What Are Your Favorite Documentaries (And Best Movie Review Websites)?

[ihavenobias]

Hey, it's Friday and things have been tense around here lately so I figured we could talk about something unlikely to result in figurative gunfire and explosions (unless of course you recommend a WWII/Vietnam documentary).

I just got a zillion documentaries for Christmas (ok, maybe I'm off by 2 or 3) and I wanted to share. Which ones did I get?

-Outfoxed (watched it)
-Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices (have not seen it)
-Iraq For Sale (watched it)
-An Inconvenient Truth (saw in theater)
-Jesus Camp (watched via hotel PP while on vacation in Arizona a year ago, strangely enough)
-Sicko (saw in theater)
-Your Mommy Kills Animals (haven't seen it, should be getting it soon).

Also, I know most people love IMDB and have it as their # 1 movie review/info website. And I like it too. But my favorite is the lesser known www.rottentomatoes.com . Don't let the name bother you, it's an awesome website with a great concept. Basically it consolidates EVERY review available for a given movie, and gives you one or two sentences from each reviewer (including well known and lesser known critics) that sums up how they felt. Next to each review snippet there is an icon, which is either a red or "fresh" tomato (i.e. good review) or a green splat or "rotten" tomato (i.e. bad review).

It then gives each movie a percentage based on the sum of the reviews. If 60% of the reviews were positive overall, the movie is considered to be fresh (less than 60% means it was rotten). It also provides a one sentence summary of the collective, consensus opinion of the critics.

Now anytime I'm not sure if I want to see a movie, I go here to quickly see the percentage. It's not my Bible or anything, but it gives me a great general idea. Also, it gives you the average critic rating out of 10 when possible. Take An Inconvenient Truth for example, which has a rating of 93%. That means of the 149 critic reviews for the film, 93% of them liked it more than they didn't.

The average rating out of 10 was 7.7.

Here, check it out and look up *your* favorite documentaries: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inconvenient_truth/


www.theyoungturks.com

[cynatnite]

1. Sicko and Who Killed the Electric Car...

A bunch of others I love, but those are my favorite two.

[ihavenobias]

3. I forgot about Who Killed The Electric Car

I watched it on cable a few months ago. It's not especially flashy, but the subject matter is very interesting.

[cynatnite]

12. I blew it off for the longest time because it seemed boring...

after I did I was speechless. Excellent documentary, I thought. There was another one about the military industrial complex that was good, but I can't recall the name of it.

[ihavenobias]

24. Are you thinking of the movie Why We Fight?

That was good.

[MrCoffee]

2. my 2 all-time favorite documentaries are

Capturing the Friedmans and Spellbound

i have not yet seen No End In Sight, because the video store only has one copy and it's NEVER there :grr:

[skipos]

4. Paradise Lost is a must see documentary about the West Memphis Three

who are STILL incarcerated.
MUST. SEE.

[Imagine My Surprise]

5. I just saw Dr. Bronner's Magical Soapbox -- very kewl! n/t

[MrCoffee]

8. i'm jonesing to see that

i LOVE the Dr. Bronner's labels

[enigmatic]

6. Gates Of Heaven (1978)

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19971109/REVIEWS08/401010320/1023

[EOTE]

7. I like Rotten Tomatoes as well,

but don't entirely agree with their composite rating system. The composite average that they provide is very digital in nature. So if a film has two reviews, one negative one positive, the composite average for that film would be 50% (rotten). However, what if the positive review was extremely positive and the negative review was only minorly negative? It would seem that the 50% designation wouldn't be accurate in that case (or in the inverse). That being said, it's still my favorite movie review site, I usually use it to provide me to links of some of my favorite reviewers (like Ebert).

[ihavenobias]

11. That's why you also have to look at the

average rating out of 10 under each review and then the total. Also, the issue you raise usually works itself out for (relatively) mainstream films that get a large number of reviews.

But it's true that sometimes much smaller films might be skewed. Still, you can always click on an individual review to read the extended version.

