I’ve about exhausted the documentaries I have in my Netflix Instant queue.
I’ve watched Jazz, Baseball, The War, The Civil War, The Last Days of WWII, and probably every other History Channel WWII special
Any other suggestions? Any subject is fine.
I do find that I have to really enjoy the subject if it is a Ken Burns documentary, I can only take so much of the, “From Akron to Augusta, from Beaumont to Baton Rouge…” dialogue that is ever present in his documentaries.
Between the Folds
The King of Kong
The Best Worst Movie
When We Left Earth
Blue Planet
Except for King of Kong I’m sure all of them are streaming.
Blue Planet
Eternal Enemies: Lions and Hyenas
Netflix streaming documentaries I have watched and enjoyed:
There are some others I started but didn’t finish, for one reason or another. If any of these seem like your thing, perhaps I could recommend others.
I enjoyed this one very much.
I didn’t even notice that was on Netflix streaming. Will have to cue that up!
I’m a bit of a typographical nerd, so I also enjoyed Helvetica. Word Wars is fun if you’re a Scrabble fan (although the book Word Freaks is much better, IMHO), and Page One: Inside the New York Times (although I may have found this more interesting as I used to be work in newspapers and one of my old colleagues is in that one.)
+1 The King of Kong, not streaming however.
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia: very Jerry Springer, but poignant.
I Like Killing Flies Seinfeld didn’t invent the Soup Nazi, some New York restaurant owners are like that.
Tabloid (think it just went off streaming)
Buck
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Behind the Burly Q
Hoop Dreams is something everyone seems to rave about, but I didn’t particularly like it. Working at basketball skills to make it as an NBA star or at least get a foot in the door for an educational opportunity is great, but that was neither. Studying was the answer for those kids’ problems.
I thought Lions and Hyenas was fascinating. I never realized that hyenas were in the cat family as well.
Another documentary that I found very interesting was one about squid. It was a multiparter that talked about the colossal squid in one episode and the invasion of Humboldt squid in the second. It’s in Netflix if you search for squid.
Did you know that the colossal squid has a donut shaped brain and can get brain damage if it swallows something too large? Now you know… and that’s one to grow on.
Revenge of the Electric Car
Wonderful doc about getting EVC’s to the market.
I watched Cave of Forgotten Dreams last night and enjoyed it very much. Werner Herzog can lay it on a little thick at times though.
The Queen and I
Superb doc about the wife of the shah of Iran in exile. Interesting and moving.
I’ll add my recomendation to this one. It’s worth a re-watch, too.
There are some good ones that come up with the keyword search ‘museum.’
Dear Zachary was good.
Anything by Errol Morris:
The Thin Blue Line
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.
Vernon, Florida
Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
Also, This Film is Not Yet Rated
A State of Mind is about North Korea and focusing around the Mass Games. It really fits nicely with the images coming out of N.K. the last few months.
This one is really interesting as the families that are followed are clearly the best and finest examples of N.K. and as such the N.K. clearly still can’t understand the horror at the conditions that are presented to the world in what is shown.
Second the Errol Morris recommendations.
I found Touching the Void fascinating:
These are two I’ve seen recently on Netflix streaming:
Living Goddess
Protagonist
I really want to see Jessica Yu’s other documentary In the Realms of the Unreal…, about Henry Darger, but it’s not on streaming and apparently its OOP too…
Afterwards, watch Vice Guide to Travel: North Korea…used to be on Watch Instantly, but I think this link has all of it.
I’ve always liked Trinity and Beyond. Lots of atomic explosions and William Shatner narrating–what’s not to love?