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Conservative media have spent the last couple weeks angry about cartoons and puppets and toys, but they took a break on Monday to dogpile on two people who alleged racism. On Sunday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave their first major interview since stepping rom the royal duties last January. There were a lot of horrifying revelations that made people very mad. At one point Markle even talked about contemplating suicide. Even that didn’t stop rightwing pundits from attacking them, including Megyn Kelly, and including young Trumpist Charlie Kirk.

At under 30, Kirk is among the youngest of former president Donald Trump’s minions, and he spent so long passionately spreading lies about the 2020 election that even Geraldo Rivera called him out. He’s also been known to record videos while looking like crap. So when he attacked Prince Harry for being, in his words, a “metrosexual beta male” — after calling Markle a liar, with no proof — people weren’t having it.

Some people pointed out that Kirk is not exactly an Adonis.

More to the point, Prince Harry actually fought in a war. Charlie Kirk, well, did not.

Some pointed out it’s always dweebs like Kirk or Ben Shapiro who cry about the supposed decline of traditional masculinity.

Some questioned his questioning of the monarchy’s racism.

Others called out his obvious attempt to channel the late Rush Limbaugh.

And some made fun of his looks.

Eddie Murphy’s return to cinema has been a welcome one, with Dolomite Is My Name and Coming 2 America earning rave reviews from critics and movie fans alike. His stint on SNL last year was a return to form as well, and people mostly just seem thrilled that a stretch of some some less-than-stellar films seems to be behind him.

But Murphy’s legacy will always have a bit of Pluto Nash in it, and he recently admitted that the negative press and unflattering awards caused him to put his career on pause and make sure he started picking better roles. Most notably, there was a Golden Raspberry Awards honor for Worst Actor of the Decade in 2010, which made him decide to take a long break.

IndieWire recapped a Murphy appearance on Marc Maron’s podcast, which had some pretty insightful comments about what winning a Raspberry for worst actor of the decade did to him.

“I was making s*itty movies,” Murphy said. “I was like, ‘This s*it ain’t fun. They’re giving me Razzies…Motherf*ckers gave me the ‘worst actor ever’ Razzie. [So I thought], ‘Maybe it’s time to take a break.’”

That break came after an arguably impressive stretch of bad movies, which garnered him nine nominations and three wins for the likes of Norbit, The Adventures Of Pluto Nash, and Meet Dave. But that Worst Actor of the Decade Award apparently was the fruit that broke the actor’s will to appear in mediocre projects.

“I was only gonna take a break for a year, then all of a sudden six years go by, and I’m sitting on the couch, and I could sit on the couch and not get off it, but I don’t want to the last bunch of s*it they see me do [to be] bulls*it,” Murphy said. “The plan was to go do ‘Dolemite,’ ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ‘Coming 2 America,’ and then do stand-up and see how I felt afterwards. At least then they’ll know I’m [still] funny.”

Thankfully for Murphy, that time off seems to have been well-spent recharging for what’s been a good second act to his career. And a sign that, yes, he can still be funny, even after all that cringe.

[via IndieWire]

Over the past few months, NBA Top Shot has exploded in popularity, as hundreds of thousands of people flood the site every time there is a new pack drop. That growth is both exciting and a bit concerning for Top Shot, as they have struggled to keep up with their sudden growth as they are still a product in beta that is working out a lot of kinks and issues in real time. Doing that when hundreds of thousands of accounts are trying to get a pack means that the issues will be magnified and the frustrations will grow.

After the Rising Stars pack drop over the weekend, the Top Shot Marketplace has been down as they try to figure out how to handle the demands they’re suddenly faced with. The volume of items being bought and sold has stretched Top Shot’s infrastructure to the brink, and as they look to expand it to meet the demand, they announced a number of new limitations they’ll be placing on the Marketplace to ease the pressure on their system as they gradually reopen.

