In my opinion, Theroux is at his best when he takes on a serious subject. His attempts at doing comedic ones are usually a flop (IMHO). He’ll do a subject that has plenty of room to be taken respectfully, but he will trivialize it in an attempt to be funny. It doesn’t work for me.
But that’s a minor part of his overall work. Most of it is very interesting.
Wow, you guys. Great stuff. Not sure how I managed to miss some of the earlier posts this morning, but will get caught up.
Here is an animal documetary by BBC that I really liked, empire of the desert ants:
Edit: Oh and this one about the artist and scientist Joe Davies, though sadly only a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz8MsV0HtiYI have seen “Searching For Sugar Man” and “Beware of Mr. Baker”. The “Sugar” movie leaves out a lot of vital information (he was fairly successful in Australia ca. 1980) and as for Ginger Baker, his troubles were CAUSED by his attitude and not the result of them. He’s the kind of person who destroys everything and everybody that crosses his path, and is proud of it. :rolleyes: I did finish the movie but it wasn’t easy to do, since I disliked him so strongly.
This movie, “Tulku”, was produced for Canadian educational television and was aired on it in 2009. I got it via interlibrary loan prior to it being placed on You Tube, and as I watched it, all I could think was, “You people have ABSOLUTELY.NO.IDEA that your lives are going to be completely upended in the fall of 2014!” :eek:
TL : DR - Regarding the Ebola epidemic, the American missionaries who got it have had to deal with idiotic questions about how they feel about this being part of God’s plan for their lives. :smack: I’m Christian myself and I cringed every time I heard them being asked about it. What’s much lesser known is that some people believe a deity GOT Ebola. 
One of the interviewees is Ashoka Mukpo, the NBC cameraman who got sick while working in Liberia; the movie was made by his half-brother, and their mother is interviewed in it too.
I found out about all this via a Facebook PM from someone who knew I was following the Ebola story (one of my interests is medical history) and my reaction to the links he sent me was to spray a mouthful of water all over my computer screen. Yes, people really do that. :o
While we’re on the subject, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dateline does some version of “Saving Dr. Brantly: One Year Later” (see footnote), especially because the disease nearly cut down one of their own, and the Brantlys have a book coming out in a few days. Here’s the first chapter; to my surprise, it doesn’t (so far) pour the religion on as thick as I thought they might. I have it reserved at the library and look forward to reading it.
Footnote: AND Dr. Sacra, and Dr. Spencer, and Dr. Crozier whose story could be its own TV series :(, and the others too.
Forgot to mention that I didn’t care for “The Thin Blue Line” the first time I saw it, not long after it came out, but I did re-watch it a few years ago and appreciated how fantastic it was. More recently, “Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed On The Mountain”, which is about the 1972 Andes plane crash, was excellent too.
ETA: Didn’t get in under the deadline. Some people believe that Ashoka is the reincarnation of a Buddhist guru, and has been interviewed about this elsewhere. He does not believe this himself.
Documentaries describes 90% of the stuff I watch so picking out a favorite amongst the clutter is really hard. If series count, Victory At Sea. If we;re talking single episode or stand-alone then I would say Ripley: Believe It or Not from American Experience.
Which ones are his comedy ones? I always thought he took all of his subjects seriously.
Capturing the Friedmans is one of my faves, and speaking of Jarecki, I really enjoyed The Jinx.
I’ve seen “Capturing The Friedmans”. Not sure what to think about that, in the end.
There’s also an ultra-low budget doc made in the mid 1990s called “So Wrong They’re Right”. It’s about 8-track aficionados, and it’s great. 
Another I really liked was “We Jam Econo”, about the 1980s punk band The Minutemen, who were about to hit the big time when their singer died in a freak accident.
Capturing The Friedmans is very good.
I’m a big Errol Morris fan, so I would recommend pretty much everything he’s done.
*Gates of Heaven (1978)
Vernon, Florida (1981)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
A Brief History of Time (1991)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. (1999)
First Person (2000)
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
Tabloid (2010)
*
I haven’t seen Standard Operating Procedure or The Unknown Known yet.
First Person is a series of 1/2 hour documentaries about interesting individuals.
I loved “First Person” IIRC, that series was on Bravo, before it went all Hollywood Wives or whatever that show’s called.
I have seen SOP and TUK. They’re both done in the typical Errol Morris format. I also saw “Into The Abyss”, which was about a complex murder case and it was good too.
