The Documentary Thread

[Still BLUTANG]

I really enjoyed Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

[Low C Sharp]

Many of my favorites have been mentioned, so I'll add a few classics:

Crumb
The Thin Blue Line
Hoop Dreams (you will be riveted for every minute of its three hours)
Truth or Dare
Grizzly Man

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by Cen1aur 1963

I just checked out your list. You have a wide array of interests. I'm trippin that you have a whole laundry list about the universe, but don't believe in UFOs, though. How so? You don't believe the Roswell story? I'm not trying to open this up for debate, I'm just trying to see where your mind is. Have you ever seen the movie "Fire in the Sky"? I think that was the name of it. It was about an abduction, and dude passed the lie detector test 3 times or something like that. Lie detector tests can be passed, but I kind of believe his story. I also don't think our government is telling us everything they know about UFOs visiting us.

I believe UFOs exist, it's just that I don't believe that aliens are the ones piloting them lol. I think what people are seeing are top secret military aircraft that's being tested. The rest of what's being said about visitors coming to Earth from elsewhere are all hoaxes. I'm not saying that your perspective is wrong, it's just that I have a much more different perspective from what others believe about life outside of carbon-based life.

If there is any alien life forms out there, I don't believe they're visiting us. I mean, I don't even believe they even know about our existence. Let's just assume for the sake of argument, that humans are the only species in the history of life on Earth to evolve high-level intelligence. If life on Earth offers any measure of life elsewhere in the universe, then intelligence must be rare. It's just that I'm going off of knowing that there have been more than 10 billion species in the history of life on Earth. I just believe it follows that among all ET life-forms we might expect no better than about 1 and 10 billion to be as intelligent as we are, not to mention the odds against intelligent life having an advanced technology and a desire to communicate through the vast distances of interstellar space. It's just that the chance that such a civilization exists, I'm thinking that radio waves would be the communication of choice, and that's because of their ability to traverse the galaxy unimpeded by interstellar gas and dust clouds. It's just that humans on Earth have only understood the electromagnetic spectrum for less than a century. What I'm trying to say without confusing you is that, had aliens tried to send radio signals to Earth, we would have been incapable of receiving them. I mean, for all we know, the aliens have already done this and unwittingly concluded that there was no intelligent life on Earth. I just think that they would now be looking elsewhere. Honestly, if and when we discover ET intelligence, I think it will impart a change in human self-perception that may be impossible to anticipate. My only hope is that every other civilization isn't doing exactly what we're doing because then everyone would be listening, and no one would be receiving, and we would collectively conclude that there is no other intelligent life in the universe. Fire in the Sky was a great movie, if something like that was actually true, but since I don't believe it to be, then it was just another movie, to me.

[NinjaPoodle]

50 Documentaries to See before yOu die
Shown in 5 parts on Current TV and hosted by Morgan Spurlock (the Supersize Me guy)
http://current.com/shows/fifty-documentaries/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Docu...Before_You_Die

Episode 1 "Life After Donkey Kong"
50. Spellbound, by Jeffrey Blitz (2002)
49. Madonna: Truth or Dare, by Alek Keshishian (1991)
48. The Kid Stays in the Picture, by Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen (2002)
47. One Day in September, by Kevin Macdonald (1999)
46. Little Dieter Needs to Fly, by Werner Herzog (1998)
45. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, by Penelope Spheeris (1988)
44. Burma VJ, by Anders Østergaard (2008)
43. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, by Spike Lee (2006)
42. Catfish, by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (2010)
41. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, by Seth Gordon (2007)

Episode 2 "The Boy Who Loves Jesus Grows Up"
40. When We Were Kings, by Leon Gast (1996)
39. Biggie & Tupac, by Nick Broomfield (2002)
38. March of the Penguins, by Luc Jacquet (2005)
37. Inside Job, by Charles H. Ferguson (2010)
36. Taxi to the Dark Side, by Alex Gibney (2007)
35. Paragraph 175, by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (2000)
34. Brother’s Keeper, by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (1992)
33. Tongues Untied, by Marlon Riggs (1989)
32. Dogtown and Z-Boys, by Stacy Peralta (2001)
31. Jesus Camp, by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (2006)

