Documentaries on Netflix

[Shane Wahl]

Thought I would start a thread for recommendations and discussion on documentaries available for streaming on Netflix.

 

I am an addict and have probably seen a few hundred over the last 5 or so years.

 

Anyway, the most recent one: "Blackfish"

 

Watch it, and let's go light Sea World on fire.

[Craig Arko]

Can't go wrong with 'Cosmos' in case you missed it before.

 

Also highly recommended: 'An Honest Liar.' Biographical study of James Randi.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

Can't go wrong with 'Cosmos' in case you missed it before.

Also highly recommended: 'An Honest Liar.' Biographical study of James Randi.

I seen "An Honest Liar" at the Lagoon back in April. Really enjoyed it.

[Vanimal46]

One that I recently watched is "No-No: A Dockumentary" about Dock Ellis' LSD no-hitter. pretty interesting

[Shane Wahl]

 

One that I recently watched is "No-No: A Dockumentary" about Dock Ellis' LSD no-hitter. pretty interesting

 

Yeah, I saw that too. It was very good. That is crazy. From *what I've heard of course* it is difficult to sit in a room, much less pitch in a major league baseball game . . .

[Willihammer]

I recently watched Little Hope Was Arson which was fascinating. Man, the south is so different...

 

Print the Legend- low cost 3D printing and its implications for consumers and copyrights, freedoms and responsibilities, etc. really interesting.

 

Elephant in the room was another good one, about the insane number of exotic pets in the country and the stress they put on local authorities.

 

I enjoyed Blackfish too.

 

People have strange ways of relating with animals.

[Vanimal46]

 

Yeah, I saw that too. It was very good. That is crazy. From *what I've heard of course* it is difficult to sit in a room, much less pitch in a major league baseball game . . .

 

 

No kidding, he was saying he couldn't even see the catcher's glove. He just had that great of muscle memory to chuck it in there like it was any other day.. That and he had a lot of experience from the sounds of it pitching on other substances...

[Craig Arko]

Netflix gets a lot of older PBS stuff too; there's a particularly good episode of Nova called 'At the Edge of Space' which explores the phenomenon of atmospheric sprites. Think lightning that goes up into the ionosphere from the top of a powerful storm system.

[Willihammer]

Alive Inside is good too, uplifting. Dude brings ipods and headphones to nursing homes. Plays music from the childhoods of people with advanced alzheimers and the light up. Really amazing to see.

[Shane Wahl]

 

Alive Inside is good too, uplifting. Dude brings ipods and headphones to nursing homes. Plays music from the childhoods of people with advanced alzheimers and the light up. Really amazing to see.

 

Oh my god! That's like Nobel Peace Prizeworthy or something.

[Sarah]

I also have "An Honest Liar" and "No No" in my Netflix queue and have a question. I have a lot of shows that are in my "saved" queue and the availability shows up as "unknown" (as opposed to releases on DVD in April or something). Some of these I've had in there for a couple of years. I only have the DVD plan, do you have to have the streaming plan to see some of them? Or are some of them just unavailable after they leave theatres?

[Craig Arko]

 

I also have "An Honest Liar" and "No No" in my Netflix queue and have a question. I have a lot of shows that are in my "saved" queue and the availability shows up as "unknown" (as opposed to releases on DVD in April or something). Some of these I've had in there for a couple of years. I only have the DVD plan, do you have to have the streaming plan to see some of them? Or are some of them just unavailable after they leave theatres?

The things we're talking about are streaming; I've also had the experience of waiting on the DVD queue forever. I finally dropped the DVDs altogether, figuring I can use Red Box if there's something popular I want get. Or buy it from iTunes if it's a keeper.

[TheLeviathan]

Netflix gets a lot of older PBS stuff too; there's a particularly good episode of Nova called 'At the Edge of Space' which explores the phenomenon of atmospheric sprites. Think lightning that goes up into the ionosphere from the top of a powerful storm system.

I, for one, am thrilled with reading rainbow coming soon as well. For those with kids.

