Crime, Chaos, Corruption Documentary Reviews
The true crime documentary The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann is one I haven’t written about much here for a couple of reasons. I watched it in 2022 for the first time when I was first getting into true crime documentaries at a level where a person may need to be institutionalized. By then, the 2019... Continue Reading →
Let’s do this review of the Netflix documentary Victim/Suspect a little differently and not just because it has a slash through the title. I’m giving it away in the title; this was not a particularly good film. Yes, it was better than Old-Growth Murder which got a 1 out of 10 from me. I’m going... Continue Reading →
Outcry. That’s all this true documentary is called. I’ve had a pretty good history of simply titled true crime documentaries. Would this one be able to keep the trend going? Promoted with a picture of a high school football team, this documentary ended up being something completely unexpected. It tells the story of Greg Kelley... Continue Reading →
Something about Old-Growth Murder had me staying away for months. On my Amazon watchlist for quite some time, I think the fact that the victim, Alain Malessard, was from France made me skeptical that I couldn’t multitask while watching this. It turns out only a small part of Old-Growth Murder is actually in French. The... Continue Reading →
I’m trying to watch as much Discovery+ on Amazon right now before they switch over to HBO Max at the end of May just in case it’s no longer available. Who knows how these things work? In preparing myself for the loss of access to some of the best true crime series and films, I... Continue Reading →
The documentary A Cops and Robbers Story is an autobiographical film about Corey Pegues. A gangster in New York during the 1980s, an incident with a rival nearly turns him into a killer. Fortunately, a jammed gun alters the direction of his life. He joins the military and afterward getting out he becomes a police... Continue Reading →
The Columbine massacre in 1999 was my first exposure to the grim reality of life that it can be both short and horrific. The documentary American Tragedy delivers a somewhat unique take on the events of April 20, 1999. Rather than just share the story, we get an important film about mental health and how... Continue Reading →
I’ll take a chance on a documentary I know doesn’t involve much crime or mystery sometimes. That’s why when I saw the premise of The Last Stop, I was actually pretty excited. I haven’t been watching as many true crime documentaries as feverishly over the last two weeks. I’ve been in the mood for some... Continue Reading →
How did Amazon not recommend this one to me sooner? The true crime documentary Missing Kenley had all of the makings of being the exact kind of film/series I adore. The mystery. The theories. The possibility of no crime at all was committed. The possibility a horrific crime was done. Missing Kenley is such a... Continue Reading →
What the Dakota Entrapment Tapes is all about without spoiling the show Out in North Dakota, Andrew Sadek has run into trouble. He has been arrested for the sale of marijuana. He works out a deal with the local police to become a confidential informant. A good kid who made a mistake is suddenly pulled... Continue Reading →
You can get through this documentary in less than an hour if no one interrupts you and your bladder is empty. The Castration Cure is a documentary about a possible "solution" for pedophiles behind bars: removing their testicles. Narrated by a British man, you’ll feel like you’re watching an old-school documentary you might see in... Continue Reading →
True crime documentary Life with Murder takes us up to Canada for a brooding film about the murder of Jennifer Jenkins by her brother Mason Jenkins. At 20-years-old, he has been arrested for killing his 18-year-old sibling by shooting her multiple times. He creates an outlandish story only to admit a decade later he was... Continue Reading →
Hulu has a new true crime documentary series called The Lesson in Murder. Three episodes have been released and I’m curious if there will be more. This is a true crime documentary series starring Bryanna Fox, a criminologist and former FBI agent who has decided to educate a new generation of future crime solvers. With... Continue Reading →
I’ve been watching a lot of sports documentaries lately. They don’t really fall into the Practically Trouble realm like Untold: Crimes & Penalties or some of the other sports documentaries I’ve written about here. One I’ve seen in the past is Screwball which covers the Alex Rodriguez steroid scandal from the early 2000s. For those... Continue Reading →
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer is a documentary now well over 10 years old about former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and, get this, his rise and fall. The title tells you everything you need to know. What about specifics of the incident? For me, Spitzer is another one of those... Continue Reading →
After all of the documentaries I’ve watched, I’ve come to the conclusion that I can usually tell from the premise which types I’ll really like. There needs to be some sort of an unsolved factor to it. Even if we get someone behind bars, it’s the doubt that will keep me interested in a case... Continue Reading →