Collectors will be limited to buying one Moment every two hours under the new rules. They can attempt to buy as many as they’d like, but once they purchase one successfully, they will be locked out of buying any more for two more hours. Collectors will also only be allowed to create a new “for sale” listing for one Moment every two hours, which is meant to ease the burden on their servers. Finally, collectors will only be allowed to delist a Moment every 10 minutes once sales are open — for now the Marketplace has been opened to allow for unlimited delisting before sales go back live. They also won’t allow any new accounts to be opened and gifting will be turned off for an unspecified amount of time.

All of this is to say, the frantic pace of Top Shot buying and selling will slow significantly once they reopen the Marketplace. Dapper Labs said on Monday the limitations will eventually be loosened, but do not provide a timetable for that beyond saying they “expect to scale down these limits over time as we improve our infrastructure.” The stated reasons for the changes are to allow them to continue to combat bots, while also hopefully allowing them to stay open for longer. It also stands to reason that these limitations, while eventually loosened, might stay to some degree as they have been clear they do not want to be seen as an investment tool and are simply for collecting, and limiting the frenetic trading that can occur would certainly be one way to combat that.

Last Updated: March 8th

From the moment the bandit turned his gun toward the camera in 1903’s The Great Train Robbery, no genre of film has been more readily identified with quintessential American cinema than the Western. Though the popularity of classic Western movies waned in the late 1960s, today’s filmmakers still approach the genre with enthusiasm, breathing new life into these cinematic archetypes. Here’s a look at some of the best westerns on Netflix streaming right now.

Related: The Best War Movies On Netflix Right Now

The Hateful Eight (2015)

Run Time: 187 min | IMDb: 7.8/10

The Hateful Eight was originally conceived as a sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film Django Unchained, but Tarantino almost gave up the idea of making the movie after the script leaked in early 2014. After he oversaw a live script reading in Los Angeles later that year, Tarantino changed his mind and decided to put his latest vision on the big screen. No longer a Django sequel, The Hateful Eight became a standalone story about eight strangers who take shelter at a stopover during a blizzard, all with very different reasons as to why they don’t trust one another. For the film’s score, Tarantino brought in legendary composer Ennio Morricone to do the film’s score, which won him an Academy Award.

Buffalo Boys (2018)

Run Time: 102 min | IMDb: 5.8/10

Mike Wiluan’s imaginative Western blends cultures and fighting styles to give fans a unique take on the genre. The film follows brothers Jamar (Ario Bayu) and Suwo (Yoshi Sudarso), as they leave America after helping complete the Transcontinental Railroad and return home to Indonesia. While riding a train home, they come against a group of white gangsters before arriving to their village and discovering Dutch administrator named Captain Van Trach has enslaved their people for profit. The duo takes on Trach’s outfit to help free their village and while the storytelling falls a bit flat, the action is worth watching.

Django Unchained (2012)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Run Time: 133 min | IMDb: 7/10

The Coen brothers are back with a slick new Western romp, one that serves as an ode to all of the tropes present in Hollywood’s best Wild West adaptations. Split into six parts, each story is loosely connected though thematically and tonally different. Tim Blake Nelson stars as the titular hero, a sharpshooting songster who takes part in the film’s opening musical portion. From there we get stories of outlaws getting their due, prospectors mining for gold, ghostly hauntings, and wagon trails. Forgetting trying to follow the thread and just enjoy the ride with this one.

Badland (2019)

Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 5.7/10

Mira Sorvino stars in this violent Western from director Justin Lee. The action follows a stone-faced gunman named Matthias William Breecher, a Pinkerton detective hired by a former-slave-turned-Senator to track down war criminals who fought for the Confederacy. Sorvino plays Darah, daughter to one such criminal, an ailing general spending his final days on the family’s failing farm. The best stretch of the movie comes when Breecher holes up there, talking about past mistakes with the general and getting close to Sarah, but there’s plenty of wild shootouts and horse-chases sprinkled in between to keep things interesting

In a Valley of Violence (2016)

Run Time: 104 min | IMDb: 6/10

This violent Western didn’t get much fanfare when it first came out, which is strange because it has a pretty solid cast, led by the always-dependable Ethan Hawke. Hawke plays a drifter with a past named Paul who draws some unwanted attention from the sheriff (John Travolta) and his goons when he passes through a small town out West. Misunderstandings lead to dead dogs lead to bloody revenge quests but the predictability of it all is helped out with some strong performances, mainly by Hawke, Travolta, and Taissa Farmiga.

