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Post by bixaorellana on May 1, 2011 19:58:50 GMT
Amazingly, AnyPort doesn't seem to have a dedicated thread for documentaries, although plenty of them have been discussed in other threads. I found this wonderful site of all on-line documentaries. I'm sure there must be duds and probably some wacko stuff in the bunch, but click on the list -- it's impossible to not see something that will interest you. topdocumentaryfilms.com/It would be great if some thumbs up/down feedback were posted of the ones you all view. |
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Post by auntieannie on May 1, 2011 22:08:02 GMT
As a general rule, usually when David Attenborough is involved, the quality is high.
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Post by joanne28 on Aug 10, 2011 17:42:12 GMT
I agree about David Attenborough and think the same applies to James Burke. I've been enjoying his "Connections" series again.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2011 18:57:54 GMT
Hmmm.... I see lots of documentaries and if possible on the big screen. I will have to think of what I have seen in the last year or two.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2011 0:08:40 GMT
All of the Ken Burns documentaries that I have seen are top notch.
I have seen the following :
Jazz
Baseball
The Civil War
The Brooklyn Bridge
The Statue of Liberty
Frank Lloyd Wright
ones on my list to see of his are Huey P. Long, The War (WWII), Prohibition, National Parks.
Just now looking up his accomplishments,I see that he is only 58 years old!! My god!!!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 17, 2011 20:05:24 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2011 19:29:19 GMT
I guess the last documentary I saw was Wim Wenders' Pina 3D.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 18, 2011 21:33:28 GMT
I have no chance to see any documentaries on the big screen where I live. And if I could only see one movie in 3D, Pina would probably be the one I'd pick. I like the "You should see it because" reason in this link: www.cineworld.co.uk/films/4295Did you see Catfish after you saw Pina? Catfish, first mentioned at #620 here, provoked some good discussion, going on for 15 or so posts afterward. I'll be keeping my eyes open for the Lost Gardens, Cheery, as the BBC tells me it's not available in my area.  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 7:30:30 GMT
Did you see Catfish after you saw Pina? I don't remember. Since I already see more than 100 films a year on the big screen, it all starts jumbling together after awhile. However, since I see fewer than 10 films on video in a year, that ought to help me remember. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2011 17:02:02 GMT
Interesting yes. I'm curious about seeing Pina as well.
Cheery,thank you!! I am going to scope out Lost Gardens real,real soon.
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Post by nycgirl on Aug 22, 2011 14:01:31 GMT
The last documentary I saw was The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, about a community of diehard video game fans. I thought it would just be hilarious to watch a bunch of obsessed nerds, but I got drawn into the surprisingly heartfelt story, as an unassuming junior high school teacher challenges the swaggering champion for the Donky Kong record.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 10, 2011 22:01:30 GMT
Came across this online today and would be curious to see if it interests others here. I say that because many people won't read books written in dialects/accents, and Confederacy of Dunces certainly uses accents. I can't get any distance from that because for me his written accents, including the rhythm of speech are so brilliantly done that I can hear the characters as I read the book. Well, the whole book is so evocative that I think I've actually seen the photo of Santa Bataglia's mother which of course only exists on the printed page. Since the book is so closely associated with a particular place at a particular time, I was quite surprised to see in the documentary that it has been translated into thirty-seven languages. John Kennedy Toole was one of those lights that burn quickly and are gone, in his case because of suicide. But his book has resonated for so many people that he continues to fascinate. I find the post-mortem analysis and blaming of his mother excessive & verging on gossipy, as probably most people viewing the documentary know the amazing story of its publication. However, the film maker admits he needed more data to flesh out the character of his subject, and the alarming Thelma certainly compels attention. Other than that, the film is beautifully put together. There's a mistake on the site -- it directs you to click on the right rather than the left. I could not find any way to view it full screen, but the definition & streaming are excellent. www.jktoole.com/viewthefilm.html |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2011 22:03:12 GMT
Here is a really lovely BBC documentary about J.K. Rowling searching for her French roots:
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 27, 2011 3:48:46 GMT
I always wanted to see the full 1978 BBC program on this interesting experiment, but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere. However, this hour-long look at it with a follow-up thirty years later is quite enjoyable.
