The voyage of the RMS Titanic only lasted five days and over a century later interest in the disaster still exists. This documentary takes viewers into the depths of the ocean and shows what happened to the 1,500 people who died in the ship that was said to be unsinkable.

They found descendents of passengers to be in this and also people who are still blaming Captain Edward Smith 110 years later. In the same way I debate Italian movies, I bet there are people obsessed with the Titanic that are screaming during this.

I once had to do ads for a charity that was a married couple who built their entire house to look like the dining hall of the Titanic and would have charity events that served the last meal on the ship. Every idea we showed them, they grew upset and said, “Why are you making the Titanic into a joke?” I’m not the one that lived in the Titanic 24/7 so maybe I wasn’t so understanding. I also worked on a Titanic sequel in Pittsburgh that had the sinking filmed in a wave pool and I was told that their CGI was going to make it look great. My response? “Is your CGI better than James Cameron?”

You can watch this on Tubi.

Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Selena all died way too young. Why?

Aaliyah, an R&B singer and star of Romeo Must Die and Queen of the Damned was killed in an airplane accident in the Bahamas along when the overloaded aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff. The pilot had drugs and alcohol in his blood and was not qualified to fly the aircraft.

Amy Winehouse released one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history, Back to Black. She struggled with substance abuse, mental illness, bulimia and addiction, dying of alcohol poisoning at the age of 27. After her death, her album became the UK’s best-selling album of the 21st century.

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was a member of TLC along with Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. She was infamous for setting Andre Rison’s home on fire before she died in a car crash in Roma, Jutiapa, Honduras, while volunteering at a children’s development center. Days before, her assistant had accidentally killed a young boy, Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez, and she believed that a spirit that followed her choose him instead of her.

Selena was the Queen of Tejano Music and becoming a crossover star in America. She is still one of the most influential Latin artists of all time even after she was shot and killed in 1995 by Yolanda Saldívar, her friend and the former manager of her Selena Etc. boutiques.

This documentary takes you through the lives, the successes and challenges of these women, as well as what happened to all of them. Each of their lives ended way before they could have done more and is a tragedy in its own way.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Ruja Plamenova Ignatova is the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme known as OneCoin, which was called “one of the biggest scams in history.” Since 2017, she has been hiding from various international law enforcement agencies and has been charged by U.S. authorities for wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. She was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted List in 2022.

This documentary shows how she was part of several multi-level marketing cons before getting into OneCoin. She built a $4 billion dollar Bitcoin empire that was all based on lies. When the law closed in, she went on the run. There was a report that she was murdered on the orders drug lord Hristoforos Amanatidis but the FBI is still investigating and believes that she is alive.

What is bitcoin? It’s a virtual currency designed to be a form of payment outside the control of any one person, group or entity. This takes away any need for third-party involvement in financial transactions. It’s part of a blockchain and the network required to power it. So what’s a blockchain? It’s a ledger or database that stores transactions, secured by encryption. When a transaction happens, information from the previous block is copied to a new block with the new data. This is encrypted and the transaction is verified by miners in the network. A new block is opened, a Bitcoin is created and it is given as a reward to the miners who can use, hold or sell the Bitcoin.

Even writing it, it doesn’t make any sense to me.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Directed by Victoria Duley and written by Shelby Clip, this goes back to one of the first true crime cases that were debated in real time, Lyle and Eric Menendez murdering their parents José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menéndez.

The brothers would reveal that for years their father abused them mentally, physically and sexually. Tried alone, both of their investigations led to a mistrial but when they were in court together, they were deemed guilty and sentenced to sentenced to life without parole.

A reason why you can see why that they are in jail is the remorseless nature of the murders.

On August 20, 1989,Lyle and Erik entered their parents’ home carrying shotguns. They shot José six times, including the fatal shot in the back of the head, and Kitty ten times, including a shotgun blast to her cheek while she was crawling away from them. Lyle even went to his car to get more bullets so he could shoot her in the face.