[EOTE]

14. I typically do do that.

However, with some reviews, it's almost impossible to discern a 1-10 rating. I'd like it if they were able to do a composite-composite rating that took all the quantitative reviews and averaged them into a single quantitative review. Or maybe I'm just asking too much. The way I typically go about it is if a film looks interesting to me, I'll check RT to see if it's over 50%. If it is, I'll check out a few of the negative reviews by reviewers I trust and see if I still want to see it. But then again, I've seen some films with very low RT ratings that I've liked, and ones with very high RT ratings that I didn't like. Disney's Enchanted was a perfect example of this, I didn't think it was a bad movie, but in no way was it deserving of a 93% rating. I do like the site a lot and look forward to seeing how it changes over the years.

[ihavenobias]

16. But remember

And I have to remind myself of this too, and that is that 93% doesn't mean 93 out of 100 points.

It doesn't mean the movie gets a grade of 93%. It just means that 93 out of 100 (fake number used to simplify example) critics that watched it liked it more than they didn't like (or liked it overall if you prefer).

For enchanted, the average rating was 7.3 out of 10. Does that seem more reasonable?

[helderheid]

9. The Iron Triangle: The Carlyle Group Exposed

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7094545816220336237&q=iron+triangle&total=111&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Translation of the Dutch introduction of this program
The war in Iraq is over.
The rubble is still smoking while the first dozers are already entering the country.
After the coalition forces destroyed Baghdad it is now primarily American companies who are to rebuild Iraq.
An interesting point is that these companies usually have people on the payroll who have been politicians. Is this a conflict of interests or a new (global) way of doing business?
One of the corporations that work this way is the Carlyle Group. On their payroll are people like : George Bush (Sr.), James Baker III and old premier John Major.
The Carlyle Group is a private investment bank which doesn't come to the publics attention very often but it is one of the biggest US investors of the defense industry, telecom, property and financial services.
What is the Carlyle Group? Who are the people behind the name? And how much power does Carlyle have?

[blondeatlast]

10. "Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room" about the Enron scandal--97%

By the way, when I selected movies for the public library, Rotten Tomatoes was our favorite review resource.

Excellent production and they reveal it like a good murder mystery. Enjoy!

[Richard Steele]

13. My 2 fave documentaries are "Taken For a Ride" and "In the Light of Reverence"

In the Light of Reverence:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/inthelightofreverence/

[long_green]

15. My favorite documentary is "The Sorrow and The Pity"

by Marcel Ophuls. It is about the German occupation of France and interviews people on all sides of the events- French Resistance fighters, a man who as a youth joined a French SS outfit, relatives of famous collaborationist politicians, right wingers, Communists, farmers, scholars, German soldiers and officers, and British officers and men. Most people have heard of the movie only through the references to it on "Annie Hall." Even then, it's kind of a joke as in, this is the sort of movie only Woody Allen could like. But if you ever see it, you'll never forget it. And you can watch it over and over and over.

[TheMightyFavog]

17. Don't Look Back

Great insight into Bob Dylan. I was introduced to the film by one of my Video Production Professors.

[Adsos Letter]

18. Well...

"Vietnam: A Television History" PBS Series...

"The World at War" Thames series...

"The Civil War" Ken Burns...

"The First World War" Channel 4 series...

Hmmm...I seem to sense a pattern here...time for some inner-reflection...which will probably end in a nap...and my wife will come home and ask why I haven't finished painting the hallway...

This could easily lead to another conflict series...

[goodgd_yall]

37. Yes---The Civil War

another excellent documentary.

[orleans]

19. watch WHY WE FIGHT by eugene jarecki --it'll blow your shit away. n/t

[cynatnite]

22. That's it!

I was trying to remember the name of the one about the military industrial complex. It did blow my shit away. Powerful stuff!

[ihavenobias]

30. Interesting how that was narrated by John McCain n/t

[Lex]

20. "The Times of Harvey Milk" is the best documentary

that I've ever seen.