Dance With Wolves (1990)

Run Time: 181 min | IMDb: 8/10

Kevin Costner stars in and directs this ’90s Western adapted from a best-selling novel by Michael Blake. Costner plays Lieutenant John Dunbar, who gets orders to man a remote Civil War outpost out West and spends most of his service befriending wild animals and Native Americans living nearby. Of course, this doesn’t make his military bosses too happy, and he’s forced to choose between his duty or helping the people who have accepted him as one of their own.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)

Run Time: 111 min | IMDb: 6.3/10

Bill Pullman plays the titular lawman in this Western saga. Lefty Brown is a sheriff’s deputy with a visible limp and an inability to make good decisions. When his partner/boss is killed. Lefty vows to hunt the gang responsible and ends up on a quest with other “outsiders” that reveals some hard truths about who he can really trust.

If you’re a conservative commentator, you’re probably pretty tired these days. After all, you’ve spent the last two weeks being angry about important issues, such as the Muppets, about Mr. Potato Head, and about Dr. Seuss. Now here’s a new complaint: Warner Bros. announced that they’re effectively retiring one of their classic Looney Tunes characters, namely grabby skunk Pepé Le Pew. It’s not as though his existence will be scrubbed from history. It’s just that he won’t be in any Looney Tunes material going forward. Republicans were predictably incensed, and to add salt to the wound, some on social media decided to turn it into a hashtag.

On Monday, #CancelACartoonCharacter started trending, asking those amused by the furor over a very dated character being put to pasture to fake-cancel other animated figures. People didn’t just post pictures; they came up with elaborate and obvious lies about the reason they were “canceled.”

For instance, one person said Clifford, the giant dog, “used steroids to grow and profited off of his illegal drug use.”

Or that Jerry the mouse “is infested with fleas carrying bubonic plague.”

As for Winnie-the-Pooh, he should be canceled “for repeated offences of burglary.”

Snoopy is “obviously on some kind of hallucinogenic drugs and is therefore an inappropriate role model for children.”

Donald Duck is “87 years old and still refuses to wear pants.”

And then there are those (very real) ads Fred and Wilma Flintstone made about the glories of buying cigarettes.

Mario, of Nintendo fame, “hasn’t had a plumber’s license in 30 years.”

Mr. Burns “never pays taxes,” which is actually probably accurate.

As was this one about Dale Gribble of King of the Hill storming the Capitol.

And then there’s Pepé Le Pew’s colleague Bugs Bunny, and his famously prophetic bit about Florida.

There were a fair amount of SpongeBob characters who deserved to be canceled.

And other assorted cancelable characters.

And of course, there was Eric Cartman, perhaps the most cancelable of them all.

In the meantime, you know who’s not actually “canceled”? Pepé Le Pew! His many cartoons — including 1949’s Oscar-winning For Scent-imental Reasons — are still available to stream, on the cartoon streamer Boomerang and on HBO Max, the home of the company that forced him to retire. You can make up your own mind about whether or not he, as New York Times columnist Charles Blow put it, “added to rape culture.” And you can admire the beautiful direction of Chuck Jones, who helmed just about every Pepé short from the Golden Age of Hollywood Animation, showcasing a character who will simply have no more new adventures. Probably better that than getting steamed like a conservative.

For a long time, the United States Women’s National Team has sought equal pay to their male counterparts. That included the decision to bring a lawsuit against U.S. Soccer over gender-based discrimination back in 2019. However, a judge rejected the most prominent issues in the suit, even while leaving the door cracked open for future discussion.

To that end, Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro introduced a new bill in Congress, titled the “Give Our Athletes Level Salaries (GOALS) Act,” aiming to ensure that the USWNT earn “fair and equitable wages compared to the U.S. Men’s Team.”