The brothers have been in jail for over 27 years now and yet there is still interest in the case, as this show proves. If you’re new to true crime, start here.

You can watch this on Tubi.

This is based on the game Fiendish Thieves, which is described as Home Alone meets Frankenstein. They say it’s “filled with lots of laughs and slapstick humor. You choose the actions of the bungling burglars who search an abandoned warehouse for a rare vintage pocket watch, and the obsessed film fan munching on snacks watching the events unfold.”

From what I can see from this video that was posted on Steam, the game is pretty much the same as the movie.

It’s directed and written by Nick Box, who also has Amityville Tea Bag, Amityville Elevator and Amityville Job Interview coming out next year. I don’t know how much longer I can keep up this pact with a demon to watch every Amityville movie, because this one is as painful as they get. It may also be the tenth Amityville movie where Shawn C. Phillips sits on a couch in front of his DVD collection and just yells about nothing while watching a Frankenstein movie that mainly consists of the monster getting shocked for what seems like five minutes non-stop to the point that I thought that my internet was screwed up.

Until I can escape this curse, check out my list of Amityville movies and Letterboxd list.

You can watch this on Tubi.

Directed by Victoria Duley and written by Anne Garofalo Paterno, this is all about how 22-year-old Gabrielle Venora Petito was killed by her fiancee Brian Christopher Laundrie while they were traveling together in a van across the U.S. Laundrie then drove the van from Wyoming back to his parents’ Florida home and refused to discuss where Petito was.

Within a matter of weeks, Petito’s body was found in Wyoming’s Bridger–Teton National Forest and an autopsy determined that she died by strangulation. Laundrie was found a month later — now a skeleton — in Florida’s Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, killing himself with a gun before writing that he had killed Petito.

One of the strange things in this case is that the couple was pulled over by the Moab City Police Department for driving erratic after several people saw Laundrie abusing Petitio. Police body cam footage shows her in distress. Neither of the couple wanted to press charges as a result of the incident, which police reported as a mental breakdown rather than domestic violence, which would been cause for arrest.

This Tubi original will tell you all of that but honestly, if you watch any true crime TV, you know all of this. This is a good start, though, if you don’t. The two left so much info and content on social media, there will be documentaries about them for the rest of the time that there is true crime.

You can watch this on Tubi.

The Iron Claw faces the same issues as any adaption, except its real life.

The story of the Von Erichs is one that has obsessed not just wrestling fans but people throughout Texas, a state they owned for a large part of the 80s. 

Fritz Von Erich (played by Holt McCallany) started his life as a discuss thrower and football player by the name of Jack Adkisson at Southern Methodist University. He married Doris Smith (Maura Tierney)– they had been teenage sweethearts at Crozier Technical High School – and their marriage cost Jack his scholarship. He transferred to Corpus Christi University before trying to play for the NFL and then heading to Canada to keep his dream of a football career alive. 

There, he met Stu Hart, who trained him and paired him with Waldo Von Erich. The film glosses over the fact that the brother tag team did a Nazi gimmick, goosestepping in the ring in a time not much more than a decade after the end of the war. 

The family’s first brush with tragedy was the death of Jack Jr. after he was electrocuted by touching a part of their trailer, slipped and drowned in a puddle of snow in Niagara Falls, New York.

Jack, Doris and their sons Kevin and David continued on, as Fritz travelled more in the Midwest and won the AWA title – both versions, Minnesota and Omaha – three times and the NWA U.S. title twenty times. He was also a huge star in Japan, where his “Tetsu no Tsume” bloodied Giant Baba. After a loss in NWA hotbed St. Louis against champion Gene Kiniski, he headed to Texas where he began his own territory.

He also had three more sons, Kerry, Mike and Chris. 

The film is based around Kevin (Zac Efron), the brother who gets the first start in the world of wrestling in his father’s promotion, World Class Championship Wrestling. Taking a page out of the book of Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, he wrestled barefoot, yet the legend is that someone hid his boots before a match and he just got used to not wearing them.

