Review Your Fave/Recent Documentaries

[Perennial]

Ken Burns' Baseball 9/10

It's the definitive history of America's National Pastime. It was still free on Amazon the last time I checked.

If Baseball isn't a 10/10, what is?

It's a goddamn masterpiece!

 

[Perennial]

The King Of Kong: A Fistful Of Quarters

About the battle to hold the world record score on Donkey Kong...

 

[Devilmademedoit]

Be Natural the story of Alice Gay-Blanche--the first woman Director and producer 9/10. IF you like the history of films. it is a much watch,

 

[Babe Ruth]

Secrets (Jonah and the Whale episode).

Secrets is a Smithsonian series, that basically investigates history's mysteries. In this one, they explain how extremists blew up a shrine to Jonah (in Iraq), which ended up revealing a long buried palace. The palace contained artifacts/text that confirmed a lot of details from the Old Testament book of Jonah (but not the whale part ). More of an archaeological summation, than religious. On Hulu..

 

[Babe Ruth]

Survival of the Snow Leopard (2020)

Typical nature documentary, following a female snow leopard thru remote mountains of Tibet. Filmed over a couple years, featuring some great scenery & camera work..
Watched it on Hulu..

 

[angusyoung]

Disturbing but much needed awareness.

Stroop: Journey into the Rhino Horn War (2018) - IMDb

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Once you get past the Liam Gallagher bit at the beginning, I really like this one.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Nightstalker (Netflix Original)- 10/10
Creepy as f***, and gives great insight on the mindset of the detectives throughout the hunt.

 

[chicagoskycam]

My all time fav still has to be the Jinx on HBO

Three Identical Strangers is a close 2nd on Hulu
Tiger Woods on HBO is very good
Free Solo on disney+
The Imposter - might still be on Netflix
Nightstalker on Netflix is very good
Ted Bundy Tapes on Netflix is very good
The Last Dance
If you have ESPN+ nearly all the 30for30's are worth watching if you like the topic

 

[kook10]

Nightstalker (Netflix Original)- 10/10
Creepy as f***, and gives great insight on the mindset of the detectives throughout the hunt.

I was a kid in LA when he was on the loose and literally everyone was scared. I started watching this with my wife the other night, but turned it off because it was too creepy.

 

[Dubi Doo]

My all time fav still has to be the Jinx on HBO

Three Identical Strangers is a close 2nd on Hulu
Tiger Woods on HBO is very good
Free Solo on disney+
The Imposter - might still be on Netflix
Nightstalker on Netflix is very good
Ted Bundy Tapes on Netflix is very good
The Last Dance
If you have ESPN+ nearly all the 30for30's are worth watching if you like the topic

Oh man, the ending of Jinx when he's mic'd up in the bathroom is incredible. It gives a rare glimpse into a psycho's mindset when they're all alone being exactly who they are. One of the rawest moments I've ever seen in a documentary..

I was a kid in LA when he was on the loose and literally everyone was scared. I started watching this with my wife the other night, but turned it off because it was too creepy.

I never get creeped out by serial killer documentaries, but this one made me uncomfortable. Really well done and, as I said, I really enjoyed the perspective of the detectives.

 

[kook10]

I never get creeped out by serial killer documentaries, but this one made me uncomfortable. Really well done and, as I said, I really enjoyed the perspective of the detectives.

I don't either, but it just wasn't the sort of show that's good to sit down and watch together.

 

[Brodeur]

Always enjoyed "Smartest Guys in the Room" about the Enron collapse in 2001.

 

[Stylizer1]

"Manufacturing Consent" is more important now than ever.

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Missing Evidence (2014 series)

A good, short lived documentary series I've been watching on Hulu. It reminds me a lot of the old In Search of.. series.
Good episodes on the Loch Ness Monster & Jack the Ripper, where they seek to close the respective cases..
I think it originally aired on Smithsonian.

 

[Habsfunk]

Free Solo on disney+

You should check out Dawn Wall, which is another feature-length climbing documentary. Dawn Wall tells the story of Tommy Caldwell and his attempt to climb the hardest big wall route in the world. Tommy's got a fascinating life story, and the filmmakers do an amazing job capturing the difficulty of the climb and how it took six years of planning and preparation to pull off.

