Documentary thread?

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Blockhead
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Documentary thread?

Post by Blockhead »

Is there one?
If not, let's talk docs. Anyone who has nexflix has surely fallen down the wormhole. What Doc's are you digging?
I just watched two decent ones in the last few days
"The Source Family" about a weird L.A. Hippie cult and "Unhung hero" about a dude who finds out he has a little dick and decided to make a movie about his struggles. The Source family one is definitely better than the little dick guy one but they're wildly different so, you know, whatever tikes your fancy.

Some of my favorites in recent memory include:
The Imposter
The act of killing
Dear Zachary
Hell, i even enjoyed the doc about Billy Joel going to Russia in the mid-80's.

So, what's good?

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Spartan »

Most entertaining and bonkers documentary I've watched in years.
Shooting Bigfoot: America's Monster Hunters

Documentary looking into into the religiously obsessive, competitive and bitterly divided cult of Bigfoot hunting, as filmmaker Morgan Matthews accompanies three American Bigfoot search parties trying to capture proof of the elusive ape-like creature.

Tom Biscardi has been hunting down Bigfoot for 37 years and adopts a military approach with his 'A team' of guys armed with thermal imagers and tasers in increasingly far-out attempts to capture the beast.

Unemployed Dallas and Wayne in Ohio use more basic techniques, utilising cans of mackerel and Native American chants to lure the creature in.

Only renowned 'master tracker' Rick Dyer is intent on shooting and killing the mysterious beast as he stakes out a stretch of woods in Texas populated by homeless people, many of whom claim to have seen Bigfoot.

As truth and fact tip into malarkey, night-time hunts devolve into farcical displays of voodoo and comic stretches of the human imagination. What starts as a humorous look at perception gone off the rails, descends into a dark mystery as things get out of control during a close encounter in the woods.


Better Quality
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1n7t7 ... shortfilms
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1n7tu ... shortfilms

Rabbi Jihadovich
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Rabbi Jihadovich »

Mr Untouchable - Nicky Barnes doc - dude was/is gully so its a fun watch.
Cocaine Cowboys - streetz classic
Happy People - about people living in the asshole of Siberia. Iis pretty dope + plus its a herzog joint!
Transcendent Man - crazy futurist discussing humanity's future.
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy? - fag french guy (Michel Gondry) sits down and picks Noam Chomsky's brain. Interesting concepts discussed.
Restrepo - Dope if you wanna see what the war in Afghanistan looked like
Jiro Dreams of Sushi - little man lives by a very rigid philosophy on life which works really well for him.
Gonzo - good hunter s thompson doc
The Other F word - i only saw this cause i just became a father - those dudes need to die and i bet they're still some shitty fathers (unlike reason who is the bestdadeverever)
I Am - hacky director user his industry pull to talk about the world with some very smart and interesting people.
Black Fish - got a thread on the P - basically about some depressed-ass whales.
Buffalo Girls - follows 2 little poor thai girls who fight for money

That's all i can think of, off the top - but i got like a thousand docs lined up in my queue waiting to be seen.

ackbar
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by ackbar »

there used to be a thread a long time ago that keen started
i'll be back to contribute more later but here are some faves

- Burden of Dreams
- Paris Is Burning
- Gates of Heaven
- Treal TV
- Crumb
- The Devil & Daniel Johnston
- Overnight
- Hated: GG Allin & The Murder Junkies
- Grizzly Man
- Paradise Lost Trilogy
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- The Kid Stays In The Picture

ackbar
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by ackbar »

- Hoop Dreams
- Style Wars
- Streetwise

Kiran187
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Kiran187 »

Pelotero - Story about Dominican kids trying to get into big league baseball

wizeguy
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by wizeguy »

Check out Fog of War by Errol Morris if you're into modern history and politics. It's about Robert McNamara. He has a new one too where he's interviewing Donald Rumsfeld but it's not as good.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by alpha »

Most of the espn 30 for 30s are good

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Comedy Quaddafi »

Favorites not mentioned:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (About cavedrawings)
Man on Wire (About a guy who walked on a wire between the WTC)
The Ambassador (Danish journalist tries to buy blood-diamonds in Africa)
The Red Chapel (Danish journalist + friends go to North-Korea)
Ghosts of Cite Soleil (Danish journalist hangs out with Haitian slumlords)
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Hayzoos »

Just watched the HBO documentary Paradise Lost this morning and it was really good
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Radio Raheem
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Radio Raheem »

American Movie is still my favorite documentary. Endlessly quotable, great replay value



Herzog's movie about his relationship with Klaus Kinski is pretty spectacular as well, My Best Fiend;



The Act of Killing is fairly recent and very good documentary about Indonesian death squad leaders reenacting their war crimes in the style of American films (description doesn't do it justice, its great)


Knuckle is about bare knuckle boxing between clans of travelers in the UK.


The Hollywood Complex, was on netflix for a while, is ostensibly about child actors moving to the Oakwood apartments in Hollywood for pilot season but ends up being more about theirdesperate parents and their ridiculous personalities and lifestyles.


Plenty more;
Bastards of The Party
Sunset Hotel (I've had a hard time find this one lately)
Dark Days
King of Kong
Last edited by Radio Raheem on Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by christian from austin »

this movie is fuckin hilarious
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ackbar
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by ackbar »

oh ya. the hollywood complex. been meaning to watch that

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by drizzle »

Pretty much any Herzog doc is worthwhile, but the newer and ones are more accessible. The older you go, the more artsy and abstract they are.

