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Ohvee
Jun 17, 2001
I'm not even sure if it actually counts as a documentary but Stories We Tell is on Hulu and is excellent.

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cstang
Oct 27, 2005

Da Bears

Mahoning posted:

So I've been really into true crime documentaries lately. In the past few weeks I've watched:

Theres Something Wrong with Aunt Diane - good, but not great
The Chesire Murders - again good but not great. Definitely an interesting crime, but it felt like the film was touching on some interesting things but never fully fleshed them out. Would love to have it delve deeper into the possibility that the cops could have saved some lives had they actually acted quicker/differently.
Into the Abyss - interesting in that we talk to the criminals who are behind bars. A bit more focused on its subject matter (the death penalty) than some others I've watched.
Crazy Love - An interesting story, but I hated it. It just was not what I was looking for.

Some older ones I've already seen:
Dear Zachary
The Jinxyo
The Central Park Five


Any recommendations are welcome.

Murder On A Sunday Morning (Excellent! ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAeQlKnb7FA

Brother's Keeper (Also excellent) On US Netflix or here : https://vimeo.com/136158118

Thin Blue Line available on US Netflix and youtube.

The Staircase You'll have to do some searching for this one. It's a series like The Jinx.

Death By Fire PBS.org Frontline

A Death In St. Augustine PBS.org Frontline

The First 48 series. Netflix has a few episodes.

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

The Staircase is really good, as is its sequel.

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

Stare-Out posted:

The Staircase is really good, as is its sequel.

Also legitimately like twelve hours long in total.

Mahoning
Feb 3, 2007

cstang posted:

Murder On A Sunday Morning (Excellent! ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAeQlKnb7FA

Brother's Keeper (Also excellent) On US Netflix or here : https://vimeo.com/136158118

Thin Blue Line available on US Netflix and youtube.

The Staircase You'll have to do some searching for this one. It's a series like The Jinx.

Death By Fire PBS.org Frontline

A Death In St. Augustine PBS.org Frontline

The First 48 series. Netflix has a few episodes.

Thanks for these. I've seen the 2 Frontline ones you posted. Both very good.

I forgot to mention I watched the Paradise Lost trilogy on HBO. Holy cow is that good.

Last night I watched Cropsey which was pretty good, but not great.

Dr.Caligari
May 5, 2005

"Here's a big, beautiful avatar for someone"

Stare-Out posted:

The Staircase is really good, as is its sequel.

Isn't that the one that leaves out a lot of important, damning evidence?

Stare-Out
Mar 11, 2010

Dr.Caligari posted:

Isn't that the one that leaves out a lot of important, damning evidence?
I honestly can't remember, it's been a long while since I watched it. But even so the actual crime fades into the background as it goes on and the doc starts focusing more on the family itself dealing with the situation which is pretty interesting and compelling to watch.

Garth_Marenghi
Nov 7, 2011

Watching "This May be the Last Time" on Netflix, 4 minutes in and I'm on the edge of tears.

quote:

The film narrates that when in 1962 Pete Harjo, the director's grandfather, mysteriously went missing after his car crashed on a rural bridge in Sasakwa, Oklahoma, members of his Seminole and Muscogee community searched for him while singing songs of faith and hope that had been passed on for generations, with roots in both Scottish hymn lining and African American music.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

Mahoning posted:

So I've been really into true crime documentaries lately. In the past few weeks I've watched:

Theres Something Wrong with Aunt Diane - good, but not great
The Chesire Murders - again good but not great. Definitely an interesting crime, but it felt like the film was touching on some interesting things but never fully fleshed them out. Would love to have it delve deeper into the possibility that the cops could have saved some lives had they actually acted quicker/differently.
Into the Abyss - interesting in that we talk to the criminals who are behind bars. A bit more focused on its subject matter (the death penalty) than some others I've watched.
Crazy Love - An interesting story, but I hated it. It just was not what I was looking for.

Some older ones I've already seen:
Dear Zachary
The Jinx
The Central Park Five


Any recommendations are welcome.

Thin Blue Line is great.

Also, the West Memphis Three "Paradise Lost" trilogy and "West of Memphis".

cthulusnewzulubbq
Jan 26, 2009

I saw something
NASTY
in the woodshed.
The Peanuts movie is in theaters, and the holidays are here, so I remembered this great American Masters episode featuring the Life of Charles Schulz.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=CGv9qj2JTIM

Garth_Marenghi
Nov 7, 2011

Call me Lucky will be on Netflix on the 13th, I've been waiting to see this one.
A movie by Bobcat Goldthwait about his comedy mentor and children's rights advocate Barry Crimmins.

