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Best documentaries you've seen lately?

Spaceman Spiff

By Spaceman Spiff,
in The Tailgate

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G.A.C.O.L.B.

G.A.C.O.L.B.

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1955 French documentary about the Holocaust called "Night and Fog"

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night_and_Fog_%281955_film%29

From what I understand it was the first documentary that really exposed the TRUE horrors of the Holocaust. It killed any talk, at the time, of the Holocaust being exaggerated. The subtitles come quick so be ready for them. For something 60 years old and a topic that's been explored in depth and ad nauseum, it is seriously still one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. Plus it's short, only 30 minutes.

I'd post a link but I gotta get ready for work, start a new job today (yaay!) but links are easy to find. Just Google it. Can't recommend it enough.

I got more I'll post later. That's the one that's always stuck with me above all though. I don't want give any spoilers but there's one scene, I've seen no where else, that makes you shudder, gasp and takes your breath away. It's like the entire horror of the Holocaust in one scene. I'll just say it involves human teeth and hair.

The film really should be required viewing in school.

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Renegade7

Renegade7

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Not sure they really qualify but I enjoy almost all of the PBS Frintline series even the ones I think I won't

Also just watched the new Bob Marley documentary pretty outstanding

 

Highly recomend the 1st and 2nd part they did on the Prism program. The second part made me sad how there has been such an uproar of the government spying on us while the private sector is going level 11 with it without so much as a whimper from us.

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TheGreatBuzz

TheGreatBuzz

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Terms and Conditions May Apply was pretty good.  It's about all the things you accept when signing up for websites, etc.  The quality could have been better but it was a pretty good look into the actual subject.  To bad nothing will ever be done to fix the problem.

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ffxdrummer

ffxdrummer

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I really liked Sound City, too.  

I got to watch Sound City on a flight, it was really good.  Another great music documentary on Netflix is A Band Called Death.  Very very cool doc about 3 brothers in Motown Detroit that formed what was basically a punk band before many people really knew what punk was.

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DM72

DM72

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I'm not sure if it's technically a documentary, but I'm enjoying The World Wars on History this week. 

 

History Channel has hit another one out of the park with World Wars. better than anything you'll see at the movies. Seriously, this should be shown in history classes.

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Old Bay

Old Bay

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The series Battlefield Britain is very good.  Covers a handful of various battles in Britain's history.

 

Eighty Acres of Hell is about Camp Douglas which was a POW camp in the Civil War.

 

Warrior Graveyard is another one.  They've found grave sites of people who have died in battle and put together a story on how they died.  Most everything is put together with historical evidence already presented also, so it's a really fascinating (and a bit gruesome) documentary. 

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LadySkinsFan

LadySkinsFan

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All About Ann:  Governor Richards of the Lone Star State

 

It's the best!  It starts with Ann's Keynote Speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention, and then goes back to her birth up through her death.  What a woman!  I got chills when her inaugural speech as Governor of Texas was shown.  Too bad we don't have more politicians like her.

 

Also, here are some links, first the HBO doc link than the YouTube link of her 1988 speech.

 

http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/all-about-ann-governor-richards-of-the-lone-star-state#/

 

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BurgundyMalaise

BurgundyMalaise

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I watched West of Memphis not too long ago and that thing sucked me in. It was very well done and quite evocative. I'm not sure how much stake to put in documentaries because usually the filmmaker has a passionate bias towards a certain perspective but it was more than a solid watch. It's like 2.5 hours but it feels so much shorter, it's fascinating. 

 

Also recommend: 

 

American Movie (about a somewhat bumbling amateur filmmaker trying to make his movie, GOLDEN)

 

Billy The Kid (interesting socially awkward teen)

 

King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (grown men trying to break the Donkey Kong World Record)

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RVAbrendan

RVAbrendan

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History Channel has hit another one out of the park with World Wars. better than anything you'll see at the movies. Seriously, this should be shown in history classes.

