Good Documentaries?

beardown07 said:
He was a POS.

I don't know your age, or if you grew up in that scene or era, but "Locals Only" was some real shit. The whole "supportive" movement of skating did not occur til way later. Early on, it was fuck everyone and everything and everyone.

That was the whole point of pointing out Tony's Dad, and how everyone thought he was influencing shit.

Skateboarding was punk. Anarchy.

Duane Peters was real. It's what it was.

Is he lame as fuck NOW? Sure. But we all have normal jobs, and he's just a reject skater from days gone by.
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I grew up with a lot of Duane Peters. Fucking mortherfucking pricks. The younger me would be glad at the shell he sure seems to be now (although even the younger me couldn’t abide that being probably most do to losing a child).

Me today sees him as very interesting. He’s just trying to make sense of it all. Has been all his life. I even know a Duane Peters I grew up with still. Such a fucking prick as a kid and now a half hollow human trying to get it all right finally….and I feel for him, even as aggravating of a kid as he was.
 
wildturkey said:
That's what makes it compelling though. The depth and value of the documentary is in those character moments and it does a good job with it (even if it could do just a tiny bit more). If its strictly what you're talking about, that's just checking off career accolades and hitting nostalgia videos. That's about the laziest way to do a doc. It'd be like a low effort book report. This one doesn't go that route and its better for it. I'm just saying it could stand to be a little longer spending a tad more time in certain areas. It'd take a 9 out of 10 doc to a 10 out of 10
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beardown07 said:
He was a POS.

I don't know your age, or if you grew up in that scene or era, but "Locals Only" was some real shit. The whole "supportive" movement of skating did not occur til way later. Early on, it was fuck everyone and everything and everyone.

That was the whole point of pointing out Tony's Dad, and how everyone thought he was influencing shit.

Skateboarding was punk. Anarchy.

Duane Peters was real. It's what it was.

Is he lame as fuck NOW? Sure. But we all have normal jobs, and he's just a reject skater from days gone by.
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Orlando_Eagles said:
@wildturkey @beardown07

I finally watched this today. Fucking amazing!!

I get the point on not spending more time on the blow up in the late 90s, but I got the sense that based on where life went for a while for Tony after that he went all Forrest Gump on that time period (that’s all I have to say about that). His comments on “fame is a drug” came across to me like there is pain and regret around that time period that happened thanks the sports resurgence with the X Games.

Duane Peters….he was an insecure fucking kid. It made him an asshole. He seems to be still struggling with who he was as a younger man to this day, but trying to be better. The story on Tony embracing him when his kid died after he shit talked Tony’s dads death was powerful storytelling.

Aside from all that holy fuck this took me back to the skating days of the late 80s/early 90s. It was really cool to see all the guys….mountain, hosoi, caballero, McGill. Reminds me I’m fucking getting old. These guys were Gods and heroes back then.

Most powerful for me was the talk at the end about taking so much risk at this age. I couldn’t even imagine getting on a board now (of course I haven’t been competing at a high level all my life). That bug, that sickness that Tony has that keeps pushing him is unbelievable. I felt a huge parallel to his dad being so stubborn to not change in his later years.

But, I also get what Lance Mountain said….we are already fucked up and in pain. Why stop now?
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For me, I thought having Duane Peters really gave you some insight into what this sport does to you.
Or any professional sport where you have reached the peaks.
And now we get to see the valleys.

FWIW, I thought the most compelling character was Rodney Mullen who had this like Zen-Buddhist take on skateboarding. Practically a polar opposite of Duane Peters.
 
Sparhawk said:
For me, I thought having Duane Peters really gave you some insight into what this sport does to you.
Or any professional sport where you have reached the peaks.
And now we get to see the valleys.

FWIW, I thought the most compelling character was Rodney Mullen who had this like Zen-Buddhist take on skateboarding. Practically a polar opposite of Duane Peters.
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I got to skate with Mullen and Mountain as a kid. It was awesome. He was awesome. Super stylish.
 
Sparhawk said:
For me, I thought having Duane Peters really gave you some insight into what this sport does to you.
Or any professional sport where you have reached the peaks.
And now we get to see the valleys.

