Harlepolis said:

I didn't realize you posted this in GD so most of my picks were about music.

One of the scenes I remember from Style Wars is the clip where they were interviewing one of these knuckleheads who was asked to justify his vandalization of the subway cars. The only answer he could come up with was something like, "Bomb all lines." The reaction shot of his Mother they cut to was priceless. She looked like she wanted to flatten him like a pancake.

Dark Days really took me out.
As a kid, some friends and I walked through the tunnel from one station to another as a lark.
But I could never imagine a society of people actually living down there.


Cosmos - Dr. Carl Sagan
A Brief History of Time - Dr. Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking's Universe - Dr. Stephen Hawking
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky
American Pimp - Prostitution
Pimps Up, Ho's Down - Prostitution
This Film Is Not Yet Rated - MPAA arbitrary rating system
Jack Johnson - Jack Johnson
Scared Straight! - Exposing younguns to the reality of incarceration
Eyes On The Prize - Civil rights in America
Adam Clayton Powell - Adam Clayton Powell
Music for the Movies - Bernard Herrmann
Speaking in Strings - Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Time - Dr. Michio Kaku
Connections - James Burke


Music for adventurous listeners


tA

Tribal Records

theAudience said:

Yeah I remember that vaguely

The ONE thing that I remember clearly though(I don't know why) was the commercial they played by Irene Cara and the dude that played with her in Fame, where basically plead the youngsters to "stop vandalism".

I remember watching Cosmos in school for an essay project. And I have that Adam Clayton Powell in my Amazon's wishlist since a couple of months

I'm over the Bernard Herrmann film. I'm a sucka for stories about film scores.
[Edited 12/26/09 15:15pm]

off the top of my head....

Planet Bboy
Michael Jackson's This Is It
When We Were Kings
Wild Style
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (I wasn't a fan when I saw it, made me really dislike them after watching it)
George Michael: A Different Story
Soul Deep
The Jackson 5 in Africa
The Self-Destruction of Gia
Ethnic Notions

I really want to see "The Freshest Kids: A History Of The B-Boy"
BRS History
Wattstax

bboy87 said:

Cool list,,,,I SO wanna watch the Gia film, even though I'd end up heartbroken over it.

zaza said:

I never watched the whole documentary but I think I've seen most of it.
Love the soundtrack.

Harlepolis said:

Somebody posted it on a MJ forum I go to and I stumbled on to it. I watched all of on Youtube. Haunting

I have to add "Standing In The Shadows of Motown" to mine.

Harlepolis said:

Paris is burning is still my all time favorite. It's a shame we never heard from Jenny Livingstone , the director, again. It's a film I wished I made.
Grey Gardens is a favorite too.


The Mike Tyson documentary was surpisingly good and so is anything Nick Broomfield.
The Michael Apted 7up series (14 up, 21 up etc) I can watch anytime.
And then there was a documentary called "14 days in May" about a man on death row which moved me to tears.

I don't like Michael Moore's films.

I do like Pennebaker.

I love watching documentaries. My favorite one is The Rape of Europa. It's based on a book, and it examines the systematic plunder of art by the Nazis during WWII.

The first ten that come to mind:

Afro-Punk
Crumb
The Filth And The Fury
An Inconvenient Truth
Man On Wire
Nico Icon
Paris Is Burning
Punk: Attitude
Standing In The Shadows Of Motown
Waltz With Bashir

jone70 said:

I've heard from a prof that's a great film. I need to see it.

1013Nightlife said:

You mean the one that came out this year, directed by John Toback, or the one called "Beyond the Glory", narrated by Ice-T?
I like both but I much prefer the new one. I am a huge Mike Tyson fan, despite all the controversy surrounding him, and I really enjoyed every minute of that documentary. A truly tormented soul, a classic tragic figure.

I hope he can find some sort of closure, some peace of mind in the future.

Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey
This Is It
That's Entertainment!
That's Dancing!
The Brain
Prince Unauthorized
VH1's 60s, 70s and 80s music documentaries
PBS documentary shows: Nova and American Masters

Three recent ones I'd like to see are Secrets of Body Language, Good Hair and Religulous.

KoolEaze said:

I mean the Toback one. It was Tyson in his own words and that was so endearing.
He's clearly not very educated but somehow a pretty smart guy who was able to
analyze himself and the whole hoopla around him. At the end you saw him with his kids and he was so proud to tell one of them was going to college. And later one of his younger kids died (after the film came out).

I don't know if I've seen the other you mentioned but I vaguely remember seeing a BBC documentary about Tyson, much older than the Toback one. A good one too. I often watch the BBC for documentaries; The Arena series is very good.
And Storyville.

By the way: I totally forgot THIS IS IT!!!
Which I'm going to buy the minute it's out.

The War Room from Pennebaker is also an alltime classic and there is no real good Prince documentary (imho)
[Edited 12/27/09 12:29pm]

sextonseven said:

I love it,,,,,that and Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker opened my eyes about the way record labels(and society) view black rock musicians(who black people who happen to enjoy it). Very candid.

Harlepolis said:

I just ordered Electric Purgatory, been dying to see it since I heard about it over a year ago!

I'd like to see that Tyson documentary too.

I should also add Muhammad Ali - The Whole Story to my list. I think I've seen When We Were Kings too. I enjoy any documentaries about Muhammad Ali.

This isn't in order, I'm just listing my favorite documentaries as I think of them:

01. The "Up" series (Everyone should watch these movies.)
02. My Own Flesh And Blood
03. Stevie
04. Hoop Dreams
05. Southern Comfort
06. Salesmen
07. Brother's Keeper
08. American Movie
09. Capturing The Friedmans
10. Cocaine Cowboys
11. Night And Fog
12. The King of Kong (loved this movie!!)

I'd love to see "Titicut Follies" and "Hands On A Hard Body," but can't find them anywhere.

There are just way, way too many to list and I know I am forgetting some really great movies... this is just what comes to mind right now.

jillybean said:

Netflix lists "Hands on a Hard Body" but it's in the "save" category meaning it is not yet available from them. "Titicut Follies" was not listed in Netflix.

I had to dig up this thread to mention my new fave docu-films:





The latter is made of compiled outtakes from When We Were Kings. Ordered all of them from Amazon

sextonseven said:

What is it about, the title is incredibly alluring.....

For now:

Journey of Man - Spencer Wells
The Real Eve - S. Oppenheimer
We Shall Remain - Documentary on Native Americans (PBS)
African Americans Lives Part I - Prof. Henry Louis Gates
African American Lives Part II - Prof. Henry Louis Gates
Malcolm X - (Movie)
Fela Kuti - Music is the Weapon
American Drug War - The Last White Hope
Columbine
Sicko
[Edited 2/14/10 17:05pm]

Mushanga said:

It's about blacks in the American punk scene and the conflict they feel because of their skin color. Very enlightening.

In my preparation for the Academy Awards next month, I watched this one last night:


The Cove

I was horrified. The footage at the end will make you cry.

Apocalypse: World War II - or something like that. Was shown on Discovery late last year. Lots of declassified new footage, cleaned up and colorized. Very insightful and also rather beautiful in its way.

Hoop Dreams I remember I had on VHS

Standing In The Shadows of Motown

sextonseven said:

are TV on the Radio a NY band? I think Dave from Jupiter One told me to listen to them

ZombieKitten said:

They are indeed from NY. Brooklyn I think.

sextonseven said:

I actually quite like them not that I've heard more than about 2 songs

clips from Planet Bboy