Top Documentary Movies


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

201. A Brief History of Time

Year of Release: 1992
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Biography
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Errol Morris
Actors: Stephen Hawking, Isobel Hawking, Janet Humphrey, Mary Hawking, Basil King, Roger Penrose
Plot: Examines the life and work of Stephen Hawking - a brilliant mind who, despite being struck with near paralysis - has made an indelible impact on the world.

202. The Atomic Café

Year of Release: 1982
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty
Actors: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Harry S. Truman, Nikita Khrushchev, Lyndon Johnson

203. Control Room

Year of Release: 2004
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Actors: Samir Khader, Josh Rushing, Hassan Ibrahim, Deema Khatib, Tom Mintier, David Shuster

204. Ghosts of the Abyss

Year of Release: 2003
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: James Cameron
Actors: Bill Paxton, James Cameron, Charles Pellegrino, Dr. Anatoly M. Sagalevitch, Don Lynch, Jason Paul
Plot: James Cameron's fascination of the Titanic continues in this documentary film. Cameron returns to the remains of Titanic to explore the wreck with specialized robotic cameras, allowing the team to visit areas of the ship not seen since 1912. The most compelling sequence involves a daring rescue of one of the robots; the crew surfaces triumphantly, only to find out that the World Trade Centers were attacked while they were submerged.

205. Cartel Land

Year of Release: 2015
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Action
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Matthew Heineman
Actors: Dr. Jose Mireles, Tim "Nailer" Foley
Plot: This is the real war on drugs - on the border between the U.S and Mexico, various agencies, vigilante groups and the Mexican drug cartels battle. Matthew Heineman gives us access to each group, and the people behind them, and asks if meeting violence with violence will solve anything.

206. Vito

Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Biography
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Jeffrey Schwarz
Actors: Vito Russo, Charles Russo, Lily Tomlin, Rob Epstein, Armistead Maupin, Jenni Olson
Plot: Vito Russo was one of the pioneering voices in the gay liberation movement and wrote "The Celluloid Closet" - the first book to openly criticize the portrayal of homosexuals iby Hollywood. When the AIDS crisis hit, he continued to sound his voice, becoming an advocate in ACT UP before his death in 1990.

207. Generation Wealth

Year of Release: 2018
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Lauren Greenfield
Actors: Florian Homm, Tiffany Masters, Jaqueline Siegel
Plot: Where once the American Dream was raising a family and making a comfortable life for them, now that dream has become twisted where fame, beauty and fortune are prized above all else. Lauren Greenfield turns a critical eye to a new narcistic materialism, even including herself and her own family, and shows how rampant capitalism and the quest for fame has turned the American Dream into a nightmare.

208. Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

Year of Release: 2004
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Deb Ellis, Denis Mueller
Actors: Matt Damon, Howard Zinn, Daniel Berrigan, Alice Walker, Noam Chomsky, John Silber

209. Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy

Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Daniel Farrands, Andrew Kasch
Actors: Robert Englund, Wes Craven, Heather Langenkamp, Mick Garris, Alice Cooper, Renny Harlin
Plot: A documentary that discusses the films, people and legacy of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.

210. Dear Mr. Watterson

Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Joel Allen Schroeder
Actors: Berkeley Breathed, Seth Green, Stephan Pastis, Bill Amend, Jef Mallett, Dave Kellett
Plot: Fans, celebrities and fellow comic strip writers look back on Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes and the impact it had on the medium and on people.

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