FWIW, I thought the most compelling character was Rodney Mullen who had this like Zen-Buddhist take on skateboarding. Practically a polar opposite of Duane Peters.
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You know….I wanted to mention him but couldn’t remember his name. Shame on me, I remember his name from back in the day as the best freestyle guy.

Yeah….I feel like I could sit down and talk with him for a long while. He was a great part of the doc.
 
beardown07 said:
I got to skate with Mullen and Mountain as a kid. It was awesome. He was awesome. Super stylish.
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That is super cool. Two guys I always really liked.

I remember starting out and wanting to do freestyle like him. Part of it was I was just a kid and scared shitless of the half pipe. I learned some freestyle things….and then the tough types came along….”get on the half pipe, pussy. Only fags do freestyle”.

To their credit, the got me past the fear of the half pipe and were stoked for me when I did.
 
Sparhawk said:
For me, I thought having Duane Peters really gave you some insight into what this sport does to you.
Or any professional sport where you have reached the peaks.
And now we get to see the valleys.

FWIW, I thought the most compelling character was Rodney Mullen who had this like Zen-Buddhist take on skateboarding. Practically a polar opposite of Duane Peters.
Click to expand...

Oh I didn't mean it that Peters shouldn't have been in the doc. It's great that he is and like Orlando_Eagles said, the way they used him is excellent doc storytelling. I just meant that dude is fucking asshole that doesn't realize a good chunk of the problems he's encountered are because he's an asshole.
 
Orlando_Eagles said:
@wildturkey @beardown07

I finally watched this today. Fucking amazing!!

I get the point on not spending more time on the blow up in the late 90s, but I got the sense that based on where life went for a while for Tony after that he went all Forrest Gump on that time period (that’s all I have to say about that). His comments on “fame is a drug” came across to me like there is pain and regret around that time period that happened thanks the sports resurgence with the X Games.

Duane Peters….he was an insecure fucking kid. It made him an asshole. He seems to be still struggling with who he was as a younger man to this day, but trying to be better. The story on Tony embracing him when his kid died after he shit talked Tony’s dads death was powerful storytelling.

Aside from all that holy fuck this took me back to the skating days of the late 80s/early 90s. It was really cool to see all the guys….mountain, hosoi, caballero, McGill. Reminds me I’m fucking getting old. These guys were Gods and heroes back then.

Most powerful for me was the talk at the end about taking so much risk at this age. I couldn’t even imagine getting on a board now (of course I haven’t been competing at a high level all my life). That bug, that sickness that Tony has that keeps pushing him is unbelievable. I felt a huge parallel to his dad being so stubborn to not change in his later years.

But, I also get what Lance Mountain said….we are already fucked up and in pain. Why stop now?
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was getting at last night. The doc probably could have been even better than what it is (its great) had that stuff been in there, but you could tell that Tony didn't really want to go there all that much with it.
 
wildturkey said:
That's exactly what I was getting at last night. The doc probably could have been even better than what it is (its great) had that stuff been in there, but you could tell that Tony didn't really want to go there all that much with it.
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Yeah….I was doing my thing where I say the same thing a poster did with 6x the words instead of simply saying “I agree”.

Steve Hawk was excellent. He did a good job of filling some points with color when Tony either might have been too young to remember well, or didn’t want to talk about it.
 
I know it's old, I know that it is not a pure documentary but I watched a bunch of Netfix Roman Empire recently. Amazing stuff
 
Kburjr said:
I know it's old, I know that it is not a pure documentary but I watched a bunch of Netfix Roman Empire recently. Amazing stuff
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Peter Graves airplane movie GIF
 
Mind over Murder on HBO Max.

Holy shit that was a damn story. Well told, crazy fucking story (though it could have done without the bits about the local theater company doing a play on it).

I loved how they really tell the story from all sides to this day, and leave it with a “you decide what really happened.

This doc is a great time investment.
 
Facing Nolan on Netflix.
Documentary on Nolan Ryan.

Never won a Cy Young.
1000 more strikeouts than the next highest pitcher (Randy Johnson).
 
Hostages on HBO Max.

Completely blew me away. Iran embassy’s hostages. Great in depth on this one.