As for “Tabloid”, it played at an independent theater in a city I was living near at the time, and I thought I wanted to see it until the website said “We are not giving refunds for ‘Tabloid’, so watch at your own risk.” I did see it on DVD, and let’s just say that while I did finish it (it has a VERY unexpected ending!) I’m glad I didn’t pay money to watch it, beyond my monthly Netflix fee.
Two movies to NOT do research on before you see them are “Dear Zachary” and “The Overnighters”; the latter recently aired on some PBS affiliates. Both are very good too.
Has anyone here seen “Titicut Follies”? I’ve always wanted to see it, but it doesn’t seem to be available in any format. Most of Frederick Wiseman’s docs aren’t.
I love documentaries! Here are some of my favorites:
“Cocaine Cowboys” - All about the drug trade in Florida in the 80’s, very interesting.
“Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room” - Unbelievable documentary that details how Enron failed.
“Alone in the Wilderness” - In the 70’s a guy moves to the Alaskan wilderness and builds a cabin with his own hands. Highly entertaining
“Word Wars” - If you’re a Scrabble fan, it’s pretty entertaining
“20 Feet from Stardom” - All about the back-up singers of famous bands and how they get virtually no recognition for some of the most famous songs in music
“The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters” - About a guy that tries to beat the high score on Donkey Kong and the evil rival that tries to stop him!
“Ken Burns: The Civil War” - Long (Several parts) but detailed documentary on the Civil War
“Ken Burns: Baseball” - Long (several parts) but detailed documentary on the history of baseball
“Princess of Versailles” - Story about a rich couple that start building one of the biggest mansions in the US. They start building a few years ago, and during the process the housing market crashes and it shows them dealing with it.
Anyway, there are a few to chew on. Enjoy!
MtM
You mean “Queen of Versailles”? I watched all the DVD extras, and those filled in a lOt of holes. Sadly, the oldest child died recently. 
This wonderful movie has also aired on PBS, mostly in the Midwest. However, it is not suitable for young children because it isn’t sugarcoated, and one interviewee talks about a classmate who sexually assaulted him, and other children, at knifepoint. :eek:
ETA: It would help if I posted a link.
http://www.countryschoolmovie.com/
I watched the first 3/4 of “Life Itself”, the new Roger Ebert doc, and then the DVD got all wonky and I’m waiting on a replacement from Netflix. It’s good, but wow - some people may disagree, but IMNSHO he had no quality of life for his last 7 years. That operation was far more mutilating than I could ever have imagined.
My Top 10 (in chronological order):
Man with a Movie Camera
Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress
The Mystery of Picasso
Salesman
The Last Waltz
Burden of Dreams
Sherman’s March
When We Were Kings
Belfast, Maine
Man on Wire
His UFO one springs immediately to mind. He also has a “Christmas with Louis” or something like that, and more. Though sometimes the subjects shine through his nonsense and it becomes a good watch despite it. Will post some of those along the way.
But IMO he isn’t funny. At all. I wish he’s spare us from his lack of humor, and stick to serious things.
BTW, I hadn’t seen anything from Werner Herzog before your earlier post. I’d heard of him, of course, but that’s it.
Man, so much good stuff that it’s almost unbelievable. I love it.
Will be back within next day or so with more to come, but just wanted to give a quick shout about one that I recently watched - only to find it mentioned on here by McDeath_the_Mad, right after. It’s called King of Kongs: Fistful of Quarters (one of many good ones already mentioned in this thread that I’m familiar with).
KoK may seem kinda cluttered at first (to say nothing of dumb), but if you can get beyond that to figure out what’s happening: it’s one of the best. So many stories coming together under a topic that might otherwise be dismissed, it’s got a very clever way of attaching itself to the mind. A great watch.
I just watched An Honest Liar, which is a documentary about James Randi(The Amazing Randi). Very well done and well worth the viewing.
It streams on Netflix.
Fast,Cheap, and Out of Control has been mentioned, but it should be emphasized.
Project Grizzly is one of the funniest films I have ever watched.
See also The Up Series - 7 Up, 14 Up, etc. An interesting long view of life.
Regards,
Shodan
Man On Wire is one of my favorites, too. It’s a documentary but it plays out much like a caper flick.
Meant to say it’s a good point about spoilers. For me, I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, so I’ll put up a title and maybe follow it with some words. So if a person doesn’t want much info about something I post, then just skip that. Because there will be some I might reveal too much on, otherwise.