Documentaries of the 80s

Acclaimed Michael Moore documentary that examines General Motors president Roger Smith’s decision to close their plant in Flint, Michigan, and the terrible aftermath. Told with brilliantly dark humor!

Acclaimed investigation into the wrongful conviction of a man of the murder of a Dallas police officer.

Armageddon has never been so darkly funny as in The Atomic Cafe. This 1982 cult classic juxtaposes Cold War history, propaganda, music and culture, seamlessly crafted from government-produced educational and training films, newsreels and advertisements. Taken together, these sources cheerily instruct the public on how to live in the Atomic Age, how to survive a nuclear attack (!) … and how to fight and win a nuclear war. As a U.S. Army training film advises, “Viewed from a safe distance, the atomic bomb is one of the most beautiful sights ever seen by man.” Returning to theaters in a sparkling 4K digital restoration created by IndieCollect, The Atomic Cafe is an absurdist blast from the past that would be downright laughable if it weren’t so eerily relevant to our fake news present.

Stop Making Sense is a 1984 concert movie featuring a live performance by Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater in December 1983, as the group was touring to promote their new album Speaking in Tongues. The movie is notable for being the first made entirely using digital audio techniques. The band raised the budget of $1.2 million themselves. The title comes from the lyrics of the song “Girlfriend Is Better”: “As we get older and stop making sense…”. The film has been hailed by Leonard Maltin as “one of the greatest rock movies ever made”, and Pauline Kael of The New Yorker described it as “…close to perfection.”