Tell Me What to Watch
Over the last year, Bart and I have started watching more documentaries. We usually try and watch them on Sunday evening, after Ella’s gone to bed, as a nice way to wind down the weekend.
We certainly don’t watch one every weekend, but when the stars align and we have both a chosen movie AND a free evening, it’s been something we’ve really enjoyed.
A few we’ve watched:
- Forks Over Knives
- The Hobart Shakespeareans
- Food, Inc
- The Business of Being Born
- Two Angry Moms
- Ten9Eight
- From the Earth to the Moon (a childhood favorite of mine, which is actually a docu-drama produced by Tom Hanks)
The main downside is that the poor girls I run with on Monday morning get to hear WAY more than they ever wanted to know about whatever movie we just watched the night before.
So now the question is. . . .what documentaries would YOU suggest we watch? You can see we tend to like ones about education, history, and food, but we’re happy to take titles. And then run them through the very reliable filter of “what does our library own?”
It's a little off your beaten path but not much. Check out "The Art of the Steal" all about the incredible, highly contested Barnes collection in Philadelphia. I enjoyed Being Elmo and The Pixar Story as well. All of these are available for instant streaming on Netflix.
How about Ken Burns's Prohibition?
I second "Life in a Day". I have "180° South" saved in my Netflix queue and it's supposed to be excellent but I haven't watched it yet. One of my favorites and I've seen it several times is "Mad, Hot Ballroom". PS – love this because I see things to add to my list of things to watch!
I second The World According to Sesame Street and Mad Hot Ballroom. My other favorite is Spellbound, a GREAT documentary about kids competing in the national spelling bee.
I would second "Waiting for Superman", "Endurance", and "Babies". All different, but equally excellent. Also, if you haven't yet seen it, "Winged Migration", a little French documentary looking at the amazing feats migratory birds go through each year.
We enjoyed watching "Earth" with the kids and M and I are about to watch "Objectified" any day now. I haven't seen Objectified yet, but M has watched it before and says it's good.
I need to go back and look at my Netflix ratings, but I'll say that "Babies" was really sweet and very interesting.
Babies, (as many have already suggested) Waiting for Superman, (which you must take with a grain of salt, especially as many of the charter schools around the US are flailing–especially here in Vegas)and MAN ON WIRE–Possibly the most intense documentary I've ever seen, about a man who rigs a tight rope across the World Trade Centers in the 70s and attempts to cross it. CRAZY good.
I know I am late to this, recently found your blog. But, my husband and I also enjoy watching documentaries. Let me second The Art of The Steal and also add Jiro Dreams of Sushi.