Favorite Documentaries

[G-DDT]

This got me going after one sees so many threads about favorite movies, T.V. shows, etc. Yet, I know folks on these forums are bright [[compared to most comment sections on websites and the like) and take an interest in educational things [[despite what some Emergency Managers may think of us). So, Class [[and I use the term loosely), your assignment for this winter semester is to come up with no more than ten of your favorite documentaries.

What is classified a documentary?: It can be a series, a short, something about war, or sports, or a local [[blues?) musician, scene, event, something scientific, etc. that you saw at the theaters, online, or Television [[or "T.V" as some of those Ha!-"plebes" call it). Heck! it can be a half hour bit on TLC, Animal Planet, or the History [[snicker) Channel as long as it isn't about pawn shops, racist backwoods hunters, or something picking on the Amish. As long as you were learning something in it's straight delivery and it wasn't some movie based on a true story, you got yourself a documentary. I'm quite sure if one stops and stretches their thinksprings for a moment they'll say "Oh yeah, I guess that is a documentary I liked".

I'm also sure many of the folks here can come up with a lot more Michigan/Detroit-oriented items than what I produced.

Yet, of course, I'll start off:

1. Most anything Errol Morris has done.
2. The Cosmos series by Dr. Carl Sagan [[the old stuff with the music by Tomita in it).
3. Roger and Me by Michael Moore
4. Bowling for Columbine ibid.-that is, up until Moore falls into his bad habits and starts harassing an aged Dick Clark and Charlton Heston.
5. An amazing 8-part series for us stuffed shirt grammar/linguist types called "The Adventure of English" [[2003) narrated by Melvyn Bragg-a truly great breakdown on the origins of the English words we use today drawing from many examples and tastefully well done.
6. Not too long ago there was a decent channel called Current [[home to Rotten Tomatoes and Infomania) that ran funny shorts on interesting folks [[like the Tron guy). My Favorites was about Ellis G., and-whoa! Hey! look what's in my pocket here-https://vimeo.com/79004408.
7. The Buena Vista Social Club [[1999) by Wim Wenders
8. Manufacturing Consent [[1992)
9. Gather around kiddies. Let me tell you about a time when channels like IFC and Sundance meant a dink and had good programming. IFC in particular used to spotlight hour and half/2 hour specials on independent shorts, marathon blocks [[like "Cronenberg for Christmas"-eww or "the Peter Greenaway Show"), and great shows like "Fishing with John". Back around October of 2000, they were showing nothing but horror flicks [[hosted by Tom Savini) and it all centered around this great documentary by Adam Simon called "The American Nightmare" which had guys like Romero, Carpenter, Craven, Savini, and Cronenberg explaining what the horrific times were that they lived in to inspire them to produce the terror epics they did. You can check it out here, but it's the kind of thing you want to see on a big screen with huge sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5v03a_zCSM. Be advised, it is not for the faint or impressionable of heart!
10. There was one short, odd bit from World Link [[yeah, I'm one of those guys) I personally liked that took one on an odd associative jaunt from one number system to another covering consumer habits to feeding pigs, to trash picking, to mass consumption, and it even made a sly reference to the Goiania village radiation disaster. Can't seem to track that down, and I only recorded a small portion of it.

[MizMotown]

A few that I have seen throughout the years. Some better then others...

-Blackfish [[about the deaths at Seaworld regarding a killer whale named Tilikum)

-talhotblond

-Bowling for Columbine

-Mayor of the Sunset Strip [[awesome doc about Rodney Bingenheimer who reigned over the LA music scene for for over 20 years but never cashed in.)

-Faces of Death

-March of the Penguins

-Food, Inc.

-Super Size Me

-Searching for Sugarman

-Capitalism - A Love Story

[Zacha341]

Wow! I really liked Blackfish too! Also on my list top of mind [[I'll add others later):

- Manufacturing Consent
- Life After People
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
- Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy
- Wal-Mart: The High Cost of a Low Price
- Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
- Jazz [[Yes, I know it has some problems, crucial omissions, etc. but is a good primer to understand a about Jazz)
- Super Size Me
- Man on Wire
- Tesla: Master of Lightening
... Several of the Frontline series docs........

[Ray1936]

Any documentary by Ken Burns.

[oladub]

Cool and Crazy
A Norwegian mens choir from a village north of the Arctic Circle winds up putting on a concert in Murmansk. I watched this on a Netflix video. There aren't even any trailers in English but it's good.

