You beat me to it.

Oh dear God, no!

Oh, "Mr. Hands".

yes! i just saw a screening of Titticut Follies over a month ago with Wiseman in appearance and Q&A. he's such an inspiring fella, and Titticut Follies is one of the best docs i've ever seen. disturbing as shit.

One Day in September
Murder on a Sunday Morning

I really enjoy Ken Burn's Documentaries and am really surprised no one has mentioned any of them.

I just like his style. Nothing gets in the way of the story of the subject matter. It might not be the most complete documentary but the emotions of the story are as real as they can get. There is no manipulation of the story in order to get an audience to feel one way or another.

Some of his best:
Civil War
The War
The National Parks: America's Best Idea

For some specific people
Lewis and Clark
Mark Twain
Frank Lloyd Wright

The last two are particularly interesting as they lead very interesting lives.

I'd really like to see Burns or someone like him really tackle WWI. The American public actually knows very little about that war anymore and they should.

There are already some good documentaries about WWI out there (and I do not really include PBS's "The Great War" among them, honestly), such as BBC Channel 4's "The First World War" and, so I hear, the Kenneth Branagh-narrated "World War I in Color", but it would be nice to see Burns approach the same material.

Jesus Camp - it will either fascinate you, scare you, or piss you off.

One Punk Under God - interesting look into the life of Jay Bakker, son of infamous tele-evangelist Jim Bakker. It follows Jay as he moves to New York to start a church in a run down store. He is an extreme preacher with full tat sleeves, piercings who happens to be pro-gay.

cocaine cowboy was pretty interesting.
film school season 1 was good. its a reality show that was on IFC but it plays more like a 10 episode documentary than a reality show you see on network tv.

both are available on netflix instant.

Agreed on both I blew through all 10 episodes of Film School in one day.

While Cocaine Cowboys is a great doc, there isn't much need to bother with the sequel. It deals with the Godmother's incarceration, but most of the stories told are unsubstantiated, and while I don't doubt that a lot of it happened, it is a little difficult to give complete confidence in the former drug dealer relaying the stories.

was "Murder Ball" listed?

I watched Dogtown and the Z-boys last night (was showing on one of those random movie channels) and can't say I'd recommend it. The entire era has a certain mystique for it, and it's best left to that. It was a bit tedious to get through, poorly made, and it really drained any respect I had for the guys to begin with. Alas, this is all imo. Peralta did a better job with Riding Giants.

I thought Inside Job was excellent, Freakonomics had two interesting segments, and Waiting for Superman may be one sided but definitely makes some valid points.

Inside Job
The Corporation
Gasland
Exit Through the Gift Shop

Those were all pretty good.

Having now seen it twice, I wholeheartedly recommend Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rE0ayK_wmqo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If you have any interest in pianos and pianists (or even if you don't), this is well worth the time. The craftsmanship process alone is just fascinating.

For all you music lovers :

I watched God Grew Tired of Us last week. Here's the Netflix synopsis:

Awe-inspiring, heart wrenching and just plain amazing. As often I do, I go back and check the Netflix reviews and it has 53 pages of nothing but 5 star reviews.

Also not mentioned in the thread, for animation fans, Waking Sleeping Beauty was phenomenal.

HBO shows some good documentaries. I thought GasLand was really good.

If you're a fan of sci-fi check out Bringing Godzilla Down to Size. It's in the DVD set for Rodan/War of the Gargantuas, which I'm guessing is availaible on NetFlix.

I saw about five minutes of this on TV the other day and assumed it was Lara Logan that was narrating. It never occurred to me that it was Nicole Kidman. They do actually sound a lot alike.

The War Tapes

Fascinating documentary about three different National Guardsmen called to serve in Iraq.
Each was given their own video camera to shoot whatever they wanted during their one year tour.
Their footage and their individual stories are what you see in the film.
It's really interesting seeing their different personalities, their different reasons for serving, and how they react to what happens to them.

