What Documentaries Are Worth Watching?

[Aceinthehole]

I recently watched  the documentary  Evil Genius on Netflix. It was the perfect balance of creepy and interesting. I wouldn't say it's the best documentary I've ever watched, but it's a great 4 episode watch if you have the time (warning there is some graphic content in it). 

 

I'm looking to expand my repertoire of Documentaries, as I realized they're some of my favorite media. Any good ones anyone can recommend me? 

[Ashi]

I haven't seen the Documentary about Mr. Rogers, but it ought to be interesting.

 

There are like gazillion of documentaries that I watched and I think they all deeply contribute my understanding of humanity and some are rather dark, but many are enlightening.  Many Ken Burns documentaries are great (some may have some dark part of the history mixed in, such as Jazz and WWII).  The recent documentary about The Vietnam War is very good also.  I love The National Parks, America's Best Idea.

 

Planet Earth is suppose to be spectacular (but I haven't watched that one and its sequel and spinoffs). 

 

Cosmos is great if you love science and astronomy.

 

There are gazillians of documentaries I watched about British History.  Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets and Secrets of the Six Wives (about Henry VIII's marital life, obviously) are accessible and interesting for modern audience.

 

The documentary about the famous painter Rembrandt van Rijn (I don't remember the title) is very good.  There are quite a few documentaries about art periods are free to watch if you have Amazon Prime and they are produced I believe by BBC, and they're very good.

 

For American history, besides the usual periods most people know (Independent War, Civil War, the two World War, and Vietnam War already mentioned), you should watch the documentary about Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of atomic bomb, which covers the McCarthy era politics.  Very important part of U.S. history, and perhaps a little insight about humanity and reflection about how the world is heading.

 

The documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, is very interesting.

 

The only musician documentary I watched is The Harvest of Sorrow (about Sergei Rachmaninoff).  Since biography about the post-Romanticism composer is scarce, and all the books are basically rehashing the same limited info, so when I watched the documentary, I already knew all the fact....  (I should've been a Rachmaninoff scholar...).  Another composer documentary I'd wish they'd make is about Prokofiev.

 

Most anthropological documentaries are interesting, but do watch them with an open mind and not insert cultural-centrism comments as you watch them.  Be aware you might see some footage with naked natives and rituals that may make you wince.

 

I don't remember the name of the documentary about gay pr0n industry, but that one was gritty and sad.  There are many documentaries about the subject, but most of them are not very good, but that particular one is very good but depressing.

 

Documentary about Stonewall Riots and Harvey Milk assassination kind of like important if you're interested in gay history (it is gay pride month after all).

[blake_logan]

I watched three documentaries on Sunday.  One was really good, one was kind of OK and one left me feeling "why did I waste my time on that".  It turned out to be more like an infomercial than a documentary, so finding a documentary film that's worth waching can be a challenge.

 

The Full Frame Film Festival shows an outstanding selection of documentary films each year.  The archive section on the website lists all the films they've shown for the past 20 years.  Find something there that peaks your interest then search for it on Netflix (or other streaming video sources).  Maybe you'll get lucky.

[Brayon]

Ancient Aliens.

[Drew Espinosa]

Try the PBS series Nova. It's a scientific documentary series that I absolutely adore. I especially enjoy the episodes that focus on astronomy, such as the one on the Cassini Mission. Although, my all time favorite of theirs will have to be:

 

 

[TetRefine]

PBS's Frontline is a treasure trove of awesome documentaries. They are some of the best around.

 

YouTube is also a great source of documentaries of all kinds, and usually my go-to place. I am currently on a World War II binge, and have been watching a bunch of Nazi Hunter documentaries about the efforts to find the Nazis that escaped justice after the end of the war. 

[Arpeggio]

I watch documentaries all the time. I binge watched several Titanic ones back to back just recently. YouTube is great for finding them. 

[Drew Espinosa]

1 hour ago, TetRefine said:

PBS's Frontline is a treasure trove of awesome documentaries. They are some of the best around.

 

YouTube is also a great source of documentaries of all kinds, and usually my go-to place. I am currently on a World War II binge, and have been watching a bunch of Nazi Hunter documentaries about the efforts to find the Nazis that escaped justice after the end of the war. 

You just reminded me of The Great War channel on Youtube. Anything and everything about WWI is or will be covered by this channel.

[Brayon]

2 hours ago, TetRefine said:

YouTube is also a great source of documentaries of all kinds

 

2 hours ago, Arpeggio said:

YouTube is great for finding them.

 

I've not used YouTube to view documentaries, so I've got ask. Are these legit documentaries backed by facts, or are they someone's film class project chocked full of opinion and bias?

[Reader1810]

2 hours ago, BHopper2 said:

 

 

I've not used YouTube to view documentaries, so I've got ask. Are these legit documentaries backed by facts, or are they someone's film class project chocked full of opinion and bias?

