Documentaries

[Radament]

i'm not really into documentraies but i was stunned by this one ---> Antarctica: A Year on Ice

and if you are into nerdy/hacking things i can suggest watching interesting stuff here (more like conferences than docs)---->  https://www.youtube.com/user/DEFCONConference/videos

[Angantyr]

[Kalam]

Disclaimer: I do not necessarily approve of whatever message you may get from these films, nor am I stating that these documentaries present the most pertinent (and true) facts. They were (mostly) entertaining to me, and interesting enough to trigger late night Googling sprees.

The Square is a personalized, ground level take on the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Might have teared up a bit.

Blackfish Orcas are dangerous mammals and should not be treated like dogs! Right?

Jiro Dreams of Sushi My personal favorite of the last two years. It's just about a perfectionist making sushi. A shocking lack of pretension.

SOMM All the pretension you missed in Jiro Dreams of Sushi! Interesting nonethless. Still believe I could play their game, if I could waste a year of my life.

An Idiot Abroad I suspect I enjoy this tv travelogue solely because I have a friend like the main character, and my best friend and I drag him to amazing spots he never appreciates. Not sure if honest or acting. Probably a mix of both, ala Anthony Bourdain.

Restrepo and Korengal are two instances of the same journalist embedded in units deployed to Korengal. I'd say Restrepo is more entertaining (as far as you can call this 'entertainment') for the public, and Korengal hits closer to home for American soldiers. Spoilers: people die.

Where the Trail Ends A long ass redbull commercial. Seriously, though, it's worth watching for the cinematography. There's no meat, but you won't care because people jumping bikes off cliffs is FUCKING COOL OKAY?

Departures Adventure travel tv show. I thought it would be a show where two friends travel across the world and realized they're in love and have buttsex. No luck. I don't know why I watched this.

[WITCHCRAFT]

Jiro Dreams of Sushi My personal favorite of the last two years. It's just about a perfectionist making sushi. A shocking lack of pretension.

I liked this too. Jiro is claimed by many people to be the best sushi chef in the world, but he is very humble. The documentary is more of a biography than a food documentary. It just happens to be a biography of a guy who is a sushi chef.

One of those "slice of life" things that whisks you out of your body and puts you in someone else's shoes for a little while. Really well done. You feel like you're there. Like you know Jiro personally.

[Armpit_Sweat]

Hmm.. I only watch historical documentaries, not what OP wanted, but might be interesting for someone nevertheless. Michael Wood and John Romer produced some of my favorite documentaries, watched them all several times and with great interest. Very well done, and you will learn much about the subject:

The Story of India - no Youtube link, BBC fgts blocked it outside of UK

(click to show/hide)

- first out of six parts

(click to show/hide)

- first out of four parts

(click to show/hide)

(click to show/hide)

- first out of seven parts, you can find playlists on youtube easily, if interested

And here is one more about Christinanity - BBC made, weaker than John Romer's imo, but covers other aspects and is generally rather good:

(click to show/hide)

- first out of six parts, can find the rest searching for "BBC History of Christianity", there are playlists

Btw, no offence US guys, but all of your historical documentaries are garbage, or have a preschool target-group... May be only US civil war related, about the Indian wars in NA, etc. - those are ok. Don't be mad, but it's true :)

[WITCHCRAFT]

PBS (the US version of BBC) puts out some documentaries on-par with BBC ones. Nature and Nova are the two series I like.

History Channel and Discovery channel blow these days. They have "ghost hunters" and other pseudoscience shit presented as if they were real. And reality shows. Ugh. When I was growing up, they had Real Documentaries About Real Important Things!

*rolls wheelchair onto porch, lights corn cob pipe*

Kids these days...