“In times both good and bad, sports connect us to one another and to our nation through our common bond to our beloved teams. The collective spirit and support for the U.S. Women’s National Team lifts our entire nation up and inspires young women from coast-to-coast to pursue their passions and become the next generation of leaders,” Congresswoman Matsui said. “Stars such as Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, and Carli Lloyd are household names, yet their hard work – which has brought our nation various World Cups including the most recent tournament – is grossly undervalued. From factory floors to the boardroom, to the soccer pitch of the world’s biggest stage, women everywhere perform the same job and do not get what they deserve – equal pay for equal work. The GOALS Act provides a clear message to the U.S. Soccer Federation – make real reforms to provide equal wages to their female athletes or sacrifice vital funds for the 2026 World Cup. I stand with our USWNT as we renew our commitment to end pay discrimination, close the wage gap and ensure women of all backgrounds have equity in the workplace.”

Within the announcement of the act, the Congresswomen state plainly that USWNT players “earn significantly less” compared to the Men’s National Team, even while “performing the same job” and “producing equal or more revenue.” On top of that, it is indisputable the USWNT is the more successful entity in terms of wins and championship-level performance.

“The concept is simple: women deserve equal pay for equal work,” said Congresswoman DeLauro. “The U.S. Women’s National Team, women who have captivated the global soccer community, deserve the same compensation as their male counterparts. The U.S. Soccer Federation must be held accountable and end its discriminatory practices. The GOALS Act will bring our nation a step closer to equal pay for all professional athletes.”

There is great synergy in the announcement of the bill being introduced coming on Mar. 8, International Women’ Day, and also on the two-year anniversary of the initial lawsuit. It remains to be seen as to how this bill will proceed, but it is hopefully a helpful step in this push for equal pay.

While the New York Knicks are certainly helping Desus and Mero enjoy the more recent months of the pandemic, not everyone is handling long stretches of isolation and worry as well as they are. That’s why the Showtime squad decided to check in with the people tasked with helping the rest of us when things get tough mentally.

The pair’s Showtime series aired a sketch recently in which they talked to frontline workers, but with a twist: They’re all therapists who have spent the last year remotely helping people with their mental health.

“The anxiety levels are through the roof,” one therapist told them. But the show also acknowledged that’s likely the case for the therapists themselves. That’s why they decided they needed a bit of therapy of their own. Mero donned a nice blazer for the occasion, then played therapist for some of the more certified therapists they invited on the show.

The banter was classic Desus and Mero, and it actually did provide some pretty good advice about how to relax during a pandemic: turn off the laptop, relax with something like dancing, consume a substance (within moderation, of course), and don’t be afraid to ask for help. There was also some yoga and a bit of shout therapy, though your neighbors may not like that last one as much as the others.

On Sunday, over twice as many people who watched last week’s Golden Globes telecast tuned in to watch Oprah Winfrey interview Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — their first such sit-down since stepping away from their royal duties. The revelations were shocking: They accused some at Buckingham Palace of racism and of driving her to suicidal thoughts. It made conservatives mad…at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. One rightwing commentator didn’t only come for the sort-of-former Royals. She also came for Oprah.

That person is Megyn Kelly, the disgraced former Fox News host who lasted just over a year at NBC before being fired for defending blackface. These days she can be found on Twitter, where she’s regularly dunked on for other questionable opinions. That includes the ones she made in the wake of the Harry and Meghan interview. On Sunday, shortly after the interview aired, Kelly laid into Winfrey.

“Oprah stayed too broad-I wanted more: ‘who?…Be specific…what exactly did they say? Who was jealous of M after Australia? How did u know that? What do you mean ur family hasn’t ‘educated themselves’ the way u have? They’re racists? WHO?’ Eventually they’d have to get specific.”

When people caught wind that Megyn Kelly — known for rants against the idea of a non-white Santa Claus — was lecturing Oprah Winfrey about her interview tactics, they couldn’t believe it. Many made apt comparisons.

Some reminded people of her terrible track record.