I was just a little too young at the time. I remember some country had our people and wouldn’t give them back. I remember yellow ribbons. But, I definitely grew up under the fall out. Fuck that country and fuck that Ayotollah.

And that still holds true for me. But, I will say there are many voices in this doc from the Iranian side. Government, student revolutionaries, etc.

The backgrounding on it all is key. The Shah was a fucking piece of shit who kept all for himself and have nothing to his people. As they tried to be heard more he sent his secret police after them. I have no doubts on this. Since we clearly supported the coup in 1953 that gave him full power we were the enablers of a mad man.

When he lost it all I get it for the people of Iran. I can even appreciate their plan on the embassy takeover. But that’s where it stops. Then it became what fuck face Khomeni wanted to do.

They probably got better than the Shah with this guy, but not by much. And they all see that now.

Top marks for this doc, it was super well done, even if it just kind of ends at the end.
 
Sparhawk said:
Facing Nolan on Netflix.
Documentary on Nolan Ryan.

Never won a Cy Young.
1000 more strikeouts than the next highest pitcher (Randy Johnson).
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Handicappers said:
The Nolan Ryan documentary was good.
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Ok….I finally watched Facing Nolan. Absolutely unbelievable doc.

I grew up with him and Astro. Even though he was getting up in age I remember relief that he was going back to the AL. He was that dominant and scary.

And, at the same time, I can’t remember anyone that hated Nolan. Not a single one. Hated what he could do against your team, hated how well he pitched. But no one hated the man. Even back then it was all respect.

27 fucking seasons. Holy shit. I figured it was up there, but didn’t realize he played longer than anyone, ever.

They mention this word a lot, and I am too because it’s spot on. Folklore. We live in a modern time, folklore is supposed to be dead because everything is recorded, every opinion is taken. But, this man defied all that and created folklore…..especially those Rangers years he was supposed to be fading out.

A power pitcher who goes 27 seasons. Unreal.

Someone might come along one day and snipe some of his records…..but they still won’t be the man. He was truly one of a kind.
 
Orlando_Eagles said:
Ok….I finally watched Facing Nolan. Absolutely unbelievable doc.

I grew up with him and Astro. Even though he was getting up in age I remember relief that he was going back to the AL. He was that dominant and scary.

And, at the same time, I can’t remember anyone that hated Nolan. Not a single one. Hated what he could do against your team, hated how well he pitched. But no one hated the man. Even back then it was all respect.

27 fucking seasons. Holy shit. I figured it was up there, but didn’t realize he played longer than anyone, ever.

They mention this word a lot, and I am too because it’s spot on. Folklore. We live in a modern time, folklore is supposed to be dead because everything is recorded, every opinion is taken. But, this man defied all that and created folklore…..especially those Rangers years he was supposed to be fading out.

A power pitcher who goes 27 seasons. Unreal.

Someone might come along one day and snipe some of his records…..but they still won’t be the man. He was truly one of a kind.
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I watched a video after watching this documentary that was trying to analyze how fast that 100.8 mph fastball really was. This documentary made a reference to another making the claim that it extrapolated to 108 out of the hand, which is what today's guns look at. The video showed side by side comparisons with Chapman's fastest pitch ever. While initially skeptical, the guy who made the video simply conceded that the pitch looked almost identical to the fastest pitch ever recorded. Pretty cool.
 
SU Nittany Tide said:
I watched a video after watching this documentary that was trying to analyze how fast that 100.8 mph fastball really was. This documentary made a reference to another making the claim that it extrapolated to 108 out of the hand, which is what today's guns look at. The video showed side by side comparisons with Chapman's fastest pitch ever. While initially skeptical, the guy who made the video simply conceded that the pitch looked almost identical to the fastest pitch ever recorded. Pretty cool.
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They really didn’t quantify that conversion from 100.8 on older guns to 108 now. They just said it and moved on. It was his former catcher on the Mets that said 107-108 too.

Sounds like there isn’t an ironclad conversion of these things. But, I really don’t care. If his pitch side by side with Chapmans passes the eye test it is solidly well above 100. 108…..folklore. And I don’t really want to argue it.

Nolan Ryan threw 108. His speed dropped as he really aged, but not as much as one might think. Iron man. Advil.
 
NETFLIX
The Battered Bastards of Baseball

 
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