At least three people in this thread haven't seen Hoop Dreams. It's a "good documentary", as this thread wanted from posters. I recommend it. Everybody I know who loves basketball and has seen it recommends it. jlprk doesn't recommend it, but he's not really a basketball fan, anyhow. I'm guessing Zags would even recommend it, if he hadn't already mocked me for posting about it. Do yourself a favor and stream Hoop Dreams on Netflix.
Whats it about? Now, I must reiterate that you guys must watch 'The Imposter' such a gritty doc. It'll have you thinking WTF.
From wiki - Classic oldschool movie that came out in the mid-60's. It's not a really a documentary that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but it's just a feel-good classic about a couple of young guys in the 60's that travel the world, exploring new places and new waves, having an "endless summer." [video=youtube;yZsuQXKkPdw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZsuQXKkPdw[/video] Just read up on The Imposter. Surprised I've never heard of it... sound like an awesome concept.
I love documentaries. I think I'm gonna go see the one coming out about James Chasse next weekend at Cinema 21. Its called 'Alien Boy'.
Just watched Religulous. Wasn't very impressed, but I guess I'm a few years late on the party. Whats his name gets his point across about how absurd religion is, but his arguing with people who aren't his intellectual equals accomplished nothing and wasn't as funny as I think the film makers thought it was. The Rise and Fall of the Irishman was really good. Its about the story of Cleveland mobster Danny Green, whom the movie Kill the Irishman was about. Having seen the movie and knowing it was based on a true story I was interested to see what was and wasn't true. Hell of an interesting guy and interesting story, and they make a decent case that he sort of unknowingly brought down the entire cosa nostra. Its on Netflix.
HBO documentary on the life of Joe Louis. He put up with racism in his career. He defeated Max Schmeling in a fight that dealt a blow to the Nazi mythology about superior races. For WW II, he first donated his purses to charities like the Navy Relief Society before enlisting on his own. He spent the war doing demonstration fights to improve troop morale. He had to put his foot down when only white soldiers were allowed to see his matches - to force the govt. to allow black troops to attend as well. He was champion for over 10 years (140 months) and defended his title against all challengers. When he got out of the army, the government docked him for old taxes he owed and relentlessly hounded him for the rest of his life, adding penalty upon penalty to those. What originally started out as a $100K debt turned into $multi-millions before Uncle Sam (at his best!) was through with the interest and penalties assessed. The debt forced him to do a lot of unsavory things for a man of his achievements. He was basically forced to fight long past when he should have retired, he appeared on TV game shows, became a professional wrestler, etc. The govt. was so nasty to him about his tax bill that they confiscated most of the money he made doing anything, and even $600 his grandmother left him in an inheritance. One thing that people may not know about Joe Louis is that he was a pro golfer. He was invited to play a PGA pro event and when the PGA realized they had invited a black man, they made an announcement they had made a mistake and refused to let him play. Due to his popularity, the resulting shitstorm forced the PGA to make an exemption for him and a few other black men and that was the first time a PGA event allowed black men to participate. That was in San Diego, BTW, not Alabama.
Not sure what else is showing up, but it's about surfing. I haven't seen it in probably 15 years, so I can't remember much about it. Might need to add to my queue.
Charles Bradley: Soul of America premiered on EPIX last night. I just finished watching it. It was filmed right before and during the release of his debut album, at the age of 62. Listening to him sing, you can hear all of the hard times he's gone through, but seeing him talk about it on film makes his story even more unbelievable. [video=youtube;uegzZWp6Y4w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uegzZWp6Y4w[/video] And I realized I never posted the other 2 that I recommended Style Wars [video=youtube;ETRa_tx9c2w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETRa_tx9c2w[/video] Dark Days [video=youtube;dh4s78Db5OQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh4s78Db5OQ[/video]
There are two documentaries streaming on Netflix that I enjoyed. "Faster" and "Fastest" They're both about Moto GP racing. The first one was filmed in the early 2000s and the other was probably filmed a couple years ago. They're narrated by Ewan McGregor and I really found them intersting... and I'm not even a racing fan.
Dunno if we're including 30 for 30's in this but I watched Unguarded on Netflix the other day and it completely blew me away. Great fugging film about Chris Herren's life and drug addiction. Must see for any basketball fan, and I think anyone would like it too.
