Television Feature length documentaries

[Pogue Mahone]

I like 'em.

Just finished watching Restrepo. Not bad at all.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil is another good 'un.

List your favourites below...

 

[B Cantona]

What constitutes feature length?

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

about 9"

 

[Mick1991]

Spoiler

Yeh, I've seen anvil. Was much sadder than I'd thought it would be, shattered dreams and what not ( why the hell did they let that one organise their 'European tour'?, desperation maybe?) But it was a nice ending to go back they blew up in the first place even if it was a one off.

I've seen a few really good sports one's lately, Hoop dreams is excellent.

 

[Zen]

Hoop Dreams

 

[Mick1991]

There are a few good basketball one's, I watched one about the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson rivalry (ESPN special maybe? not too sure) and I really liked, polar opposites who will forever be linked together and it showed even though the rivalry was epic the mutual respect was and still is amazing.

 

[Prophet_of_Doom]

Yeh, I've seen anvil. Was much sadder than I'd thought it would be, shattered dreams and what not ( why the hell did they let that one organise their 'European tour'?, desperation maybe?) But it was a nice ending to go back they blew up in the first place even if it was a one off.

I've seen a few really good sports one's lately, Hoop dreams is excellent.

Anvil was heartbreaking! Makes you realise how much the success of a lot of these guys is pure, simple luck!

There's a few I'd recommend (is that what we're doing?!) Grizzly Man is great, if a little manipulative and Touching the Void has to be one of the best. Absolutely epic story in terms of one guy's struggle against nature.

I saw Hearts of Darkness the other night (the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now) which is also essential viewing and along similar lines (although with a less happy ending) Lost in La Mancha.

Aileen about the serial killer is hard going and leaves you kind of empty, but still a great watch.

 

[Saliph]

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

Chilling documentaries about a great injustice. Three boys have been (and still are) in prison for the last seventeen years for a crime they clearly did not commit. Fantastic docs.

 

[Mick1991]

Anvil was heartbreaking! Makes you realise how much the success of a lot of these guys is pure, simple luck!

There's a few I'd recommend (is that what we're doing?!) Grizzly Man is great, if a little manipulative and Touching the Void has to be one of the best. Absolutely epic story in terms of one guy's struggle against nature.

I saw Hearts of Darkness the other night (the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now) which is also essential viewing and along similar lines (although with a less happy ending) Lost in La Mancha.

Aileen about the serial killer is hard going and leaves you kind of empty, but still a great watch.

Ah stop man, they had the talent but they just couldn't catch a break. When you had guys like slash talking about how talented they were it just seemed unbelievable that they didn't make it, some of the fight in it were hilarious though but you could feel the love they had for each other.

May check a few of them out Prophet, Aileen sounds interesting.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Anvil was heartbreaking! Makes you realise how much the success of a lot of these guys is pure, simple luck!

There's a few I'd recommend (is that what we're doing?!) Grizzly Man is great, if a little manipulative and Touching the Void has to be one of the best. Absolutely epic story in terms of one guy's struggle against nature.

I saw Hearts of Darkness the other night (the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now) which is also essential viewing and along similar lines (although with a less happy ending) Lost in La Mancha.

Aileen about the serial killer is hard going and leaves you kind of empty, but still a great watch.

Great recommendations. Seen them all apart from Aileen though. Will check it out.

Grizzly Man is class. Gotta love Werner Herzog. Hardcore misanthrope.

 

[Mick1991]

Spellbound is pretty nifty as well, it's quirky but in a good way.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Get Thrashed: A History of Thrash Metal.

If you like the genre, you will love it. Segments and interviews with Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Exodus, etc, etc. It covers the genre from the days of Motorhead and Venom, all the way through to today.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Spellbound is pretty nifty as well, it's quirky but in a good way.

Another good one. Another one I've seen though

 

[datura]

Etre et Avoir was very good, Capturing the Friedmans, Bus 174.

If you can track down 'Darwin's Nightmare' that Storyville showed I'd highly recommend it.

 

[Prophet_of_Doom]

Great recommendations. Seen them all apart from Aileen though. Will check it out.

Grizzly Man is class. Gotta love Werner Herzog. Hardcore misanthrope.

If you watch Monster straight after seeing Aileen (which is how I saw them on TV) you realise what an absolutely phenomenal job Charlize Theron did. That said Aileen is by far the more interesting because of Broomfield's relationship with and desperate attempts to find humanity in Aileen Wornos (sp?)

The best part about Grizzly Man are Herzog's repeated claims about how horrifying and disgusting the taped footage is - and then stressing that he won't allow you to hear it. It's the equivalent of the school bully saying "Do you want a sweet? ... Well you can't have one!"

 

[Alwyn]

Didn't think Anvil was as good as Spinal Tap.

I used to think Bowling for Columbine was pretty good when I was 12. Haven't seen it since then though.

 

[Mick1991]

Speaking of Michael Moore, if you dislike him you should check out Manufacturing Dissent, I caught it on RTE a few months ago and thought it was pretty good.

 

[R.N7]

Grizzly Man is class. Gotta love Werner Herzog. Hardcore misanthrope.

I like Herzog but I didn't think much of Grizzly Man. Just the shot of the penguin heading towards his certain death makes Encounters at the End of the World worthwhile.

Burden of Dreams is great too.