I’m writing this well over a year after watching Have You Seen Andy? It’s a true crime documentary about the disappearance of Andy Puglisi in Massachusetts during the 1970s. Whenever I watch true crime documentaries or any other genre I feel is worth reviewing and writing about, I’ll make a note of it. Sometimes I’ll... Continue Reading →
Let’s clear up one thing right away. Mark Stroman and Marcus Stroman are two very different people. The one in the documentary An Eye for an Eye is a bit more sinister, at least at the start of things. If you've followed the ballplayer on social media, you'll know he can get himself into a... Continue Reading →
Beast of Bangalore: Indian Predator is the true crime documentary about an alleged sexual predator and murderer in India during the late 1990s named Umesh Reddy. The documentary covers multiple crimes of his and several escapes he made while imprisoned. Reddy is cunning and more clever than those assigned to watch over him. There’s nothing... Continue Reading →
It was probably the release and popularity of Making A Murderer which created the true crime documentary BOOM! We can credit streaming services for continuing it. The availability to go back and watch old documentaries made with blood, sweat, and tears was easier. What’s more, anyone with a camera and a police file could film... Continue Reading →
When I saw Colin Kaepernick was associated with Killing County, I thought I was going to get something self-righteous and slanted. As much as I want to agree with every point he makes, the man loves nothing more than the attention he gets for it. Killing County was different. Someone was smart to let him... Continue Reading →
Young love and a lot of murder is one way to sum up the possible story behind The Twelfth Victim. The other is far less sexy. It involves an 18-year-old going on a killing spree with a 14-year-old girl hostage. A lot of what happened is known. Whether or not Caril Fugate was a willing... Continue Reading →
Standing at 4’9, Richard Flaherty became the shortest member of the Green Beret. A decorated veteran of the Vietnam war, The Giant Killer covers his life and unusual death. Like far too many veterans of the war, Flaherty suffered when he returned home to the US. He got mixed up in some shady business at... Continue Reading →
One of the greatest mysteries of the 21st Century is what happened to MH370. The missing Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared on its way to China and almost ten years later we still don’t have a positive identification as to what exactly happened. MH370: The Plane That Disappeared is Netflix’s newest documentary covering what happened. It... Continue Reading →
I haven’t written a review on any disaster documentaries in a while. One film to catch my eye was the recently released Finding Michael. It’s the story of Spencer Matthews who sets out to find his brother Michael who died on Mount Everest. The premise is a lot better than the execution. This documentary wasn’t... Continue Reading →
What A Murder in Mansfield is all about without spoiling the show This true crime documentary is different from many others. It’s not so much the case of Jack Boyle murdering his wife Noreen as much as it is about their son’s revelations in the aftermath. A Murder in Mansfield starts off with courtroom footage... Continue Reading →
You couldn’t turn on television in the early 2000s without seeing Jared Fogle aka Jared from Subway. It’s one of the most unique stories in the history of the world in my opinion. He’s one of the most obscure celebrities alongside John Wayne Bobbit and Kyle Rittenhouse. In no other version of reality are these... Continue Reading →
Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story gives away exactly what it’s about in the title. It’s all good. Plenty of true crime documentaries work even when you know the outcome. I won’t tell you exactly what happens in the end because I think it’s a worthy watch. In this story, Cyntoia Brown is a... Continue Reading →
What Fortune Seller: A TV Scam is all about without spoiling the show Fortune Seller: A TV Scam takes us to Italy for the story of Wanna Marchi and her daughter Stefania Nobile whose best contributions to society might be how much fun it is to say their names. They are a mother and daughter... Continue Reading →
Murder in Big Horn is a true crime documentary about several different cases in Big Horn County, Montana. The area is largely populated by Indigenous people. If you’ve followed true crime, you’ll know the rate of murdered and missing Indigenous women is outrageously high compared to the population. This is a huge problem in the... Continue Reading →
What Tell Me Who I Am is all about without spoiling the show The documentary Tell Me Who I Am is exactly what it presents itself to be: a mystery. We begin with a man waking up from a car wreck with no knowledge of who he is or what happened. He later finds out... Continue Reading →
I have a new favorite type of true crime documentary. Ones that were once featured on the Robert Stack version of Unsolved Mysteries have a certain connection with me. I watched the entire catalog of episodes back in 2021. The true crime documentary Still Missing Morgan is a case featured on the classic 1990s television... Continue Reading →
Nobody seems to be able to pick out a more unique premise for a documentary than filmmaker Errol Morris. I hadn’t seen any of his films prior to watching The Thin Blue Line in 2022. The 1980s true crime documentary made me an instant fan. His style of filmmaking is so basic and simple. It... Continue Reading →
