Top 167 Documentaries

149. 9 to 5: days in porn

The documentary introduces the main characters to us in a pop culture manner, which is nice to watch and a relief from watching complex tales being unfolded. You see a performer getting ready for a scene, speaking straight into the camera and winching at times, and it cuts to the same performer in a glamour pose with her name and title on the top left.

The movie shows you the money, the big houses previously owned by Hollywood stars, the parties in those houses. It only hints at drug abuse and tells us a take of the 70's porn starlet who was raped by a fan and decided to leave the industry and become a doctor, Dr Sharon Mitchell. She runs AIM and offers all sorts of treatment and advice to people in porn or those who want to join. It also shows us young women doing porn to pay off their college tuution or simply to have the time of their lives, if even for a few years.

It gives us a psychological yet an objective view of the inside, where sex and money and glamour reign but those also happen to be the entrance to a tunnel who's other end opens to nothingless.

It shows the girls being forced to do more. In other instances, the girls have said they have not been informed of the nature of the scene but do not protest, being new to the sharks and the money and all that melodrama.

148. Bobby fischer against the world

This fascinating film documents the rise and fall of chess grandmaster Bobby fischer. It isn't really about chess; it's very much more about a man who was obsessed with it. As a result of his pursuit of perfection on the chess board, he piece by piece lost his own mind. The intensity of the mind games necessary to succeed in top level chess overflowed into the personal life of fischer until he became a fully pledged paranoid schizophrenic. This ultimely resulted in his public anti-semite and September 11th ravings. By the end it seems quite obvious that fischer was a mentally ill man whose genius on the chess board was as much fuelled by his mental disorder than anything else. His obsessive immersion into all things chess at the expense of anything else in his life was after all an extremely unhealthy pursuit, it made him the genus he was but at a terrible human cost.

The key historical event that the film revolves around is the 1972 world championship against the Soviet grandmaster Boris spassky. This dramatic confrontation hosted in Iceland had huge political influence seen as it set the American against a Russian at the height of the cold war. As a result it was probably one of the most international games ever played. Even at this early stage, however, fischers eeratic behavior is quite evident. He almost never made it in the first place due to his own personal demon's, when finally there he arrived absurdly late and then proceeded to complain about the hum of the TV cameras. You might find yourself wishing that the dignified spassky actually defeated this highly strung man. But this is partially why this documentary is an interesting one, as it's central character is not particularly likable at all. There is little actual footage of fischer, he remains a very enigmatic figure. After the spassky match less and less is seen of him, so much so that is next public appearance in a match in yugoslavia occurs the best part of twenty years later. In agreeing to this he contravenes international law, seeing as this country was in the midst of a terrible war. The sight of fischer publicly spitting on the letter warning him that he would be breaking international law is a grim one indeed, the years that followed up to his death in 2008 seem to be equally mysterious and sad.

Bobby fischer against the world is a very good documentary about a troubled man who was destroyed by the only thing he loved. The documentary states that he was the greatest player there ever was. Personally i think this is a somewhat romantic statement based mostly on the drama of his ascent. But for sure, he was one of the mist fascinating chess players that ever loved and in many respects remains an enigma still.

147. The king of king: a fistful of quarters

This excellent film has everything that a movie fan was to see: the classic hero and villain story, action, suspense, drama, and comedy. Who would have thought all of this would come out of a documentary about donkey Kong. The story follows Steve wiebe, a family man from Washington trying to beat the arcade juggernaut Billy mitchell's world record score on donkey Kong. The film is perfectly edited by introducing both characters, showing their history in the video game culture, and giving the viewer a sense of which person to root for. It's hysterical the way this single story is made out to look like an action adventure film. Steve is the underdog, the man that has a bug journey ahead of him. But to overcome the challenges and try to claim the title of donkey Kong master, he must face the opponent Billy Mitchell and his video game minions.

My favourite part in the film is probably when Steve has to show up in person and prove his ability. It's so hilarious, suspensful and inspiring.

The king of king is a terrific film. It's a lot of fun, there's never a dull moment, and it really shows what a great film is supposed to be like.

146. Sins of my father

This has to be one of the best documentaries I have ever seen, I believe have ever been made. I stumbled onto it by accident on Netflix and I am so glad I took the time to watch it. The myth of Pablo escabar is examined and the damming repercussions that he had on his family, and the family of his victim's of his violence is made bare before us. The idea to document this all is absolutely amazing, and serves as a stark reminder of how power corrupts and how sometimes you have to stand up for something whatever the cost may be. This is the Real deal and you get to see the highs and lows.

145. Dawg fight

From the director of cocaine cowboys, comes a documentary about backyard dawg fights. Basically the poor areas of miami, where most people can't find work, gang violence surrounds the areas, and for one day a week or month, there are bare knuckle fights. Some fights are straight boxing while others are MMA styles.

The documentary follows Da-da who used to roll with kimbo slice, and his quest to get to the street stage. He pays the fighters who win between $25 - $100 for a fight where someone will get knocked out, lose a tooth, or even break some bones. It's brutal and raw. It's also a sad reality that most people won't face.

It's a harsh film, where there isn't really an answer. It's just a depiction of what happens when you don't have any hope left. This is in contrast to the darker elements of cockfighting and dog fighting where people have a choice to fight or not.

Does noone like documentaries?

I don't watch many documentaries, so I haven't seen any of the ones you listed, but we're all currently working on a list of our individual lists of our Top 25 Documentaries, so we can compile a MoFo Top 100 Documentaries list.

If you want to submit a list, this is the link to the thread about it:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=42963


However, you're not allowed to post your own list before the MoFo countdown is over, so you would have to stop this countdown before your top 25 so your list would be eligible.

There is also a different thread for Documentary Recommendations, and you can post your recommendations there, just don't post them in any specific order. This is the link for the Documentary Recommendations:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=42605

Ok i'll put this on hold until the mofo countdown is finished

144. Bowling for columbine



Michael Moore really hit the nail on the head with this movie. Instead of taking a side, Moore shows both sides of the gun lobby. Instead of putting blame on any one camp, Moore simply asks questions. Why does America have so many gun deaths when Canada, who has a large amount of guns, has hardly any? Questions like these really make the viewer think. Whether you are pro-gun or anti-gun you will like this film although this movie gives ammo (pun not intended) to both groups. Columbine is of course looked at and Moore does interviews with kids who went to Columbine as well as with people who live in the area. It's not a film that you watch to entertain yourself but educate yourself.

Bottom Line: A great documentary and one that doesn't make your brain into oatmeal. Asks some hard questions about American society and the American people and most importantly about the culture of fear that the media and the American government perpetuate