Documentaries

[housenuts]

[ QUOTE ]

cocaine cowboys - chronicles the cocaine trafficking boom in miami during the 70s/80s. features interviews with the two biggest transporters and one of the top enforcers. exposes a number of key figures who are largely unknown and dispells the myth that pablo escobar was the top dog in the business. a compelling mix of news footage and interviews. this was the best of the bunch - really awesome.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is my first post in your forum. i downloaded this movie on the other week on a whim. never heard of it before but i loved the movie Blow, so this sounded good. i watched it about it week ago and man was it awesome. i probably would have been a coke smuggler if i was that age in the 70s

[Arnfinn Madsen]

A look into a different world, not a well made movie, but still interesting:

Disbelief

[SB182]

i may be a little too mainstream and a few years late, but i recently saw "Murder on a Sunday Morning". It did a great job of showing the flaws that can exist in eyewitness id's and confessions. Plus, the public defender is just an awesome character.

[limon]

i cant beleive no one has mentioned VERNON, FLORIDA. has anyone mentioned VERNON, FLORIDA? it is an absolute must see on the order of: my brothers keeper, crumb, roger and me and PARADISE LOST.

[wet work]

I don't recall seeing this one mentioned, Tom Dowd & The Language of Music. If you're into music this is a must see. Dowd's influence on music is immeasureable.

[cbloom]

For those in SF , the Balboa Theatre is showing all the oscar nominated documentaries FOR FREE , Feb 20 & 21.

http://www.balboamovies.com/oscar/
The Balboa Theater - Oscars 2006

[SZEppi]

Great thread! But why hasn't anybody mentioned Jean Xavier Lestrade yet? imho he is the best documentary film maker out there juging by the two things i've seen by him: (death on) the Staircase and Murder on a Sunday Morning. Like John Grisham, only stranger, more disturbing and more unpredictable. Maybe they never aired in the US, since he is a French filmmaker, but both documentaries are on the US judicial system.

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Plot Synopsis: Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, presents a gripping courtroom thriller, offering a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial. In 2001, author Michael Peterson was arraigned for the murder of his wife Kathleen, whose body was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the stairway of their home. Granted unusual access to Peterson's lawyers, home and immediate family, de Lestrade's cameras capture the defense team as it considers its strategic options. "The staircase" is an engrossing look at contemporary American justice that features more twists than a legal bestseller.
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French documentary about the trial of a black American teenager accused of robbing and murdering an elderly white tourist at a Florida hotel. The film follows the teen's defense team as they build a case that shows ineptitude and prejudice on the part of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

[Quanah Parker]

I guess this more of a mockumentry:
FISHING WITH JOHN
This is so good and funny. This guy Joh seems to know everyone and gets them to go fishing with him. Dennis Hopper in Thailand, Tom Waits in Jamacia, and it's just perfect. Way too serious voice-overs like when John and Tom Waits are paddling up a river. Something like(deep voice) "Tom and I were now where no white man had ever fished before."

[starbird]

American Splendor -- Brilliant, but is it a documentary? [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Harvey Pekar.

I'm a Ross McElwee fan -- Charleen, Sherman's March.

[DirtyDiggs]

Murder on a Sunday Morning was excellent.

Also I was a Big fan of Born Rich It was directed by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. Gives an interesting perspective in to young people with old money. A reminder that Fitzgeralds famous opening line is still true.