There were so many great, impactful and memorable movies on the 2024 movie schedule, and that’s also true when it comes to documentaries released over the past 12 months. Whether they appeared on some of the best streaming services or found their way to the big screen, there were a lot of documentaries that caught my attention. And while I didn’t get to see everything, I was able to cross quite a few off my list.
After spending countless hours with stories ranging from friends reconnecting over a cross-country road trip, to emotional sagas concerning fathers and daughters getting a few brief moments together, to brilliant explorations of real-life superheroes, I’ve put together a list of the great documentaries that impacted me the most. Here are 10 I can’t stop thinking about…
Daughters
As soon as I saw the Daughters trailer earlier in the year, I knew the 2024 Netflix original documentary would be an emotional experience. Even though I thought I was ready for Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s film about a group of girls reuniting with their fathers in prison for a “Daddy-Daughter” dance, the truth is, I wasn’t.
At times uplifting and others completely devastating, this documentary about the bond shared by parent and child, and how it is impacted by being locked up, is a profoundly moving experience that has left me in a state of contemplation ever since finishing it.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
There were a lot of great biographical documentaries in 2024, but few were as impactful as Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story. With a great balance between a chronological of the late actor’s film career and a discussion of his legacy as an activist following the tragic accident that left him paralyzed in 1995, the HBO documentary film is an incredibly enlightening experience.
There were moments that made me laugh and there were others that made me cry (especially when the doc talked about Christopher Reeve’s friendship with Robin Williams), but most of all, this beautiful film made me feel.
Stream Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story on Max.
Jim Henson Idea Man
As someone whose formative years were shaped by Sesame Street, The Muppets, and so many other of Jim Henson’s creations, there was one 2024 documentary I was both excited to watch and dreading to sit through more than the rest. Jim Henson Idea Man, which was directed by Ron Howard and premiered for anyone with a Disney+ subscription in May, was everything I thought it’d be and more.
Detailing the life and legacy of the late puppeteer, animator, actor, filmmaker, and creative force of nature, Idea Man is a loving portrait of one of the most impactful names in show business in the 20th century (and beyond). Both an introduction and goodbye, this well-crafted and powerful biography hits on so many levels.
Stream Jim Henson: Idea Man on Disney+
Flipside
Above all, documentarian (and commercial director) Chris Wilcha is a collector; a collector of hard drives containing unfinished projects, a collector of childhood artifacts, and a collector of memories. All of those are explored in Flipside, Wilcha’s sprawling documentary that starts out as an attempt to save a beloved record store where he spent much of his youth only to turn into a project that would incorporate essentially every job he had, every project he worked on, and every relationship he made.
As the former Columbia House ad executive and a director of the This American Life TV show adaptation dives deeper into his life and unfinished projects, he embarks upon what can best be described as a midlife crisis and an attempt to make sense of his life. Funny, emotional and transfixing, this is one that’ll stick with me for a long time.
Stream Flipside on Prime Video.
Will & Harper
Will & Harper, the road trip documentary about Will Ferrell and longtime friend and former Saturday Night Live writer Harper Steele going on a road trip after the latter transitioned to a woman, was one of the funniest and most insightful movie experiences of the year. With a heavy focus on their friendship and the unbreakable bond shared by the two, the documentary sets out to answer a lot of questions with humanity, respect and a whole lot of love.
Through good times and some extremely heart-wrenching and unforgettable moments, the pair of buddies explore the country, but more importantly themselves and the friendship that has been a major part of their lives for nearly 30 years. With vulnerability, honesty and the ability to laugh at the absurdity of the world, these two reconnect on a tremendous level.
Stream Will & Harper on Netflix.
Mr. McMahon
When I first heard about Netflix finally releasing its long-in-the-works six-part documentary about the life, legacy and many scandals of Vince McMahon, I didn’t really know what to expect. But unlike a lot of those WWE-produced documentaries over the years, Mr. McMahon didn’t pull any punches and presented McMahon’s meteoric rise and troubling fall in great detail.
Admittedly, I had to do a lot of soul-searching while watching Mr. McMahon the week of its release. On one hand, wrestling has been a major part of my life for years, but on the other, McMahon has been accused of some heinous crimes over the years. Though spending six hours with the doc didn’t help me fully reconcile those two sides of the story, it helped me better understand the complexity of the whole situation.
Stream Mr. McMahon on Netflix.
Brats
I got a lot of things wrong about the Brat Pack over the years, and Andrew McCarthy’s Brats helped me realize that. When I initially heard about the Hulu original documentary earlier in the year, I thought this would be a fun retrospective of the famous group of ‘80s actors and the movies that made them famous. While that’s partly true, this introspective and oftentimes emotional doc was so much more than that.
Learning that Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Demi Moore not only didn’t come up with the term “Brat Pack” but that they also didn’t appreciate it, was a big wake-up call and left me thinking about other assumptions I’ve made in the past. But I will say that the documentary does do a fantastic job of celebrating the importance and impact of those iconic ‘80s movies.
Martha
I’ve known about Martha Stewart since the ‘90s when she had a signature brand at K-Mart and was the inspiration for some hilarious Saturday Night Live impersonations. However, I didn’t feel like I really got to know the original influencer and TV personality until I sat down and watched Martha with my Netflix subscription.
Though I don’t necessarily agree with every decision Stewart has made throughout her life, I do feel like I have a better understanding of her wishes, desires and signature style. It's an eye-opening experience for sure, which is honestly what makes a documentary like this so tremendous.
Music By John Williams
My wife and I planned to go see John Williams in concert earlier this year, but had to cancel at the last minute. Still bummed out from the whole situation of almost getting to see my favorite movie composer at Carnegie Hall, my mood changed when I heard about Music by John Williams. As soon as that documentary dropped, I made sure to watch it, and I’m glad I did.
One part chronicle of John Williams’ most iconic scores and one part exploration of his incredible life (I have to admit this was all new to me), the nearly two-hour documentary brought on a whirlwind of emotions. From a gut-wrenching Schindler’s List moment to Williams crafting three of the most beloved movie scores in the span of a year, this was a delight.
Stream Music by John Williams on Disney+.
MoviePass, MovieCrash
When I first heard about MoviePass, MovieCrash, I thought it’d be just another HBO documentary about an idea that sounded really cool in theory but totally failed in practice. While that initial assumption was partially correct, I quickly realized that there was much more to this story. Like a lot more.
Not only does the documentary do a fantastic job of covering the rise and fall of one of the most unique and controversial ways to see a movie in the past 20 years, it also touches on some heavy social topics. What was most interesting were the sections detailing how co-founders, Stacy Spikes and Hamet Watt, who are both African-American, were essentially pushed out of the company they got off the ground. But it isn't all doom and gloom, as there's a great Hollywood redemption story in this one.
Stream MoviePass, MovieCrash on Max.
These aren’t all the documentaries I watched this year, as including them all would result in the list not coming out until the end of next year. But with some promising docs on the 2025 movie schedule, I’m sure there’ll be a lot to talk about in 12 months.