Kelly had a couple other opinions to share on Twitter as well. Like most conservatives, she’s spent a lot of the last week and change up in arms about a non-controversy involving Mr. Potato Head, The Muppet Show getting brief content warnings on Disney+, and the Dr. Seuss foundation pulling six (out of over 60) books from circulation due to racist content. When she dropped a photoshopped image bearing a false equivalency, people pounced on that, too.

On the bright side, at least Megyn Kelly hasn’t had a TV show in about 2 ½ years.

Ahead of releasing her breakout debut single “Icy Grl” in 2017, Saweetie earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California. Saweetie was already making moves in her rap career while attending college and has cited how important her degree is to her. But attending a school where she was oftentimes the only student of color in the classroom also took a toll on her, to the point that she now says the experience “stripped my authenticity.”

Saweetie recently sat down with The Breakfast Club for a conversation about her career and upcoming projects. Host Angela Yee commended Saweetie for completing her degree in the interview, saying that “sometimes people think that you can’t be authentic as a rapper if you also went to school and did well.” But Saweetie feels as though her college experience forced her to conform:

“That’s so ironic because I feel like college is what kind of stripped my authenticity from me because, when you’re going to a predominately white school, you kind of feel like you have to perform sometimes. Not speaking for everybody, but at least from my experience. So if anything, I feel like after college, I was kind of getting back to who I was before then. But being in a world that’s not your world is uncomfortable, you have to adjust, and I felt like I had to conform a lot because sometimes I’d be the only Black or biracial girl in class. So if anything, I feel like I’m finally getting back to me.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Saweetie said that her success didn’t happen by luck. Rather, she’s been working hard at achieving her goals since grade school: “I have run into people who I was cordial with or who I was friends with and they always tell me that where I’m at right now makes sense. Because I was always ambitious. I’d be top student for my academics, I was female athlete of the year, I was popular throughout my whole life. So people who knew me before this knew that it makes sense for what I’m doing.”

Watch Saweetie’s full interview with The Breakfast Club above.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Last Updated: March 8th

Streaming video is the best thing that’s ever happened to documentaries. People who would never have paid for a ticket to a theatrical nonfiction film are now, thanks to Netflix’s robust selection, scarfing down the stuff by the barrel. But where to start among the masses? Here are 25 of the best documentaries on Netflix right now to get you going, covering a variety of themes and real stories.

Related: The Best Documentary Series On Netflix Right Now

Fyre (2019)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

Even if you’ve already witnessed the madness of this real-life horror story over on Hulu, you should see it again on Netflix. Hulu’s Fyre Fraud feels like more of a thinkpiece directed at the millennials who were suckered into buying tickets to a luxurious music fest on a secluded island in the Bahamas. Netflix’s Fyre does a better job of placing you in the action, giving you a real feel for the chaos and an understanding of how so many people could’ve been roped into this doomed venture.

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Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé (2019)

Run Time: 137 min | IMDb: 8/10

Beyoncé’s history-making Coachella performance was enough to temporarily rename the music festival Beychella last year, and now fans who couldn’t afford to see Queen Bee perform live get a backstage pass to the show with this doc. Are there killer performances, musical mash-ups, and dance routines? Sure. But what really makes this music doc stand-out besides the talent of its star is the intimate look fans are given into Beyoncé’s personal life, from her surprise pregnancy to her struggle to get in shape before the event and all the in-between madness and heartbreak.

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Get Me Roger Stone (2017)

Run Time: 82 min | IMDb: 7.4/10

To understand the enigma that was the Trump campaign, one must first understand the man behind the historic presidential run. Roger Stone is a well-connected lobbyist, a Republican political trickster responsible for the campaigns of former presidents like Richard Nixon and Ronal Reagan. He’s well-versed in navigating morally-murky waters to help his horse win the race, and we see him do just that in this doc, which follows the mogul over a five-year period as he crafts Trump’s winning-campaign.