 

[peterstorey]

I can second Aileen (Broomfield), Touching the Void (MacDonald) and Capturing the Friedmans. Broomfield and MacDonald are consistently good. Terror's Advocate about Jacques Verges is also excellent.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I really enjoyed Grizzly Man. The contrast between the naive, bubbly optimism of yer man and Herzog's nihilistic monotone was great.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Just thought of another one I really liked - Man on a Wire.

 

[jveezy]

Does made for tv count? One that I like is a Frontline documentary about the Tienanmen Square Tank Man. It's actually available on Google Videos.

Tank Man

PBS in the US has aired some pretty fantastic stuff ranging from news and current events (Frontline) and science (Nova).

 

[Zen]

There are a few good basketball one's, I watched one about the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson rivalry (ESPN special maybe? not too sure) and I really liked, polar opposites who will forever be linked together and it showed even though the rivalry was epic the mutual respect was and still is amazing.

It was HBO(should always recognize the godly narration of Liev Schreiber), but yeah another terrific one. HBO does superb docs all round, their "Legendary Nights" boxing ones are fantastic, as are the docs on Joe Louis and 'Assault in the Ring' about the Resto-Collins Jr fight marred by plaster in the gloves.

Fearless Freaks, King of Kong, Catfish(up to you how you take it), Roger and Me, Man on Wire, Ken Burns Baseball, The Up Series, Dark Days also all come highly recommend from me.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Good call on Dark Days. Cracking film.

 

[Mick1991]

It was HBO(should always recognize the godly narration of Liev Schreiber), but yeah another terrific one. HBO does superb docs all round, their "Legendary Nights" boxing ones are fantastic, as are the docs on Joe Louis and 'Assault in the Ring' about the Resto-Collins Jr fight marred by plaster in the gloves.

Fearless Freaks, King of Kong, Catfish(up to you how you take it), Roger and Me, Man on Wire, Ken Burns Baseball, The Up Series, Dark Days also all come highly recommend from me.

Cheers Zen, I'll check a few of those out.

 

[Prophet_of_Doom]

It was HBO(should always recognize the godly narration of Liev Schreiber), but yeah another terrific one. HBO does superb docs all round, their "Legendary Nights" boxing ones are fantastic, as are the docs on Joe Louis and 'Assault in the Ring' about the Resto-Collins Jr fight marred by plaster in the gloves.

Fearless Freaks, King of Kong, Catfish(up to you how you take it), Roger and Me, Man on Wire, Ken Burns Baseball, The Up Series, Dark Days also all come highly recommend from me.

Can't believe I missed this out having only seen it a couple of weeks ago. Really engaging and quite a tragic story but I somehow doubt that the tale it tells is particularly unique in the digital age. Sure there are a few on Redcafe.

 

[R.N7]

Waltz With Bashir

 

[peterstorey]

Waltz With Bashir

Good film but more animation feature than documentary and I'm still a bit ambivalent about it.

 

[Saliph]

Bigger Stronger Faster is a very good doc about steroids

 

[Maajid]

Both Heavy Metal: A Headbangers Journey and Global Metal are excellent if you're interested in the genre.

 

[lem8sh]

It was HBO(should always recognize the godly narration of Liev Schreiber), but yeah another terrific one. HBO does superb docs all round, their "Legendary Nights" boxing ones are fantastic, as are the docs on Joe Louis and 'Assault in the Ring' about the Resto-Collins Jr fight marred by plaster in the gloves.

Fearless Freaks, King of Kong, Catfish(up to you how you take it), Roger and Me, Man on Wire, Ken Burns Baseball, The Up Series, Dark Days also all come highly recommend from me.

Just finished watching it, absolutely brilliant

 

[Mick1991]

For anybody interested in cinematography they should check out visions of light, it's really good.

 

[Wittmann45]

Fog of War

 

[air_mood]

Does S1:The Killing Machine counts as one?

 

[204Red]

Sporting docs have become more and more popular these days

I don't know if you get them in the UK, but several of the ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary style films have been excellent... In particular:

"Without Bias" - the death of Basketball prospect Len Bias

"The Two Escobars" - The way the lives of the drug lord and murdered footballer were intertwined

"Straight Outta L.A." - The impact of the LA Raiders on Hip Hop culture

and the best one

"Once Brothers" - the sad tale of the end of a friendship between former Yugoslav basketballers Croatian Dražen Petrović and Serbian Vlade Divac.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Just finished watching GasLand.

It's excellent. Terrifying though.

Essential viewing if you're American. Shocking stuff.

 

[R.N7]

I really want to see these two.

Nostalgia for the Light (2010) - IMDb

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) - IMDb

 

[PhilipB]

In Restrepo when the soldier runs up to see if his friend is okay after being attacked and the guy has to tell him he's been killed, it's pretty hard to watch.

If there's any similar war documentaries like that one then let me know.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I really want to see these two.

Nostalgia for the Light (2010) - IMDb

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) - IMDb

Nice one. They're on the list. Werner Herzog is the man.

 

[Red Hand Devil]

Yeh, I've seen anvil. Was much sadder than I'd thought it would be, shattered dreams and what not ( why the hell did they let that one organise their 'European tour'?, desperation maybe?) But it was a nice ending to go back they blew up in the first place even if it was a one off.

I've seen a few really good sports one's lately, Hoop dreams is excellent.

Jaysus man, some folk havent seen that show - including myself. Use spoilers big son if you're gonna tell the story in a nutshell...