Documentaries

[Deskgrunt50]

Other than sports, I probably watch documentaries more than anything else. They get sprinkled in with the TV and movies threads here. But they’re kind of their own category.

A few I’ve recently watched:

The John Lennon assassination on Apple. It was ok. I know a lot about it, so not a lot new there for me.

Barry Sanders on Nextflix. Thought it was great. They got a lot out of a guy who didn’t like to talk much about himself. And it’s easy to forgot how stunning it was when he walked away at the top of his game.

A Disturbance In The Force. Doc on the ill-fated 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. Rented it, cannot recall which service. It was outstanding. I knew little about it. Other than it was a disaster and George Lucas wanted it buried forever. Lots of great clips and interviews.

 

[playthrough]

"Buried" is a couple years old but stumbled across it on Netflix last week. Excellent. Had no idea about the Alpine Meadows avalanche.

 

[Songbird]

Check It is about a gay black gang in D.C. Louis CK brought it to America after the film festivals. Very good with excellent music.

You can watch it in full: http://bit.ly/CheckIt_doc

It's how I was turned onto the song Laura by Scissor Sisters, the kind of song you can listen to on a loop for an hour.

 

[qtlaw]

IMHO the best is The Making of a Murderer, very creepy

The Murdaugh Murders (Atty in SC) entitlement gone wrong

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Check It is about a gay black gang in D.C. Louis CK brought it to America after the film festivals. Very good with excellent music.

You can watch it in full: http://bit.ly/CheckIt_doc

It's how I was turned onto the song Laura by Scissor Sisters, the kind of song you can listen to on a loop for an hour.

Linked to the choices after the "Laura" video was a 45-minute documentary on the 1966 Topeka tornado. Harrowing stuff.

Before Doppler radar, there were probably a thousand other stories like this.

 

[MisterCreosote]

“The Last Days” is on Max (or Netflix, I can’t remember) and is the best Holocaust documentary I’ve seen.

If you have seen or are thinking about seeing The Iron Claw in theaters and are interested in the real story of the Von Erichs, the WWE-produced documentary is actually really well done and a good look at both the Von Erich family and the zeitgeist that was WCCW in the early ‘80s.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

“The Last Days” is on Max (or Netflix, I can’t remember) and is the best Holocaust documentary I’ve seen.

If you have seen or are thinking about seeing The Iron Claw in theaters and are interested in the real story of the Von Erichs, the WWE-produced documentary is actually really well done and a good look at both the Von Erich family and the zeitgeist that was WCCW in the early ‘80s.

I’ll also add the non-WWE documentary called Heroes of World Class Championship Wrestling. Both are excellent watches.

The part when Kevin Von Erich visits the abandoned Sportatorium right before it’s demolished always fascinates me.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

I don’t have a ton of pro wrestling knowledge, and those both look interesting. As does the flick. Thx.

 

[User 1019]

This is a short, but really good documentary -- even if made by old stuffy white guys in the FBI and DEA -- but Chasing the Dragon to me really illustrated how closely related taking one too many pain killers at a soccer mom card night is to a full-blown heroin addiction.

https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/newss-chasing-the-dragon-the-life-of-an-opiate-addict/view

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

So this is decades old, but I came across Fred Dibnah by chance and became fascinated by his story. He was a steeplejack who would climb these 200-foot tall chimneys and demolish them by hand, but his Lancanshire dialect and folksy manner were endearing to many. The BBC did a documentary on him in the 1980s, which I've linked here, and he was a very well-known character in England (but basically unheard of in the states, from what I can tell). He also had a love of steam power, and would drive around his city in a turn-of-the-century steamroller. He was so much beloved that a statue was erected of him in the center of Bolton after he died about 15-20 years ago. The documentary follows him climbing these chimneys (as someone who has a fear of heights, I was equally amazed and appalled at his lack of safety equipment) to demolish as the mills were closing, his love of steam, and his own family dissolving because he put work first above all. He seems a pathetic character, but truly one who lives for himself.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Anyone from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area that grew up in the 1980s should watch the one on Action Park, called Class Action Park, which is available through Discovery and the Xfinity app.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Anyone from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area that grew up in the 1980s should watch the one on Action Park, called Class Action Park, which is available through Discovery and the Xfinity app.

This doc was absolutely amazing.

 

[playthrough]

Anyone from the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area that grew up in the 1980s should watch the one on Action Park, called Class Action Park, which is available through Discovery and the Xfinity app.

Saw it on Max last week. Wild stuff.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Watched "The Greatest Night in Pop" on Netflix, the doc on how "We Are The World" came together.

Thought it was good. Went in with high expectations as a lot of folks were gushing over it. Not sure it was that great, but I enjoyed it. It was a lot more Huey Lewis than I expected, but it was 1985.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Watched "The Greatest Night in Pop" on Netflix, the doc on how "We Are The World" came together.

Thought it was good. Went in with high expectations as a lot of folks were gushing over it. Not sure it was that great, but I enjoyed it. It was a lot more Huey Lewis than I expected, but it was 1985.

I really enjoyed this. I learned a bunch of tidbits that I didn't know, and I loved the footage from ths studio that I had never seen.

It's kind of wild that they basically were choosing between Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, and they chose Cyndi Lauper, but I guess Madonna in 1985 wasn't quite what she blew up to be in the years afterward. I love Cyndi Lauper and her part in We are the World is perfect, but still. Prince was. ... well, pretty much the ass Prince was. I don't even buy that it was Prince, who does what he wants to do, because even Stevie Wonder got on board (after he wouldn't return Lionel Richie's phone calls to help write the song). Speaking of, how cool was the part where Bob Dylan was really struggling with his part (he was so awkward!) and Stevie Wonder sat down at the piano and did a better Bob Dylan than Dylan to show him how to sing it. And that iconic Dylan part in the song is exactly the way Stevie had coached him to sing it! The Al Jarreau getting drunk stuff was pretty funny. I loved how Huey Lewis came off. I'm not a Springsteen fan, but man does he come off well, too. He had just finished the Born in the USA tour the night before and his voice was shot, and he caught a flight to LA in a snow storm to be there and sucked it up and sang as well as he could. Oh, and Quincy Jones's career is just ridiculous.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

I laughed at the part when the experimented with Swahili and Waylon Jennings pulled what might be the original “**** this. I’m out.”

 

[UNCGrad]

I came away from the WATW doc thinking similar things: Huey Lewis is clearly the best of the group in a Best Guy to Have a Beer With category, and agreed on Springsteen. Seemed as genuine in the day-of doc footage as he was in the interview segments.

One more: my musical theatre daughter did a teen ensemble thing in NYC several years back, and Cyndi Lauper was one of the honorees of the thing they were performing. This is 5ish years ago. Cyndi drops by the kids rehearsal and just hangs, watches and does an impromptu Q&A. Completely unplanned. I mean, a lot of kids only knew her for Kinky Boots. But my daughter said she was the best. Just encouraging. Said, "Art is the best thing we do. Keep making art."

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Just finished the two-part Steve Martin documentary on Apple. Loved it.

I’ve been a big fan as long as I can remember. The course of his career is fascinating and this tells it well. His private existence is something I knew little about.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Madonna didn't really blow up huge until the end of 1984 with "Like a Virgin." Lauper was at the tail end of a boffo debut album and Whitney Houston was a year away from breaking out.

There were quite a few female solo hitmakers of the time on the record, including Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, and Kim Carnes.

 

[Scout]

This doc was absolutely amazing.

There was a media outlet that did a 20-minute feature on Action Park, or Traction Park, that I think spurred the idea for the HBO series.