And Best of Enemies on the 28th
Best of Enemies (2015)
Two of the greatest political and intellectual minds of their day — William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal — went head to head in a series of inflammatory, wildly entertaining TV debates that make the GOP circuses we’ve seen this year look tame. (And even less substantive.)

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
I've been waiting to see Best of Enemies but missed wherever it played, so that's awesome.

Mahoning
Feb 3, 2007
Has anyone seen The Smiley Face Killers? Watched it on YouTube last night.

I watched the whole thing and didn't figure out it was fake until the very end. I guess in that sense the filmmaker did his job. Instead of feeling angry for being duped I'm actually glad I went in blind and fell for it, because the ending actually had me sitting there saying OH MY GOD.

Garth_Marenghi
Nov 7, 2011

Mahoning posted:

Has anyone seen The Smiley Face Killers? Watched it on YouTube last night.

I watched the whole thing and didn't figure out it was fake until the very end. I guess in that sense the filmmaker did his job. Instead of feeling angry for being duped I'm actually glad I went in blind and fell for it, because the ending actually had me sitting there saying OH MY GOD.

I think I figured it out at minute one from the poorly dubbed news footage and the fact that the first 40 seconds set up that all the deaths were ruled as accidents then all the news footage immediately said that they were committed by the smily face killers gang.

Kull the Conqueror
Apr 8, 2006

Take me to the green valley,
lay the sod o'er me,
I'm a young cowboy,
I know I've done wrong
I found Best of Enemies pretty underwhelming. Kind of a light entertainment documentary that hones in on amusing soundbites with less real insight into either individual.

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe
Finally watched The Overnighters.

I don't know what to think. I kinda feel like it cheap shotted me. Like they knew what the twist was and just inflated the original story to feature length just so they could turn around and reveal a "shocking twist" end the movie and take off before folks can have a moment to go "whoa... you owe me more of an explanation than that!"

Cocoa Ninja
Mar 3, 2007

BonoMan posted:

Finally watched The Overnighters.

I don't know what to think. I kinda feel like it cheap shotted me. Like they knew what the twist was and just inflated the original story to feature length just so they could turn around and reveal a "shocking twist" end the movie and take off before folks can have a moment to go "whoa... you owe me more of an explanation than that!"

For me the movie holds up even if you didn't know the "twist." Maybe that's personal preference. Just a really sharp take on the idea of the American dream and the contrast between the ideals we aspire to and what we're willing to do in practice.

It's more about adding a shade to his character motivation as opposed to being truly integral to the plot.

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

Cocoa Ninja posted:

For me the movie holds up even if you didn't know the "twist." Maybe that's personal preference. Just a really sharp take on the idea of the American dream and the contrast between the ideals we aspire to and what we're willing to do in practice.

It's more about adding a shade to his character motivation as opposed to being truly integral to the plot.

That makes sense. Although I guess my real problem with it is I felt it could've been like a 30 minute doc. I loved the subject of it, but it just kinda felt like too little content stretched out to feature length.

ManDingo
Jun 1, 2001

Kull the Conqueror posted:

I found Best of Enemies pretty underwhelming. Kind of a light entertainment documentary that hones in on amusing soundbites with less real insight into either individual.

I was a bit disappointed by it too, but still was glad I watched it. I knew almost nothing about them beforehand. I'll probably watch the debate series now and definitely Myra Breckinridge.

The similarities between the talking points then vs now was frankly terrifying. It's like our political system is stuck in the Groundhog Day storyline.

Mahoning
Feb 3, 2007
Winter on Fire about the Euromaidan Revolution in Ukraine, is just absolutely thrilling. It's on Netflix.

spankmeister
Jun 15, 2008






Mahoning posted:

Winter on Fire about the Euromaidan Revolution in Ukraine, is just absolutely thrilling. It's on Netflix.

It's good. One sided though.

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

ˇHola SEA!


spankmeister posted:

It's good. One sided though.

Laughably so. I'm no Russophile but you'd never know watching this thing that Yanukovych was an elected leader opting out of EU style financial coercion or that all Euromaidan did was manage to get neo-fascists into power.

cloudchamber
Aug 6, 2010

You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine
The far-right played a large role in the protests and the government that took over once the president fled had a handful of members from extremist parties, but it's not really true at all to say that the Maidan led to a fascist government.