[Sarah]

Thanks Craig, that is helpful. I'll have to look at the streaming plan this winter- after baseball season is over of course!

[Shane Wahl]

An Honest Liar is astoundingly good!

[Brock Beauchamp]

If you want to watch PBS shows and have an Apple TV, I highly recommend using their native app. Not sure if it's available for Roku, Chromecast, or Fire TV.

 

I suspect they probably have an iOS and Android app you can stream to your TV as well.

[Mike Sixel]

Roku has a native app.....has recent episodes, not all of them, for all shows.

[Willihammer]

Weekend of a Champion. Top Gear fans will remember Jackie Stewart from the episide where he tried coaching up James May. This is footage from the Stewart camp at the 1971 F1 race at Manacao. The way Stewart explains the track and talks about his car in so much detail is fascinating if you're into that kind of thing.

 

Slaying the Badger. Tells the story of Greg LeMond, one of the first Americans to make a European Tour de France team and explains the funky individual-team dynamics of the sport, and the tense leader-servant relationship he had with team leader Bernard Hinault (aka the Badger). A great into to a confusing sport.

[Shane Wahl]

I started watching "Senna" many months ago. Stopped. Then it disappeared from Netflix. I have heard great things about it.

Also, regarding PBS: I am soon 35 and sound like an old person when I say it, but the days of Reading Rainbow, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One, and Carmen San Diego were pretty stellar growing up. Reading, science, math, and geography learning. TV today? Holy moly the garbage.

[Vanimal46]

I'm 25 Shane and those shows were still relevant in my day too. Also Schoolhouse Rock if you recall that show as well. For those with little ones today, how do you navigate the maze of garbage on TV today? 

[biggentleben]

 

I started watching "Senna" many months ago. Stopped. Then it disappeared from Netflix. I have heard great things about it.

Also, regarding PBS: I am soon 35 and sound like an old person when I say it, but the days of Reading Rainbow, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One, and Carmen San Diego were pretty stellar growing up. Reading, science, math, and geography learning. TV today? Holy moly the garbage.

 

I used to have the theme song to Carmen San Diego as my ring tone. It made me sad when the clients I worked with swayed young enough that most had no idea where the tune came from...

 

As far as Senna goes, try to find it somewhere. I delayed for a long time watching it after adding it to my queue, but I'm very glad I spent the time on it. 

[Shane Wahl]

Watching "The Unknown Known." For some reason, even though I am familiar with all of it factually. I still cannot get over how much of an abomination Donald Rumsfeld was/is in this world.

[Craig Arko]

PBS just sent a notification they are streaming the remastered version of Ken Burns' Civil War serial. Will probably watch that.

[Vanimal46]

Figured I would bring back this thread because this weekend it's going to be cold and windy in Austin.. Which means no golf for this guy. Has anyone seen any good shows lately that you would recommend?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Room 237 is completely insane and hilarious if you want to watch a silly documentary.

[Vanimal46]

 

Room 237 is completely insane and hilarious if you want to watch a silly documentary.

Completely insane and hilarious is absolutely in my wheelhouse (I'd like to think my posts on here prove the fact that I am completely insane, sometimes hilarious). I will check it out. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

Making a Murderer is the first one I've watched on Netflix.  A couple other keep popping up on the list of things I might be interested in, but they weren't exactly reviewed well (Hot girls wanted I think was one of them)... 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Making a Murderer is the first one I've watched on Netflix.  A couple other keep popping up on the list of things I might be interested in, but they weren't exactly reviewed well (Hot girls wanted I think was one of them)... 

Hot Girls Wanted was decent. An interesting view of the "amateur" porn industry and how it uses people.

[Willihammer]

Prince of Pennsylvania is pretty good. Tells the story of American olympic wrestling teams of the 90s and their main sponsor, John DuPont, who was completely nuts.

[Sarah]

Oh, and since this is a baseball forum I watched "The Battered Bastards of Baseball" which is available streaming on Netflix. It was one of the best baseball documentaries I've seen in a long time!