True Alternatives to Fake Blockbusters

To get a jump on disparaging the summer film season -- not that I won't see Iron Man; oh, I will -- Pajiba put together a list of some of the staff's favorite documentaries. These are things you can rent instead of going to see Indiana Jones XVIII or STD: Las Vegas or Miley Cyrus Poses Provocatively Across the Hood of Herbie the Love Bug or whatever other trash is emerging from southern California these days. I contributed a few brief thoughts about Sherman's March, my all-time favorite doc.

Others recommended the creepy Grey Gardens (which I wrote about here) and the even creepier Crumb (which I wrote about here), both excellent choices. Other docs I loved that made the list are The Thin Blue Line, Hoop Dreams, and Spellbound.

A few I'd highly recommend that didn't make the cut are Startup.com, Grizzly Man, and American Movie (for entertaining clips of that last one, see this previous post).

And of course, the commenters chip in with suggestions, helpfully reminding me of several I want to see: Dark Days, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, and Capturing the Friedmans, to name three.

Several people mention Tarnation. That movie irritated me.