This isn't intended to be a comprehensive list. I'm just going to be periodically updating this list with titles from the following IMDB search parameters:
UPDATED: 4/23/24
True crime documentaries and docuseries. Updated regularly.
Last update: 4/20/2024
Every year there are a huge number of movies that fly right under the radar of the average movie fan. movies that are great but just not that well known.
There are plenty of movie gems out there and hopefully this list will help you find some.
Feel free to submit new movies in the comments below.
This list contains movies/documentaries and short films. The list was originally created on IMDb. http://goo.gl/gHles
last uptade: apr 2024
A mixture of Murder, Disappearances, Conspiracies and Cults
*updated regularly
Regularly updated list of True Crime documentaries & docuseries about murder, abduction, cults, corruption, corporate, fraud, etc. etc.
All credits go to IMDb user: RDLongoria
Two times a year—at the halfway point and during list-making season in November—I send out a list of “significant” movies to the film staff so they can try to see as many as possible before our Year In Film feature. It’s just a simple checklist, presented in the order each film was released theatrically in New York City. The idea is to give our writers time to catch up and give relative obscurities like The Arbor (last year’s No. 13 on our conjoined Best Of The Year list) the same collective consideration as more widely heralded efforts like The Tree Of Life. In the interest of transparency—and recommending a bunch of movies we love—I’m making the halftime list public this year so our readers can play along at home. A few caveats:
- My staff inevitably comes back to me with omissions, and I suspect there will be many in the comments below. We’ll add the big ones to our year-end checklist.
- Normally, the list goes out without categories. The ones below, particularly “The Essentials,” are a reflection of my taste and priorities. Mileage will definitely vary.
- Within the categories, titles are still listed in order of release in NYC through the weekend of July 13th, not in order of preference.
- Overall, the momentum from last year’s embarrassment of cinematic riches has continued into 2012, so now’s the time to get those queues in order.
The Essentials: From "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" to "Django Unchained"
Hollywood: The System Works!: From "The Grey" to "Lés misérables"
Auteur Obligations: From "Crazy Horse" to "Killing Them Softly"
Notable Documentaries: From "West of Memphis" to "Jiro Dreams of Sushi"
Indie Curiosities: From "Return" to "Promised Land"
Imported Goods: From "Declaration of War" to "Sister"
Source: http://www.avclub.com/articles/best-films-2012,82513/ / http://www.avclub.com/articles/best-films-of-2012-so-far-an-annotated-checklist-p,89844/
HollyWood Movies based on Popularity
Just Documentaries
my former watch list with lots of weird films I wanna see
Episodes, shows, and movies from the podcast. Does not include Patreon-only episodes.
Missing:
Episode 17 - Captivated
Episode 195 - Escape to Alcatraz
Episode 242 - The Last Call Killer
Episode 300 - Debunking the Myth of Patient Zero (YouTube)
Episode 328 - Catching the Craigslist Killer
Episode 331 - Murder in Mustang
Updated 2/4/2024.
List compiled from: https://www.vogue.com/article/best-documentaries-of-all-time
Ranked as in the list
1: 13th (2016)
2: A Poem Is a Naked Person (2015)
3: The Act of Killing (2012)
4: American Factory (2019)
5: American Movie (1999)
6: Amy (2015)
7: Bill Cunningham New York (2010)
8: Blackfish (2013)
9: Bowling for Columbine (2002)
10: Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
11: Burden of Dreams (1982)
12: Cameraperson (2016)
13: Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
14: Crumb (1994)
15: Citizenfour (2014)
16: City of Gold (2015)
17: Cusp (2021)
18: Dark Money (2018)
19: Disclosure (2020)
20: Don’t Look Back (1967)
21: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
22: Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
23: F for Fake (1973)
24: The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons From the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
25: Gimme Shelter (1970)
26: The Gleaners and I (2000)
27: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
28: Grey Gardens (1975)
29: Grizzly Man (2005)
30: Harlan County, USA (1976)
31: Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991)
32: Hoop Dreams (1994)
33: How to Survive a Plague (2012)
34: I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
35: Jane (2017)
36: Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
37: Kate Plays Christine (2016)
38: Kedi (2016)
39: Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
40: Man on Wire (2008)
41: McQueen (2018)
42: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)
43: My Octopus Teacher (2020)
44: Nanook of the North (1922)
45: Night and Fog (1956)
46: O.J.: Made in America (2016)
47: Original Cast Album: Company (1970)
48: Paris Is Burning (1990)
49: Pina (2011)
50: The Queen of Versailles (2012)
51: Restrepo (2010)
52: Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
53: Salesman (1969)
54: Searching for Sugarman (2012)
55: Senna (2010)
56: The September Issue (2009)
57: Sherman’s March (1985)
58: Shoah (1985)
59: Spellbound (2002)
60: Stories We Tell (2012)
61: Super Size Me (2004)
62: The Thin Blue Line (1988)
63: The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
64: Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013)
65: The Up Series (1964–)
66: Waltz With Bashir (2008)
67: The War Room (1993)
68: Weiner (2016)
69: West of Memphis (2012)
70: When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts (2006)
71: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
"A funny thing happened on the way to the Oscars. Not to the Oscars. To me. I sustained a hairline fracture of my left hip. I didn't fall. I didn't break it. It just sort of... happened to itself. Most of the time, it causes me no pain at all. But my left leg won't bear any weight, nor can I walk on it. This pain is off the charts. It has nothing to do with cancer. It's plain bad luck.
The good news is that I've seen the films of one of the best recent years in cinema. I wrote more than 300 reviews in 2012 -- a record -- and it was unusually difficult to leave out many of the quote-unquote "best" films in 11th place.
Grand Jury Prizes
At many film festivals, the juries come up with a cockamamie category named the Grand Jury Prizes. It finds room for titles that were as good, in one way or another, as the others. Finding them a place in the numerical listing is a problem, because, really, what does such a ranking mean? Here are my ten Grand Jury Prizes, arranged in that frustrating order -- alphabetically:
"Central Park Five," "Impossible,""In the Family," "Last Ride," "A Late Quartet," "The Master," "Paradise Lost 3," "Rampart," "Searching for Sugar Man" and "West of Memphis.""
From: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/12/eberts_top_movies_of_2012.html
1-10 are ranked, the rest ist alphabetical.
True Crime Documentary Series & Film
by LISHVIP 9