A, your question got me curious, so I had a quick peek at Youtube. I typed in documentaries and it brought up a long list of options including the History channel and National Geographic. TV Shows and full length movies can be found on Youtube, so it's logical that documentaries can as well. You just need to search a bit for what you're interested in watching. 

[TetRefine]

11 hours ago, BHopper2 said:

 

 

I've not used YouTube to view documentaries, so I've got ask. Are these legit documentaries backed by facts, or are they someone's film class project chocked full of opinion and bias?

 

No, they are documentaries from legitimate channels and sources that were taped and uploaded to YouTube. NatGeo, History Channel, PBS, the major networks, etc. YouTube is far from being amateur content nowadays. 

[Former Member]

My topics on Frameline film festivals in The Pit discuss many documentaries on LGBTQ subjects. I’ll be adding to this year’s thoughts, probably mostly next week. I’m not going to describe them here, but I’ve enjoyed The Ice King (subject: UK Olympic Figure Skater, John Curry), Believer (subject: Dan Reynold’s of Imagine Dragons and how Mormons are [not] dealing with LGBTQs), Quiet Heroes (subject: the Doctor and the Physician’s Assistant who cared for all the AIDS patients in Utah in the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic), and When the Beat Drops (subject: the form of dance called Bucking and several teams who compete). There are at least a few others I’ll be seeing in the next couple days that look extremely promising.  ;–)

 

Outside the festival, there are several with San Francisco and LGBTQ connections that I’d recommend. KQED’s documentary on the Castro neighborhood, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, and Coming Out Under Fire (about Gays & Lesbians in the US military during WWII).  ;–)

 

Buying a Castro Pass to Frameline LGBTQ film festival allows me to stay in the Castro Theatre all day during most of the festival. This means I end up seeing Programs that I probably wouldn’t choose to buy tickets for based on their descriptions in the catalog. But I have seen many that have surprised, shocked, enlightened, and delighted me that I never would have otherwise seen (including this year's When the Beat Drops!). The only problem with recommending movies that I’ve seen in Frameline is that many are still on the festival circuit, while others are struggling to find distribution deals. These days, there are many more venues for even niche films with all the legal streaming sites. Especially with short films, YouTube has become a venue to expose the artist and the work to a worldwide audience. But there are always a few that seem to just disappear…

 

 

Frameline40 and Frameline41 in The Pit (free membership required to join the GA club)

[Former Member]

There is also an older documentary about Armistead Maupin called Armistead Maupin is a Man I Dreamt Up (the second half of the title is an anagram of his name). I saw it on KQED a long time ago.

 

On Tuesday, there was an interesting documentary, Dykes, Camera, Action! followed by a panel discussion, Lights, Camera, Take Action. The documentary was about early Lesbian films — I was simultaneously surprised by how many and so few of them I'd seen. The panel discussion included the comment that documentaries are now providing news information and editorials that people used to get in newspapers.

 

 

With the trend towards further and further consolidation and concentration of news and entertainment sources, the separation between factual news and entertainment has gotten extraordinarily blurred. ABC's Nightline was once the bastion of very serious news and analysis. Today's travesty frequently shills for parent company Disney's latest Marvel, Star Wars, or Pixar movie. While feel-good stories have long been a part of televised news, non-news fills larger and larger portions of what prends to be news.

[Aceinthehole]

On 6/19/2018 at 1:08 AM, Ashi said:

I haven't seen the Documentary about Mr. Rogers, but it ought to be interesting.

 

There are like gazillion of documentaries that I watched and I think they all deeply contribute my understanding of humanity and some are rather dark, but many are enlightening.  Many Ken Burns documentaries are great (some may have some dark part of the history mixed in, such as Jazz and WWII).  The recent documentary about The Vietnam War is very good also.  I love The National Parks, America's Best Idea.

 

Planet Earth is suppose to be spectacular (but I haven't watched that one and its sequel and spinoffs). 

 

Cosmos is great if you love science and astronomy.

 

There are gazillians of documentaries I watched about British History.  Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets and Secrets of the Six Wives (about Henry VIII's marital life, obviously) are accessible and interesting for modern audience.

 

The documentary about the famous painter Rembrandt van Rijn (I don't remember the title) is very good.  There are quite a few documentaries about art periods are free to watch if you have Amazon Prime and they are produced I believe by BBC, and they're very good.

 

For American history, besides the usual periods most people know (Independent War, Civil War, the two World War, and Vietnam War already mentioned), you should watch the documentary about Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of atomic bomb, which covers the McCarthy era politics.  Very important part of U.S. history, and perhaps a little insight about humanity and reflection about how the world is heading.

 

The documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright, the architect, is very interesting.

