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Recommend a good documentary

  • 17-06-2015 07:40PM
    #1
    RasTa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,111 ✭✭✭✭


    I've being watching a lot lately since I'm so bored with the crap coming out these days.

    I've seen most of the mainstream ones.

    The best one I watched recently was Let the Fire burn which was just unbelievable.

    Others I liked were Herzog ones, Heart of Darkness, Street Fight.


«1

Comments

  • #2
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76




  • #3
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76




  • #4
    JaseBelleVie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 936 ✭✭✭JaseBelleVie


    Inside Job

    Puts in plain language the exact in's and out's of what happened during the 2008 Financial Crisis. One of the best documentaries out there. Staggering, frightening and infuriating all in equal measure.

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


  • #5
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76




  • #6
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76




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  • #7
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76




  • #8
    emigrate2012
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 323 ✭✭emigrate2012


    No fire zone,about the Tamil tiger/indonesian government conflict (I think,in that region,I'm open to correction)
    Really harrowing stuff,pretty recent as well.how they were finally defeated,corralling insurgents and civilians alike in that manner.....watch it.
    I'm not that emotinal but I'll admit to having a bit of a cry watching it.
    Really shocking stuff IMO.


  • #9
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76










  • #10
    kumate_champ07
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,150 ✭✭✭kumate_champ07


    Century of Self
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432232/


  • #11
    Zombienosh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,911 ✭✭✭Zombienosh


    Into The Abyss
    Grizzly Man
    Encounters at the end of the world
    Virunga
    The Emperor's New Clothes
    Dark Days
    The Bridge
    Jesus Camp


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  • #12
    Mizu_Ger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,565 ✭✭✭Mizu_Ger


    The Fog of War


  • #13
    Tipsy McSwagger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,072 ✭✭✭Tipsy McSwagger


    Murder on a Sunday Morning & There's Something wrong with Aunt Diane

    Both are available to watch on YouTube


  • #14
    Ipso
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,995 ✭✭✭Ipso


    Touching the Void.


  • #15
    R P McMurphy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,129 ✭✭✭R P McMurphy


    Valley uprising. Charting the history of rock climbing in yosimite valley against the backdrop of the cultural movements of the different eras. Timely with the recent death of Dean potter who features heavily


  • #16
    Sugarlumps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,004 ✭✭✭Sugarlumps


    MadDog76 wrote: »

    Just got done watching this, thanks for the recommendation.


  • #17
    Chain Smoker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭Chain Smoker


    Here's three very easy watches, all in English too. I might add in a list of a ton more later, lemme know what you're looking for specifically.

    Hoop Dreams
    So Steve James has since proven himself to be one of the best documentarians around (pretty much everything he makes is worth checking out) but this film has the absolutely perfect situation of a great documentarian stumbling upon a story that develops into just about the most interesting thing it possibly could have done. 3 hours long and feels short at that, its omission from the academy awards is still brought up as one of the biggest examples of how meaningless the oscars are.
    Definitely not just for sports fans.

    American Movie
    Film about a guy in nowheresville usa trying to make a low budget film. It's absolutely hilarious, extremely quotable and never feels as if it's looking down on the people involved.

    The King of Kong
    One of those documentaries that seriously bends the truth to make an entertaining story, but it's one hell of an entertaining story. About two guys going for the donkey kong world record.


    Trying to stick to ones that haven't been mentioned, lifted straight from my letterbox'd account with minimal thought beyond "that was f*cking good!":
    Exit Through the Gift Shop (Banksy doc thing), the Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, the Staircase (TV series, courtroom thing), the Up Series (TV series), Crumb (about the comic book guy), The Overnighters, Salesman, 30 For 30 series (sports fans only), Senna, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Stories We Tell, Roger and Me (provided you don't mind Michael Moore's ridiculous stretching of the truth), When the Levees Broke, Deep Water, Dark Days, The Arbor, The Missing Picture, The Act of Killing, Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film (fantastic series narrated by James Mason and stuffed with first hand accounts), Cinema Europe: the Other Hollywood, the Story of Film, Murderball, the Queen of Versailles, Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?, Rich Hill, Fake It So Real, Actress, Side by Side, A Film Unfinished, Visions of Light, The Hunt For Britain's Paedophiles (Incredibly insightful documentary about Scotland Yard's child pornography unit; I'm genuinely not being at all hyperbolic when I say it's the grimmest and most deeply disturbing documentary I've sat through though so make sure you've thick skin).