Episode 3 "When Morgan Spurlock Met Mr. Brainwash"
30. Fahrenheit 9/11, by Michael Moore (2004)
29. Man on Wire, by James Marsh (2008)
28. Gasland, by Josh Fox (2010)
27. Tarnation, by Jonathan Caouette (2003)
26. Murderball, by Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro (2005)
25. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, by Alex Gibney (2005)
24. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (1996)
23. The Eyes of Tammy Faye, by Fenton Bailey (2000)
22. Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck (2006)
21. Exit Through the Gift Shop, by Banksy (2010)

Episode 4 "When Morgan Spurlock Went to a Drag Ball"
20. Capturing the Friedmans, by Andrew Jarecki (2003)
19. Touching the Void, by Kevin Macdonald (2003)
18. Food, Inc., by Robert Kenner (2008)
17. Street Fight, by Marshall Curry (2005)
16. Bus 174, by José Padilha and Felipe Lacerda (2002)
15. Crumb, by Terry Zwigoff (1994)
14. Dark Days, by Marc Singer (2000)
13. The Fog of War, by Errol Morris (2003)
12. Bowling for Columbine, by Michael Moore (2002)
11. Paris Is Burning, by Jennie Livingston (1990)

Episode 5 "Top 10 Docs To See Before You Die"
10. Grizzly Man, by Werner Herzog (2005)
9. Trouble the Water, by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (2008)
8. An Inconvenient Truth, by Davis Guggenheim (2006)
7. The Celluloid Closet, by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (1995)
6. The War Room, by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker (1993)
5. Super Size Me, by Morgan Spurlock (2004)
4. Waltz with Bashir, by Ari Folman (2008)
3. Roger & Me, by Michael Moore (1989)
2. The Thin Blue Line, by Errol Morris (1988)
1. Hoop Dreams, by Steve James (1994)

Current TV is still running this series if you can catch it.

[knight_shadow]

^^^ I've seen 6 of those, so I need to step my game up lol

I also meant to add to my list - Loose Change. It takes a controversial look at 9/11, but I found it very interesting.

[cheerfulgreek]

For the past hour, I've been watching Military History on the Military Channel. They were talking about the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. It was really good, and very interesting.

[lovespink88]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Waiting for Superman was very good

Funny you mention this, I was just thinking how I need to see this one--the school my fiance is currently working at was featured in it.

ETA: It's on Netflix! I know what I'm doing tonight.

[cjburris93]

I'll chip in three more:

The Art of the Steal
Standing in the Shadows of Motown
Pray the Devil Back to Hell

[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

^^^ I've seen 6 of those, so I need to step my game up lol

I also meant to add to my list - Loose Change. It takes a controversial look at 9/11, but I found it very interesting.

I too have seen six off that list. I can't even list all the docs I've seen. So many, so little time.

[Low C Sharp]

I think I've seen 18 out of the top 50. I'm shocked that "Harlan County USA" didn't make the list. If you haven't seen that one, somebody put it up on Youtube, so you can see it any time.

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

I think I've seen 18 out of the top 50. I'm shocked that "Harlan County USA" didn't make the list. If you haven't seen that one, somebody put it up on Youtube, so you can see it any time.

I think it's one of the best docs ever. The "50 Docs" documentary only covered the last 20 years or so. Ergo, no "Harlan County USA" or "Grey Gardens".

[honeychile]

I've seen a lot of documentaries, but very few of the popular ones. My favorite is The Nasty Girl. It's about a German schoolgirl who writes a documentary on her town during the Third Reich. They were obviously not very friendly.

[amanda6035]

Here's a new one that I MUST recommend. Hungry for Change. It produced by the same people who did the documentary Food Matters, and it's amazing. They had a free online premier at the end of March, and I watched and decided to buy the DVD. It's powerful if you're looking for motivation to change your eating habits to get healthy. I LOVED it.

[knight_shadow]

I saw this thread was bumped, so decided to catch up on one or 2 documentaries.

This almost made me delete my Netflix account:

[cheerfulgreek]

I did watch this a couple of nights ago. It was really interesting.
http://youtu.be/WAyHzbuT2J0