THE BEST DOCUMENTARIES + WHAT I’VE WATCHED LATELY
SEASPIRACY (NETFLIX)
Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species - and uncovers alarming global corruption.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰ 4/5
DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER (MSNBC FILMS)
In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child. Friends, relatives, and colleagues say warm and loving things about Andrew, home movies confirm his exuberance. Andrew's parents, Kathleen and David, move to Newfoundland, Canada where the ex-girlfriend has gone. They await an arrest and trial of the murderer. They negotiate with the ex-girlfriend to visit their grandchild, Zachary, and they seek custody. Is there any justice; is Zachary a sweet and innocent consolation for the loss of their son?
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
CRIME SCENE: THE VANISHING AT THE CECIL HOTEL (NETFLIX)
Elisa lam was a 21- Canadian tourist who stayed at the Cecil Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles in February 2013. Weeks later, after disappearing, her body was discovered in the hotel's rooftop water tank.
Rating: ✮✮✮✰✰ 3/5
AMERICAN MURDER: THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR (NETFLIX)
In 2018, 34-year-old Shanann Watts and her two young daughters disappear in Colorado. With the heartbreaking details emerging, the family's story made headlines around the world.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
BLACKFISH (CNN FILMS)
Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
UNACKNOWLEDGED (THE ORCHARD)
Disclosure Project founder Dr. Steven M. Greer offers evidence of extraterrestrial contact, including top-secret testimonials, documents and never-before-seen UFO footage.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰ 4.5/5
OUR PLANET (NETFLIX)
Documentary series focusing on the breadth of the diversity of habitats around the world, from the remote Arctic wilderness and mysterious deep oceans to the vast landscapes of Africa and diverse jungles of South America.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
BLUE PLANET II (BBC)
Nearly a generation after the acclaimed Blue Planet documentary was released, David Attenborough returns to narrate this groundbreaking sequel/reboot. Blue Planet ll focuses more heavily on mankind's influence on the world's oceans through both global pollution and climate change. This series features a variety of revolutionary segments never before seen in a video documentary, including: cuttlefish that hypnotize crabs to stun them, giant trevally that leap out of the water to catch low flying birds, and newly discovered dancing yeti crabs.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
PLANET EARTH II (BBC)
Wildlife documentary series with David Attenborough, beginning with a look at the remote islands which offer sanctuary to some of the planet's rarest creatures, to the beauty of cities, which are home to humans, and animals..
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
THE SOCIAL DILEMMA (NETFLIX)
Set in the dark underbelly of Silicon Valley, The Social Dilemma fuses investigative documentary with enlightening narrative drama. Expert testimony from tech whistle-blowers exposes our disturbing predicament: the services Big Tech provides-search engines, networks, instant information, etc.-are merely the candy that lures us to bite. Once we're hooked and coming back for more, the real commodity they sell is their prowess to influence and manipulate us.
Rating: ✮✮✮✰✰ 3/5
AMERICAN VANDAL (NETFLIX)
A true-crime satire that explores the aftermath of a costly high school prank that left twenty-seven faculty cars vandalized with phallic images.
Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮ 5/5
FYRE (NETFLIX)
An exclusive behind the scenes look at the infamous unraveling of the Fyre music festival.
Rating: ✮✮✮✰✰ 3/5
CASTING JONBENET (NETFLIX)
In the months following the unsolved murder of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, responses were elicited from her Colorado hometown community, creating a work of art from the collective memories and mythologies the crime inspired.
Rating: ✮✮✮✰✰ 3.5/5
