hbo documentaries

i had a good amount of down time this weekend with the holiday (and day off from work!), so i finally got around to watching some of the hbo documentaries that i always wish i had more time to watch.  here are two that i've seen so far and highly recommend.

hot coffee made its sundance debut this year and premiered on hbo on june 27, 2011 as part of their documentary film summer series.  i first read about this documentary on rosemary brennan's blog, ro ro ro your blog and made a mental note to add it to my netflix queue.  unfortunately, it isn't available on netflix yet...but fortunately, hbo kept it on demand for quite a while so i was able to catch it!  (as of last night, it was still available on demand)  this film documents tort law (and tort law "reform"),  the civil justice system in america, big business interests, and consumers' access to the courts.  here's the trailer for the film:

dvds of the film aren't available until november 1st but you can pre-order your copy here.

"we'll never know all the heroes. we know our uniformed people were heroes; they went there and they died and they gave up their lives bravely trying to save the lives of other people.  but what we don't know is all the individual stories of the person who gave up the elevator for another person, the person who calmed someone and got them out of the building.  the person who organized their floor so that everyone could evacuate.  the person who, maybe at the last moments, comforted people when all of them knew they were going to die." - rudy giuliani

this documentary follows rudy giuliani, then-mayor of new york city, and his staff from the first moment of the september 11th attacks through the tragic days and weeks that followed.  i highly doubt you will be able to watch without crying or feeling intense bouts of anger - i certainly wasn't able to.  it is incredibly graphic, so please watch at your own risk.  the emmy award winning film was released back in 2002 so it's available on netflix, and for purchase through amazon.com.

with the 10th anniversary of the attacks just around the corner, you can donate to the families of september 11 or the 9/11 tribute movement.

other hbo documentaries that i plan to watch in the coming days and weeks (hint, hint: keep an eye out for these on future sweet snippets posts):

• love crimes of kabul
• nine innings from ground zero
• paradise lost
• sex crimes unit (because i'm a huge law & order: svu fan)
• wishful drinking