I'm guessing this is a repackaging of The Great War produced in the mid 60's by the BBC? If so it's still one of the best documentary series ever produced (IMO).

My favourite documentarian is Adam Curtis. His insights and stories never fail to fascinate me - while I believe the ideas he presents are of genuine importance.

"The Century of the Self" is probably his most accessible work, though "The Power of Nightmares" is equally impressive. I'm not sure if that would be shown in the US though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

One of the most striking aspects of these shows is the old TV footage which is used. It seems there was actually intelligent debate on the boob tube once upon a time..

Hi All,

No real order...Just favorite Documentaries...

1. Inside Job - Great overview of the 2008 U.S. financial crisis. Matt Damon narrates. It really does a great job of showing the viewer exactly how the crisis was brought up and what characters/institutions are to blame...More compelling than a lot of dramatic movies...The HBO Movie Too Big to Fail was pretty good, but if you want to hear from the actual people involved, I'd highly recommend this documentary...

2. Capturing the Friedmans - One of the best movies of 2003 (I think that's the year it came out). Watch it with friends. It always creates a lively discussion afterwards, as you're never really positive what happened. Tough to watch, but the family dynamics are just insanely watchable...The special features on the DVD are great, too, and really add to your appreciation of the movie...

3. West of Memphis - Helped free the West Memphis 3. While the Paradise Lost films were great, and are still a landmark of the genre, this is the culmination of the story, for the most part. Just uplifting to see this case finally get a sense of closure after a couple of decades...

4. Into the Abyss - Werner Herzog directed this film about a single case but is more about Capital Punishment in general. Another film that is hard to watch at times, but completely worth checking out...Lots of tragic characters are involved and it's tough not to be moved by this movie...

5. The Thin Blue Line - Most will have already seen this genre classic by Errol Morris. Really revolutionary in his re-enactments of the events discussed in the movie...Don't want to spoil for those that haven't seen it, but if you do watch it, make sure to research it on the Internet afterwards so you can see the eventual outcome of the case in question...The score is essential, too...

6. Bush's War - Comprehensive PBS documentary all about the Bush Administration and the lead-up to and problems created by the Iraq War. Better than a lot of books I've read on the subject...Used to have to write a lot of papers about the subject (i.e. the Bush Administration) and have to say that the people behind this doc did a fantastic job...And it does not feel like homework watching it, it's just a really interesting documentary...No spin...

7. Los Angeles Plays Itself - Was released on Blu-Ray a year or two ago...Really cool movie that documents all of the great films that have been filmed in the Los Angeles area...Really neat seeing all of the various clips that the doc puts together, and pretty interesting seeing how the Los Angeles landscape evolved over time...Especially compelling if you're a big Film Noir fan...

8. A Decade Under the Influence - Probably my favorite documentary about movies...I remember purchasing this when it initially came out and a ton of the clips that it showed were from movies that hadn't even come out on DVD yet. This really opened up my mind and introduced me to a lot of movies and filmmakers that I hadn't been interested in before...Shows the influence of Europeans and early Independents on Hollywood filmmakers...The focus is on the Golden Age of Hollywood Filmmaking (the '70s)...Lots of stuff on Cassavetes, Coppola, Scorsese, Ashby, Altman, etc...I'm happy knowing I now own the vast majority of the movies profiled in this doc...And most of them on Blu-Ray, at that...

9. Biggie & Tupac - Was always fascinated by this case. Lots of really interesting interviews, and Broomfield really goes out of his way to interview as many people related to the case as possible...This movie made me so intrigued by the case I've subsequently purchased several books covering it...Don't think we'll ever truly find out what happened, as lots of additional info has come to light since this documentary was released, but it nevertheless remains a must-see doc...

10. Heart of Darkness - The documentary on Apocalypse Now filmed by Francis Coppola's wife. Shows what a rough shoot that movie was. Lots of great behind-the-scenes footage. Coppola comes off like a madman at times...But the eventual effort was worthwhile, as Apocalypse Now is fantastic...

