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Tag: Documentary

Thrill Ride: The Science of Fun (1997)

Documentary Rated NR

Thrill Ride botches its one interesting subject – amusement park roller coasters – before moving on to an extremely tedious examination of “ride films,” which combine motion simulation and moviemaking. Despite some predictably stimulating first-person shots, most of the technology on display is sadly dated.

Murderball (2005)

Documentary Rated NR

Real human drama doesn’t get much more gripping than this documentary about the sport of paraplegic rugby, in which even the game’s winners must learn to live, day after day, with the agony of some sort of defeat. As it follows these young men, most of whom have ended up in wheelchairs because of car

Original Kings of Comedy, The (2000)

Documentary Rated R

Director Spike Lee captures the last performance of the hugely successful stand-up comedy tour featuring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric “The Entertainer” and Bernie Mac. The usual topics – sex, race and family life – are covered in funny but not always original ways, as any look back at 1979’s Richard Pryor Live in Concert

Sharks 3D (2004)

Documentary Rated NR

The rare Imax documentary that places as much importance on information as it does on visual spectacle, Sharks 3D uses 3D technology to immerse us even further into the world of one of earth’s most fascinating creatures. In a kid-friendly conceit, the movie is “hosted” by a sea turtle who provides plenty of facts. Sharks

Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)

Documentary Rated G

Less a portrait of the Titanic than a snapshot of those obsessed by it, this 3-D Imax documentary nevertheless offers striking new footage of the famed sunken ship. Director James Cameron returns to the subject matter that inspired his 1997 Oscar-winning picture, and he seems as enthralled with the legend as with the cameras, submarines

Real Cancun, The (2003)

Documentary Rated R

Like the MTV reality series it was spun off from, The Real Cancun takes a bunch of self-obsessed young adults, throws them into one house and prods them into behaving as if they were at a junior-high dance. That no one survives with a shred of dignity shouldn’t come as a surprise. These are kids

Roger & Me (1989)

Documentary Rated R

Michael Moore broke onto the national scene with this screen screed against the automobile factory closings across his home town of Flint, Mich., in the late 1980s. Right from the start, Moore’s knack for using comedy to illuminate injustice is nearly outweighed by his considerable flaws: a whiny narcissism, cheap-shot tactics and maddening tunnel vision.

Space Station 3D (2002)

Documentary Rated NR

How does actual outer space, as seen in this 3-D Imax documentary about the construction of the International Space Station, hold up against the slick, special effects-driven outer space we’re used to seeing at the movies? Fairly well, thanks mostly to the crisp realism that only true images – rather than computer-generated ones – can

First Descent (2005)

Documentary Rated PG-13

This thrilling sports documentary outlines the history of snowboarding through 2005, which comes across as something Icarus might have tried if he had lived in a colder clime. It may seem a stretch to reference Greek mythology when talking about a sport that was once looked upon with scorn by the skiing establishment, but the

God Grew Tired of Us (2006)

Documentary Rated PG

Seen through the eyes of a group of Sudanese refugees as they try to establish a new life in the United States, we Americans look like a lonely and isolated bunch of workaholics. In many ways, this country is a land of promise for these orphans, who fled war-torn Sudan, wandered through the Sahara, spent

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