Documentaries

[uNicedmeMan]

So Baltimore got blasted with snow and I've spend a good bit of time inside watching movies, many of which were documentaries (I love me some docs). I figured I could start a thread and we can share.

Here are a few good ones (I didn't watch them all recently):
Current TV Vanguard Journalism: http://current.com/vanguard-journalism/

Most of these documentaries are pretty interesting, some of my favorites are "Fully Automatic America", "Oxycontin Express" (WOW), "Forrest of Ecstasy" but I haven't watched one I didn't like. I also really enjoy Infomania (another Current TV show kinda like the soup


American Movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181288/
Collapse: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1503769/
Yes Men: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1068680/

All of these documentaries are from the same director. American movie tells the story of Mark Borchardt a inspiring low budget film maker from Wisconsin. Somewhat depressing, somewhat inspiring, totally hilarious. Collapse is a conspiracy theory type movie much like Zeitgeist, take it or leave it but Mike Ruppert is interesting to say the least. Yes men is probably my favorite of the bunch and it follows the "Yes Men" in their quest to bring down the WTO. A hilarious must see.


Monster Camp: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970948/

A look into LARP (Live Action Role Playing), 'nuff said. I actually wouldn't mind being a monster in something like this.


The King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/

Story of top ranked Donkey Kong players battling it out for supremacy.


Surfwise: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479547/

The inspiring and tumultuous story of 85-year old surfer, health advocate and sex guru, Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, his wife Juliette, and their nine children who were all home-schooled and raised in a small camper on the beach, where they surfed and had to adhere to the strict diet and lifestyle of animals in the wild (Taken from IMDB, I didn't feel like writing anymore)


There is more but I'm going to stop here for the sake of laziness. Please contribute any documentaries you have enjoyed watching.

[uNicedmeMan]

O and for discgolf, I thought Snap was pretty good. I wish there were more disc golf films like Snap.

[homebrew]

Beer Wars is cool.
http://beerwarsmovie.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326194/

Director Anat Baron takes you on a no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry that ultimately reveals the truth behind the label of your favorite beer. Told from an insider’s perspective, the film goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominate one of America’s favorite industries.

[uNicedmeMan]

Beer Wars is cool.
http://beerwarsmovie.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326194/

Director Anat Baron takes you on a no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry that ultimately reveals the truth behind the label of your favorite beer. Told from an insider’s perspective, the film goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominate one of America’s favorite industries.

Sounds good. I'll check it out!

[Jerrod]

The Secret Life of Chaos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEpZFEID ... 84&index=0

The Vice Guide to Liberia

http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide- ... ria-1-of-8

[A.Mutt]

In The Realms of the Unreal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSzzirIP0No

Its about Henry Darger, arguably the best self-taught artist of the modern era.
The content can be disturbing at times, but this man's work in whole is truly fascinating.
If you didn't watch the trailer I linked, its basically this;
Henry Darger was a simple reclusive man, and when he died they found an overwhelming
amount of art and writings in his apartment. We know very little about him outside of his
15,000 page novel and staggering amount of drawings. If you have any interest in art,
this documentary is highly recommended. Even if you don't, I imagine you'd still find it
an interesting view.

[some call me...tim?]

One of my favorite all time documentaries is "Long Way Round" with Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. It's actually a TV series where the two guys get on motorcycles and travel from London to New York, the long way around the world...just the 2 of them and one other guy who's the cameraman. It's a great story of stepping out into the unknown, triumph of the will, and seeing parts of the world most of never knew about. It really makes you want to grab your best friend and head out on a road trip. Incidentally, the follow up "Long Way Down" (traveling from Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa) is crap...they're always with the production crew, complete with a douchebag American that makes us all look bad, and are later joined by Ewan's wife, who serves to make seemingly happy marriages look bad.

In a totally different vein, "Trouble the Water" is one I saw in the theater, but it came out on DVD not long ago. Basically, it's the story of Katrina victims, told first hand. A couple are in New Orleans as the hurricane hits, and film their struggle, both while it's happening and trying to get on their feet again in the aftermath. Some pretty interesting things in there that I never heard about when it was going on...like prisoners in jail pretty much being abandoned and eating toothpaste and toilet paper because they didn't have anything else.

[Flipflat]

My favorite documentary is Startup.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ27rbJH ... PL&index=4

Takes place in the 90's right before the internet biz crash. Two friends start up a .com, and go through alot of stuff. I suck at writing reviews so I'll just say it's really really good.

[Jsw]

I love documentaries. My parents have some basic DISH network package which totally blows but the one saving grace is The Documentary Channel.

I can't remember some of my favorites off the top of my head because I'm falling asleep but I can't wait to check into those links G-man.

[homebrew]

Beer Wars is cool.
http://beerwarsmovie.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326194/

Director Anat Baron takes you on a no holds barred exploration of the U.S. beer industry that ultimately reveals the truth behind the label of your favorite beer. Told from an insider’s perspective, the film goes behind the scenes of the daily battles and all out wars that dominate one of America’s favorite industries.

Sounds good. I'll check it out!

I have a dvd of it if you can't find it. Let me know.

[jsun3thousand]

Beer wars is on netflix's watch instantly feature.

[BLURR]

A little more main stream...but the Planet Earth series documentary on Blue-Ray is the shizzle. My son is hooked on the Disneynature movie Earth. Other documentaries that I have seen recently that I thought were interesting are NG: Human Footprint, D-Day: The Total Story and Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple.

[Man_Utenbart]

American Movie is really good, watched it some years ago. Thanks for reminding me of it, I have to check out the other two documentaries too

[Danforth]

I don't know if the qualify as documentaries, but I LOVE Penn & Teller's BULLSHIT!

They expose so many common myths that it's almost scary. Oh, and there's also naked chicks too!!

[thedudeabides]

[quote="Jerrod"]The Vice Guide to Liberia

http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide- ... ria-1-of-8
The Secret Life of Chaos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEpZFEID ... 84&index=0

vice has some great stuff on there. The one about North Korea and Liberia were crazy. Just started watching the one about the giant plastic trash island floating in the pacific, pretty disheartening.