11. Bukowski: Born Into This - If you're a Bukowski fan, like me, this is a must see. I had never seen so much footage of him...He definitely comes across as an asshole at times but it also delves into his process of writing...Lived a hard life for sure...

12. Lost in La Mancha - Doc about Gilliam's failed attempt at trying to make his Don Quixote movie. Sad to see all of his efforts go to waste...Heard he is finally been able to start making it and that it should come out in a year or so...Lots of crazy coincidences created obstacles that blocked him from making the movie in this doc...

13. The Vietnam War - Bought the Ken Burns mega-set late last year. Overwhelming at times, but if you take it in small doses, it's really worth it...I stuck to around 2-3 episodes a night...

14. The Unknown Known - Kind of infuriating Errol Morris documentary about Donald Rumsfeld. That guy has no shame, even now, after everything people know about him. Worth watching, if only to see someone so hopefully self-deceptive...Don't think Rumsfeld will ever be redeemed...Which brings me to the next one...

15. The Fog of War - Unlike Rumsfeld, this shows a very contrite Robert McNamara, one of the main proponents of the Vietnam War. He's old in the movie, but finally willing to admit and try and atone for his sins. It was really refreshing at the time, and really altered my perspective on him...I know he still did a lot of despicable things, but at least he's now willing to acknowledge it...

16. Crystal Lake Memories - It doesn't get more comprehensive than this. A 5 hour+ documentary about the Friday the 13th series. Probably not best to watch in one sitting, but it's pretty enthralling when seen in pieces...Corey Feldman narrates...Seems like they got to interview virtually everyone involved in the series (minus Kevin Bacon)...Never Sleep Again, the Nightmare on Elm Street doc, was done by the same company but is only really worthwhile if you're a diehard fan of that series...I can't say I am so I've never actually sat all the way through it...

17. Rewind This - Available on DVD. Really cool documentary on the VHS era...Very nostalgic, and you see that there are still people out there collecting all sorts of crazy VHS cassettes...Favorite part for me was pressing pause from time to time and being like "I owned that one" or "I still own that one"...Has a neat section about the artwork that was on a lot of VHS cassettes back in the day...Reminds me of when I used to go to the video store or more or less pick out movies based on the cover art...

18. The Image Revolution - Being a big comic book fan back in the day, this is a pretty decent overview of the whole Image Comics period, when a bunch of Marvel's key artists left the company to form their own. Still feel this could've been an hour longer, and I wish they had additional interviews with a lot of the people involved, but it's pretty good nonetheless...Even kind of redeemed Rob Liefeld to me, who I had never liked in previous interviews that he had done...

19. Grizzly Man - Another Herzog. Most people have heard of this and seen this so I don't think I can add too much. Just a great movie that surprised me at the time it came out.

20. Koyaanisqatsi - One of my favorite "zone out" movies. No real storyline, just a bunch of crazy cool footage that was compiled over the course of several years. The Philip Glass score is one of the best of all time...Best seen while on hallucinogens...

21. Burden of Dreams - Doc about Herzog's production of Fitzcarraldo. Holy shit. Herzog is one of the most dedicated filmmakers ever. This shows what a nightmare that movie was to make, and the lengths to which Herzog was willing to go to in order to ensure it got made.

22. ESPN's 30 for 30 Documentary Series - Too many good episodes to list. I'd say they're 80% good/20% not so good. Some favourites are the episode I think was called June 17, 1994, Broke, Without Bias, Run Ricky Run, etc. I'll even like the odd episode when I'm not even a fan of the sport being profiled...Bill Simmons did a great job putting this thing together...

23. The War Room - Loved this movie about Bill Clinton's 1991-92 campaign against Bush. Lots of great behind-the-scenes footage...Carville was (and still is) quite the character...I'm a political junkie so what can I say, I loved this movie...

