Browse Movies : 2009 : Documentary

Michael Jackson's "This Is It" will offer Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts that would have taken place beginning this summer in London's O2 Arena. Chronicling the months from March through June, 2009, the film is produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than one hundred hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing a number of his songs for the show. Audiences will be given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. In raw and candid detail, Michael Jackson's "This Is It" captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius, and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show.

After making a promise to keep rocking forever at age 14, the members of Anvil!, now in their 50s, begin work on their 13th album.

The Jonas Brothers head to the big screen—in Disney Digital 3-D™—in a high-energy Walt Disney Pictures rockumentary feature film event from director Bruce Hendricks ("Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert"). The film blends excerpts from the Brothers' red-hot "Burning Up" concert tour, including guest performances from Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, off-the-wall segments, a never-before-heard song ("Love Is On Its Way"), swarming fans and a lot of JB-style humor—giving fans never-before-seen insights into the lives of Kevin, Joe and Nick.

After her boyfriend mysteriously leaves her with little explanation, grad student Sara Quinn is left looking for answers as to what went wrong. Directing all her energies into her anthropological dissertation, Sara conducts a series of interviews with men in an effort to uncover the secret thoughts that drive their behavior. As she records the astonishing and disquieting experiences of various subjects, Sara discovers much more about men and herself than she bargained for.

The first film in the Disneynature series, "Earth," narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journey across the planet we all call home. "Earth" combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet's wildest and most elusive creatures. Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award®-winning "Planet Earth," combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, beginning Earth Day 2009.

Even though performer Charlyne Yi doesn't believe in love, she bravely embarks on a quest to discover its true nature - a journey that takes on surprising urgency when she meets unlikely fellow traveler, actor Michael Cera.

The movie, which will mix archival footage and family memorabilia with fresh interviews, follows LeBron James' high school basketball days, following the five starters on the varsity team at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio. The team travels a winding road from a rundown gymnasium to national glory and NBA riches, seeking to remain a tight-knit quintet even as James becomes a megamillionaire. James was drafted out of high school in 2003 and led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007. He becomes a free agent in 2010.

Troublemaking duo Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, posing as their industrious alter-egos, expose the people profiting from Hurricane Katrina, the faces behind the environmental disaster in Bhopal, and other shocking events.

About the Internet's revolutionary impact on human interaction as told through the eyes and artwork of maverick web pioneer, Josh Harris.

"X Games 3D: The Movie" captures the drama and spectacle that play out every year at the X Games events, highlighting the behind-the-scenes stories of the featured athletes and the sacrifices they make in pursuit of glory and the advancement of their sports on the biggest stage in action sports.

When Chris Rock's daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl's head! Director Jeff Stilson's camera followed the funnyman, and the result is Good Hair, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture. An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people. Celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughter's question. What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesn't always benefit the black community and little Lola's question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.

Colin Beavan, author, and newly self-proclaimed environmentalist, decides to leave behind a life of liberal complacency for a vow to make zero environmental impact for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption... no problem. That is, until his espresso-guzzling, Prada-worshipping wife Michelle, and their young toddler, enter the fray.

The film profiles a 1974 concert of R&B performers during the "rumble in the jungle" boxing match between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.

A future archivist looks at old footage from the year 2008 to understand why humankind failed to address climate change.

A documentary about Academy Award and Grammy-winning songwriters Robert B. Sherman & Richard M. Sherman.

At the request of the U.S. government, Walt Disney and fellow artists travel to South America to shore up relations during World War II.