Me and the gf been watching New York: A Documentary Film, which is basically an 18hr AP level history class about the city. Comes in easily digestible 2 hr installments. Really informative about all sorts of details, but it's more than just tons of trivia, it actually gives an ill historical perspective about how and why the city developed in ways that are still relevant today.
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peanut butter
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by peanut butter »

Shot in the dark here, and a terrible description, but I'm lookin for a doc about indian tribes in Alaska which apparently was heralded by critics. I dont know much about the title, other than I think it's a native word. Any help tracking it down would be appreciated.


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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Radio Raheem »

Maybe?
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/
Not exactly Alaska but it is critically lauded.

I forgot to mention Encounters at the Edge of World. A later Herzog documentary about people who move to the North Pole.

peanut butter
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by peanut butter »

Nah, it's def Alaska. Was brought up in the course of conversation I was having about Alaska this weekend, so I'm sure that's the case. Thanks for the suggestion tho, that shit looks cool


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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Blockhead »

I like Herzog a lot but I felt "Cave of forgotten dreams" was incredibly repetitive and fucking booooring. It looked cool (I saw it in 3d in the theater, which may be the most pointless 3d usage ever). I just feel it could have been an equally effective movie at about 30-45 minutes.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by AWAE »

Image

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Comedy Quaddafi »

Blockhead wrote:I like Herzog a lot but I felt "Cave of forgotten dreams" was incredibly repetitive and fucking booooring. It looked cool (I saw it in 3d in the theater, which may be the most pointless 3d usage ever). I just feel it could have been an equally effective movie at about 30-45 minutes.
The end scene with the crocs redeemed the film.

Forgot to add that I saw the Stones Throw documentary the other day. Liked it eventhough I'm just a fan of a select few of their records.
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zappy
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by zappy »

the smash brothers

it's a 9 part documentary about competitive smash brothers melee that's actually pretty good.

it's all on youtube, this is the first one


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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by darkwingduck »







couple stand outs.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by PopeyeJones »

^^^^ All three of those are fucking great.

Not mentioned yet and in a similar vein is Who the *$&% Is Jackson Pollock?

On the art theme, best doc I've seen recently is Tim's Vermeer.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by drizzle »

Who the fuck is Jackson Pollock makes for a great double feature with My Kid Could Paint That

I actually really dug the 3d in the Cave Of Forgotten Dreams, the 3d version of that horse wtih multiple legs to simulate movement was really cool. It helped to show the depth and shape of the cave too. It was slow though, no denying that, even by Herzog's standards.
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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Smooth Lou »

Narcocultura is one of the best movies I saw this year; a story of a guy who does crime scene investigation in Ciudad Juárez Mexico who sees the grizzly side of the drug war every day. They parallel that with the story of a complete wanksta, a guy who makes ballads for the narcos and sings onstage with a bazooka on his shoulder and his quest to be seen as legit in the Mexican music industry. There's a scene near the end where he gets to see the neighborhood where all his favorite narcos live that's straight out of the twilight zone and puts it over the top as one of the best docs out there.

Man on Wire, if you haven't seen it, brings me so much joy to watch I can't describe it. The way the doc is put together makes it great; with reenactments that fit the premise of a lighthearted nutjob who decides to cross the WTC towers on a wire. I laughed, I cried, I peed my pants.

June 17, 1994 (a 30 for 30 joint) is the best of the series. They don't have a single talking head interview; instead they just show footage of a very busy day in sports history, as Arnold Palmer plays his last game, The Knicks and the Rockets play in the NBA Finals and OJ's low speed Bronco chase glued us all to our TVs. The only conversation that we see is that of the commentators on various networks before live shots and during these pivotal moments. As a non-sports watcher, this movie had me hooked from go.

Another 30 for 30 was The Two Escobars, about drug kingpin Pablo and a defender on his soccer team, Andrés Escobar, who is no relation. The way their lives intersected during the high points of their lives makes for really riveting storytelling.

Queen of Versailles was one that Netflix recommended and I didn't want to watch but after a few friends told me more about it I decided to give it a watch. To see these wealthy assholes who had everything forced to slum it in a "small" mansion was actually pretty enjoyable.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Blockhead »

Anyone who has an extended cable package and who enjoy music docs should keep an eye out for "Soul power". It's been on showtime a lot lately. It's about the concert that got put on in africa before the "Rumble in jungle". Tons of awesome live performances.
Also, on some rap nerd shit "This is the good life" is a great doc about the whole project blowed camp.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Radio Raheem »





This one's incredible





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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by peanut butter »

WInnebago Man >>>>>>>>>>



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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by The Afronaut »

Blockhead wrote:Anyone who has an extended cable package and who enjoy music docs should keep an eye out for "Soul power". It's been on showtime a lot lately. It's about the concert that got put on in africa before the "Rumble in jungle". Tons of awesome live performances.
I bought this a couple years back and was a bit underwhelmed with it, perhaps its time to revisit.

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Re: Documentary thread?

Post by Tommy Bunz »

Lots of great suggestions in here already.

This is one of the funniest docs I've ever seen

Image

If you like behind the scenes stuff about films, Burden of Dreams is the best but also check out Hearts of Darkness (about the making of Apocalypse Now) and Lost in La Mancha (about Terry Gilliam and Johnny Depp's failed Don Quixote film).
Another fun one is Full Tilt Boogie, which is about the making of From Dusk Till Dawn

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