    And some good documentarians:
    Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Steve James, Frederick Wiseman, Barbara Kopple, Albert & David Maysyles, Alex Gibney (nowhere near as good as the others but he has made absolutely tons of solid documentaries)


  • #18
    Rjd2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,312 ✭✭✭✭Rjd2


    ESPN 30 for 30 is a very good series. The 2 highlights.

    The 2 Escobars.

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


    Once Brothers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_FTjCe1C7Y


  • #19
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,920 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Indie Game: The Movie

    Even if you're not a gamer or have no interest in indie games I would still recommend this. It follows the story of two indie gams developers; the teams behind Super Meat Boy and Fez, as they risk everything to complete their dreams. Very touching and engaging, with extremely likeable people.. And Phil Fish.

    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

    Two Irish people are in Venezuela making a documentary on Hugo Chavez, who gives them unprecedented and very personal access. They happen to be there during the attempted military coup to overthrow Chavez. Fantastic story and an intriguing view on what went on. Very Chavez friendly, but still very good. He comes across very well.


  • #20
    enricoh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,522 ✭✭✭enricoh


    Tt3d, documentary film about a few different riders trying to win at the isle of man tt- epic stuff imo.


  • #21
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 26,920 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Good call on TT3D - Guy Martin is among the most likeable people I've seen in a documentary.

    Another one, which I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned, is -

    You've Been Trumped

    It tells the story of a small community in Scotland attempting to stop the building of a multimillion dollar Golf course, which would destroy the local ecosystem. If you don't come out of this feeling furious, then there's something wrong.


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  • #22
    Bongalongherb
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Bongalongherb


    Capitalism A Love Story...

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



    Into Eternity...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4sqFyCHcbg


  • #23
    MagicIRL
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,902 ✭✭✭MagicIRL


    The Life's & Deaths of Robert Durst - This is the greatest documentary I have ever seen. So captivating, that I watched all six parts back to back with my parents in a single sitting. I can't really describe this without giving away the plot, so I'll let the trailer do the talking.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9HegGGm8dE


    Jiro Dreams of Sushi - A film about a man who makes sushi... only he's the best in the world at it, and the detail and craftsmanship that goes in to the entire process is incredible. It's entirely in Japanese, but, as someone who has never eaten sushi, it is beyond captivating. Highly, highly recommend it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1UDS2kgqY8


    Bones Brigade - A film that charts the rise of skateboarding in the US. It follows Tony Hawk and co as they pursue their dream. The best part of the documentary is listening to Rodney Mullen talk (about 1:50ish into the trailer). He is so soft spoken, but the passion he has for his sport and his hobby is infectious. Again, I watched this as a non-skater and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.

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


    Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - This one is a bit bizarre. It follows the incredible rise of Enron and the complete implosion that followed. The contempt and deceit involved in the whole thing is incredible. Riveting how people can treat each other like this.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w6duQhWuVk


    Muscle Shoals - Musicle Shoals is a small town in rural America, that just so happens to have produced some of the greatest classic rock songs ever recorded, thanks to a small group of local musicians and producers. Brilliant stuff for any fan of music.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UDe4JrFAIQ


    Others worth mentioning: Chasing Ice, The Square, Dirty Wars, terms & Conditions Apply, Fed Up, Downloaded and +1 for West of Memphis and Blackfish which I saw mentioned earlier in the tread.


  • #24
    brevity
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,952 ✭✭✭brevity


    MagicIRL wrote: »
    The Life's & Deaths of Robert Durst - This is the greatest documentary I have ever seen. So captivating, that I watched all six parts back to back with my parents in a single sitting. I can't really describe this without giving away the plot, so I'll let the trailer do the talking.

    Its absolutely brilliant.

    I'm going to recommend The House I Live In. If you've ever wanted to learn about the history of drugs, their effect on society and the failed war on drugs...this is for you.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0atL1HSwi8


  • #25
    RasTa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15,111 ✭✭✭✭RasTa


    Ooo forgot about this thread, I've seen about 85% of what was put up already but I'll give the last one a go.

