Review Of I Love You, Now Die written and directed by Erin Lee CarrRating ***** This two-part HBO documentary looks at the manslaughter case against Michelle Carter, the seventeen-year-old accused of encouraging her boyfriend to commit suicide through text messages. The first part concerns the prosecution’s case against Michelle. Prosecutors painted Michelle as a lonely […]
Heartbreak and outrage: A review of the Netflix Docuseries The Confesstion Tapes Season Two and Exhibt A
July 4, 2019 By 2 Comments
There’s something about wrongful conviction stories that always draw me in. I can’t stop thinking about these people, most of whom are still behind bars. Fiction can’t do that. No matter how good the story or the writing, you know that it was all made up. For the wrongfully convicted, their stories drag on, and […]
Review of The Fifth Risk
July 2, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of The Fifth Risk by Michael LewisRating **** I’ll admit that I am not a Trump fan. Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, described him as a con man, a liar, and a cheat. That says it all. I also knew that equally incompetent people surrounded him at every level. Michael Lewis’s book delves deeper […]
The Myth that is Donald Trump
June 18, 2019 By Leave a Comment
As Donald Trump launches his ill-fated re-election campaign, I thought I would take this opportunity to point out the many falsehoods being parroted by his supporters. As unbelievable as it sounds, there are people out there who still think Trump is doing a great job. They say he’s making America Great again and doing everything […]
Review of Poisoned
June 17, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of Poisoned: How a Crime-Busting Prosecutor Turned His Medical Mystery into a Crusade for Environmental Victims by Alan BellRating ***** Alan Bell’s memoir covers his legal background and his debilitating illness caused by an unknown chemical exposure he experienced while working in a new office building. It also offers a wake-up call for all […]
Three docudramas to stream right now
June 6, 2019 By Leave a Comment
I have three excellent docudrama series to recommend. Each will take you on a deep dive into three compelling stories. First up is Chernobyl. You can find this five-part series on HBO. Like the other two docudramas on this list, everything about it is top notch. There aren’t many stories where a catastrophe has the […]
Review of Charged
June 5, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon Rating **** Charged is a book about the criminal justice system and mass incarceration. The author uses two separate cases to help illustrate her overall theme of criminal justice reform. Rather than look at the problem from a […]
Review of Amity and Prosperity
May 14, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America written by Eliza Griswold rating ***** Back in 2015, a job transfer forced me to move to Dallas, Texas. I didn’t know much about the Dallas area, but I was keenly aware of the fracking industry. Flying into Dallas from the west gives […]
Review of Zoo Nebraska
April 27, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of Zoo Nebraska by Carson VaughanRating **** I’ll start this review with a reference given at the end of the book. In the Acknowledgements section to be exact. Author Carson Vaughan was with his future wife traveling along the small town backroads of her youth when she casually pointed out a spot off the […]
Review of Little Shoes
April 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of Little Shoes: The Sensational Depression-Era Murders That Became My Family Secret written by Pamela Everett Rating ***** A statement often repeated from death-penalty proponents is that while the criminal justice system has its faults there has never been an execution of an innocent man. Considering that over 150 people on death row have […]
What happened to Madeleine McCann?
April 12, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Review of The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann Directed by Chris Smith, Executive Producer Emma CooperRating ***** As a fan of documentary series, I was quick to put the Madeleine McCann docuseries into my watch list. But then I sat on it for a while. After all, I already know that Madeleine is still missing. There […]
Two nonfiction film quicktakes
March 30, 2019 By Leave a Comment
I have two really good nonfiction films to recommend. First up is Apollo 11.Apollo 11 directed by Todd Douglas Miller. Rating ***** Back in 1994 while working on the interactive CD-ROM Apollo XIII: A Week to Remember, I had the chance to fly to Houston where I interviewed four Apollo 13 flight controllers. I conducted […]
Everything the Holocaust
March 30, 2019 By Leave a Comment
I have been steeped in the Holocaust for the past several months. It started with the book Denial by Deborah E. Lipstadt. While reading that book I started watching the six-part Netflix documentary series Auschwitz. When I finished the book, I rented the film Denial written by David Hare. It has been a deep dive […]
The case against impeaching Trump
March 20, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Over the next six months or so a clear picture of President’s Trump’s many misdeeds will come to light. At the top of the list will be obstruction of justice and campaign finance violations. Those two alone would be enough to impeach any other president. But those infractions are just the tip of the iceberg […]
Review of the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
March 11, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Written by Chiwetel Ejiofor and William Kamkwamba, directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor Rating ***** I am always a little leary when I see a film that is written, directed, and stars the same individual. Most of the time these films are not that good because there is a lack of colaboration and feedback. The Boy Who […]