 

The only musician documentary I watched is The Harvest of Sorrow (about Sergei Rachmaninoff).  Since biography about the post-Romanticism composer is scarce, and all the books are basically rehashing the same limited info, so when I watched the documentary, I already knew all the fact....  (I should've been a Rachmaninoff scholar...).  Another composer documentary I'd wish they'd make is about Prokofiev.

 

Most anthropological documentaries are interesting, but do watch them with an open mind and not insert cultural-centrism comments as you watch them.  Be aware you might see some footage with naked natives and rituals that may make you wince.

 

I don't remember the name of the documentary about gay pr0n industry, but that one was gritty and sad.  There are many documentaries about the subject, but most of them are not very good, but that particular one is very good but depressing.

 

Documentary about Stonewall Riots and Harvey Milk assassination kind of like important if you're interested in gay history (it is gay pride month after all).

I could see myself watching the nation park one. It's just really fun seeing all that amazing scenery and perhaps planning a trip to them one day. I love Planet Earth and Cosmos, both of them are so brilliant. I'll make sure to check out all the others, thank you for such a great detailed list! It's nice to have all these suggestions to pick from!

 

On 6/19/2018 at 9:10 AM, blake_logan said:

I watched three documentaries on Sunday.  One was really good, one was kind of OK and one left me feeling "why did I waste my time on that".  It turned out to be more like an infomercial than a documentary, so finding a documentary film that's worth waching can be a challenge.

 

The Full Frame Film Festival shows an outstanding selection of documentary films each year.  The archive section on the website lists all the films they've shown for the past 20 years.  Find something there that peaks your interest then search for it on Netflix (or other streaming video sources).  Maybe you'll get lucky.

I'll make sure to check it out! Thank's for the list, It's definitely worth checking out resources like this festival! 

 

On 6/19/2018 at 6:32 PM, TetRefine said:

PBS's Frontline is a treasure trove of awesome documentaries. They are some of the best around.

 

YouTube is also a great source of documentaries of all kinds, and usually my go-to place. I am currently on a World War II binge, and have been watching a bunch of Nazi Hunter documentaries about the efforts to find the Nazis that escaped justice after the end of the war. 

I love Frontline! Nazi Hunter also sounds really interesting. I love learning about WWII so this one will be at the top of my list for sure.

 

On 6/19/2018 at 6:34 PM, Arpeggio said:

I watch documentaries all the time. I binge watched several Titanic ones back to back just recently. YouTube is great for finding them. 

I'll make sure to check out some on youtube! It will be a great easy place to watch them!

 

On 6/19/2018 at 7:54 PM, Drew Espinosa said:

You just reminded me of The Great War channel on Youtube. Anything and everything about WWI is or will be covered by this channel.

This is definitely something I would love! 

 

On 6/20/2018 at 1:26 PM, droughtquake said:

My topics on Frameline film festivals in The Pit discuss many documentaries on LGBTQ subjects. I’ll be adding to this year’s thoughts, probably mostly next week. I’m not going to describe them here, but I’ve enjoyed The Ice King (subject: UK Olympic Figure Skater, John Curry), Believer (subject: Dan Reynold’s of Imagine Dragons and how Mormons are [not] dealing with LGBTQs), Quiet Heroes (subject: the Doctor and the Physician’s Assistant who cared for all the AIDS patients in Utah in the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic), and When the Beat Drops (subject: the form of dance called Bucking and several teams who compete). There are at least a few others I’ll be seeing in the next couple days that look extremely promising.  ;–)

 

Outside the festival, there are several with San Francisco and LGBTQ connections that I’d recommend. KQED’s documentary on the Castro neighborhood, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, and Coming Out Under Fire (about Gays & Lesbians in the US military during WWII).  ;–)

 

Buying a Castro Pass to Frameline LGBTQ film festival allows me to stay in the Castro Theatre all day during most of the festival. This means I end up seeing Programs that I probably wouldn’t choose to buy tickets for based on their descriptions in the catalog. But I have seen many that have surprised, shocked, enlightened, and delighted me that I never would have otherwise seen (including this year's When the Beat Drops!). The only problem with recommending movies that I’ve seen in Frameline is that many are still on the festival circuit, while others are struggling to find distribution deals. These days, there are many more venues for even niche films with all the legal streaming sites. Especially with short films, YouTube has become a venue to expose the artist and the work to a worldwide audience. But there are always a few that seem to just disappear…

 

 

Frameline40 and Frameline41 in The Pit (free membership required to join the GA club)

LGBTQ films, especially those with San Fran connections would be very helpful to my current story! Also, Coming Out Under Fire sounds very interesting, I can't imagine sacrificing your life only to be judged for your sexuality. 

[mollyhousemouse]

Late to the party, but i have a couple that were good.

