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Review of the Netflix Documentary Series Untold

This Netflix docuseries has four gems that tell four different but equally compelling stories. The series is titled Untold. Below is a summary of each documentary in the series.

The first in the series is The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist. This two-part documentary is a catfishing story involving college football standout Manti Teo. Manti falls victim to a gay man who sets up a fake Facebook account as an attractive female. As things progress, the man with the fake account realizes that he has to end his online relationship with Manti. He contacts Manti Teo using his real identity to inform him of his online girlfriend’s death, which occurred the same day Manti Teo’s grandmother passed away.

The story of Manti Teo’s loss makes headlines. A couple of journalists at a sports news website start to dig into the story and uncover the false identity. The question then becomes, was Manti Teo in on the hoax? The fallout for Manti Teo is enormous, even interfering with his NFL prospects.

When the man who started the whole thing decides that he can’t quit the relationship, even after the supposed death, things start to go off the rails.

Next up is the documentary The Rise and Fall of And1. I had never heard of this sports brand before this documentary. I’m not a basketball fan. But I enjoyed this story of how three men took street basketball players and turned them and their products into a million-dollar brand.

It all starts with T-shirts. When that goes well, the three owners decide to put together exhibition basketball games to help promote the brand. They put out a mixtape video featuring the street players.

As the title suggests, the business grows exponentially, eventually moving into footwear and competing directly with Nike. The talented players who were essential to the success of the company enjoy NBA-like fame. The whole enterprise tumbles when one of the three key founders calls it quits. The founders decided to sell the company. They rake in millions. The players, on the other hand, have their basketball dreams yanked from under them.

The third documentary in the series is Operation Flagrant Foul. This is another basketball story. This one involves a ref accused of betting on games he was officiating. On the one hand, it’s hard to have sympathy for someone in that position who misuses the trust of the players and fans. On the other hand, the truth is more complicated.

While Tim Donaghy admitted to betting on games that he was working, he claims that he never did anything to sway a game one way or the other. What he did was use his knowledge of the game, the players and coaches, and pass on that information to others who then placed large bets. Sometimes they won big. Sometimes they lost. They won a lot more than they lost. As for Donaghy, he didn’t make out quite as well.

The last documentary in the series is Race of the Century. This film is about America’s Cup race in 1983. An underdog Austrailia team sets out to beat the Americans who hadn’t lost in over 130 years. That’s the goal. It starts with a determined team captain. He puts together his team and then sets out to find someone to finance his venture. Once that task is accomplished, his next task is to build a boat. For that, he turns to an eccentric designer with no formal education. He comes up with a radical design. From there, the race is on.

How the whole thing plays out, along with the stories of the individuals involved before, during, and after the race, make for an interesting tale.

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Review of The Ride of Her Life

Review of The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America by Elizabeth Letts Rating ****

Sixty-three-old Annie Wilkins had a goal. She wanted to see the Pacific ocean before she died. She was about to lose her farm in Maine, and her doctor gave her only two years to live. She also wanted to see America. What better way to see the country than by horseback?

Annie started her trip in November on a horse named Tarzan. Accompanying Annie and Tarzan was Annie’s dog, Depeche Toi. The story of Annie, Tarzan, and Depeche Toi trekking across the continent also serves as a backdrop to the story of America in the early 1950s. The automobile was the favored mode of transportation. Televisions were new. And the interstate highway system was still two years away.

The idea of a woman crossing the continent by horseback drew the attention of the media. People learned about Annie’s trip through the papers. They provided the horse a stable and food and gave Annie a place to stay for the night, even if it was the barn or a jail cell.

One person Annie met took a picture of her and her horse and then made postcards that Annie could sell to help fund her journey. It turned out to be a money maker for Annie.

Annie picked up another horse during her trip to help carry her increasing load. The second horse was named Rex. Annie and her companions became a nationwide story with fans following her progress. Her story was a precursor to a viral internet story.

Did she make it? You’ll have to read the book to find the answer to that question.

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Review of I Just Killed My Dad

Review of the Netflix Docuseries I Just Killed My dad Rating *****

The documentary series I just Killed My Dad tells the story of Anthony Templet, who shot his father three times, killing him. The film begins with Anthony describing to police how he shot his father. Anthony comes across in the police videotapes as someone who has no empathy. He tells the police matter-of-factly that he didn’t like his father. At first glance, it appears as an ironclad second-degree murder case. That viewpoint evolves.

One of the compelling aspects of this docuseries is how they tell the story from all sides. Everyone has a different take on what happened and why. The police, prosecutor, and Attorney General see a murder case. The defense attorney sees a self-defense case. Caught in the middle is Anthony himself, who doesn’t understand why he just can’t go home.

As the facts behind the shooting emerge and the truth of what Anthony had to endure at the hands of his father comes out, everyone’s impressions of the case changes. I won’t offer any spoilers here, but I will say that you can’t choose your parents.

This film should be required viewing for every prosecutor. Is Anthony a threat to society? Should he spend decades in prison for killing his father? How much weight should a prosecutor give to the circumstances behind the shooting? Fortunately, the viewer hears from the prosecutor in this case as she weighs those important questions.

At under three hours, this three-part docuseries is a good candidate for a single night of viewing. Watch it on Netflix.

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Review of Thirteen Lives the Film

Review of the film Thirteen Lives Directed by Ron Howard Rating *****

There are only a handful of directors whose films I would see because they directed a particular film. Ron Howard is one of those directors. The movie 13 Lives, free on Amazon Prime, could easily have had a successful theatrical run. It’s that good.