"'Cool & Crazy'' is consistently offbeat and entertaining; at such moments, it is also quite moving." - York Times review
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/mo...ool-crazy.html

[Zacha341]

Ditto on that. He even made the one on baseball somewhat interesting to me [[the total non sports person)......

Any documentary by Ken Burns.

[gnome]

Robocop...

[Zacha341]

^^^ Robocop. Hah! Not to be outdone by that other 'docu' gem: Death WISH [[1,2, or 3, etc)......

[Zacha341]

Almost forgot:

Koyaanisqatsi

[G-DDT]

Almost forgot:

Koyaanisqatsi

Awesome! Great way to implode the heads of anyone under the influence. Starts off with desserts and test missiles, and two-thirds of the way through you're like "Okay, it just keeps getting more intense-mass, Mass, MASS, MASS! MASS!!"

[Zacha341]

Another grand doc: 20 Feet From Stardom

Sampling of Mary Clayton background holding forth: "Gimme Shelter"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChONufP0FEs

[Django]

Zacha, loved the Stones clip w Mary Clayton. If you love Gimme Shelter like I think you do check this out. It really gets hott at 4:10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yGFuX2KDQs

I also down with Hearts of Darkness.

[old guy]

Another grand doc: 20 Feet From Stardom

Sampling of Mary Clayton background holding forth: "Gimme Shelter"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChONufP0FEs

20 feet from stardom is a great documentary.

[JBMcB]

The Rock-A-Fire Explosion [[about enthusiasts of the Showbiz Pizza's animatronic show)

The Queen of Versailles

Paradise Lost

The Iceman Tapes

[Django]

JBMcB I cant find anything on Paradise Lost except a movie involving Pablo Escobar. Do you have a link? That name sounds familiar.

[Zacha341]

I think I found it Django:

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117293/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradis...bin_Hood_Hills

[JBMcB]

JBMcB I cant find anything on Paradise Lost except a movie involving Pablo Escobar. Do you have a link? That name sounds familiar.

Sorry - yeah it seems like it's a popular title Zacha found it.

[Zacha341]

Just finished watching

Reel Injun

Excellent!

[RaumVogel]

Any documentary by Ken Burns.

This

All docs on WW][

Reel Injun .....looks good!

[Zacha341]

30 for 30: Muhummad and Larry

Excellent documentary. Incredible that boxing at this time would allow so many rounds to the point of severe injury.

[ronaldj]

Thirty Two short Films about Glenn Gould a non-narrative,non-linear impresionistic study of the pianist. Written by Francois Ricard and Don McKellar. Released 1993. Gould also did a number of documentaries in his career, one of them focusing on Toronto.

[WKL]

Standing in the Shadow of Motown

[old guy]

Food Inc.........

[G-DDT]

Looking back, I wish I could retract the indefiniteness of #10 and replace it with one I saw on HBO about Congenital Analgesia; it is a rare disability, where a person feels no pain.

Long ago, I used to ponder about disabilities [[sometimes wondering how far to take the Helen Keller matter-I mean, how would someone with none of the "known" 5 senses exist in this world? No input in to start a signal, right?-or are there other senses we know nothing of, that can't not be subjectively expressed in objectively nailed-down terms? Yada yada yada...). Listening to Mark Sandman's band sing about "Cure for Pain" always seemed appealing, but a certain Burrough's essay I once read may've had the sarcasm [[if not, uh-oh) into the sinisterness and homogenic political take-over of a chemical that deadens all people to pain just left me a tad unsettled.

Watching an HBO documenatry "A Life Without Pain" confirmed some things. Pain is a necessary aspect of life. It sets realistic boundaries, is essential to our morale development [[especially to sympathy), but moreover, it keeps us challenged to grow and develop into better people. Granted, we should always know which way is up-thus, remember how unpleasant pain truly is [[why suffering for the right things is essential, versus suffering needlessly-likes say, for confused aspects of masochism), and there are far too many folks feeling more than their share [[if not constantly) of it.

Yet, watching this documentary showed me just how underdeveloped one can get from lack of pain. To me, it just seems like the worst disability regarding mental development [[aside, of course, from the obvious hazards-like your body unable to warn you of damage and illness taking prominence in your day to day life). The only thing a person in that situation has to fear is boredom. Speaking of, I have more I could say on the matter of the condition [[and the area of psycho physics), but I'm just not as composed to address it now, like I would be in times past.

[Pam]

Here's one I haven't seen yet but it looks good. I've had a cd of some of this music for years. This film appears to be on the festival circuit right now.

https://youtu.be/Ipq4FefX5Ps