    If you're looking for a good documentary that happens to involve skateboarding then I enjoyed this, never knew Tony Hawk was such a shill, although the documentary isn't about him

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wDiszmA2o8


  • #26
    darced
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,056 ✭✭✭darced


    This post has been deleted.


  • #27
    the_syco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,308 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Birders - The Central Park Effect

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


  • #28
    Chain Smoker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭Chain Smoker


    RasTa wrote: »
    If you're looking for a good documentary that happens to involve skateboarding then I enjoyed this, never knew Tony Hawk was such a shill, although the documentary isn't about him

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wDiszmA2o8
    Not sure if I've hated a documentary as much as this one since Catfish. I'd've considered it a reasonably good watch if I didn't know that people are apparently incapable of watching a documentary that pretty much begins with the guy saying "disclaimer: I'm a huge bull****ter" with somewhat skeptical eyes. You're dealing with an extremely embittered loser who had a huge chip on his shoulder when he was on top of the world, let alone now.

    Here's Tony Hawk's response to it, surprised he's not being more vocal considering he's able to rebut just about everything. Worst you can really say about the guy is that he's a gigantic geek who approached it all like a gigantic geek.


  • #29
    charlie_says
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,666 ✭✭✭charlie_says


    Seen many of the previously mentioned docs, great suggestions so far.

    Let the Fire Burn

    Crazy murder by police in Chicago in the 1980's. Shocking stuff especially the civil hearing footage is incredible.

    Also here is a list of docs I prepared a few years ago

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=57115169#post57115169


  • #30
    MadDog76
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,162 ✭✭✭MadDog76


    Chain Smoker wrote: »
    Not sure if I've hated a documentary as much as this one since Catfish. I'd've considered it a reasonably good watch if I didn't know that people are apparently incapable of watching a documentary that pretty much begins with the guy saying "disclaimer: I'm a huge bull****ter" with somewhat skeptical eyes. You're dealing with an extremely embittered loser who had a huge chip on his shoulder when he was on top of the world, let alone now.

    Here's Tony Hawk's response to it, surprised he's not being more vocal considering he's able to rebut just about everything. Worst you can really say about the guy is that he's a gigantic geek who approached it all like a gigantic geek.

    All This Mayhem is Tas's side of the story, that interview you linked to is Tony's side ......... but what's the truth?

    Probably somewhere in between ......... either way it's a highly entertaining documentary and well worth a look ........ at least that's my side of the story! ;)


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  • #31
    Chain Smoker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭Chain Smoker


    MadDog76 wrote: »
    All This Mayhem is Tas's side of the story, that interview you linked to is Tony's side ......... but what's the truth?
    See, that's just totally buying into his bull****. He's an extremely unreliable narrator, his track record is awful and a hell of a lot of what he spouts is quite easy to disprove, which Hawk does with relative ease. You can enjoy a documentary and still acknowledge that it's highly dubious.

    I generally can let a documentary bending the truth slide quite a lot once it serves to build an entertaining enough story (e.g. Roger & Me, the King of Kong), it's not wholly justifiable when so many people seem to lap up what they're told by a talking head but if I'm getting my laughs then I don't really care.
    However, Tas Pappas attempts to settle a whole bunch of scores didn't seem to add much of anything and that is what ultimately took away from my enjoyment of a documentary damn near tailor made for me (extremely well edited skateboarding documentary?! hell yes I do want that!). Even from reading that interview with Hawk, there's bits where he talks about not really understanding Tas's approach to competitions and the example is such a fascinating contrast between the two which the documentary choose to hide, there's no need to be all this fabricated heat between the two at all. "We didn't fit in, we couldn't fit in, we wouldn't have wanted to even if we could" would present him in a much more admirable and mature way than "THEY DIDN'T WANT US THERE BECAUSE [insert significant distortion of the truth]"




    ...and, em, I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but Deliver Us From Evil by Amy Berg (West of Memphis), is an outstandingly well constructed character study of an absolute monster of a man (defrocked priest Oliver O'Grady) Vimeo link here


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