Soon, Kevin would team with his brother David (Harris Dickinson), named for Doris’ brother David, who died months before he was born. In case the tragedy of this movie is too much, real life is worse, as Doris’ younger sibling was just 14. The film takes the time to show a match between Kevin and Harley Race (Kevin Anton), the NWA World Champion, a belt that Fritz was obsessed with winner and now wants one of his sons to win. Upset with Kevin’s performance, he decides that David will get the next title shot.

What the movie doesn’t show was that at this time, David was the true breakout star of the family. He had already started working outside WCCW in Missouri, being groomed for a major babyface (good guy) role. On May 27, 1979, David wrestled Race in a non-title match and defeated him with the Iron Claw. Back then, these things didn’t just happen.

Another fact in real life that points to David being the real star of the family instead of Kevin was that he went off to Florida and teamed with Kendo Nagasaki, Jimmy Garvin and the Funks, managed by J.J. Dillon. By learning how to be a heel (bad guy), he would gain the skills that the NWA World Champion needed. The champ was used as a barnstorming draw, going from NWA promotion to promotion, working their local star and making them look good. That meant that champs – like Dory Funk Jr., Ric Flair and Race – had to be able to work face or heel. 

The film also doesn’t show that WCCW’s TV really was ahead of its time. David brough Garvin back to Texas with him and had a memorable feud where he won Garvin and his valet Precious’ services for a month working on his ranch. He was also instrumental in bringing in the Freebirds, even teaming with them at the “Wrestling Star Wars” card at Reunion Arena on December 25, 1982. As Buddy Roberts didn’t make it, David, Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin won the WCCW Six Man Titles from Tom Sharpe, Mike Sharpe and Ben Steel. David gave his belt to Buddy, which he would regret when later that night, Kerry (Kerry battled NWA World Champion Ric Flair in a Steel Cage with Michael Hayes and David Manning as the referees ) fought NWA World Champion Ric Flair in a steel cage with Hayes and David Manning as the referees. At one point, Hayes knocked out Flair and tried to give the win to Kerry. Kerry refused the pin and instead, the Freebirds slammed a cage door on his head. The feud between the brothers and the Southern rockers — “This rivalry isn’t between Texas and Georgia, it’s between decency and filth!” – began. Most of this is shown quickly in the film and never touched on.

As for Kerry, the movie claims that he was training for the Olympics. The truth is he was a great high school athlete, but the story would always be that people took things from the Von Erichs. A bad tackle took away Kevin’s NFL career. The Russians took the Olympics from Kerry.

At this point, the film shows that Kevin was married to Pam (Lily James) and his brothers remained single. In truth, David married Candy L. McLeod and had a child, Natosha Zoeanna Adkisson, who died at 13 weeks of age due to SIDS. He married a second time to Patricia A. Matter. Kerry married  Catherine M. Murray in 1983 and had two daughters, Hollie and Lacey, who wrestled for TNA. Mike married Shani Garz in 1985. None of these events are shown in the movie. 

What is shown is that David was showing signs of being sick. Officially, his death was listed as ruptured intestines resulting from acute enteritis. Kevin and Manning claimed it was a heart attack while Ric Flair claimed in his book that it was a painkiller overdose and Bruiser Brody and referee Joe Higuchi flushed all of the evidence.

Regardless, David was due to face Flair before he died. The angle began when he defeated Flair for the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship. The theory is that the NWA Championship Committee voted in January 1984 for David to win the World Title from Ric Flair in March or April of that year. David battled Flair at Reunion Arena on December 25, 1983, and Flair retained the NWA World Championship. Flair then did an interview where he commented on how Mike Von Erich was not a good wrestler and how he could beat him in 60 seconds with one hand tied behind his back. On January 30, 1984, Mike and Flair would battle at that year’s Wrestling Star Wars in a 10 Minute Challenge Match. If Flair beat Mike in that time, David would never again ask for another shot at the NWA World title, but if Flair did not beat Mike in ten minutes, David would get to name the place, the time and every stipulation for his match against Ric Flair. Mike won, but then David died on tour for All Japan – defending the United National title that is now part of the Triple Crown – on February 10, 1984.

