Way OT - Best documentaries to watch
It's about the formation of the National Parks. It was really interesting to discover all the challenges that were overcome to establish the National Parks system and some of the individual parks themselves.
I also loved even more his Jazz documentary miniseries. But I'm really into jazz, so that might not be for everybody.
The CNN cold war series
I teach IR and I make extensive use of the series.
Episode 20-"Soldiers of God" is an excellent look at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the mujahideen resistance there.
I also really liked "Good Guys, Bad Guys" in helping explain the Cold War in Africa and other nations of the developing world.
Music docs: off the top of my head and in no order
Don't Look Back (Dylan)
I am Trying to Break Your Heart (wilco)
Muscle Shoals
The Last Waltz
Tom Petty: Runnin Down a Dream (its long, but great)
Gimme Shelter
Westway to the World (Clash)
Searching for Sugarman
It Might Get Loud
Amy (winehouse)
The New Elvis 2 part doc on HBO is pretty good
Dig!
20 Feet from Stradom also good
Non music:
Really enjoyed Blue Planet 2 recently
Oh yeah, I saw that one. I wasnt crazy about it though, but could have been the mood I was in that night. I'll give it another shot.
Hands on a Hard Body
About a competition to win a pickup truck of all things. That probably doesn't sound like something you'd be interested it -- it certainly didn't sound interesting to me. But it's absolutely fantastic.
This is a real story? I assumed it was just an ongoing joke on the Comedy Bang Bang podcast.
http://comedybangbang.wikia.com/wiki/Hammer_Nissan_Holiday_Naughty_or_N…
My wife is a Musical Theater professor and they are going into production with this musical next fall. Bet ya didn't know they made a musical out of it!
Yeah--great doc. I've watched it a couple of times. Harvey Keitel's character in "Bad Lieutenant" is based on the main cop in that doc.
13th by Ava DuVernay was powerful - inequality in the US prison industry
Super Size Me by Morgan Spurlock - massive hit piece on McD's which led to them overhauling their menu
Samsara - it's more a visual documentary. I put it on when I'm hung over to get through the day
Grizzly Man and Exit Through the Gift Shop also good.
Super Size Me was memorable but also very disgusting as the guy basically turned himself into a giant, greasy, whiny french fry.
I was going to say the same thing. Look at him below - he looks miserable after a couple weeks of eating this garbage. I haven't eaten much fast food since watching this many many years ago.
+1 for your addition of 13th.
Nature Boy - ESPN 30 for 30...I don't know how Ric Flair is still alive
Keith Richards. We could all learn something from Keith.
Paterno is technically a biopic and not a documentary but still very good
I mentioned it in the other thread but I watched "the murder of Lacy Peterson" a week ago. 6 episodes I believe. I didnt remember anything about it. First episode hooked me because of the similarities to "Gone Girl".
If you have never seen Blackfish it is a must
This is Spinal Tap
All Or Nothing - A Season With The Michigan Wolverines
also
All Or Nothing - A Season With The Arizona Cardinals
Idiocracy
Forks Over Knifes - no I'm not vegan
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead is good too.
The Crash Reel
Going Clear
Exit Through the Gift Shop
We Steal Secrets
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Meru
Second with the Fog of War and also Ken Burn's doc on the Civil War. Truly amazing.
The Russian doping scandal was state sponsored and Icarus was very eye opening.
A little older doc but still fascinating is The Smartest Guys In The Room - about the Enron meltdown in 2001.
I will also give a thumbs up to The Smartest Guys in the Room.
I recently really enjoyed Meru. It's about a group of mountain climbers attempting to summit a difficult peak in the Himalayas, and was really well done.
One of my all-time favs since I got to see it at Sundance first is Searching for Sugar Man.
I think two others above me posted on it, too.
Will have to check the others out! Nice list everyone!
A Band Called Death
...reallly?
I spent 5 minutes making sure no one else mentioned.....
Good choice.
I saw that one. its was incredible how these guys were playing this music 3 years before the sex pistols.
January 20th, 2022 at 2:33 AM ^
Wow! I love this band, and had no idea there was a doc. Going to find this come hell or high water.
...one of the few ways you can explicitly see how the absence of one thing affected an organism as large as rock music.
As a teacher, I am grateful for ABC's "The Century" series. They made a set for classrooms that go chronologically with a lot of great interviews with both the major players, but also regular people. They are all on YouTube, I've seen them dozens of times and I always find something new in them. (You can safely skip the first and the last ones, they didn't really know what to do with pre-World War I and they weren't sure what to do with the 1990s at the time.)
But there's also a series of 12 of the videos (also all on YouTube) that they made for the History Channel. Those are largely thematic, but they do share many of the same interviews. The one I would recommend is "The Evolution of Revolution: Live from Tehran", which is 16 minutes longer than the usual set, which covers both the Iranian Revolution and the Hostage Crisis. I learned so much from this.
Small Wonders. Roberta Guaspari Tzsavaras and the East Harlem Violin Project. Later made into a more mainstream movie (Music of the Heart) starring Meryl Streep as Tzavaras and directed by Wes Craven (YTWC).