If you're like us and you desperately need something to distract you from the Knicks getting whooped by the Heat, it may be time to throw on Rocket To Russia and blast "Cretin Hop." Or even better, below you can watch the excellent 2003 documentary on The Ramones, End Of The Century. Nothing is better than listening to those ridiculously pronounced, cigarette-stained Queens accents wax poetic about the late '70s. more ›

The producer of Exit Through The Gift Shop, Roger Gastman, is going back to the 1960s and '70s for his new documentary, Wall Writers: Graffiti In It's Innocence. While the original taggers he documents were merely vandals back then, they (Taki 183, Cornbread, Coco 144, et al) are now the pioneers of graffiti, often celebrated as artists. The doc is narrated by John Waters, and the creators, who just released the below trailer, write: more ›

Just as a ton of movies disappeared from Netflix today, the company Tweeted that they've recently added Being Elmo, winning us back. The 2011 documentary gives the puppeteer behind Elmo, Kevin Clash, 76 minutes of screen time. The Whoopi Goldberg-narrated doc follow Clash's life, from when he made puppets (and got made fun of for it) in high school, to his big break at Sesame Street. more ›

Marshall Curry has profiled NASCAR hopefuls and Newark Mayor Corey Booker (which earned him an Oscar nomination), and his latest, If A Tree Falls, follows the plight of Daniel McGowan, a former member of the Earth Liberation Front, a group that the F.B.I. once dubbed "America's #1 domestic terrorist threat." Curry traces McGowan's journey from his identity as the mild-mannered son of an NYPD officer to a radical environmental activist in the Pacific Northwest, carrying out arson in the name of the ELF, and back again. McGowan faces a life sentence plus 335 years for committing acts of terrorism, and his guilt is never in doubt. But the movie forces us to think about who a "terrorist" is, and how our society treats citizens who feel that they have no voice. more ›

Ben Folds, Aubrey Plaza, Harry Crane... these are all people who show up in the teaser for Improv Everywhere's documentary. The film is a work in progress, and the troupe has launched a Kickstarter to help raise the $125,000 they need to complete it. That may seem a little steep when you're confronted with lines like "And from there we took our pants off, and the rest is history," but they do have to cover over a decade of pranks. more ›

Get a little culture with your cutlets this weekend at UnionDocs, a Williamsburg documentary center that's screening some meat-centric programming, with a helping of commentary from a handful of the city's top chefs and butchers on the side. more ›

Last night, I finally went and RECorded a few hours of Occupy Wall Street footage, just as the NYPD had raided Zuccotti Park, where the movement had been centered. Now, I'd like to gather a whole bunch of Occupy records, and start making art out of them. more ›

Wanna spend the weekend with Woody Allen? That documentary we first mentioned in August is finally going to air on PBS starting this weekend, all three and a half hours of it. Allen hasn't historically been the most revealing public figure, so the American Masters documentary is pretty unprecedented, and it seems Allen only agreed to it because his longtime pal Robert Weide (the director of it) convinced him. more ›

As Mister Rogers gets in on this whole Occupy Wall Street thing (you know, from Beyond), take a look back at the man's life and legacy through the eyes of Benjamin Wagner. The former MTV producer's life was changed when he met Fred Rogers, and he went on a quest to understand his mantra: “deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.” Wagner went on a journey traveling 4,000 miles across the country to meet people also touched by Rogers—the footage includes chats with Susan Stamberg, Linda Ellerbee, and the late Tim Russert. more ›

Filmmakers Eric J. Roberts and Andrea Reeves are on a mission to discover where Thousand Island dressing came from, because (if you didn't already know) its origins are a mystery! One theory is that George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, instructed a maitre d’ at the hotel's restaurant to make it. According to Wikipedia (mystery solved?), Boldt received the recipe from actress May Irwin, who first tried it in the Thousand Islands region between the U.S. and Canada. more ›

