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Author Topic: Documentaries  (Read 41758 times)

KharBevNor

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Documentaries
« on: 22 Jul 2005, 14:08 »
Ok, who else here loves documentaries? I have a thing for a seriously good documentary series, and my a seriously good documentary series I mean:

Blue Planet
Vikings!
Earth Story
The Ascent of Man
A Picture of Britain

All of which use the classic formula of taking a very broad over-arching topic, breaking it down into one manageable area per episode, getting a really good presenter with a strong personality, and then attacking the subject with a broad range of interesting techniques, incorporating some breath-taking cinematography and lots of highly interesting asides. Of them all, Vikings! with Magnus Magnusson and Earth Story with Aubrey Manning are the least known. I think Earth Story is actually running on discovery now though. Get Vikings! on video. It's worth it just for the title sequence, which is probably responsible for influencing my life a LOT more than it should. Also, it shits on that Blood of the Vikings bollocks. FROM A GREAT HEIGHT.

Anyone else a fan? I also, I must point out, like good travel documentaries (Pole to Pole (and most of Palins stuff), The Island Race, Notes From a Small Island etc.) and also what I shall call 'Discovery channel filler schlock', which covers those mass-produced engineering or war-themed documentary series that all seem to have the same, anonymous narrator (Like 'Raids of World War Two' and 'Speed Machines') and the related fly-on-the-wall type shows (American Chopper, Scrapheap Challenge, Salvage Squad, etc.) Oh, and that one about Aeroplanes with Bruce Dickinson. Just because it's got big Aeroplanes and Bruce Dickinson.

Oh my, and isn't Time Team just one of the best TV Series formulas EVER?

Seriously, if it wasn't for the insanely annoying adverts and the tediously repetitive shows about ancient Egypt, I could watch Discovery and UK History/Documentary...well, pretty much forever.
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chupones

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Documentaries
« Reply #1 on: 22 Jul 2005, 17:16 »
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KharBevNor

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Documentaries
« Reply #2 on: 22 Jul 2005, 17:32 »
Dammit, how could I forget The Crusades?

Also, the series of 'Letter From America'. As a regular listener to the series, I particularly enjoyed it. Alistair Cooke's passing deserved far more mourning than it got.
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Inlander

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Documentaries
« Reply #3 on: 22 Jul 2005, 22:17 »
Did anyone here see To Be and To Have?  It's an absolutely gorgeous documentary about a one-classroom school in rural France.  It was quite popular in Europe when I was there a couple of years ago, but when it was released in Australia last year it wasn't nearly so succesful, which is a real shame.  It's one of the best films I've seen in recent years.
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chupones

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« Reply #4 on: 22 Jul 2005, 22:57 »
I'd be all over that, but there is nowhere I can rent it or purchase it in the US.
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sandysmilinstrange

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Documentaries
« Reply #5 on: 23 Jul 2005, 09:35 »
A friend of mine made a documentary called Citizen Shane that is pretty humorous.

It's about a guy who is running for Sheriff in Lowndes county (VERY small town Mississippi).  He's fascinated by serial killers and has a very regular correspondence with Charles Manson, and believes that his mother's death was covered up by local police.  

It's really interesting, and if you can get your hands on a copy, I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up.

If nothing else, you get to hear Manson sing a song he wrote during one of their phone conversations.
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dutchrvl

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Re: Documentaries
« Reply #6 on: 02 Nov 2018, 07:13 »
I see we actually have a documentaries thread so figured I would post this here.

Saw "In god we trump" last night (it's on Amazon), a documentary that explores evangelicals and why they have flocked to Trump and remain his most ardent supporters.

While most in the doc did not surprise me, it is still a pretty good exploration. Only problem while watching was that I had to fight fits of anger within myself in order to watch it til the end. Worth it for me though.

I suppose it is not quite a fit for the 'ENJOY' section......
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JoeCovenant

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Re: Documentaries
« Reply #7 on: 05 Nov 2018, 00:59 »

Yeah Docs are sweet....
One of my faves is an odd beast called "Animals are Beautiful People"

Which is a cross between a wildlife documentary and a comedy - set in and around the Serengeti.

And then there's Louis Theroux...!
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Re: Documentaries
« Reply #8 on: 08 Nov 2018, 20:35 »
I saw Searching for Sugar Man. Fascinating to me since I grew up listening to my Dad's copy of Cold Fact. Great documentary. Apparently, it is the first film with scenes shot on an iPhone to win an Oscar. I had no idea before seeing it that Rodriguez was (at the time) virtually unknown in the USA.
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dutchrvl

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Re: Documentaries
« Reply #9 on: 25 Feb 2019, 10:55 »
Superhappy that 'Free Solo' won the oscar last night. I saw it a while ago in Boston (and met Alex Honnold afterwards) and it is absolutely breathtaking and a cinematic masterpiece in my view. The camerawork by Jimmy Chin is so good it's hard to imagine it's a doc you're looking at.
Obviously the feat by Honnold it is about to a large extent makes it so exciting (for those who are unaware, it's about him free solo'ing [i.e. no ropes or any protection] a 3000 ft slab of vertical rock).

For anyone who hasn't seen it, please do. Yes you'll have sweaty palms most of the movie, but it's worth it.
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Thrillho

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Re: Documentaries
« Reply #10 on: 26 Feb 2019, 02:42 »
I am totally down for reviving this thread but wow that OP username is a blast from the past.

I recently watched Dave Grohl's documentary Sound City about the studio of the same name, which was... Fine.

Prone overwhelmingly to an 'aw yeah REAL music' attitude about rock, or rather anything that wasn't rock - as if Fleetwood Mac were somehow counter culture when they put out one of the biggest albums of all time.

It's a nice little history but too much of its runtime is given over to the album they made using the studio's mixing desk.
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