Best Documentaries

I also really enjoy watching the talks from the Ted conference at http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/index.cfm?flashEnabled=1 I think my favourite is Bono though all of the speakers are excellent.

In fact when I watched the movie Manufactured Landscapes I actually noticed that some of the clips from it were from Ted.

Running on the Sun - about the Badwater Ultra

Thanks guys. I'll definitely check these two out.

Can you tell I like documentaries?

game related ones:  chess and scrabble.  The first (Bobby Fischer) is a dramatization of a true story, but it stars Lawrence Fishburn, who is awesome in it.  The second (Word Wars) just makes me glad that I chose triathlon, not scrabble, as my competitive sport.  Those people are nuts!!

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)

Josh Waitzkin is just a typical American boy interested in baseball when one day he challenges his father at chess and wins. Showing unusual precocity at the outdoor matches at Washington Square in New York City, he quickly makes friends with a hustler named Vinnie who teaches him speed chess. Josh's parents hire a renowned chess coach, Bruce, who teaches Josh the usefulness of measured planning. Along the way Josh becomes tired of Bruce's system and chess in general and purposely throws a match, leaving the prospects of winning a national championship in serious jeopardy.

Word Wars (2004)
The classic board game, Scrabble, has been popular for decades. In addition, there are fanatics who devote heart and soul to this game to the expense of everything else. This film profiles a group of these enthusiasts as they converge for a Scrabble convention where the word game is almost a bloodsport.

Do they count if they weren't big screen?

Ken Burns' The Civil War and the Blue Planet series are very cool.

Touching the Void

Off Road to Athens (<-- you should love this one)

Oh - I have another sport related one or series:

anything by Bud Greenspan about the Olympics.  Especially the one on Munich, or Norway(Dan Jansen story specifically). 

Off Road to Athens looks cool. I am going to watch that one next.

How could I forget the Aristocrats? I was going to add it to my list, but I can't edit, so I'm placing it somewhere between Murderball and Who Killed The Electric Car.

I also saw Wired to Win which might be along the same line as Off Road to Athens. It wasn't the best though, so I'm going to place it below Wal-Mart, but above Coco-Cola.

X2!  Awesome series.

Don't think that qualifies as a documentary, but if it does, then Spinal Tap and Best in Show should be on the list!

Are you talking about Death of a President? It's out of theatres here, but that one looked like a renter to me. I want to see it, but not enough to see it in the theatre.

I've actually never heard of Jesus Camp. Someone go see it and tell us about it.

The soundtrack is phenominal- you've got to check it out.  It was developed specifically for this movie.  They even figured out how to incorporate bicycle parts and cycling sounds into the music.  It is awesome...

"The musical score is what really sets this movie apart from all others. It includes well-known classics as well as original pieces composed exclusively for this movie by Haik Naltchayan. The score sets the tone and matches the moment perfectly throughout. From the syncopated beat pounding to the rhythm of the racers pedal strokes to the mournful dirge as Mary struggles through the muck and mud the soundtrack is flawless, never faltering.

The brilliant use of a single violinist alone in a town square playing Vivaldi’s Spring, merging into images of the Madrid World Cup race with the music carrying on as the backdrop is just one example of the exquisite symbiosis between sight and sound!

The subtle and deft use of music to express the mood of the moment transports the viewer, as the score encompasses the soul of the visual in a way heretofore unseen in cycling movies. In this way the producers of “Off Road to Athens” have raised the bar for all future cycling documentaries. "

I read and saw reviews, and it looks veeeerrrrry scary.  It's basically about the indoctrination of kids into evangelicals at a summer camp.  One element I remember is a 5 year old (or 9, or some ridiculously young age) who talks about being born again - at 5!?!?!?  Just googled it, and found a quote Iliked from the camp leader

"I want to see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine and all those different places because, excuse me, we have the truth!"

It'd be funny if it weren't scary