 

We watched "Queen; How They Broke Free"  last weekend, we saw it on REELZ, and i know you can find it at Amazon.

https://www.reelz.com/queen-broke-free/

Especially with the Bio-Pic due out, and the things we've heard about them "straight washing" it, this was a good watch.

 

And "A Century of Silent Service" was on the History Channel, i'm not sure if it's available on YouTube, but it was fascinating!  Former President Jimmy Carter hosted.  We had forgotten that he served aboard submarines.

https://www.amazon.com/Century-Silent-Service-VHS/dp/B00006JN65

[Former Member]

I just saw an interesting documentary a few minutes ago, Life in the Doghouse. Interestingly enough, I thought of some of our favorite horse-loving GA authors! The doc focuses on Danny Robertshaw and Ron Danta who run a dog rescue and earn a living working with horses! Apparently these guys are well-known around the horse show circuit. They go to the shows with dogs available to adopt out.

[Drew Espinosa]

Ken Burns' The Vietnam War is now on Netflix.

[W_L]

On 6/24/2018 at 5:06 PM, Drew Espinosa said:

Ken Burns' The Vietnam War is now on Netflix.

 

@Drew Espinosa If you like war documentaries, I recommend PBS/BBC's Battlefield series when it comes to WWII/Vietnam, it taught me a great deal about battle strategies/tactics/machines of war used by both sides that contributed to victories or defeat.

 

Here's an example of their WWII series

Battle of France

 

An example of Vietnam War:series

 

[Former Member]

It was on PBS's Frontline (which was already mentioned), but Monday and Tuesday’s episodes were Our Man in Tehran. A Dutch man, Thomas Erdbrink, met and married an Iranian woman and has lived in Iran for at least 17 years. He talks to various friends he’s made over the years he’s lived there. There are discussions about the Iranian government: how the people feel about it, what they suppress, and how they deal with dissent. He tries to show a more complete picture of Iran, not just the amped up crowds denouncing the US.

 

Also interesting is how the US is blamed by the government for everything (including a drought that dried up a river and a lake), yet the US is where most Iranians would like to emigrate to. As a Muslim country, alcohol is banned, yet it’s available enough that there is even an Alcoholics Anonymous group shown in the doc. Satellite TV is banned, yet 70% of the households have one. Iran is filled with contradictions.  ;–)

[Solivagant]

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls000528998/

This is a list depicting the documentaries that have won the Oscar since 1990. I, too, love documentaries; I have watched most of the ones that have won the Academy Award, and they're superb. "Anne Frank Remembered" (1995), "Bowling for Columbine" (2002), "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006), and "Amy" (2015) are the ones that I remember more fondly. "Super Size Me" (2004) and "Food, Inc." (2008) did not win, but I enjoyed them quite a lot.

[Former Member]

On 6/22/2018 at 5:42 PM, Aceinthehole said:

LGBTQ films, especially those with San Fran connections would be very helpful to my current story!

There was also a documentary about the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot (a pre-Stonewall riot in San Francisco that occurred in 1966!), Screaming Queen: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria. The year before, a group called the Council on Religion and the Homosexual held a costume party to raise funds for the organization. The SFPD harassed attendees by taking pictures of them as they entered the venue. The police demanded entry, but lawyers explained that they couldn’t enter unless they bought tickets to the event. The lawyers were arrested. The following morning, ministers who had attended the event held a press conference describing the actions of the SFPD. The ACLU represented the arrested lawyers, but charges were dropped before the Defense had presented its case.

 

If you haven’t seen it yet, the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) includes information about the White Night Riots (this Wikipedia article contains a lot of background information on SF’s LGBTQ history). The Mayor of Castro Street (1982) by Randy Shilts is a print biography of Harvey Milk – Randy Shilts is significant in his own right.

 

The SFPD, while not perfect, is now much more LGBTQ-friendly with many LGBTQ officers on the force due to the events mentioned above.

 

Pink Triangle Park is a block away from Market & Castro. It’s a tiny park that memorializes the thousands of Gay men who were persecuted by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust of World War II. It’s across Market Street from the main business area in the Castro District, so it’s not as commonly visited as it might be. The Walk of Fame, brass plaques set in the sidewalk with inspirational LGBTQ icons, doesn’t have its own Wikipedia page, but is much more visible due to its location. The GLBT Historic Society (located in the Mid-Market District) sponsors the GLBT History Museum (the second of just three established museums dedicated to LGBTQ history in the world) which is located at 4127 - 18th St in The Castro.

 

Golden Gate Park hosts the National AIDS Memorial Grove (created in 1991, nationalized in 1996).

 

No Secret Anymore: The Times of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon is available from Frameline and has been broadcast on both the Sundance Channel and PBS (SF’s LGBTQ history is not just about the guys).

 

Maybe more information will trigger a new chapter of The Golden City?  ;–)

Edited October 28, 2018 by Former Member