I enjoyed it as well, although I thought Dan Aykroyd’s Walter Winchell-like narration a bit overdone. Could have been longer, too.
I recently watched this one:
The director spent 22 years in this cult, which still exists today (the leader moved the group from California to Texas to Hawaii to escape media attention and possible criminal charges; he’s still free and leading it today).
These aren’t the kind of documentaries I normally watch but I found it really interesting and it’s astounding this leader is still out there and attracting new converts with no repercussions.
That sounds interesting. One that I recently watched in a similar vein is “Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown”—a 2024 Hulu mini-series that vividly portrays the rise of the People’s Temple and its charismatic leader, Jim Jones. Through survivor stories, raw footage, and dramatic reenactments, it captures the final hours of the utopian community in Guyana before the mass death of 918 people, showing how idealism turned into disaster.
I found it fascinating. The series not only details the historical events but also captures the emotional intensity of those last moments, offering a deep reflection on faith, trust, and manipulation. The survivors’ stories bring a raw, human perspective that makes the tragedy even more poignant.
People join cults in search of meaning, belonging, or identity, often feeling disconnected from society. Charismatic leaders exploit these needs, using manipulation to foster loyalty and control. Understanding this helps us recognize how good intentions can lead to dangerous outcomes and underscores the need for critical thinking.
I’ve been crocheting a lot lately, plus I’ve gotten back on my treadmill on orders of my cardiologist, and I’ve used that time to watch documentaries on Prime. I can’t recall the names and I’m not motivated enough to look them up, but there was one on the Stuarts on the British throne, with the interruption of Oliver Cromwell, there was one about murders on the railways in England, one about British castles, one about Irish lighthouses, one about waterways in Scotland (I gave up on that because it was actually Freevee and there were too many commercials) and currently, I’m watching one about Napoleon. I started and stopped one about haunted houses (too hokey) and one I don’t remember beyond thinking it reeked of bad “reality” TV.
Oh, and one about significant dates throughout history by a Frenchman, but the English narration was layered over the French. And a really interesting series about volcanoes and tectonic plates and geology in general. I can usually tell within 5 minutes if I’ll bother watching any more. I’ve turned off a couple that were actually lectures - re-enactments keep my attention better.
I’ve found, at least so far, that Prime has a better selection than the other services I subscribe to.
I just finished watching this, and enjoyed it thoroughly:
It includes home movies, interviews with friends and audiotapes of Gilda herself. Another great talent gone too soon.
We watched Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare last night on Netflix. A woman’s life is ruined when she is catfished for several years. It was lurid enough to keep my attention, but I felt you would have to be more trusting than I am to believe excuses like “I can’t see you because I’m in the Witness Protection Program and I can’t talk to you because my vocal cords were damaged in an accident”.
Attended a screening of Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party this afternoon. Cameron Crowe’s “video profile” of the band on the eve of releasing Long After Dark was shown once on MTV in 1983 and has been in limbo ever since. If you saw Peter Bogdanovich’s “Running Down A Dream” you’ve seen most of the footage, but it was nice to see it intact along with 20 minutes or so of outtakes.
We watched the first episode of FACEOFF: Inside the NHL on Prime. Hockey is the only sport I’m remotely interested in. Our son played from the age of 5 through high school, juniors and D2 college. So it’s the only sport that I actually know the rules of the game! We both enjoyed it. So if you like hockey, I think you’ll like this.
I’m generally unimpressed with most recent documentaries, There tends to be a trend towards documentaries being almost completely content free. Like having some interviews, maybe a reenactment or some archival footage, but barely actually describing the events it’s meant to be about in anything but the must cursory detail. You end up knowing no more about the subject matter at the end than at the beginning.
