Need Something to Watch? Here Are 5 Ideas.
Every Saturday, I tell you about something I’ve watched in the previous week. Sometimes there’s a show or movie that I’ve watched, loved, and want to share, but the idea of making a featured image with a little speech bubble seems inappropriate. Or there’s something that I’ve seen, but I just don’t feel evangelical enough about to award it a spot on Saturday’s Wear, Watch, Want column. Here are five things I’ve watched, and want to share, but don’t really fit the (self-imposed) parameters of a Saturday post.
Abducted in Plain Sight
Everyone is talking about Netflix’s latest true crime documentary. I’ll say this: So many true crime series take a story that could be told in two hours and make it last 12. Abducted in Plain Sight could easily be an episodic documentary with hours and hours of content, but it’s 90 minutes long. This story is infuriating and fascinating and I want to know so much more. As a content warning, this is a story that involved sexual abuse of a child, but I will say that it’s discussed in a mostly roundabout way and is also just one of the 400 unbelievable things that this family endured.
Whitney
This is the documentary about Whitney Houston that came out last year. It is fantastic in the way that it doesn’t shy away from many aspects of her life, and includes interviews with many of her closest family members and friends. Although when they talked about how her uncles (cousins? brothers?) who worked for her did drugs before she did, I could only think of this bit from Walk Hard
Suits
I was snowed in for a full week, and I was desperate for something to binge watch to keep the insanity at bay. Suits has over 100 episodes, AND Meghan Markle, so I decided that was my pick. I cannot fully endorse Suits because, to be honest, sometimes I get bored and space out and I have no idea what’s going on. Some of these lawsuits are a SNOOZE. But Meghan Markle is resplendent. She alone is worth watching for.
I Am the Night
The only thing I knew about I Am the Night before watching it was that it was about the Black Dahlia, which I consider to be one of the more boring true crime stories. TURNS OUT, I Am the Night isn’t really about the Black Dahlia, and it’s barely a true crime show! It is incredibly stylistic and very interesting to watch, but it’s kind of like True Detective (the first season at least); some parts are riveting, others are super slow and boring, and you still want to keep watching and find out what happens next. I am now interested in reading Fauna Hodel’s book, and Chris Pine (The One True Chris) is always welcome.
Wired’s Technique Critique
Technique Critique may be one of my favorite shows, and it’s a YouTube series from a magazine. In each episode of Technique Critique, an expert in a field talks about how onscreen portrayals either get their job right, or wrong. There are multiple with a guy who’s a linguist and dialect coach breaking down fake languages, impressions, and accents. There’s a surgeon who does one (bring her back, Wired!), a forensic guy, and a hacker. I would like a million of these, but there are 7. I have watched each one at least twice, and some of them more than that. It is so well done, I cannot recommend it enough. And it’s on YouTube! For free! Available anywhere to anyone! If you watch only one of the things on this list, I think it should be Technique Critique. Here’s a link to a playlist of all the episodes.