[AlCzervik]

21. the Fog of War, Hoop Dreams, Winged Migration, The corporation and about

a million others, i love docs.

[ihavenobias]

25. Ah, I can't believe I forgot The Corporation!

I actually saw that one in the theater too.

[goodgd_yall]

40. Another bird doc

March of the Penguins. I saw that just about a month ago. What they go through when it's time to give birth is incredible.

[Bluerthanblue]

23. The US vs. John Lennon is EXCELLENT-

but so reminicent of a time of .....hope.....promise???? .... innocence?

[JohnyCanuck]

26. "The Corporation" and "Money as Debt"

The Corporation

About the Film

WINNER OF 26 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS! 10 Audience Choice Awards including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

Provoking, witty, stylish and sweepingly informative, THE CORPORATION explores the nature and spectacular rise of the dominant institution of our time. Part film and part movement, The Corporation is transforming audiences and dazzling critics with its insightful and compelling analysis. Taking its status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion, the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask "What kind of person is it?" The Corporation includes interviews with 40 corporate insiders and critics - including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore - plus true confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

http://thecorporation.com/index.cfm?page_id=2

Synopsis

Among the 40 interview subjects are CEOs and top-level executives from a range of industries: oil, pharmaceutical, computer, tire, manufacturing, public relations, branding, advertising and undercover marketing; in addition, a Nobel-prize winning economist, the first management guru, a corporate spy, and a range of academics, critics, historians and thinkers are also interviewed.

A LEGAL "PERSON"

In the mid-1800s the corporation emerged as a legal "person." Imbued with a "personality" of pure self-interest, the next 100 years saw the corporation's rise to dominance. The corporation created unprecedented wealth but at what cost? The remorseless rationale of "externalities" (as Milton Friedman explains, the unintended consequences of a transaction between two parties on a third) is responsible for countless cases of illness, death, poverty, pollution, exploitation and lies.

THE PATHOLOGY OF COMMERCE: CASE HISTORIES

To assess the "personality" of the corporate "person," a checklist is employed, using diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization and the standard diagnostic tool of psychiatrists and psychologists. The operational principles of the corporation give it a highly anti-social "personality": it is self-interested, inherently amoral, callous and deceitful; it breaches social and legal standards to get its way; it does not suffer from guilt, yet it can mimic the human qualities of empathy, caring and altruism. Four case studies, drawn from a universe of corporate activity, clearly demonstrate harm to workers, human health, animals and the biosphere. Concluding this point-by-point analysis, a disturbing diagnosis is delivered: the institutional embodiment of laissez-faire capitalism fully meets the diagnostic criteria of a "psychopath."

http://thecorporation.com/index.cfm?page_id=312

You can watch "The Corporation" on Youtube posted as 23 chapters. See the links here http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=FA50FBC214A6CE87

Money as Debt

From a Review of the documentary "Money as Debt" by Elizabeth Kucinich:

Elizabeth J. Kucinich, monetary reform activist partner of
Congressman, and US Presidential aspirant, Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

"I have worked for a long time looking into monetary reform and after 10 years, finally someone has produced a DVD entitled "Money as Debt". It is a fabulous fun yet powerful introduction to the issue of monetary reform. It's the best over view I have seen so far; the best by far. ESSENTIAL! Everyone should watch it!

The topic of DebtMoney is THE issue of our times. It forms the basis to every nation's areas of core material and spiritual concerns such as economic development, employment and environmental sustainability.

If only government officials, civil society organizations, environmental groups, unions and well meaning international development strategists trying to eradicate poverty really understood this topic... the world would be a much better place.

Only 47 minutes long, this DVD is ideal for public education in schools, colleges and universities, as well as individual or family viewing, with lots of juicy re-useable quotes from prominent bankers, economists and presidents.
www.moneyasdebt.net (click on "Reviews)

Comment from the documentary's producer, Paul Grignon:

Money created as interest-bearing bank credit is a magic trick, a fraud - now 3 centuries old; one that very few people have seen through despite, or rather because of, its utter simplicity.