It’s not particularly recent but I saw this documentary about the Stuxnet virus and it is actually pretty detailed technically, and for me at least, told me a bunch of stuff I’d never heard about it:
Just yesterday, I watched a brand-new documentary “The Menendez Brothers” on Netflix. I was actually going to watch the second episode of the dramatized miniseries with Javier Bardem, but found that watching a 2-hour true-life documentary was a better use of my time than watching a whole miniseries with dramatizations. Of the latter, the first episode was enough for me.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive is a documentary series on Netflix. I just started watching some of it, and a few episodes in (approx 5-6) it seems pretty good.
I watched the first few episodes of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft on Netflix (one of Netflix’s many video game adaptations). It’s all right so far, but nothing too amazing. The character designs feel kind of like a throwback to the '90s, a la Captain Planet or the X-Men animated series.
This is the Zodiac Speaking. A three-parter on Netflix. Makes the case that Arthur Leigh Allen was almost certainly the Zodiac killer. It’s amazing that so much circumstantial evidence wasn’t enough to produce an indictment while he was still alive. The interviews with the Seawater children (who Allen was a sort of father-figure to) are fascinating.
Mr. McMahon, a six episode doc on Netflix should be subtitled (How Professional Wrestling Explains Everything. I’m not, nor have I ever been, a fan of the “sport” but I am fascinated by the blurring of the line between fantasy and reality by its practitioners and their fans. The interviewees all drop character and come off as remarkably intelligent, sober, and serious people you wouldn’t expect to be the cornerstones of such a lowbrow, exploitatively crass art form.
I learned a new word. “Kayfabe”. Google it along with “Donald Trump” and prepare to have much of the mystery from the last 8 years finally make sense.
I’m not a pro wrestling fan either, but I’m quite enjoying the series Heels (currently on Netflix). It’s a gritty drama about the high-stakes world of small-town pro wrestling, in the fictional town of Duffy, Georgia. It’s as appealing for wrestling fans as it is for anyone drawn to a powerful story about loyalty and rivalry. They really nailed the vibe of rural Georgia and regional pro wrestling. You should give it a watch.
I just watched the first installment of Our Oceans on Netflix, produced by the Obamas and narrated by Barack Obama himself. The photography is amazing and the writing quite good as well.
And I realized I forgot to add I also watched the new Martha Stewart documentary on Netflix as well. She’s a piece of work, for sure, but she allowed some of her personal correspondence to be used, which showed she actually does have a vulnerable side.
Just finished watching When We Were Kings on Netflix—very good!. The documentary dives deep into the iconic 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle,” where George Foreman, the reigning champ, squared off against underdog Muhammad Ali. Ali wasn’t just fighting Foreman—he was teaching him. Big George had the brute strength, no doubt, but Ali brought the brains, swagger, and that legendary rope-a-dope strategy that left Foreman flat on his back.
I’ve been following Ali since his Cassius Clay days, and I can’t think of another athlete who single-handedly turned their sport into a worldwide phenomenon like he did. Ali was more than a boxer—he was a showman, a wordsmith, and a genius in the ring. Bold, brilliant, and downright hilarious, he had a knack for turning every fight into high drama.
Here’s how I see it: if prime Ali ever faced prime Tyson, Tyson wouldn’t just lose—he’d get schooled. Ali’s speed, footwork, and ability to mess with his opponent’s head would’ve left Tyson flailing. And as for Foreman? Tyson would’ve had a hard time there, too. Ali didn’t just face the best—he beat them. That’s why he’s the GOAT.
Ken Burns, Leonardo is great. 2 episodes on PBS just finished.
I’m sure they’ll replay it 1000 times.
Worth the watch.
A 3 part miniseries about the Stanford prison experiment on Nat’l Geographic channel. There were interviews of original participants and critique of Zimbardo’s (psychologist who conducted the experiment) methodology, with original video and “reenactments”, of which it was sometimes hard to tell the difference. (3 of 5 stars)
Zimbardo just died a few weeks ago, right before it’s release.
ETA, years ago I had seen a movie “Das Experiment” which was loosely based on the Stanford experiment and it was gruesome, so I thought I had an idea of how the original experiment went down. I was way off.