The movie then sets up that there was a coin toss between Kevin and Kerry. By skipping the Freebirds angle in the Kerry vs. Flair cage match, the movie makes it seem as if Kerry didn’t deserve the title match. In truth, Kerry was on magazine covers at this point – and even had shirts sold in the Northeast at Sears – as a major star. He’d already been close to beating Flair, so when they had their match in front of over 45,000 fans at Texas Stadium at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions – there was even a song made for the event, “Heaven Needed a Champion” – he had to win.

In real life, Kerry lost the belt 18 days later in Yokosuka, Japan to Flair, even though his feet were on the ropes.

In the movie, Kerry is in a motorcycle accident that night. This is false, as that accident happened two years after when it does in the movie, on June 4, 1986. According to Kevin, Kerry injured the foot following surgery by attempting to walk on it prematurely and ruined the foot, which caused the amputation. This was a huge secret even within wrestling, as he often showered with his boots on. 

The movie also shows that this is when Mike started training. In truth, Mike debuted on November 24, 1983 against Skandar Akbar. While not the level of a star as his brothers, he did work a New Japan Pro Wrestling tour and was given a title match with IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Shiro Koshinaka. He also wasn’t injured in one of his first matches, but instead during a tour of Israel – the movie doesn’t get into what big stars the brothers were in that country – and had surgery on August 22, 1985. He was released from the hospital but later he developed a fever of 107 °F and was diagnosed with toxic shock syndrome. That’s how he got brain damage and lost so much weight. He did kill himself but not until two years later, four days after he was arrested for a DUI. 

As for Kerry, at this point, he was involved in an interpromotional feud with Jerry Lawler that had its blowoff at SuperClash III in 1988, as well as working for Jerry Jarrett’s USWA, which bought World Class in 1989 (and not after Kerry died, as shown in the movie). His WWF run kicked off with him defeating Buddy Rose – his first ever opponent, a coincidence – on the July 16, 1990 Saturday Night’s Main Event. He was renamed the Texas Tornado and announcers gradually stopped calling him by his family name. He feuded with fellow second generation star “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig and defeated him for the Intercontinental Title at SummerSlam 1990 before another son of a wrestler, “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase cost him the title and started another feud.

The movie makes it seem like a surprise that Kerry was heading down the cards. In truth, he was one of Flair’s first WWF opponents and was still opening on house shows. However, he was having pain killer issues and had even stolen a prescription pad from a doctor to make his own orders. His marriage ended, causing personal problems that hastened him leaving the company. 

Back in Texas, he was arrested twice. The second charge would have violated his probation, which was leading to jail time, which is why many believe he killed himself with a bullet to the heart, using the gun he gave his father, on February 18, 1993. In his book, Bret Hart mentions that Kerry – who consoled the Hitman when his brother Dean died – often told him that his brothers were calling him to heaven, a scene that this movie shows.

As you can see, beyond the bad wigs, there’s a lot off with this movie. There are moments when people like Sam Muchnick and Jerry Jarrett are brought up. Fritz even mention that Kerry should get a shot at Hellwig – the Ultimate Warrior – a fact that seems like an inside joke but Fritz was a former NWA President. He knew how the business worked and that that would never happen. 

The movie also doesn’t show just how bad WCCW got. In 1985, they used Mike’s near death to draw fans and death in 1987 to sell tickets to the David and Mike Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions. Fritz also used the death of Gino Hernandez the next year to get over an angle where Chris Adams was blinded. This was only beat by an angle where Fritz had a heart attack in ring and depending on the ratings that week, he was either near death – after the loss of his children and a market numb to family tragedy – or getting better.