It is my intention to make this mysterious debt-money system comprehensible to everyone. It is also my intention to foster sufficient understanding of the problems with this money system that citizens will be motivated to join the monetary reform movement and/or create local alternatives to the global monetary system - a system in which most of the productive people of the world are collectively chained to an ever-increasing and perpetually unpayable debt.

This is a system designed for elite control of the people by those who have given themselves the privilege of creating money. It is also, I believe, a system that is designed for catastrophe. As the movie explains, there can be no sustainable civilization without a sustainable money system

http://paulgrignon.netfirms.com/MoneyasDebt/ProducersComments.html

You can watch "Money as Debt" on Google video here:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=money+as+debt&sitesearch= (click on the first link at the top of the list)

[ihavenobias]

27. I'd like to check out the Money As Debt

sounds interesting.

[Poiuyt]

28. Day After Trinity

About the development of the atomic bomb. Fascinating.

[LWolf]

29. The Natural History of the Chicken

[OneMoreDemocrat]

31. My favorites.....

Dark Days: about people living in the tunnels under NYC; an incredible film.
American Movie: about two guys making a short film; genius.
The Salesman: from the Maysles, kinda started the documentary ball rolling (cinema-verite 'style' anyhow).
Brothers Keeper: about two Brothers who are accused of murdering a third; chilling.
Supersize Me.

[ihavenobias]

32. I've seen most of those

As for American Movie, did you ever see Coven, the short film they were working on? I have it on VHS!

[Buns_of_Fire]

33. Koyaanisqatsi

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/koyaanisqatsi_life_out_of_balance/

It makes a good front-end to An Inconvenient Truth. Koyaanisqatsi, from the Hopi: Life Out of Balance, a state of life that calls for another way of living. This film, made over 20 years ago, is just as relevant today, perhaps more so. Awesome cinematography (sometimes speeded-up, sometimes slowed-down), a Philip Glass score, and no spoken words (save the chant) whatsoever. It's all about the imagery.

Oddly enough, I just ordered it from my friends at amazon.com this morning, before I saw this post. It's been ten years or so since I've seen it, and I still remember some of the images (and the catchy theme song ;-)).

That, and it impresses the hell out of people that I can even spell it.

[WillyT]

34. Hearts And Minds - About Vietnam

Link: http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=156

It will blow you away.

[goodgd_yall]

35. I liked "Dark Days"

It's an intimate look into the lives of people living underground (literally)in NYC. The soundtrack was great too.

[goodgd_yall]

36. Thought of another: the PBS series on the Vietnam War

Aired years ago and available in libraries. I watched it 11 years ago and it was the best history lesson on the Vietnam War I could ever have.

[AP]

38. Life & Debt, The Revolut'n w/n be Tlvs'd, Please Vote for Me, Thin Blue Line, Llumuba: Death of...

...Prophet, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes

[Deny and Shred]

39. My favorite docu was a IFC creation about CIA//FgnPol/Drugs

entitled 'Cover-up: Behind The Iran Contra Affair', out around 2002 I'd say. It details how the neocons engineered the takover of the herion trade through the Vietnam War, the Coke trade through Ronnie's Central American escapades, and paints Richard Secord, among many others as 'true patriots (ha ha ha).' It also details how they store their drug $$ offshore and use it to sink ANY visionaries running for House or Senate, regardless of the side of the aisle. Can't have free thinkers in office, now can we?

Good topic, I hadn't thought about that in a while. IFC, by the way, is Independent Film Channel.

Beyond that, Spinal Tap (ha, ha, ha a second time!)

[Lex]

41. For a treat, play a few of "The Regular Guy" reviews. (link)

His Chicago accent is fabulous! And I love listening to his reviews:

The Regular Guy movie reviews