Simon B. StøvringAgain this year I’d like to watch more documentaries. Any recommendations?
Yes, I could Google top lists but I’d much rather have recommendations for like-minded Mastonauts or whatever we call ourselves 😊
Andrew Leahey@simonbs Have you seen _________? If not, don't Google it or listen to any comments that come in after this about it, just watch it! 👍
Jason Nickel@simonbs - The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
- Free Solo
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- Virunga
- Human Flow
- Free Solo
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- Virunga
- Human Flow
@JasonNickel Oh yeah! Jiro Dreams of Sushi I’ve had that recommended before but totally forgot about it. Thanks for the recommendations!
Sir David Nielsen@simonbs if you haven’t seen it then the Particle Fever is a gripping tale of the search for the Higg’s Boson. Pandora’s Promise is also recommendable as well researched piece on nuclear power.
@DavidNielsen Thanks! I’ve watched very few science documentaries so maybe it’s about time 😃
@simonbs I am biased, Particle Fever might be my favorite documentary of all time, it manages to make hard science focused on theoretical physics an approachable and thrilling tale.
I tend to watch a lot of documentaries, if you want one focused on the history of IT, then The Commodore Story is quite good, I have a thing for documentaries focused on the Amiga.
@DavidNielsen The Commodore Story sounds like something for me! I’ll put Particle Fever on the list. Thanks 🙏
@simonbs oh and Becoming Bond, which is just endless amounts of fun, a tall tale of George Lazenby becoming James Bond. It shouldn’t be as interesting as it, but I have watched that one like 10 times.
Fuck it, I will just rattle off names:
Class Action Park
West of Memphis
Terms and Conditions May Apply
Inside Job
Citizenfour
The Panama Papers
Please Remove Your Shoes
It’s called being a junkie.
@DavidNielsen Haha, you’re really into documentaries! I hope I’ll be able to raffle off a list like that by the end of the year. Becoming Bond sounds like something I’ll enjoy.
@simonbs I might be the kind of person who organizes his documentaries by topic, so whatever you are interested in, I likely have recommendations.
Becoming Bond is a good pick, fun, light and Lazenby is a fantastic storyteller, plus it is fairly short.
If you are into tech and gaming history, then Ars Technica produced a bunch of great short ones.
donkey@simonbs I’ve gone with Masticators (communicating on mastodon). 😜
This documentary is a harrowing watch.
https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81410405?s=i&trkid=13747225&vlang=en&clip=81628847
@donkey That sounds interesting but also heartbreaking. Will watch it when I’ve built up the courage.
Darren McGuicken@simonbs anything by Adam Curtis. They’re unlike anything else you’ll ever watch.
Victor Meira@simonbs
- Free Solo
- The Rescue
Both on Disney+.
Also have to vouch for The Imposter, which everyone is be recommending too. Gotta go in “blind” though.
@victormeira Watching The Imposter now. I never gave Free Solo a try. It doesn’t sound like something for me but so many people hav recommended it that I need to watch it. I watch The Rescue some time ago. It’s rough.
@simonbs Awesome! Hope you like it!
About Free Solo, if you have an issue with heights and things like that, then you shouldn’t watch it. But, if it’s because of you’re not interested in climbing, they make it interesting and intense enough that it’s worth the watch, even not being in the climbing world.
David Blue ⁂ ∆@simonbs depending on how you define documentary...
I didn't expect to pay attention at all to this (was trying to work) but got entirely bamboozled. it's definitely the one film I've been pushing everyone to watch. (I presume to take about one of those a year.) https://boxd.it/vs5a
Val (2021)
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
@DavidBlue Oh, that sounds interesting! Thanks!
underflo@simonbs This is next on my things to watch not sure if its a documentary per say GLOBAL SPYWARE SCANDAL: EXPOSING PEGASUS https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/global-spyware-scandal-exposing-pegasus/
Devon Dundee@simonbs McMillions is my favorite documentary series. A really bizarre story and well-told, I think.
@devondundee That looks super fun! Putting it on the list.
Mikkel Selsøe Sørensen@simonbs Sirius på DR. Fantastisk dokumentar (serie) om Siriuspatruljen.
@selsoe Min kæreste og jeg har set første episode og vi synes, at den er vildt god! Men hun ville tidligt i seng, så jeg måtte finde noget andet at se 😄
Jack Regan 
@simonbs Have you seen The Defiant Ones on HBO?
@jack_regan No but I just Googled it. Is it the one about Dre? Looks interesting.
@simonbs Yes but more than that too! Follows Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine through their individual music careers, them meeting and working together, founding Beats by Dre together, and then eventually getting bought by Apple. My favorite doc of all time 😃
@jack_regan Sounds like something I’d love to watch! Thanks for the recommendation.
@simonbs For sure!
jladicos@simonbs Anything by Errol Moris, but especially The Thin Blue Line, and The Fog of War. I also like a lot of Nick Broomfield stuff, especially Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam, and Kurt and Courtney. If you like Kubrck, Filmworker is worth checking out. Derek Delgaudio’s In & Of Itself; Electric Boogaloo; Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay; The Projectionist; The Way I See It; Dig!; Exit Through the Giftshop; Beats Rhymes & Life; Spellbound; The Jinx...
Aaron Moodie@simonbs Fantastic Fungi is amazing.
Bryan Irace
Chase Carroll
David Duxbury@simonbs Searching for Sugar Man. I knew nothing of the story before watching and highly recommend going into it blind like that.
DimerHunton :toucan:@simonbs Of course:
1 - Minding The Gap (go in blind, don’t read anything, it’s on Hulu)
2 - My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)
3 - The Act of Killing (Hulu or Prime)
@simonbs (Minding The Gap was nominated for best documentary the same year as Free Solo, and should have won.)
@dimerhunton Thanks! I have heard many good things about no. 3.
@simonbs Yeah, it’s pretty heavy! But definitely worth it. I feel like Minding The Gap was the biggest surprise for me on the list.
Michael Buss Rønne@simonbs you're probably drowning in options, but gotta mention Hamiltons Pharmacopeia. Pretty difficult to find in Europe for some reason, but it does fall off trucks 😄
@mbuss Just Googled it and it sounds interesting. Thanks!
Steve Streza@simonbs The Big Short isn't exactly a documentary as much as a dramatic retelling of the events of the 2008 financial crisis, but it was pretty good at making a dry topic seem tense and interesting.
@stevestreza I love that one! I had to watch it twice and then have my girlfriend explain it to me before I fully understood it but I still liked the movie.