What to see this weekend: hottest docs in theaters, streaming

Peace Officer and Racing Extinction among new offerings; The Black Panthers, Meru and Cartel Land expand

Documentary fans have plenty to choose from this weekend with the release of several new films, and an expanded presence nationwide for several other documentaries. And of course, there's Netflix, iTunes and VOD for those who prefer to do their movie viewing at home (or who don't live in New York or LA or other cities with theaters that program docs).

Opening today (9/18)

>Peace Officer, directed by Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber. The military's got lots of surplus firepower and machinery. Why not let local law enforcement use it? That may have sounded like a good idea at one point, but there is increasing concern over the growing militarization of police. 

The change in equipment is too often paralleled by a corresponding change in attitude whereby police conceive of themselves as “at war” with communities rather than as public servants...


                      --From ACLU report, "War Comes Home"

Police militarization arguably tossed gas on the fire of protests in Ferguson, Missouri following the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown at the hands of a police officer.

Still image from "Peace Officer." Photo courtesy of Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber

Co-directors Christopherson and Barber take on this timely issue, approaching it through the experience of Dub Lawrence, a former sheriff who set up a SWAT team in 1974 only to see that same tactical unit kill his son-in-law decades later. Peace Officer won the Grand Jury Award at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March.

Now playing in New York at IFC Center and in Los Angeles at the Landmark Nuart. Watch the trailer here. 

Opening today (9/18)

>Racing Extinction directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Louie Psihoyos (The Cove). 

Many scientists believe we are in a period of mass extinction, the first since the age of the dinosaurs, and they predict we could lose half the earth's species by the end of this century. Psihoyos' film points the blame at the international wildlife trade, which profits from demand for animal parts used in bogus medical cures. The other cause is also man-made: carbon emissions and acidified oceans that threaten marine life.

Racing Extinction opens today in New York (Village East Cinema), in Los Angeles (Laemmle NoHo) as well as Minneapolis, Portland, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, Mill Valley, Calif., Laguna Nigel, Calif., and Durham, North Carolina. It will premiere on television December 2 on The Discovery Channel .

Watch the trailer here.

Opening today (9/18)

>Prophet's Prey directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg. Berg took on the Catholic Church and pedophile priests in Deliver Us From Evil. In Prophet's Prey she turns her lens on another convicted pedophile religious leader, Warren Jeffs, leader of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints). 

Women of the FLDS pose in front of a portrait of the Prophet Warren Jeffs. Photo courtesy Showtime

Jeffs' arrest in 2006 after he was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List kept him in the headlines for several years, but he's most faded from the news as he serves a life plus 20 years' sentence in Texas (for the sexual assault of two girls, one 12 and one 15).

Berg's film argues Jeffs is still controlling the FLDS from behind bars and is capable of persuading his followers to do something catastrophic. 

Playing in New York at IFC Center; opens in LA 9/25 at the ArcLight Hollywood, followed by a nationwide release. Debuts on Showtime this fall.

Watch the trailer here.

Opening today (9/18)

>The Man Who Saved the World directed byPeter Anthony. The little-known story (well, at least I didn't know about it) of Stanislav Petrov, a Lt. Colonel in the Soviet Air Defenses who faced a cataclysmic decision in 1983: whether to launch a retaliatory nuclear attack in response to what was thought (erroneously) to be a US nuclear strike on the Soviet Union.

The incident came in the midst of heightened international tensions after the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007, a passenger aircraft which had ventured into Soviet "prohibited airspace."

The film contains substantial reenactments and includes the participation of Kevin Costner, Robert DeNiro and Matt Damon -- not as actors but as themselves.

Playing in New York in Cinema Village and in Portland, Ore. (Clinton Street Theaters). Opens in LA and Detroit 9/25.

Watch the trailer here. 

Expanding this weekend:

>Meru directed by Jimmy Chin and E. Chai Vasarhelyi. The story of Chin's daring attempt to scale the Shark's Fin on Mt. Meru in Northern India, considered perhaps the most challenging climb there is, even more difficult than Mt. Everest. He and two companions failed in 2008, then returned three years later to try again.

Jimmy Chin on the face of Mt. Meru. Photograph by Renan Ozturk/courtesy Music Box Films

A full list of theaters showing Meru is here. For the trailer,click here. 

>Cartel Land directed by Matthew Heineman. The filmmaker risked his life to document the state of the drug war in Mexico and Arizona, embedding himself with some very dangerous narcotrafficantes. Heineman also films activities on the US-side of the border, where paramilitary groups are taking law enforcement into their own hands.

The film won directing and cinematography awards at Sundance. Expands 9/18 to Billings, Montana and Bloomington, Vermont. For a full list of theaters showing Cartel Land click here. To watch the trailer click here.

>The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution directed by Stanley Nelson. A look back at the formation and impact of the Black Panther Party, which sprang out of Oakland, California in the 1960s in opposition to the pacifist Civil Rights Movement of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Nelson's film explores the shockingly illegal tactics the FBI used to sabotage the BPP, including assassination. 

Now playing in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Providence, RI, Santa Fe, NM, Seattle, St. Louis and Baltimore.. Expands to LA 9/25. Watch thetrailer here.

Now available on Netflix:

>What Happened, Miss Simone? directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus. The remarkable story of the great singer Nina Simone will leave you believing she was a musical genius, under appreciated despite her considerable fame.

The music is exceptional, of course, but Nina's life story is harrowing -- the racism she faced and her own battle with manic depression. Includes the participation of Nina's daughter, who deserves a documentary of her own.

Watch the trailer here.

Now available on iTunes:

>Dior and I by director Frédéric Tcheng. The beautifully directed story of the House of Dior, pegged to the arrival of new creative director Raf Simons. The Belgian fashion design had only a few weeks after his hiring to present his first Dior collection, which needed to simultaneously evoke the Dior tradition while charting a modern course for the brand. An almost impossible task under the scrutiny of the world's fashion press and skeptical critics.

The documentary is as exquisite as the clothes Simons creates. Available on iTunes for $14.99.

Watch the trailer here.

Hands down, the funniest documentary of the year: MEET THE PATELS. Now playing in NY, LA and elsewhere. Don't miss it, highly recommended.

— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) September 18, 2015

Review: ‘Prophet’s Prey,’ a Documentary About Mormon Fundamentalists http://t.co/NBJNOdjD1r

— New York Times Arts (@nytimesarts) September 18, 2015

Eh? Hilarious, star-studded documentary #BeingCanadian explores stereotypes http://t.co/It1h0l72IL pic.twitter.com/ucCwW68ur0

— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 17, 2015