 

QFT - just watched this series. Incredible. It does a great job of dissecting the two world war conflicts. Great cinematography and storytelling. A must watch, especially considering today being the 70th anniversary of D-DAY.

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  • 3 months later...
LeesburgSkinFan

LeesburgSkinFan

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ESPN has announced a new season of 30 for 30 documentaries:

 

 

"Playing for the Mob" - Covers the scandal of Boston College basketball players rigging games for the mafia in the late 1970s. The real Henry Hill of "Goodfellas" fame helped to orchestrate the conspiracy. Ray Liotta narrates.

 

 

"The Day The Series Stopped" - Covers the 1989 World Series earthquake.

 

 

"When The Garden Was Eden" - Covers the mystique of the Knicks at Madison Square Garden from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Some great and good teams and 19,000 sellouts when a lot of NBA teams were regularly drawing announced crowds of well under 10,000.

 

 

"Brian and The Boz" - A profile of Brian Bosworth's college stardom, NFL failure, and life beyond those eras.

 

 

"Brothers in Exile" - How Livan and Orlando Hernandez made it from Cuba to MLB stardom.

 

 

"Rand University" - A profile of Randy Moss.

 

 

"The U Part 2" Following Miami football in the Butch Davis era.

 

 

Also, there will be a 30 for 30 Short called "The Great Trade Robbery". It will take a look at the trade that sent Herschel Walker to the Vikings in exchange for a ton of draft picks that went to the Cowboys, including the one used to take Emmitt Smith.

 

 

There was talk a while ago about a 30 for 30 about the Von Erich wrestling family, but that hasn't surfaced and may not be happening. 

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steve09ru

steve09ru

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Linsanity was pretty good.  Also, Don Johnson - the guy who broke Atlantic City.

 

I recorded the Manhunt: The Search For Osama Bin Laden but haven't gotten a chance to watch it yet.


Just finished Terms and Conditions May Apply. I give it a thumbs up. Thought provoking doc about privacy in modern times.

 

That's another one I forgot to mention above - that was really good.  I think people believe that companies holding all of this information is just for their own good but there are so many things that factor in when it comes to customer data.  It benefits the company, as well as the user from the standpoint of customer experience and access to the most relevant information.  Without much of this data, companies would not be able to provide what they do and technology would not be close to where it is.

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  • 5 months later...
DC9

DC9

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I watched West of Memphis not too long ago and that thing sucked me in. It was very well done and quite evocative. I'm not sure how much stake to put in documentaries because usually the filmmaker has a passionate bias towards a certain perspective but it was more than a solid watch. It's like 2.5 hours but it feels so much shorter, it's fascinating. 

 

 

Have not seen this one yet - but I watched "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and I was sucked in as well.  So then I watched the other two paradise losts and I couldn't understand how something like that could happen in America.  So, like any good legal professional, I pulled down the court transcripts and evidence and read it myself.  Not sure it's enough to convict beyond a reasonable doubt - but it's definitely enough (for me) to show that they did it.

 

So yeah, if I wanted to make a documentary going the other way, I could very easily.  But all three of the above were excellent if you haven't seen them.

 

I've got "West of Memphis" set to DVR on Wednesday - so I'll see it then.

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DaGoonie55

DaGoonie55

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ESPN has announced a new season of 30 for 30 documentaries:

 

 

"Brian and The Boz" - A profile of Brian Bosworth's college stardom, NFL failure, and life beyond those eras.

 

 

"Rand University" - A profile of Randy Moss.

 

 

There was talk a while ago about a 30 for 30 about the Von Erich wrestling family, but that hasn't surfaced and may not be happening. 

 

The Boz I have DVR'd, just need to watch.

 

Rand University - brings tears to my eyes.  Randy grew up less than an hour from me in WV.  He was our hero.  Would have been the greatest receiver in NFL history - but he didn't put in the effort.  Great documentary.

 

The Von Erich one was pretty good too.  I had no idea about them.  I didn't get into wrestling until it was neon sting / stunning steve Austin.  Great story.  Sad story.

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