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Team Foxcatcher (2016)

Run Time: 90 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

One of the strangest, most tragic sports stories in history is that of professional wrestler Dave Schulz and his friend, John du Pont. Du Pont was heir to the multi-million dollar Du Pont family fortune and used his inheritance to fund a professional wrestling team with the hopes of competing in the Olympics and other prestigious sports events. Mark Schulz was a wrestler struggling to get out of the shadow of his older brother’s more promising career. The two were roped into du Pont’s scheme, training wrestlers for him, but the partnership quickly soured and led to du Pont murdering Dave Schultz before barricading himself in his family compound to avoid arrest. It’s chilling, bizarre, and all the more riveting because of it.

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The Battered Bastards Of Baseball (2014)

Run Time: 80 min | IMDb: 8/10

Another sports doc, this one about a rag-tag group of baseball players in Oregon, feels decidedly more fun than its wrestling counterpart. The doc follows the Portland Mavericks, a defunct minor league baseball owned by actor Bing Russell that played for five seasons in the Class A-Short Season Northwest League. Kurt Russell, Bing’s son, also played on the team and served as its vice president. The film charts the Maverick’s origins, from underdogs to anti-establishment heroes.

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Biggie: I Got A Story To Tell (2021)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 7/10

Compiled from rare home videos from Christopher “Biggie” Wallace’s best friend, Damion “D-Roc” Butler, this revealing doc gives fans a different look at the iconic rapper. Sean “Diddy” Combs and Biggie’s mom also give interviews, detailing parts of Biggie’s life we didn’t know about, but the most compelling footage comes from D-Roc’s amateur videos. These clips give us an unfiltered look at a man who would become a legend.

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13th (2016)

Run Time: 100 min | IMDb: 8.2/10

This 2016 documentary from Ava DuVernay won an Emmy and was nominated for an Oscar during awards season two years ago. The film chronicles the justice system’s abuses against black people, making a case for institutionalized racism being a problem in America that’s only emboldened by the prison cycle. DuVernay boldly explores how prisons and detention centers are making a profit off of free prison labor, most of it done by black men which begs the question, is slavery really dead?

Taylor Swift: Miss Americana (2020)

Run Time: 85 min | IMDb: 7.4/10

Let’s be honest, Taylor Swift could’ve delivered a glossy, stylized, superficial doc about her life to promote her latest album, and her rabid fanbase would’ve eaten it up. Instead, the pop star took a risk and gave filmmakers no-holds-barred access to her personal and professional life, offering up intimate interviews with herself and her family, detailing difficult struggles with body dysmorphia and eating disorders, allowing cameras inside her sexual assault trial, revealing her mother’s cancer diagnosis, and unearthing home video footage of her youth to create a fuller picture of herself. It’s a film that reveals the human underneath the icon. It’s bold, brutally honest, and some of Swift’s best work yet.

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Chasing Coral (2017)

Run Time: 93 min | IMDb: 8.1/10

Few environmental warrior films do more for the cause than Jeff Orlowski’s Chasing Coral. The doc rounds up a team of scientists, photographers, and divers from around the world to draw attention to an environmental crisis we’ve never seen before — the vanishing of the world’s coral reefs. It works on two levels: By giving us an underwater adventure that attempts to shed light on the mysteries of the deep and highlighting a problem we can see with our own eyes. There’s no denying this one, no looking away, and Orlowski’s crew takes full advantage of that.

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Casting JonBenet (2017)

Run Time: 80 min | IMDb: 6.2/10

’90s crime nostalgia is alive and well in this pseudo-doc from director Kitty Green. Everyone knows how tiny pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey died — bludgeoned to death in the basement of her family home — so Green is less interested in rehashing the investigation into the little girl’s death and more interested in reenacting her life and final moments. To do this, she enlists actors from the area where the family lived, all hoping to play JonBenet or her parents in an upcoming production. Over the course of the film, these thespians are forced to confront the reality of the Ramsey family’s situation which in turn helps viewers to take a look under the surface of this tabloid trauma.

Athlete A (2020)

Run Time: 103 min | IMDb: 7.7/10

This timely doc gives us a look at the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal that rocked the world of gymnastics just two years ago from the point of view of reporters at the Indianapolis Star in charge of exposing it. A cover-up spanning two decades and involving higher-ups at both US Gymnastics and Michigan State where Nassar served as a physician and professor, this revealing investigation into a sinister culture that’s hidden behind the success of its top female athletes makes you rethink everything you thought about the Olympic dream.