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Post by onlymark on Oct 27, 2011 4:37:42 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 27, 2011 21:27:43 GMT
This is great stuff, Mark -- thanks!
I did have a quibble with the kitchen maid's hair in the breakfast episode, as it looks too modern. Any idea who the woman narrating is supposed to be? It sounds as though she's a former house maid remembering the bad old days, but the episode takes place in 1880, & the series was made in 1987. Of course, there must have been girls who "went into service" at the age of 14 or so during the last years of Edward VII or the first years of George V, when times must have been still tough for such girls. They'd still be alive in the 1980s.
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Post by onlymark on Oct 28, 2011 6:24:27 GMT
I understand what you mean about the hair.
The woman narrating is, as far as I remember, the actual cook, Ruth Mott, the matronly woman you see doing it. I can't find a biography of her other than knowing from watching the series many years ago that she left school young, went into service, worked her way up to the head cook and stayed in that profession all through her life until retiring.
She was also an advisor on the film Gosford Park.
There was also a series called the Victorian Kitchen Garden that showed the development from a bare patch of ground to a fully planted and productive garden in the Victorian times.
Both series were at the time a delight to watch as neither were frenetic, dealing with hard biting issues, showing harrowing scenes etc. They were gentle and relaxing but informative.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 28, 2011 15:49:55 GMT
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 28, 2011 16:32:08 GMT
K2, "Who do you think you are?" is a series of documentaries helping "celebrities" find out about their families' past. Some of them are really excellent.
I could mention "grow your own drugs" which was very popular only a few years ago (again a BBC effort) however, would want you to note that some of the claims made in that show have infuriated medical herbalists.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2011 18:15:30 GMT
The last documentary I saw on the big screen was Putty Hill, about a kid who died of a drug overdose and his friends and family. It is not exactly a comedy.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2011 11:20:52 GMT
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Post by patricklondon on Nov 5, 2011 15:40:58 GMT
Recent documentaries I've enjoyed that might turn up on that "top documentaries" site have been Stephen Fry's series on language (I see the site has his film on manic depression, which was much less depressing than it sounds), and the series just started on the BBC about the symphony. One from decades ago that has stuck in my memory - especially now that the process of politics has changed so drastically - is a film Joseph Strick made for the BBC on heckling: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/2010/02/do_people_heckle.html(Adam Curtis's films, by the way, are always thought-provoking; occasionally a bit barmy, but stimulating all the same). |
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Post by ninchursanga on Nov 18, 2011 2:25:45 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 18, 2011 4:55:51 GMT
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Post by imec on Nov 19, 2011 15:49:19 GMT
Here's a trailer for one I thoroughly enjoyed on an aircraft recently. It follows a turbulent series of events in the career of a British chef (Paul Liebrandt) trying to make it in New York. Besides providing an interesting view of the man's talent, it also offers an eye-opening look at the how the power of a single journalist can make or break a career and a business.
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Post by ninchursanga on Dec 23, 2011 20:32:14 GMT
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 23, 2011 22:46:53 GMT
when I was in London for my exams recently, my roomie and me took the time to watch the "Victorian Christmas" episode to "Victorian Farm". I quite like that type of documentary show. They recreate the conditions of the era and explain how things were made. in that episode we see about medicine and firing bricks amongst many other interesting things.
the style is warm, welcoming, light. you can see the characters (all are historians or specialists one way or another) are enjoying themselves.
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 24, 2011 9:58:12 GMT
Agree aa, that was an excellent programme.
I doubt that you would know but many years ago there was a series called The Victorian Kitchen Garden which was equally fascinating.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 24, 2011 16:40:34 GMT
See Mark's post at #14 above.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 27, 2011 18:46:27 GMT
Though it was made as a 5 1/2 hour 3 part television series, it is now packaged as a 4 disk DVD, with the 4th disk consisting of documentary films. Because I was in college and not paying much attention to world events in 1975, I enjoyed catching up on this bit of history I missed out on the first time around.
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