Kull the Conqueror
Apr 8, 2006

Take me to the green valley,
lay the sod o'er me,
I'm a young cowboy,
I know I've done wrong
I've started watching Patricio Guzman's three-part epic The Battle of Chile, and it's pretty goddamned great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5GeEzBKGsQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTCVGdq7BAo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lWCtYMEYBI

OldTennisCourt
Sep 11, 2011

by VideoGames
What's the general thread opinion on Capturing the Friedmans? I watched it earlier today and thought it was really interesting and thought provoking, but then unfortunately it turns out the director left out a few huge key points that seemed to hurt the general tone of his film/his opinion.

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010
I just watched Call me Lucky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkYG_AeRfU


That's the trailer. Watch it, please. It's very, very, very good. This is an achievement for Bobcat.

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

El Gallinero Gros posted:

I just watched Call me Lucky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkYG_AeRfU


That's the trailer. Watch it, please. It's very, very, very good. This is an achievement for Bobcat.

Where is it available? It looks fantastic.


Also I watched Slingshot the other night. It's pretty good I guess. It sounds like it's supposed to be about Dean Kamen's water solution and there's a little bit of that in there, but really it's kind of just an inspiration piece on Kamen and the need for kids to look positively upon engineering in this country. I liked it though because I think Kamen is a legit genius and the Segway (or at least it's tech) is way ahead of its time.

Garth_Marenghi
Nov 7, 2011

BonoMan posted:

Where is it available? It looks fantastic.


djwetmouse posted:

Call me Lucky will be on Netflix on the 13th, I've been waiting to see this one.
A movie by Bobcat Goldthwait about his comedy mentor and children's rights advocate Barry Crimmins.

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

Hell yes, thanks! I know what I'm watching tonight!

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.
Anybody here get a kick out watching really bad "documentaries", like Dreams of My Real Father, Loose Change and Room 321 levels of silliness? I enjoy watching the insanity but get depressed knowing that too many people, who ordinarily don't watch documentaries, come away watching these and thinking they're enlightened.

Because, "hey. Yeah. I read a BOOK/watched a doco" when ordinarily they never would?

Garth_Marenghi
Nov 7, 2011

I can't find anything online about a movie called Room 321, you don't mean Room 237 because that is a good movie?

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD posted:

Room 237 is both not a bad movie as well as one of my favorite documentaries ever made.
:hfive:

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours
Room 237 is both not a bad movie as well as one of my favorite documentaries ever made.

DeimosRising
Oct 17, 2005

ˇHola SEA!


cloudchamber posted:

The far-right played a large role in the protests and the government that took over once the president fled had a handful of members from extremist parties, but it's not really true at all to say that the Maidan led to a fascist government.

I phrased that poorly - I don't mean that the government of the Ukraine is now neo-fascist, but that there are now (even more) neo-fascists in positions of power in the Ukraine than before, while none of the more progressive and/or liberal elements of the movement have much to show for it.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

There aren't that many more, and they did just pass an anti-discrimination bill for homosexuals, so there's that at least.



Watched The Wolfpack a while ago, thought that was kind of meh. It's a bizarre situation but I thought it didn't really develop its the subjects well enough to understand them properly, and the film itself has a kind of sketchy semi-mockumentary feeling about too.

spankmeister
Jun 15, 2008






I watched Idiocracy, a true story about Trump's America.

Sleepstupid
Feb 23, 2009

El Gallinero Gros posted:

I just watched Call me Lucky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkYG_AeRfU


That's the trailer. Watch it, please. It's very, very, very good. This is an achievement for Bobcat.

Watched this last night, it was really good although prob because I have young children it was really hard to watch in some parts :smith:

I did have one question about the "you-know-what" When he first talks about the rape, he says it was the babysitter's friend, but later on he's talking about the priest guy. Was it the same guy? Or were there multiple perpetrators?

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD
Sep 14, 2007

everything is yours

It's bad....badass!!!

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.

El Gallinero Gros posted:

I just watched Call me Lucky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkYG_AeRfU


That's the trailer. Watch it, please. It's very, very, very good. This is an achievement for Bobcat.

Hey, the looks like a nic elittle documentary about a comic I've never heard of...

Oh.

Oh.

0_0

BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe
Yeah I watched it last night. Great documentary, but goddamn it is some heavy heavy stuff.

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Garth_Marenghi
Nov 7, 2011

Sleepstupid posted:

Watched this last night, it was really good although prob because I have young children it was really hard to watch in some parts :smith:

I did have one question about the "you-know-what" When he first talks about the rape, he says it was the babysitter's friend, but later on he's talking about the priest guy. Was it the same guy? Or were there multiple perpetrators?
two different men, the priest talk was just to set up his, rightful, antagonism with the Catholic church. As he said the man who raped him eventually went to prison, a Catholic priest would get off Scott free.

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