Top Documentary Movies


The Top Documentary Movies List is calculated by overall movie ratings and members' "Top Documentary List". Lists are calculated daily.

41. Roger & Me

Year of Release: 1989
Overall Rating: 2.8 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Michael Moore
Actors: Michael Moore, Pat Boone, Roger B. Smith, Bob Eubanks
Plot: Michael Moore seeks to question General Motors CEO Roger Smith about the affects he had on Flint, Michigan, the auto industry, and the affect of a changing economy.

42. Chris Rock: Bigger & Blacker

Year of Release: 1999
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Keith Truesdell
Actors: Chris Rock
Plot: Chris Rock's razor-sharp wit and comedy comes through on this 1999 special (also released as an album) where he comments on everything from racism and gun control to black leaders and relationships.

43. Jodorowsky's Dune

Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Frank Pavich
Actors: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger, Chris Foss
Plot: Alejandro Jodorowsky is a cult filmmaker best known for his surrealistic tales El Topo, The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre. Yet in the mid 1970s, he attempted to create his masterpiece - adapting Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, Dune, to the big screen. Spending $2 million to convince the likes of artist H.R. Giger, Salvador Dali, actor Orson Welles and musician Mick Jagger and to help in creating his epic, he failed to convince investors (and a purported hours long running time didn't help) and in the end was a failed vision. But the director still has his Dune bible - and we get a glimpse of what could have been.

44. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Actors: Jason Baldwin, Damien Wayne Echols, Jessie Miskelly
Plot: The third documentary about the "West Memphis Three" following Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. Filmmakers Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky continue to fight for the releases of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelly, and Jason Baldwin as new DNA evidence surfaces that could clear their names once and for all.

45. Vernon, Florida

Year of Release: 1982
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Errol Morris
Actors: Albert Bitterling, Roscoe Collins, George Harris, Joe Payne
Plot: In this early Errol Morris documentary, the filmmaker splices together bits of dialogue and interactions he has with the supremely eccentric residents of Vernon, FL.

46. Samsara

Year of Release: 2012
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Ron Fricke
Plot: Five years - 25 countries - from sacred ground to disaster zones - Samsara is a visual experience like no other.

47. Tower

Year of Release: 2016
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Animation
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Keith Maitland
Actors: Violett Beane, Josephine McAdam, Reece Everett Ryan

48. Woodstock

Year of Release: 1970
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Michael Wadleigh
Actors: Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Arlo Guthrie, Jimi Hendrix
Plot: Filmmakers document the1969 Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY featuring musical performances and a candid look at some of the 500,000 concertgoers, the organizers and townspeople who were all a part of the historic event.

49. Listen to Me Marlon

Year of Release: 2015
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Biography
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Stevan Riley
Actors: Marlon Brando

50. This Film is Not Yet Rated

Year of Release: 2006
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Kirby Dick
Actors: Kirby Dick, Becky Altringer, Eddie Schmidt, Cheryl Howell
Plot: This movie takes you inside the independant film maker and the highly secret MPAA process of rating films.

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