True Story! The Best Documentaries Of 2016

I do like to take a moment at the end of the year to shine a spotlight back on the best documentaries of the year.

They usually go unheralded or unappreciated, but thanks to so many different services, so many of them can be enjoyed at home.

They often are so unbelievable, you couldn't script a more entertaining story if you try.

Here's a look back at some of my favorites:

We'll start with a special shout out to ESPN 30 for 30.

Four Falls of Buffalo
The '85 Bears
Believeland

Those were the only 3 that I watched this year, but much like others I've seen in years past, they are some of the most entertaining episodes you're likely to see.

I debated whether or not to put this on the best of television since it is an ESPN program, but decided in the end to go this route.

Each episode is a movie in itself, and rarely has anything to do (besides being about sports) with one another.

I've still got plenty of them that I haven't watched, but I haven't seen a bad one yet.

Most 30 for 30s are currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Dark Horse

When you take a poor Welsh town that gathers a group together and pools their money in the longshot attempt to raise a champion race horse well you can kind of tell where this movie is going to go.

After all, it's rare that documentaries get made about losers, right? :)

It's impossible not to root for them as they relive their road to glory and heartbreak.

The people are so genuine and warm, and the story is so magnificently laid out, it's the stuff that Disney films are made for.

But this one is all true.

Being Canadian

A documentary that sets out to discover what Canadians are, confirms that most of the stereotypes that the rest of the world has about Canadians is mostly true.

And really, that's not a bad thing at all when you consider how the rest of the world views them and they view themselves.

Here's a hint, around the world, once they reveal that they aren't American, they are usually treated very well.

:(

Which I suppose says as much about them as it does about us.

: )

This is currently streaming on Amazon for those with Prime.

National Lampoon: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead


If you have a sense of humor whatsoever, you will probably find this look back at National Lampoon right up your alley.

Especially considering that much of the late 20th century/21st century humor/comedy was spawned from the very pages/ideas/minds of those that worked there.

Of course, if you hate Saturday Night Live and all that it has done to keep comedy coming to you weekly with rotating casts for over 40 years, then you also know where to place some of your blame and hatred.

:)

Electric Boogaloo

If you rented a movie in the 80s, you know their movies.

Now is your chance to know the whole story. It's an even wilder ride than you could have possibly imagined.

It's quite an impressive feat that they pulled off in making their vast catalog of movies.

It wasn't until they broke their own rules and attempted to make their movies look like they had a huge budget, that it all blew up in their faces.

Still streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

We Are Twisted F***ing Sister 

I suppose unless you hate Twisted Sister, there's no way you can watch this documentary and not feel for the band and root for them to succeed.

Beginning at their origins and leading up to adding Dee Snyder as their front man, this film chronicles the rise and fall, and more rises and fall than the best roller coaster you've ever been on.

And it stops just before they hit it big with MTV and the whole world gets to know them.

Very well done.

Still streaming on Netflix as of this writing.



Looking forward to what 2017 has to offer!!

I Better Review "Believeland" Before The NFL Season Goes Much Further

ESPN 30 For 30: Believeland (2016)

A- Netflix Streaming

Starring LeBron James, Ernest Byner, Jim Brown, Hank Aaron,

Directed by Andrew Billman

The Story:

There are cities across the United States that host the "Holy Trinity" of professional sports teams: Baseball. Basketball. Football. They've all hoisted a trophy or two in their time. Some even repeatedly.

Then there is Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the Indians. The Cavaliers. The Browns.

No championship banner was raised in the city since 1964.

For over 50 years, the city would endure tantalizing heartache in one sport or another as their teams came within inches...within minutes...of raising that trophy, only to have fate come and snatch it from them at the last minute.

Sports fans in general, and Cleveland fans in particular know how close they were on so many occasions, and as the poster for this riveting documentary shows, their troubles are often summed up in succinct moments of failure.

Relive the pain of a World Series trophy being wheeled into the Indians locker room, only to have them turn it around and take it next door!

Watch Michael Jordan do what he did best, and crush the spirits of Cavalier fans.

Grab a tissue when Ernest Byner recounts the horrors of The Fumble.

Relive the anger of a city when Art Modell steals the franchise away from Ohio, relocates it to Baltimore and wins that championship they had worked so hard to bring to Cleveland.