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American Factory (2019)

Run Time: 115 min | IMDb: 7.6/10

his marks the first documentary to come from Netflix’s high-profile producing deal with Barack and Michelle Obama. The film takes a hard look at what happened to a General Motors plant in Ohio when it was closed down during the 2008 financial crisis, causing 2,000 workers to lose their jobs and destroying the small town of Moraine, Ohio. Things only get more complicated when a Chinese billionaire comes to town to transform the plant into a glass-making facility, promising thousands of new jobs before cultural divides threaten to derail the whole thing. It’s a fascinating view of consumerism, the American workforce, culture clashes, and how people can connect with each other despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Shirkers (2018)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

In 1992, Sandi Tan, along with her friends, made Singapore’s first indie film. She wrote and starred in it, a project called Shirkers, her two girlfriends produced and edited it, and a man named George Cardona directed. Cardona vanished one day, taking all the film materials with him, and propelling Tan on a decades-long journey to find the truth. It’s an engrossing study in betrayal and the dangers of collaboration, and it works mostly because Tan approaches it from a true-crime mystery angle, stripping it of any nostalgia that might tint her lense.

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One of Us (2017)

Run Time: 95 min | IMDb: 7.1/10

This gripping documentary confronts some hard truths about religion: its power to unite and its power to divide. Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady follow three members of New York’s notoriously insular Hasidic community as they try to break free from their religion while holding onto their families and sense of belonging.

Icarus (2017)

Run Time: 121 min | IMDb: 8/10

Bryan Fogel’s Academy Award-winning documentary Icarus wasn’t supposed to involve Russians and doping scandal and cover-ups. Fortunately for Fogel, when the filmmaker decided to test his mettle by competing in one of the toughest cycling competitions in the world and chose to dope to help his chances, he ended up meeting Russian scientist, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory. The result is this nearly 90-minute film that chronicles Russia’s extensive history with doping and Rodchenkov’s fight for his life after he blows the whistle on the country’s bad practices.

Amanda Knox (2016)

Run Time: 92 min | IMDb: 7/10

It seems as though we’re all now more aware than ever of how utterly screwed any of us can be in an instant if the system places us in its crosshairs for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and not behaving in a way perceived to be “normal” in the immediate aftermath. Recent true crime documentaries like The Staircase, Making a Murderer and Serial have certainly played a part in illuminating this frightening and unfortunate slice of reality. We can now add Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn’s Amanda Knox to that list. Prepare to be terrified and infuriated as the filmmakers detail how an overzealous Italian prosecutor and a global tabloid press thirsty for a sensational story joined forces to wreck a young woman’s life, largely for their own benefit. As Daily Mail journalist Nick Pisa freely admits on camera — without any trace of remorse or shame — about his work covering the case, “A murder always gets people going… And we have here this beautiful, picturesque hilltop town in the middle of Italy. It was a particularly gruesome murder; throat slit, semi-naked, blood everywhere. I mean, what more do you want in a story?”

Abducted in Plain Sight (2017)

Run Time: 91 min | IMDb: 6.8/10

Netflix delivers another worthy installment in the true crime series with this truly bizarre tale of a naive, church-going family and the man who preyed upon them. The Brobergs lived in a small town in Idaho with their three young daughters when they met Robert Berchtold, a seemingly-nice family man who doted on the girls, in particular, a 12-year-old Jan Broberg. Over time, Berchtold began grooming Jan and manipulating her parents, engaging in sexual acts with both her father and mother to cause a rift in the family before kidnapping her and brainwashing her into compliance. This saga went on for years and as strange as it sounds, nothing can prepare you for hearing the first-hand account of how this sociopath destroyed this loving family.