Generation Grunge is growing up, or rather, getting old. Recently it was announced that Nirvana's Nevermind is turning 20 this September, and now Pearl Jam is celebrating the big 2-0 with a Cameron Crowe documentary called Pearl Jam Twenty (they're actually turning 21—their first show, under the band name Mookie Blaylock, was October 22nd, 1990 at the Off Ramp Club in Seattle). It will be released in December, and here's what to expect on your journey back in time: more ›

Former subway conductor Harry Nugent was much beloved by New York City straphangers. He told jokes, created unique commentary for commuters, and added some extra valuable information as each stop approached. Check out some vintage video of Harry doing his thing, from a documentary made in the '90s: more ›

Last year, following his departure from NBC (for TBS), Conan O'Brien took his downtime to travel the country with a live stage show. This tour was documented, and now you can check out all the behind-the-scenes antics, and breakdowns, when it's released on June 24th. The trailer is below, though in our opinion it needs a lot more Reggie Watts (who opened on the tour). As for O'Brien, he'll be back on stage in New York later this year. more ›

The rise and fall of Coney Island has been documented, and it's airing on PBS starting this week. The Last Summer at Coney Island essentially brings you to the frontlines of the battle for the birthplace of amusements (and let's not forget, the hot dog). The doc's press release lays out the key players, saying: more ›

Welcome back to our Instant Entertainment weekly feature, in which we offer you two bits of entertainment currently available on demand on Netflix Instant Watch, Hulu and/or Amazon Prime. Watched something online recently you think we should highlight? Send us a note at tips@gothamist.com. more ›

There has been a lot of tawk about the death, or subjugation, of NY accents— from Brooklynites defiance, to Queens residents fretting, to Long Island's Lawn Guylandness. Now, documentarian Heather Quinlan is trying to bring all those disparate voices together into one sonorous film that explores the NY accent...but she needs some help finishing it. Here's the lovely trailer (some NSFW language): more ›

Celine Danhier’s documentary Blank City: The No Wave Years focuses on the '70s and '80s underground No Wave movement, and its fixtures. In the trailer below you'll get a picture of what this mixture looks like, it includes John Waters, Jim Jarmusch, Blondie, Steve Buscemi, as well as some of the unofficial headquarters of the genre—all in an East Village that would never protest red curtains. more ›

Courtney Love may have been touring around with her band Hole recently, but her band was severely different from the original lineup. On Monday the original four will band together again, however, for a screening of Hit So Hard at MoMA—a documentary about former Hole drummer Patty Schemel (clip below). more ›

The Stella D'Oro baked goods factory in the Bronx has been closed for over a year and a half ever since negotiations with its workers broke down and turned into a bitter strike. According to Mike Filippou, who was Stella D'Oro's lead mechanic, at least 100 of the 135 people who lost their jobs in June 2009 are still out of work. But the workers will get a chance to play themselves in an upcoming HBO documentary about the strike. more ›

A little over two weeks ago, famed arcade Chinatown Fair closed down after the owners lost their lease on Mott Street, where it had resided for half a century. The owners have already opened up a replacement for the downtown mainstay in Sunset Park, called "Next Level Arcade." But you'll get one more chance to relive the last day of Chinatown Fair with a new documentary coming out soon, called ARCADE. (You can see a teaser trailer below) more ›

Jimmy McMillan has already blurred the line between parody and sincerity with his gloves, his album, and frankly his entire campaign. But just because the campaign is over doesn't mean the publicity boat has sailed! Filmmakers Aaron Fisher-Cohen and Kristian Almgren have just finished their documentary on the gubarnatorial-candidate-turned-national-hero, DAMN!, and are planning to release it at SXSW in March. But will the public's attention have waned by then? more ›

While low-flying planes aren't unusual over Queens, the NYPD wants residents of Queens and the Bronx not to be alarmed if they see one today. Apparently filmmakers are shooting footage for a documentary until 1 p.m. today. more ›