We could write something really meaningful about documentaries and how they impacted the decade, changed our lives, made us cry, made us angry, gave us a call to action, or shined a light on something we otherwise might not know about. We could talk about the portraits of people we adored, people we lost, or chronicles of injustice or venality or obscure spotlights on little-known subjects. And we’ll do that, eventually, but right now, it’s Friday, and we just want to sleep and drink and possibly never wake up, so please enjoy our Best Documentaries of The Decade feature, this placeholder we may or may not update when we’re feeling alive, and our genuine thanks and appreciation for all your reading, sharing, clicking, etc.

Continue reading The Best Documentaries Of The Decade [2010s] at The Playlist.

We’re deep into the week before Christmas and still cutting a swath through our Best/Worst/It’s Complicated Year-End coverage, most of which we hope you’ve all read and enjoyed, or at least been engaged by (it’s okay, you can disagree). This year, a few documentaries made it onto our collective 25 Best Films of the Year list; in 2016, it seems that many of the achievements in non-fiction cinema have rendered moot the notion of keeping narrative and documentary separate for evaluation.

Continue reading The 22 Best Documentaries Of 2016 at The Playlist.

If the Cahiers Du Cinema offers the years snootiest top ten list, John Waters always has the most fun with his. Each year he shares the best films he saw with Artforum, and the choices are truly driven by his particular tastes, and not the pressure of popular consensus.

That’s why in 2016, Trey Edward Shults‘ “Krisha” made the top slot with Waters saying that “other people’s hell can sometimes be so much fun” in this dysfunctional family drama.

Continue reading John Waters’ Top 10 Films Of 2016 Includes ‘Krisha,’ ‘Elle’ & ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ at The Playlist.

Both Ezra Edelman‘s ‘OJ’ and Raoul Peck‘s ‘I Am Not’ earned nods for the top prize, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, alongside Kirsten Johnson‘s “Cameraperson,” Gianfranco Rosi‘s “Fire at Sea,“ and Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg‘s “Weiner.

Continue reading ‘OJ: Made in America’ Leads Nominees For 2017 Cinema Eye Honors at The Playlist.

With summer winding down, and movies being in a something of a slow holding pattern before the fall festival and awards seasons kicks off this week, Joe and myself dig into a few recent documentaries that’ve gotten attention recently: “Lo and Behold: Reveries of a Connected World,” “Tickled,” and our main subject for this episode, “O.J.: Made in America.” The last segment features our discussion of Joe’s latest pick for Hold Up: Richard Linklater‘s 1996 mostly-forgotten film, “SubUrbia.”

READ MORE: Werner Herzog’s ‘Lo And Behold: Reveries of the Connected World’ Is A Curious, Awe-struck & Terrified Look At The Web [Review]

We only talk briefly, though, about ‘Lo and Behold,’ the latest nonfiction work from Werner Herzog, who’s without doubt at his most Herzogian with this lean but entertaining look at the internet and its pros and cons, and “Tickled,” a bizarre story about a New Zealand reporter who stumbles onto a much stranger, unsettling mystery after discovering the world of competitive tickling competitions.

Continue reading Podcast: Adjust Your Tracking Talks Docs With ‘O.J.: Made In America’ & ‘Lo And Behold’ at The Playlist.

Have you seen “Tickled” yet? If not, you should: it’s one of the best documentaries of the year, a film that tells a story that’s truly stranger than fiction, and one that has to be seen to be believed (read our review here). It’s best experienced knowing as little as possible, but broadly speaking, it sees Australian journalist David Farrier, and his co-director Dylan Reeve, attempt to look into the seemingly quirky story of Competitive Endurance Tickling websites, only to find a surprisingly deep and dark machine behind them.

Continue reading Subjects Of ‘Tickled’ Crash Q&A Screening Of Acclaimed Documentary To Confront Filmmakers at The Playlist.

The profoundly strange, shocking, and absurd documentary “Tickled” is one of those once-in-a-lifetime docs where a story lands in the lap of someone who is smart enough to pick up the thread and start to unravel a tightly knit web of deceit. “Tickled” is simply delightful in just how stranger than fiction it manages to be.

It’s hard to explain the story of “Tickled” because it’s just so crazy and convoluted.

Continue reading ‘Tickled’ Is A Profoundly Strange, Absurd & Disturbing Documentary [Review] at The Playlist.