 

[chicagoskycam]

You should check out Dawn Wall, which is another feature-length climbing documentary. Dawn Wall tells the story of Tommy Caldwell and his attempt to climb the hardest big wall route in the world. Tommy's got a fascinating life story, and the filmmakers do an amazing job capturing the difficulty of the climb and how it took six years of planning and preparation to pull off.

I’ve watched it, actually saw it before Free Solo. Really good too but didn’t give me the anxiety Free Solo did

 

[Babe Ruth]

Battle of Okinawa in Color

Title basically says it all.. watched it on the Smithsonian Channel. I knew the basics of the battle.. but damn, this was no f*cking joke. The intensity of the closing months of WW2 in the Pacific..

 

[Babe Ruth]

Last Days Here (2011)

Documentary follows the rise and fall of Pentagram's lead singer. An early metal band that was sabotaged by their lead singer over the years.. but with a good support system, lead singer battles his addictions & personal demons for basically a 4th quarter comeback. Pretty raw depiction of addiction, but ultimately an optimistic story. Good watch, currently on Hulu.

 

[Stylizer1]

Can't Get You Out of My Head (2021)


Can’t Get You Out of My Head tells the story of how we got to the strange days we are now experiencing. And why both those in power - and we - find it so difficult to move on. The films trace different forces across the world that have led to now, not just in the West, but in China and Russia as well. It covers a wide range - including the strange roots of modern conspiracy theories, the history of China, opium and opiods, the history of Artificial Intelligence, melancholy over the loss of empire and, love and power. And explores whether modern culture, despite its radicalism, is really just part of the new system of power. And the films are told in a different way - they are an emotional history of what went on inside the heads of all kinds of people. Because in the age of the individual - what you felt and what you wanted and what you dreamed of were going to become the driving force across the world. What was forgotten in that age was that much of what we feel is also formed by the society around us. Above all by the power structures. And now those structures are decaying - everywhere - their weakness and uncertainty makes us feel empty and frightened of the future. That is what is paralysing us - and blocking us from imagining different kinds of societies and a better future Can’t Get You Out of My Head is an epic history that shows how and why that happened. How we made this particular world. And that it was not inevitable. Can’t Get You Out of My Head: An Emotional History of the Modern World | BBC


Adam Curtis Explains It All

 

[MadDevil]

I watched Val, the Val Kilmer doc on Amazon, and I have to admit I didn't realize he was in the condition he's in now after having throat cancer. Overall I thought it was pretty good. It was nice seeing some behind the scenes footage from some of his roles over the years.

 

[Hippasus]

Last Days Here (2011)

Documentary follows the rise and fall of Pentagram's lead singer. An early metal band that was sabotaged by their lead singer over the years.. but with a good support system, lead singer battles his addictions & personal demons for basically a 4th quarter comeback. Pretty raw depiction of addiction, but ultimately an optimistic story. Good watch, currently on Hulu.

Spoiler

It's more like a fall and rise based on the narrative of the documentary.

On the other hand, I think their best work is the 1985 release Relentless (aka Pentagram), which would be mid-era.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Operation Desert Storm was only a day old when Tornado pilots John Peters and John Nichol were shot down in Iraqi territory and subsequently tortured and paraded on TV. Bruised and battered, the two men mumbled incoherently into the camera, and instantly became symbols around the world of Saddam’s savagery and aggression. In Tornado Down the two pilots break their silence, and in a series of moving and candid interviews, reveal the physical and psychological torment they suffered at the hands of their captors; the brutal torture sessions; the elation of their release; and their determination not to crack in the face of such cruelty and humiliation.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Jefferson's Secret Bible (2012)

Documentary about the restoration of Thomas Jefferson's personal, edited Gospels. Jefferson removed the teachings of Jesus, from Jesus' miracles, and personal life. What's left is strictly the teachings of Jesus. The book was in rough shape, so they showed some of the meticulous restoration process, along with an analysis of Jefferson's editorial philosophy.
Not bad, currently on Hulu..

 

[Babe Ruth]

The Siege of Masada. (2015)

First century Jews retreat to a mountaintop fortress, and are in a standoff with Roman occupiers. Both an archaeological and philosophic review of what happened to the people inside the ultimately overrun fortress. Interesting, and heavy (to be honest). Originally a Smithsonian channel doc, now on Hulu.