I was the last one to watch Paradise Lost but among the first to see Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence. How can one woman have an entire cult inside of her? Well, Sarah Lawrence is a college, not a girl. This three-part docuseries tells the story about how Larry Ray moves into... Continue Reading →
Who is the bad guy in Pepsi, Where’s My Jet? This isn’t a clearcut true crime documentary with a single victim and a murderer like I write about often. This documentary more about a corporation trying to screw over the little guy. It’s mid-1995 and Pepsi has a contest to collect points. You can win... Continue Reading →
What Captive Audience: A Real American Horror story is all about without spoiling the show Captive Audience: A Real American Horror story is a tale in two parts covering two different cases very much related to each other. First, it’s the story of Steven Stayner who at seven years old is abducted by Kenneth Parnell.... Continue Reading →
When I watched Who Killed Lt Van Dorn I was hoping for something different. I don’t always read the descriptions of the documentaries I watch. Maybe I am partly to blame for not enjoying this one as much as other people could. Who Killed Lt Van Dorn sounds like a case of a military person... Continue Reading →
Pharma Bro is a documentary about the life, times, and possible heel character created by Martin Shrkeli. He’s more than a vowel short of being a nice person. Known mostly for raising drug prices several years ago for his own profit, this documentary sets out on a mission to uncover whether or not Shkreli is... Continue Reading →
The trial of Alex Murdaugh is ongoing and will be one of the big ones in 2023 to follow. If you are unfamiliar with the story, the true crime documentary Murdaugh Murders: Deadly Dynasty will catch you up. You also have me to provide some insight and a few tidbits as to why this is... Continue Reading →
The Paradise Lost trilogy is the quintessential true crime series. On its own, the first film stands the test of time. We get a behind-the-scenes look at a murder trial, the families of the victims, and the three teenagers whose future will be determined by a jury. No true crime documentary may ever knock Paradise... Continue Reading →
What Evil Genius is all about without ruining the show Back before I knew how much I enjoyed true crime documentaries, I heard on a sports radio show of all places, a recommendation for a Netflix series called Evil Genius. I took the recommendation to heart and watched what became one of my early favorites... Continue Reading →
There are a lot of true crime documentaries I think fall into the underrated category. I certainly enjoy some of the classics like Paradise Lost, The Staircase, and the forgotten gem from the 1980s, The Thin Blue Line. Some more modern ones that have fallen under the radar stuck with me just as much, if... Continue Reading →
What Dreams of a Life is all about without spoiling the show Unless you count being a bad friend a crime or a disaster, the documentary Dreams of a Life is quite different from many of the others reviewed here. It’s the story of a woman named Joyce Vincent who was found dead in her... Continue Reading →
What Have You Seen This Man? is all about without spoiling the show Have You Seen This Man is the story of John Ruffo who, after being sentenced to a 17-year prison term for his connection to a scam, disappears. Ruffo’s whereabouts are unknown but alleged connections to the FBI, Russia, and maybe even the... Continue Reading →
What Untold: Crimes and Penalties is all about without ruining the show The Untold Series is pretty consistent in putting together documentaries of the nefarious nature from the sports world. In Untold: Crimes and Penalties, we get the story of an alleged mobster who buys his 17-year-old son a minor league hockey team, the Dansbury... Continue Reading →
When Tiger King came out in early 2020, it helped a lot of people through the pandemic by keeping us distracted. It was one of the few big hits on Netflix early in the year while everyone was trapped at home surrounded by toilet paper. It became a quick phenomen. People in all walks of... Continue Reading →
What Tickled is all about without spoiling the show Tickled has one of the strangest premises of any documentary in any category. A journalist and filmmaker goes into the world of competitive tickling. Who knew this was a thing? Do they make trading cards? What he discovers is as strange as one might think. Is... Continue Reading →
What Dead Asleep is all about without spoiling the show The true crime documentary Dead Asleep covers the case of Randy Herman and the murder of Brooke Preston. Why is this one worth a documentary? Randy admits to the crime immediately and later uses sleepwalking as the defense. Dead Asleep examines the details of the... Continue Reading →
What The Keepers is all about without spoiling the show The Keepers is a layered true crime documentary about more than the death of a nun in Baltimore. While the murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik is a focal point of the story, there is a lot more to uncover. Along with trying to find the... Continue Reading →
What Down the Hill is all about without spoiling the show Down the Hill is the story of what became known as the Delphi Bridge Murders. By the time I watched it, the story was very outdated because it was a newer case and there was a lot of mystery at the time when Down... Continue Reading →
Practically Trouble 