEN: LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER, but I did see his previous documentary on Aileen, THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER.  It was quite an unexpected experience.  At first, it seemed like it was going to be a documentary about Aileen, but it turned into the story of the people who attached themselves to her after she became infamous and tried to make a quick buck off her crimes.  Very disturbing, because Aileen was clearly mentally ill was probably not really responsible for her crimes, but her hangers on were cold and calculating and clearly knew exactly what they were doing.  It was a great examination of how ordinary evil can be more chilling than extraordinary evil.

Broomfield also did HEIDI FLEISS: HOLLYWOOD MADAM for HBO.  Once again, he took on a tabloid subject and found something really sinister and evil in it, in the form of the shadowy Israeli pimp Fleiss took a fall for.  He also gets a swipe in at former LA police chief Darryl Gates.

Errol Morris is probably the most respected documentarian of all time, and THE THIN BLUE LINE is the best documentary I've seen.  Even though it's a true story, it carries you along like a carefully plotted mystery, and because they stakes are so high you care more than you would about fictional characters. 

[Mr. DS]

Supersize Me 

[RCMerchant]

Garsh...this thread was started when I first joined!



.MANSON-

made in 1973,a lot of the film consists of the Family. Very insightful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlWnto2Dd8A
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...the BS about the kids getting high and having sex is just that: BS. I have seen interviews with Micheal Valintine Brunner (son of Charlie and Mary Brunner) and he disclaims it. He is NOT,by the way, a fan of his infamous father.

I agree with Rich on the FALL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION...a great doc of early California punk!

LUGOSI: the FORGOTTON KING

Not so much that it's an expensive doc...but the fact that FJA narrates it...and interviews include Carrol Borland,Alex Gordon,John Carridine make it a must have for any Bela fan....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u6SpiNTfDI
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Actually...I could watch a doc on the making of soap! I LOVE documentaries! And good ones are like sex without the feel of flesh!
(OK...now I'm getting a little too exageratted....but I do like docs!)

[Ash]

Just take a look at my Netflix queue.
I watch a ton of historical documentaries.  Mostly military history stuff such as The Color of War, Korean War Stories, American Valor, The Last Days of World War 2, Civil War: Bloodiest Battles.
I also like docs that focus on a single person such as The Passions of Howard Hughes, Man on Wire, A Very British Gangster etc...

Then there the other historical ones I watch like The Dark Ages or any of the History channel shows like Modern Marvels, Digging for the Truth and The Real West.

Yeah...I watch a ton of documentaries.     

[JaseSF]

I love them. I could probably watch them all day long and I'm always looking for them on TV. I particularly enjoyed the ones out there about pro wrestling (BEYOND THE MAT, HITMAN HART: WRESTLING WITH SHADOWS, the numerous ones put out by WWE films focusing on the careers of Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Eddie Guerrero and more as well as the fates of the AWA, WCCW and ECW although you have to look at who is telling the story here and there) and I also really like the music ones (RAMONES RAW and there's a good one about the Sex Pistols the title of which I forget). Sometimes I'll watch ones based on events in history like Hiroshima or the Rise of Hitler and others that predict what the future might holds (usually they preach doom and gloom). Love the UFO ones although they're usually laughable.

[RCMerchant]

I love them. I could probably watch them all day long and I'm always looking for them on TV. I particularly enjoyed the ones out there about pro wrestling (BEYOND THE MAT, HITMAN HART: WRESTLING WITH SHADOWS, the numerous ones put out by WWE films focusing on the careers of Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Eddie Guerrero and more as well as the fates of the AWA, WCCW and ECW although you have to look at who is telling the story here and there) and I also really like the music ones (RAMONES RAW and there's a good one about the Sex Pistols the title of which I forget). Sometimes I'll watch ones based on events in history like Hiroshima or the Rise of Hitler and others that predict what the future might holds (usually they preach doom and gloom). Love the UFO ones although they're usually laughable.

The SEX PISTOLS one is called D.O.A. 

I remeber a lot of the old Sunn Pictures docs from the seventies...stuff like CHARIOTS of the GODS? and IN SEARCH of NOAH'S ARK...which I actually saw in the theater as a kid!