I think I saw 26 or 27 of them, from a quick count of a list from wikipedia.
30 for 30 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Additionally I saw the Fab Five doc which was not a part of 30 for 30.
I tend to dislike any doc that has a sizable lack of balance toward the subject matter.
In other words, glorifying something with almost no objective perspective.
Like the doc on the Miami CFB teams of the 80's and early 90's. I had the same problem with the self-wankery in the Fab Five documentary. Any objective voice in these cases would have given these docs a lot more credibility and a more rounded perspective. Although I have to say the Fab Five doc was quite good nonetheless and didn't overstate the influence of that squad...just their 'greatness'.
For instance, if you think Chris Webber's (non) timeout cost them a title, then this is exactly what I am talking about. There was nobody in the doc to say "but they were fucking already
losing the game!" (etc.). Or that Webber had traveled and if we're going to play revisionist history, then let's stop right there. Or that somehow they managed to merely 'come up short' vs Duke. Or that Coach K/Grant Hill were vilified by Jalen Rose and didn't even appear (read: probably weren't asked) to defend themselves. And no, I am not a Duke lover by any stretch, I am talking about being fair and objective toward the subject matter. Anyhow, this one was not even part of it and I could have a long commentary about many of these docs, but I'll try to keep it concise.
I also didn't care much for some of the more fan-nation-centric docs. Like the Raiders doc (sorry bollox) or the Bill Simmons masturbatory 2004 Red Sox doc...I am not a Sox hater but I thought it was lame, in that you'd almost have to have affection for the mythology of the Red Sox to have it strike much of a chord. I've seen better treatments on that specific story elsewhere. And yeah, it's a great story. It should have been incredible...and it wasn't.
Still a few of them were either boring or flat underwhelming. I thought the doc on Evert and Navratilova had a chance to be excellent. But it was among the worst, easily. Others that were strikingly underwhelming were the Steinbrenner and Marion Jones docs.
Overall, I enjoyed most of them. Even those I have criticisms with.
Since you both mentioned the Reggie Miller doc...I thought it was good.
But I hate Spike Lee, Reggie Miller, his sister and the Knicks in general. So...
My top 5 would have to be...
5. Marcus Dupree/Pony Express (tie) - I just love college football and these docs were far and away superior to the one-sided wankery in that Miami doc. (sidenote- yes Miami was great, no question about it. But it was all too one-sided for me. No outside perspective).
4. The OJ coverage doc "June 17th, 1994" - just letting the footage tell the story. I thought it was well done. I remember exactly where I was on that day.
3. Terry Fox story - one of the few I had no extensive previous knowledge about, other than seeing the footage of him running for all those years on Wide World of Sports.
2. Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic "Once Brothers" - just struck me emotionally. Nothing too over-wrought, just struck the right tones and dealt with the Balkan issue appropriately IMO. Besides this, "what could have been" stories are always a little more interesting than the historically-revised "it was so awesome" stories...when you were actually there and know the particularly story pretty well in the first place.
1. And despite not liking soccer much...
the Two Escobars takes the cake. Period.
Wow. Now
that is what a documentary looks like. Totally well done.
I can't wait to see the Bartman story coming up in September.