Favorite Documentary?

[MrTorso]

I have been getting more into non-fiction fare. I just watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated today. Very interesting film on the MPAA and its process for rating films. Some of my other favorites have been anything from Errol Morris (Thin Blue Line, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, Mr. Death). Paradise Lost and Grizzly Man are good too. Anyone have any docs to recommend?

[mrbasehart]

I haven't seen This Film in Yet Rated, but I'm looking forward to it.  Good call on Errol Morris; The Fog of War and Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control were brilliant.  I've been eyeing the Maysles brothers' Criterion DVDs lately, but they're kinda expensive, so I might wait until I've sold enough of my other DVDs.   

I like that there's been a resurgence in Documentaries lately, probably due to Michael Moore's financial success with his two previous efforts (though I still think his best film is Rooger & Me).  Capturing the Friedmans, Lost in La Mancha, and The Kid Stays in the Picture are other really good efforts I've seen in the recent past, too.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

admittedly i havent watched a lot of documentaries but i really really liked supersize me. 

[MrTorso]

I am pretty turned off on Michael Moore these days. In Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling For Columbine he used edits to spin things to his way which makes him just as bad as the subjects of his docs. I wanna see Capturing the Friedmans.  A few other good ones, Trekkies 1 and 2, American Hardcore and Inside Deep Throat.

[davo]

ya...trekkies was great.

Scratch -it's about the origins & evolution of the B-boy,DJ,and MC.  very interesting..but i'm a music geek.

[mrbasehart]

I am pretty turned off on Michael Moore these days. In Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling For Columbine he used edits to spin things to his way which makes him just as bad as the subjects of his docs. I wanna see Capturing the Friedmans.  A few other good ones, Trekkies 1 and 2, American Hardcore and Inside Deep Throat.

I thought Inside Deep Throat was pretty good, though it's really hard to distinguish the truth in stories some of the people tell.  You mentioned Grizzly Man in your first post, and I loved it, too.  One reviewer drew a parallel of the film with March of the Penguins (which I actually haven't seen) as the polar opposites in their depictions of nature.  Penguins (apparently) frequently anthromorphises its subjects, endowing them with human qualities while Grizzly Man looks at nature (particularly the bears) as cold and ruthless.  

[BBQ Platypus]

Um...does This is Spinal Tap count?

[MrTorso]

ya...trekkies was great.

Scratch -it's about the origins & evolution of the B-boy,DJ,and MC.  very interesting..but i'm a music geek.

I have heard good things about Scratch but have yet to see it. Some of my favorite music docs have been The Decline of Western Civilization, Ramones: The End of the Century, and as mentioned a couple of posts ago, American Hardcore.

[Variety of Cells]

Who Killed the Electric Car? is the most surprising documentary I've seen.  Mainly because I never knew there was such a thing as an electric car.  And it worked great, with no emissions.  It was fast, it was quiet, and it's a lot cheaper than paying for gas.  The only down side is that it couldn't go quite as far on one charge as you can on one tank of gas.  In my opinion, they also looked cool.  But it was completely taken off the market.  Hydrogen is still decades away, but the technology for electric cars more than just exists, it has existed.
Mild SpoilerAnd when they recalled them, they destroyed them all.  Took them to dumps and crushed them, even though they worked great.

Lost in La Mancha is another one of my favorites, along with Man With A Movie Camera, which I do consider a documentary, though others call it experimental.

[mrbasehart]

Lost in La Mancha is another one of my favorites, along with Man With A Movie Camera, which I do consider a documentary, though others call it experimental.

Man with a Movie Camera is still impressive now.  The shot of the cameraman climbing the huge smokestack to get a shot is incredible.  The version I watched had all sorts of different soundtracks accompanying it, but I think I picked the classical one.  It was like dreaming.  Very strange.

[BathTub]

Seen the Thin Blue Line and Mr Death, they were good. Lost in La Mancha was interesting to see a production implode. But my favourite of the ones mentioned so far would be Scratch, I really enjoyed that. I didn't join the film society last year so haven't seen many lately. 

Did enjoy that Chaplin one, with the rare outtakes and stuff, The Unknown Chaplin?

[pyro]

Admitantly I haven't seen many that aren't my dad's...

I saw one on Ron English at a film festival in New Mexico though that I thought was fun, was actually what turned me onto him...  Only was there to see a short on Matisyahu, so this was cool.


Also of course the Christopher Guest mockumentaries and etc.... but Les Claypool's attempt at making one sucked

[davo]

Who Killed the Electric Car? is the most surprising documentary I've seen.  Mainly because I never knew there was such a thing as an electric car.  And it worked great, with no emissions.  It was fast, it was quiet, and it's a lot cheaper than paying for gas.  The only down side is that it couldn't go quite as far on one charge as you can on one tank of gas......

i don't want to start another huge debate,but i don't like most of these documentaries because many have such an extreme POV that they are hopelessly biased (read as "anything michael moore has done..or an inconvenient truth"). 
my guess is they made it sound like a big conspiracy to keep the technology out of the hands of the people, when the truth is electric cars are EXPENSIVE and INCONVENIENT. 
  the market has to have the demand for a product in order for it to be successful. The new hybrids are popular enough & save enough gas that people are willing to buy them for a lot more money.  They are also convenient: you don't have to stop at rest stop 272 on I-94 to charge your car for 4 hours..you just keep going.

my $ .000002

ya...trekkies was great.

Scratch -it's about the origins & evolution of the B-boy,DJ,and MC.  very interesting..but i'm a music geek.

I have heard good things about Scratch but have yet to see it. Some of my favorite music docs have been The Decline of Western Civilization, Ramones: The End of the Century, and as mentioned a couple of posts ago, American Hardcore.

if you like scratch, see "the freshest kids". about b-boys.

yeah, both of those were really good. along those lines, have you seen "another state of mind"? you'd love it!

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

the market has to have the demand for a product in order for it to be successful. The new hybrids are popular enough & save enough gas that people are willing to buy them for a lot more money.  They are also convenient: you don't have to stop at rest stop 272 on I-94 to charge your car for 4 hours..you just keep going

True enough but i still gots to wonder about the value of ethenol. 

[the long undertow]

The Fog of War is my favorite.  Why We Fight is also really good.