Finally, watch as LeBron James arrives on the scene to save the day, destroys a fanbase with one fateful decision, then ultimately comes back and fulfills a promise.

The documentary has the best possible ending you could hope for, and is something right out of Hollywood. That it was filmed and wrapped after the Cavaliers had to write their own David vs. Goliath ending is pure synchronicity.

The curse is finally dead.

At least for a minute.

This is Cleveland after all.

Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A-

A Tale Of Two Coaches... "The '85 Bears"

The 85 Bears (2016)

Directed by Jason Hehir

The Story:

The Chicago Bears have fired their coaching staff, but the defense begs the owners not to let Buddy Ryan go. They feel they are on the verge of something great. Ryan isn't fired, but he isn't promoted to head coach. Instead, they bring in Mike Ditka to lead the team. This doesn't sit very well with Ryan, but he focuses on the defense, and his players rally around him to form quite possibly the greatest defensive team ever in the history of the NFL.

Another excellent installment from ESPNs 30 For 30, the focus on the Bears is an amazing tale of two coaches, and really, two different teams that were playing on the same field.

There was Buddy Ryan's defense and that amazing wall of talent: Dent. Singletary. McMichael. Etc.

Then there was the rest of the team, anchored by the legendary Walter Payton that was under the leadership of Mike Ditka who brought in Jim McMahon to lead the team to greatness.

A good number of the players are on hand to talk about that season and how special it was.

And it's amazing to think that the Bears would only win 1 championship with that amount of talent.

Most of that is owed to the fact that perhaps Ditka wasn't that great of a coach after all. He needed Ryan, and Ryan didn't have the talent when he left town to ever really build anything that was Super Bowl worthy.

Ditka was never able to duplicate his success elsewhere either, and looking back through this documentary, he basically got handed lightning in a bottle, so it was more the team than the coach that brought Chicago the trophy.

The other likely reason they didn't repeat was that late-season injury to McMahon with one of the dirtiest plays you'll ever see.

If that were to happen in today's game, Goodell would probably have the culprit executed for such a vicious attack on a quarterback long after the play was over.

But then when Ditka turned outside of his own team to bring in Doug Flutie to try and save the game...

Well, the rest of that story is history.

Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade:  A-

Always A Bridesmaid... "Four Falls of Buffalo"

The Four Falls of Buffalo (2015)

Directed by Ken Rodgers

The Story:

In 1991, the Buffalo Bills played in Super Bowl 25. They would play again in the next 3 Super Bowls, the only team to ever make it to 4 straight Super Bowls.

However, they also have lived in infamy for failing to win any of them.

This is their story of how things didn't go so well for them, and yet, they may very well be the greatest team to never win the big game.

Another fine entry in the ESPN 30 for 30 series, but that is becoming a redundant statement.

This time, the focus is on the 1991-1994 version of the Buffalo Bills.  Perhaps some of these names ring a bell:

Marv Levy
Jim Kelly
Thurman Thomas
Bruce Smith
Andre Reed
Don Beebe
Steve Tasker
Scott Norwood
Frank Reich

They're all here, and they all reflect on what it took to get them to 4 straight Super Bowls.
This team was good.
Really good.

I wasn't even that big of a fan of the team back in the day, and I was amazed by how many names and faces I instantly recognized. It was an amazing group that looked like it could beat anyone on paper.

But in the NFL, on any given Sunday, well, that's why they play the game.

All of that said, if you like the NFL, you'll love this documentary.

Even if you don't (cue the thumbs up from my wife) you'll still be captivated by what this team went through and how the team and the fans responded to the situation.

For those that lived through those times, the Bills became the butt of the joke, but 25 years later, what they did was an amazing accomplishment.

When teams can't even get back to repeat Super Bowls (win or lose) and some can't even make it to the playoffs the following season, the Bills are one of the greatest underdog stories of all times.

The biggest problem, the American public (and Buffalo players and fans especially) never got the Hollywood happy ending of seeing the underdog win.

Time heals all wounds and a lot of time has passed and hopefully the wounds in Buffalo are mostly healed.

The interviews with Scott Norwood are especially painful. He still takes that first loss so hard, bearing it all on his shoulders alone, and you can't help but feel for him.