24. Hoop Dreams - Widely acclaimed by Siskel and Ebert when it was released. I feel it's a little overrated, and extremely long, but it is pretty cool seeing these two kids grow up who dream of basketball glory. Depressing at times, but worth your time if you've got nothing to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon...

25. Hearts and Minds - Just a great, compassionate analysis of the effects of the Vietnam War on the Vietnamese population. Lots of the footage is hard to watch but you kind of feel obligated to...Not a light-hearted movie by any means...

26. Shoah - Watched it once. Don't think I'll watch it again. Not cause it was bad, but it is very, very difficult to watch at times. A lot of the times you end up getting emotional just based on how a lot of the witnesses describe the events and atrocities they went through...A brutally honest film...

27. Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired - Don't really want to comment on this, due to the controversy surrounding Polanski. The doc gave me a much better understanding of how the whole situation and court case went down. If people want to know more about the case, this is a great starting point...

28. I Am Chris Farley - One of my favorite comic actors growing up, I remember seeing him constantly on SNL, and Tommy Boy and Black Sheep remain two of my favorite comedies of all-time (Tommy Boy, more so). Sucked when he passed away. I was about to go and play a hockey game when it was announced on Entertainment Tonight...I remember telling everyone when I got to the locker room and everyone was stunned...Was a tough game to play that day...

29. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - I was on Conan's side against Leno (as were most people, it seems, aside from NBC executives). Loved seeing him make use of the time in which he was "legally prohibited from appearing on TV." It was really interesting seeing him try and resist the urge to stifle the rage that you could tell he felt about the whole way he was treated...Occasionally it would come to the surface and those were always the most interesting parts of the film...NBC should've never let him go...

30. Frost/Nixon: The Complete Tapes - Not so much a documentary as it is the complete Frost/Nixon interviews, I just found this to be historically fascinating. Have lots of books on Nixon and had heard a ton about these interviews, but to see them in full was pretty incredible...

Omissions: The Weather Underground, The Winnebago Man, Easy Riders Raging Bulls, Standard Operating Procedure, Taxi to the Dark Side, Call Me Lucky, Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic, Red Army, Cocaine Cowboys, Ivory Tower, Marwencol, Corman's World, DePalma, All Things Must Pass, Citizen Four.

Thanks

These threads of yours are all reruns, but it can't hurt to start new ones after all these years. I'll get back to you on this subject, for which I'll have a long list of personal faves.

I know...Just a bit bored...I vaguely remember some of these types of threads being started in the past but I'm trying to expand and explain my selections as opposed to just coming up with lists (which is totally fine, also)...I think having a dialogue is kind of neat...

I look forward to your list...Have a great day, Norm...

You listed Cocaine Cowboys and Citizen Four as omissions, but for me they are both high up there. Seen many of the ones you listed and agree a lot of them are very good.

I enjoyed your comprehensive list, Goonies. Here's mine from, geez, 15 years ago. I'll add a few new ones at the bottom. Best Boy remains my favourite documentary of all time. Wow, I have seen many fantastic docs in the time since then! For some reason, I omitted Dear America from the original list. Cheers.
Dying at Grace (2003)
Birthplace (1992)
Life Without Death (2000)
Have You Seen Andy? (2003)
My Flesh and Blood (2003)
Kitty: Return to Auschwitz (1979)
The Battle of Chile (1973)
The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear (2004)
The Corporation (2004)
The Stone Reader (2003)
Startup.com (2001)
Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (1988)
The Good Fight (1983)
High School (1968)
Law and Order (1969)
Memory of Justice (1976)
My Architect (2004)
The Police Tapes (1977)
Return to Kandahar (2003)
West of Memphis (2012)
Dying (1976, Michael Roemer)
Last Days in Vietnam (2014)
Bitter Lake (2015)
Best of Enemies (2015)
Cinemania (2002) - shoutout to Jaymole
Tickled (2016)
Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine (2014)
There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011)
Beware of Mr. Baker (2012)
Mimi and Dona (2014)