I did a search, and there's never been a thread about this movie.

Second best documentary I've ever seen. My personal favorite. One of my favorite movies ever. Hoorah. Discuss if you'd like.

-JP

I'm interested in seeing the current lives of Agee and Gates, and heard that a new documentary would be made as a follow-up. Anyone know anything about this? Anyway, very gripping story that will hopefully continue to unfold.

What's your favorite? Hoop Dreams, Gimme Shelter, and Standing in the Shadows of Motown are my top 3.

My understanding is that Criterion commissioned the filmmakers to do a shortish follow-up as an extra feature for the DVD, but that it quickly became apparent that the project was a worthy feature in its own right. We'll be getting a full blown sequel sometime down the road.

FWIW - Agee & Gates do a commentary track for Hoop Dreams and talk about some stuff that's happened to them since.

NatrlBornThrllr - so what's the best documentary you've ever seen?

Hoop Dreams is indeed fantastic and I'm happy it recently came out on DVD.

Sidenote, favorite documentaries (today):
1. Dogtown and Z-Boys
2. Triumph of the Nerds
3. Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control

The best documentary I've seen is Night and Fog, though Hoop Dreams is far and away my favorite (and up there among my favorite 15 or so films).

-JP

I thought i'd make great advancements in this discussion by saying: I haven't seen it, but i'm sure it's great.

I know it's out of place but i'm so curious what you're top 10ish favourite films.

City of God, Pulp Fiction, Wild Strawberries, Memento, Buffalo 66, On the Waterfront, Citizen Kane, Adaptation, Taxi Driver, Rashomon, Big Fish, All the Real Girls, Rear Window, The Sweet Hereafter, Shawshank, and many others. I rarely narrow it down that far, because once you get down to the top 30 or so, the list changes on any given day.

-JP

Really glad this is on dvd. Great, great film. My second favorite documentary behind 4 Little Girls...

Movies:
1992 Brief History of Time (not on dvd)
1994 Hoop Dreams
1995 Crumb
2002 Kid Stays In the Picture
2003 Touching the Void
2003 Fog of War

TV:
1980 Cosmos
1990 Ken Burns Civil War
1992 Ric Burns Donner Party
1996 Triumph of the Nerds
1997 Ken Burns Lewis & Clark
2003 April 1865

You know, I've never seen Hoop Dreams. Which is odd, because I know one of them ended up at Mineral Area College about 5 mins from my house. My fiancee did her first two years of college there. I should catch this sometime.

I just saw this for the first time on Netflix. What an excellent tale of American life. Long, long movie though.

It's crazy to think about how much time and effort went into shooting this documentary.

It's a stunning epic, and probably among my five favourite docs ever made.

It's also interesting because as time has gone on the film endures, and what was once a vivid snapshot of a very specific moment in sports and these boys lives is now a vivid time capsule. Many things are the same, but so much has changed too.