The wonderful thing though, is his teammates and city don't blame him. As they say in the interviews, the game never should have been decided by that kick. There were plenty of other plays that failed that cost Buffalo that win.

The following year, Harry Connick Jr.'s band was the culprit behind Thurman Thomas' missing helmet which when you watch the replays may very well have cost them that entire game.

So many things to relive and to get a new appreciation for in this one.

Highly recommended and well worth your time.

Streaming on Netflix as of this writing, and still airing on ESPN, check your local listings.

Final Grade: A

A Sentiment Shared By Many... "I Hate Christian Laettner"

I Hate Christian Laettner (2015)

Starring Christian Laettner, And Everyone Who Hate(s)/(ed) Him

The Story:

There are 2 types of College Basketball fans: those that go to Duke University, and those that hate everything about Duke University. Just as they were becoming a decent basketball team and Mike Krzyzewski was about to become THE coach of legend, there came a good looking, talented white player with a bit of an attitude named Christian Laettner.

He became the poster child of Duke, and he became the reason the entire basketball universe hated Duke especially, and Laettner specifically.

While I don't follow NCAA Basketball much anymore, back then, I tuned in with great enthusiasm to watch March Madness as the teams played their hearts out, and 63 teams left with shattered dreams, broken egos and puddles of tears flowing on the hardwood.

I, much like everyone else outside of Duke, didn't really care for Christian Laettner.  There was just something about him that rubs you the wrong way.

You can't quite put your finger on it, but it's just there.

When that spoiled brat joined the original Olympic Dream Team?  Hoooo Boy... I still remember how angry that made me.  Clyde Drexler had just barely made the team, and they hand a spot to this Golden Boy from college?  Grrr....

So when I saw this title on Netflix, it made me chuckle and think back 2 decades earlier and I thought, yeah, I sure did.

So did ESPN deliver on their latest installment in the exceptional 30 for 30 franchise?  Absolutely.

The best part, Laettner is at the center of this documentary, and he takes it all in stride.  He knows he was hated.  He knows he's STILL hated, and I think secretly, he loves it.

He may not have racked up a Hall of Fame career in the NBA, thanks mostly to being stuck on lousy teams moreso than anything he did or did not do personally, his college stats reveal a shocking truth:

Christian Laettner is, was, and will likely always be, the greatest college basketball player.

Ever.

Period.

Beginning and end of argument.

There's really nobody else even close to the caliber of what he did with his team in the annals of college basketball before, during or since his time on the court.

Yes people, we witnessed history, and loved booing every minute of it.

Laettner?  He soaked it up like any good villain does, and simply did his job.

By the end of the documentary, you make still hate Christian Laettner, but that hatred may be toned down just a tad.

Maybe.

: )

Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B+

25 Years? It Still Seems Like Yesterday... "The Day The Series Stopped"

The Day The Series Stopped (2014)

ESPN: 30 For 30

The Story:

The World Series, 1989. The Battle of the Bay, Game 3 as the San Francisco Giants looked to come back from an 0-2 deficit against the Oakland A's.  Then at 5:04, an earthquake strikes and the Series goes dark. The biggest quake since the 1906 disaster, and the Bay Area was sent reeling. Al Michaels reassures us as we have only audio that for now, all is well at least in the ballpark.

Wow.

The memories, I remember watching the Series back then in college and we were watching the dorm when this happened.

The calm and cool that sportscasters who suddenly had to put on news broadcaster hats and relay the biggest disaster in ages to a nation, and they did it without missing a beat.

Looking back on it now, it's amazing to see a time before the internet, and cell phones (widespread) and news was literally unable to be broadcast as it happened.  The news feeds were so slow back then.

Incredibly, think about it this way- If there had not been all the network television and blimp and everything to cover the Series, there would have been no information at all out of San Francisco as they were without power and phones. Had the game been a day before or after, the chaos out of the Bay Area would have been pure speculation and guesswork by the newtworks.

Like the day of the earthquake, sports takes a quick backseat to the destruction and devastation of the day and the heroics of first responders and everyday people.  Naturally, the Series was postponed and rescheduled for a later time.

My first foray into any of the ESPN 30 for 30 series.

So far, so good.

Some definitely interesting subjects, and I will be back for more.


Now streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Will likely vary by episode, but good documentaries are always work revisiting after some time.