The movie tells the story of twelve Thai soccer players and their coach trapped deep inside a cave due to flooding and the efforts to rescue them. The story has many echoes of one of Ron Howard’s best movies – Apollo 13. Beyond the obvious number 13, there is the plot of a difficult rescue, a weather threat, worldwide media coverage, and a dwindling supply of oxygen. There’s even a threat of carbon dioxide buildup. Another comparison is having to tell a story in a cramped environment.

The two American actors who play the lead roles, Collin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen, disappear into their roles. They are the first to reach the kids and discover that they are still alive after nine days without any contact. Unfortunately, finding the kids is only the beginning of the ordeal. Due to the flooding and narrow passageways, getting them out appears almost impossible. The rain that threatens to fill the cave with water adds to the difficulty. A secondary story involves attempts to divert the mountain water from flowing into the cave and instead down the mountainside, where it ends up flooding farmers’ fields.

I followed the story like everyone else when it happened. I always believed that each kid swam out with the help of a diver. There is a short scene in the film where this fallacy first appears in the media. The truth is that they had to sedate the kids and constrain their arms and legs, allowing the divers to move them through the tunnels without fear of them panicking. It was a six-hour dive from where they were to the cave’s opening.

The film stays true to the actual event, using subtitles for Thai characters and their dialogue as well as mostly Thai actors. The singular focus is the rescue. Everything else is used only as a means to tell that story. Two Thai rescue swimmers would lose their lives in the rescue attempt. One diver died from a blood infection after the dive. The other diver drowned in the tunnel after running out of air.

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Review of The Most Hated Man on the Internet

Review of the Most Hated Man on the Internet Rating *****

What happens when a psychopath suddenly finds themselves with a cult following? The answer can be found by watching this three-episode Netflix docuseries.

The internet is full of crazies. The anonymity offered by hiding behind a computer screen gives people free rein to say whatever cruel thoughts cross their minds. Hunter Moore’s IsAnyoneUp.com was a magnet for these types of people.

Revenge porn is not new. Bitter ex-partners have been posting intimate images of their exes on local sites and sharing those images in texts and emails from the time the first camera phones came on the market. What Hunter Moore did was provide a platform where these same people could upload their photos and have those images subjected to ridicule from anyone logging on to the site. What he didn’t count on were the lengths one victim’s mom would take to make him accountable for his immoral and unethical behavior.

The first episode begins with the story of Kayla Laws, whose topless photo ended up on the site. One part of the story is how the picture wound up on the site. The other part concerns Kayla and her mom’s efforts to have the image removed. Along the way, viewers hear from numerous other victims about the devastating effect of having unwanted pictures of themselves on the internet and how that has negatively affected their lives.

Charlotte Laws

When the law finally catches up with Hunter Moore, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime except for one provision – Hunter Moore can no longer have a social media presence. The government de-platformed him. That is the best punishment of all. Additionally, Charlotte Laws has helped pass non-consensual image abuse laws in numerous states.

The producing team behind this series also produced the docuseries The Tinder Swindler and Don’t F^&K With Cats.

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Review of Red Matter VR

Review of Red Matter VR Game
Rating ****

After finishing the VR game Half Life Alyx, I went on the Steam forum and asked for suggestions on what to play next. For the record, if you are looking for an immersive experience that will blow you away, I highly recommend Half Life Alyx. That game is phenomenal. Some of the requirements I had were that the game be more puzzle-focused and less shooter-focused. Among the suggested titles was the game Red Matter.

The game takes place on an abandoned Russian space station on one of Saturn’s moons. My very first impression was that it wasn’t to the same level of quality as Half Life Alyx. However, had this been my first foray into VR gaming, I would have thought it was fantastic. My overall opinion is that this is a very good VR experience.

When I made the decision to try this game, it was on sale for $12. It was $12 well spent. In reading the description of the game and some of the reviews, I was expecting a quick and easy game. One reviewer complained about how short the game was and how easy it was to solve the puzzles. Maybe I’m not as good as some other players. It took me thirteen hours to finish what was supposed to take four hours to finish.

I ran into a number of technical glitches that interrupted my enjoyment of the game. On more than one occasion I dropped a device that I needed only to have the device disappear and never reappear, forcing me to have to start from scratch or restart from a previous save. Since this problem has been reported by other players and the game has been out for a while, I would have thought that the developers would have addressed it by now. I also had several occasions where there was no sound, forcing me to shut down and restart. Another issue I had was that I could not find a button on my controller that activated a menu where I could save and exit the game.

Moving around the game is okay, but not nearly as smooth as it is in Half Life Alyx. The same can be said about the use of claws instead of hands. I didn’t think the puzzles were too easy. I spent a lot of time on most of them before figuring them out. I did, however, figure them all out. The puzzles should not be so difficult that you can’t go any further or you have to Google to find out how to solve a particular puzzle.

As for not having to worry about shooting myself out of trouble, I have mixed feelings. Now that I played a game with no shooting, I kind of missed the threats I faced in Half Life Alyx. The problem I had with the shooting aspect of Half Life Alyx was that there were so many times when I felt it was impossible to get through to whatever goal I was trying to reach (I did, however, manage to shoot my way out every time). So, I’m thinking that having some threats that you have to contend with is a good compromise.

The graphics in this game were very good. The soundscape was also very good. Now that the developers have or are about to release Red Matter II, I would certainly entertain the idea of buying the next version and can recommend this first version.