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Post some documentary recommendations! I've watched two documentaries in the past year and I've quite liked both of them. Post a little one or two sentence blurb about the doc as well.

Gasland: My favourite of the two. It's about natural gas drilling on US soil and its impact on the environment and communities.
Countdown to Zero: And interesting movie with some neat interviews about nuclear proliferation in history and in the current day.

I think that the only documentary I've ever really seen is Super Size Me, which is sad because there a ton of good documentaries out there (not that SSM is bad or anything). I do have both The King Of Kong and The Cove awaiting me on netflix because they're supposed to both be fantastic.

Edit: Oh, for the three of you who havent seen Super Size Me, it's about a guy who only eats McDonalds for thirty days to see what happens. The king of kong and the cove are about the video game donkey kong and dolphin hunting in japan (I think?), respectively.

Oh, jeez, I watch documentaries all the time.

Some I've watched recently that I'd recommend:

• Deliver Us From Evil
• The Yes Men Fix The World
• BBC Documentary on Stupidity

I watched Capturing the Friedmans with my uncle once.

I watch quite a few. Let me strongly recommend Grizzly Man, which is a film by German film genius Werner Herzog, who attempts to anaylze a man who devoted his life to filming himself in the natural habitat of grizzlies, and the implications on his sanity as well as his motivations as a filmmaker.

Also, as previously mentioned, The King of Kong is quite entertaining, albeit unsatisfying, ultimately.

And on a side note, is saying the only doc you've seen is Super Size Me like posting "I only ate pie for a month" in the pie forum?

=w= wrote:And on a side note, is saying the only doc you've seen is Super Size Me like posting "I only ate pie for a month" in the pie forum?

I suppose, though I dont think it's that big a deal seeing how it's related to the topic at hand, plus I mentioned some other pies documentaries that I plan on eating watching. I could have elaborated more in my original post but whatever.

Some pie > none

capt_weasle wrote:

=w= wrote:And on a side note, is saying the only doc you've seen is Super Size Me like posting "I only ate pie for a month" in the pie forum?

I suppose, though I dont think it's that big a deal seeing how it's related to the topic at hand, plus I mentioned some other pies documentaries that I plan on eating watching. I could have elaborated more in my original post but whatever.

Some pie > none

I was really not criticizing you, I thought your post was great. I just was being witty.

Also, Waiting for Superman is sick.

=w= wrote:I was really not criticizing you, I thought your post was great. I just was being witty.

Ah, okay. I've had a habit of being defensive ever since my Super Sweet Religious Fun Days (TM) back on the forums of yore when I felt that every post by Tsukatu and Friends (TM) was incredibly offensive, even if they weren't discussing religion. Being Christian I just felt the need to reply to everything Tsukatu* wrote with, "YOU ATHEIST SCUM." Fuck, he could have been talking about saving puppies and that would have still been my reaction.

*Note that while I knew Tsukatu wasn't the only atheist on the board at the time I felt the need to direct all my hatred towards him because... I don't know. Probably his avatar or something.

Workingman's Death - some German dudes go around and film workers working in the worst jobsites around the world, including shipbreakers in Pakistan and runners in a Nigerian meatmarket. Great cinematography, really timeless.

Dirt - an Indian woman discusses dirt, where everything goes, prostitution, and the dalits in India, and how it all relates to the notion of cleanliness. An interesting watch.

I started watching 638 Ways To Kill Castro but can't bring myself to finish it. 'Tis surprisingly quite boring.

I really, /really/ (yeah, I just did that with italics being possible) want to see "Exit Through the Gift Shop". It's a documentary by the graffiti artist "Banksy".

Blackson wrote:I really, /really/ (yeah, I just did that with italics being possible) want to see "Exit Through the Gift Shop". It's a documentary by the graffiti artist "Banksy".

Good shit

Essential:
GATES OF HEAVEN
GREY GARDENS

I've also heard a lot of good things about The Gleaners and I, but I haven't seen it yet. Capturing the Friedmans is good. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters is very cool also.

=w= wrote:

Blackson wrote:I really, /really/ (yeah, I just did that with italics being possible) want to see "Exit Through the Gift Shop". It's a documentary by the graffiti artist "Banksy".

Good shit

So, do we call it documentary or not? I've seen it, and I'm leaning towards no. It's certainly an interesting and funny film though. I'd watch it again.

Well, I guess it isn't, but it's not nearly as contentious as, say, Catfish, and people are calling that a doc.

You've probably all seen this, but Food, Inc. is very good. Pirates of Silicone valley, while not really a doc, is a good piece of "historical" fiction.

If you can get hold of it The World At War is a brilliant documentary.

mintnut wrote:If you can get hold of it The World At War is a brilliant documentary.

22 hours 32 minutes in 26 episodes? That's way too long.

That's kind of why it's so good. From what I can remember, they got a historian to give them 26 important points of the war and then devoted an hour to each. It's certainly worth the effort in my opinion.

I recommended to you in IRC, and am transcribing now, that you should watch Micheal Apted's Up Series. They are films made every seven years that follow the same real Englanders as they age. And it is amazing.

entwilight wrote:

=w= wrote:

Blackson wrote:I really, /really/ (yeah, I just did that with italics being possible) want to see "Exit Through the Gift Shop". It's a documentary by the graffiti artist "Banksy".

Good shit

So, do we call it documentary or not? I've seen it, and I'm leaning towards no. It's certainly an interesting and funny film though. I'd watch it again.

Surprisingly, I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It wasn't bad, though.