King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Diehard video game fans compete to break World Records on classic arcade games.

Steph... Wow. Gamers are hardcore. This doc explores the rivalry between Billy Mitchell, the high score champion of Donkey Kong, and Steve Wiebie, the underdog who wants to beat Billy's high score. This isn't something that would normally appeal to me but this doc was mesmerizing. You want to Steve to win so bad because he's such a nice guy and Billy is such a jackass. Its a classic David and Goliath story and totally worth watching.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

German-American Dieter Dengler discusses his service as an American naval pilot in the Vietnam War. Dengler also revisits the sites of his capture and eventual escape from the hands of the Vietcong, recreating many events for the camera.

Steph... This was the story of the real-life Rescue Dawn. Dieter's willingness to be so honest about his experience and to re-enact of of it was amazing. The fact that a human being can go through all that he went through and still be a sane, functioning person is just mind blowing.

Burma VJ

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country is a 2008 documentary film directed by Anders Østergaard. It follows the September 2007 uprisings against the military regime in Burma.[2] Some of it was filmed on hand-held cameras, and the footage was smuggled out of the country.[3] Other parts of it were reconstructed, which caused controversy.

Steph... Interesting. It was cool to see a revolution unfold before your eyes.

Taxi to the Dark Side

An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.

Steph... Wow. This doc really pisses you off and makes you worry at the same time. This one is a must see.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2: The Metal Years

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years is a documentary film directed by Penelope Spheeris about the Los Angeles heavy metal scene from 1986 to 1988. It is the second film of a trilogy by Spheeris depicting life in Los Angeles at various points in time. The first film dealt with the punk rock scene during 1979-1980. The third film chronicles the gutter punk lifestyle of homeless teenagers in the late 1990s.
The film features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne, W.A.S.P, and Alice Cooper. The film premiered at The Wiltern Theatre and featured David F. Castagno, Publisher/Editor of Screamer Magazine as the master of ceremony.

Steph... A documentary about Heavy Metal in the 80's? Its almost like this movie was made just for me. This is so my thing. I was born too late, I should have been there. This is definitely a must see.

Capturing the Friedmans

Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middleclass Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

Steph... And I thought my family was dysfunctional. This was a good documentary but I felt strange watching it. Old home movies of this family was used in the documentary, it just feels weird watching this family falling apart in front of you. You almost feel like you're there. This is worth watching.

Paris is Buring

An unblinking behind the scenes story of fashion obsessed New Yorkers who created "voguing" and drag balls , and turned these raucous celebrations into a powerful expression pf personal pride. The world within a world is instantly familiar, filled with ambitions, desires and yearnings that reflect America itself. PARIS IS BURNING is an intimate portrait of one urban community, a world in which the allure of high fashion, status and wealth becomes an affirmation of love, acceptance and joy.

Steph... Very interesting. I liked how this documentary really breaks everything down and I learned some new terms (Mopping = Stealing, etc). Totally fun (except the last part is kind of sad). Worth a look.

Paragraph 175

Historian Klaus Müller interviews survivors of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals because of the German Penal Code of 1871, Paragraph 175.

Steph... This was such a good documentary. To really show the watcher the impact of paragraph 175, they talked about and showed how open and free Berlin was before Hitler's rise to power. Definitely worth watching.

The Tillman Story

Pat Tillman never thought of himself as a hero. His choice to leave a multimillion-dollar football contract and join the military wasn't done for any reason other than he felt it was the right thing to do. The fact that the military manipulated his tragic death in the line of duty into a propaganda tool is unfathomable and thoroughly explored in Amir Bar-Lev's riveting and enraging documentary.

Steph... So good. I really liked this one. Definitely check this one out.

Bus 174

On June 12th, 2000, a bus full of passengers was kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro in broad daylight. The kidnapper, Sandro do Nascimento, terrorized his victims and when he finally agreed to surrender and the episode was close to an end, a policeman tried to shoot him, killing one of the hostages instead, a young woman. The whole episode was broadcast live, causing revolt among the population. The documentary is about the incident, with interviews, focusing on Sandro do Nascimento, his childhood, and how unavoidably he was doomed to become a bandit.

Steph... This documentary had great live footage of the incident. It was kind of long and dragged in some places but overall was very interesting.