Nor does the movie talk about family friend Brian Adias, who saved Kevin’s life with CPR in ring and then was given the gimmick that he had an “oriental spike” that he would use when he feuded with Mike.

It’s impossible to get all of this in a movie this short, but most glaring is that Chris, another brother who also was too small to wrestle and killed himself, is not in the movie. Nor is the fact that Doris divorced Fritz on July 21, 1992 after 42 years of marriage.

Jack Adkisson died of brain and lung cancer at his home in Lake Dallas, Texas, pretty much all alone, on September 10, 1997. By that point, Kevin and his family had moved to Kauai, Hawaii. That’s where Doris died on October 23, 2015, surrounded by Kevin and her grand and great-grandchildren. Kevin’s daughter Kristen said, “I kissed her hand, and didn’t let it go. Those hands raised six babies, taught me how to crochet, made about a million cups of coffee and held each one of us at one time or another as we cried over the deaths of our brothers or uncles, her sons. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much comfort her hands had offered considering what grief she’d experienced, and that I’d never see them outstretched again for a hug or hear the words, “Come here, baby. Cry with Meme.” She was a rock, as cliché as it sounds, always willing to talk you through the sad times even though her own losses were so much greater.”

Doris once told an interviewer, “We hardly know who the Adkissons are anymore. We have been a wrestling family for so long. I suppose I want the family to know that when they are tired of being Von Erichs, there is a place they can come to where they can still be Adkissons. But I don’t know if you can ever stop being a Von Erich.”

Kevin would say of her, “Boys learn a lot from their dads. Things they’ll need as they grow. They may not realize it but they learn a lot from their mothers too. Life is not always about win this or defeat that, but also about ​mercy and understanding. I learned that from my mom.”

For all it gets wrong, the wrestling in The Iron Claw looks great. But what it misses is the sheer mania of The Sportatorium. It makes it seem like a small regional group instead of a wrestling company that was changing the sport. It doesn’t get across how wild the fans were, women of all ages charging the aisle just to touch one of the Von Erichs, people wanting to fight the Freebirds. It gets the idea but it doesn’t translate the feeling, the joy of watching good against evil. 

The major downer? How did they pick Aaron Dean Eisenberg to play Ric Flair? This is one of the most important wrestlers of all time and they picked someone who doesn’t look, sound or appear to be him. The moment of his promo took all the air out of the room.

Director and writer Sean Durkin said that the story couldn’t withstand more tragedy. Yet that is life, a real life, lived and survived by Kevin who famously said that he used to have brothers and now, he’s the only one left. Holt McCallany is a great actor but he only gets across a little of how frightening of a human being Fritz was; the meanest he is in this movie feels like the nicest that he was in real life.

It’s worth seeing but there are so many great documentaries about the real story that I would watch afterward so you can see how it really was. Efron does a great job at this, he looks awesome and his wrestling basics — he runs the ropes better than most people today — are great. I just wish the movie got more of the basics correct too.

After more than a decade of court cases, Ted Bundy confessed to 30 murders committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978 but may have murdered even more. He used charm to win over women, often meeting them in public and asking for help before beating them and taking them elsewhere to be killed.

Written by Adam Meyer, this Tubi original breaks down his murders, how he was caught, how he escaped and how he was caught again and tried.

If you watch true crime, you know that he would go back to the dead bodies and keep making love to them, as well as keeping their heads as trophies. He was so horrific that even a member of his last defense, Polly Nelson, said, “Ted was the very definition of heartless evil.”

I still can’t believe how many times he escaped the police. He jumped out of a window at the Pitkin County Courthouse law library and no one caught him for some time, leading him to Florida and even more murders.

He also turned his trials into entertainment, even using one to marry Carole Ann Boone. He also offered his services to those seeking other serial killers as he kept putting off the death penalty until 1989, an event that was celebrated by some like a public holiday.

If you already know all that, you may not need to watch this. If you don’t, this is a good beginning for a horrible person.

You can watch this on Tubi.