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Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017)

Run Time: 94 min | IMDb: 7.8/10

This documentary features never-before-seen footage of Jim Carrey in character as Andy Kaufman on the set of his 1999 film Man on the Moon. Directed by Chris Smith, the film shows Carrey, who was a celebrated comedic actor at the time, going method for his dramatic role as the brilliant on-stage comedian. There’s plenty of behind-the-scenes drama on this one, including Carrey’s backstage antics while shooting the movie, but what’s really interesting about the film is watching the actor’s thorough process and how he’s approached his colorful careers.

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The Great Hack (2018)

Run Time: 114 min | IMDb: 7/10

We live in a world connected with most of our interactions happening online. It’s great but, as this doc shows, it’s also terrifying. Terrifying because the way our data changes hands so quickly and indiscriminately — as long as companies shell out the cash for it — skirts all kinds of privacy laws and moral boundaries. This doc, told from the perspective of a journalist attempting to get his search data, the enormous fight with big tech to do it, and how his journey connects to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that may have influenced multiple elections in the States and abroad, is full of fascinating information and shocking tell-alls that could bring this whole internet empire down if people finally decide to start listening.

Knock Down The House (2019)

Run Time: 87 min | IMDb: 6.9/10

This political doc made its way from Sundance to Netflix and we couldn’t think of a better time to watch it than leading up to the 2020 election. It follows the grassroots campaign of the right’s favorite punching bag, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, showcasing her charisma and approachability while also diving into more intimate parts of her life, like her relationship with her late father. It’s a feel-good story from Capitol Hill and really, we need more of that.

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Blackfish (2013)

Run Time: 83 min | IMDb: 8.1/10

The film that turned the tide of public opinion on Sea World and convinced Pixar to change the ending of Finding Dory, Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s animal rights muckraker is more than just 83 minutes of theme=park shaming. In telling the story of Tillikum, the psychologically damaged orca who spent his life in captivity and was involved in the deaths of three people, the movie is an elegy for the freedoms that marine creatures like him were once able to enjoy. Is there an ethical way to view creatures like Tillikum up close and personal, and if so, should we trust a private company to deliver it to us?

Extremis (2016)

Run Time: 24 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

Clocking in at 24 minutes, the Oscar-nominated Extremis really would only work as a short, as its subject matter is almost unbearably heavy. Following terminal patients, their families, and their doctors, the tearjerker zeros in on the decision that many people are forced to make: whether to end a life or keep struggling to hold on. Netflix’s first foray into short documentary, it’s raw insight that can be rough for anyone who has been in similar shoes or spent any time facing dire choices in a hospital.

What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)

Run Time: 101 min | IMDb: 7.6/10

The alternately revolutionary and dispiriting saga of a combative, unapologetic and astoundingly gifted soul singer, Liz Garbus’s doc is a powerful rendering of the struggles Nina Simone faced throughout her career: the ways she became trapped in downward spirals, first of spousal abuse and then of bipolar disorder; and of her desperate, all-consuming urge to affect change on the country during the Civil Rights era. What happened? Watch for yourself.

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The Dawn Wall (2017)

Run Time: 100 min | IMDb: 8.1/10

We’re not sure why watching human beings dangling thousands of feet in the air with no safety net or cable cord to tether them to Earth is so irresistible, but it is, and this doc about free climber Tommy Caldwell and climbing partner Kevin Jorgeson might be Netflix’s most bingeable adventure flick. The two men attempt to scale the impossible 3000ft Dawn Wall of El Capitan, the Everest for free climbers, and if you can stomach over an hour of near-fatal slips, trips, and falls, this is the doc for you.

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The Bleeding Edge (2018)

Run Time: 99 min | IMDb: 8/10

Warning: Netflix’s The Bleeding Edge will seriously piss you off. It might also make you swear off doctors for the rest of your life. The film is a deep dive into the medical device industry and the dangers that lurk there for unassuming patients. Like the pharmaceutical industry, there are few laws regulating the creation and implementation of medical devices — think everything from birth control to orthopedic instruments — and the doc shows how this is negatively affecting millions of Americans every year from the women unknowingly sterilized by an IUD device to a doctor whose own ortho-device slowly poisoned him. It’s a frustrating watch, but a necessary one.

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Recent Changes Through February 2021:
Added: Blackfish
Removed: Catfish