Biggie and Tupac

Documentary on the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls and the East Coast/West Coast, hip-hop/rap rivalry that culminated in late 1996 and early 1997.

Steph... This documentary was on the list of the 50 Documentaries to see before you die and I'm not sure why. I'n not into rap music so maybe I'm just being biased but you decide. If you haven't see the documentary this is all that happens for an hour and a half, "What do you think of the allegations that Sug Knight had something to do with either of these deaths?" "Who are? How did you get my number? Shut the camera off. I don't know nothing." That was the whole documentary. The only bright spot was Biggie's mom. She's a very sweet lady. Other than that there isn't much to this doc.

The Way Back

Siberian gulag escapees walk 4000 miles overland to freedom in India.

Steph... You know I don't mind a movie being slow as long as it leads somewhere, this movie, however, was just boring. I love you Jim Sturgess and Colin Farrell but oh my god. Only watch this movie if you're having trouble sleeping.

Roger and Me

Director Michael Moore pursues GM CEO Roger Smith to confront him about the harm he did to Flint, Michigan with his massive downsizing.

Steph... This documentary was really sad. It almost felt like a smaller version of everything that is going on economically in our country now i.e the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Check this one out.

One Day in September

The Palestinian terrorist group Black September holds Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich.

Steph. What a great documentary. It really makes you think. The security was so lax at the Munich Olympics in 1972 that the terrorist basically just had to hope a fence. And while watching this I couldn't help but think, whether I'm right or wrong, that the German government at that time was still a little anti-semantic. For some reason the Germany army wasn't allowed to go in and get the hostages, and the German police messed up every opportunity they had to get them. It would have been comical if it weren't so tragic. Seriously, the best way I know how to describe the German police in this documentary is cluster fuck. This was very riveting and you should totally check this out.

Dogtown and Z-Boys

Documentary about the pioneering 1970s Zephyr skating team.

Steph.. A very interesting documentary about the birth of modern skateboarding. The history of the sport is very entertaining and the still photographs and original footage are amazing. Worth checking out.

Paradise Lost

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.

Steph...Wow. Talk about a town being ass backwards. After 3 boys are found horribly murdered, the town of West Memphis assumes it must be some sort of occult killing and rush out and charge three teenagers with the crime because they wear black and listen to heavy metal. All three teenagers are later convicted and one is sentenced to death. The film makers of this documentary said that they tried to make it so you didn't know if the teenagers killed the boys or not. Watching this, to me, it was clear that these teenagers were basically being railroaded (at one point the prosecutor says very plainly that they don't have much evidence against the boys but that they must have done it). In the years since this was made a lot more evidence has come to light. But not against the "West Memphis Three," but against the step-dad of one of the murdered boys. This documentary is a great example of how biased people can be against you just for being a non-conformist. Definitely watch this.

When We Were Kings

A documentary of the 1974 heavyweight championship bout in Zaire between champion George Foreman and underdog challenger Muhammad Ali.

Steph... I liked this documentary. It was interesting to see how much work went into putting the fight together. And its hard to believe that there was ever a time where Mohamed Ali was the under-dog.Plus,you gotta love the way he completely psyched out George Foreman. Not just for boxing fans. This is definitely worth a watch.

Madonna: Truth or Dare

Documentary following singer Madonna on her controversial Blond Ambition tour in 1990.

Steph... I'm not a big Madonna fan (I like her early stuff but that's it)so I really didn't think that I was going to like this documentary, but I was wrong. It was actually really good and very interesting. I really didn't need to see all the performances that were in the documentary. Plus, the stage performances were really loud and the behind the scenes footage was really quiet so I had to keep messing with the sound. Other than that it was pretty good. Worth a watch.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where man's own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

Kris... I liked this one. Its a little slow at first when they are setting up the story but it gets going pretty good. All the actors are solid including James Franco and John Lithgow. I am a big fan of the original films in the 60's and 70's so this one had a lot to live up to. And it did but i wouldn't say its better than the originals. Anyways if you like action and some drama then check out Rise of the planet of the apes.

Steph...I liked this one to. I LOVE monkeys so this was a must see for me, even though they were CGI. It was pretty good but, to me, it felt like it was missing something to make it great. But it was definitely a good movie. This one is worth checking out.