Girl in the Picture: Compassion, insight makes this one of Netflix’s best true crime docs

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Girl in the picture

Director Skye Borgman created the breathtaking and horrifying Abducted In Plain Sight, which remains one of the very best and most humane documentaries about true crime on Netflix.

Girl In The Picture is a similar, almost implausible story, which no screenwriter would bother to pitch, even if they could imagine the twists and turns.

In 1990, a young woman was found on the side of the road in Oklahoma. It was initially thought that she was the victim of a hit-and-run driver. But her injuries didn’t match that story, and when her “relatives” were contacted, they said their daughter had died as a toddler many years earlier.

What unfolds in Girl In The Picture is a story of kidnapping, abuse, false identities and lives lived on the run – and in secret. It is a thrilling, compelling and fully immersive film.

But I think what sets Girl In The Picture apart from the usual Netflix crime educators – and there are many – is the compassion and insight Borgman brings to the film.

Similar to Abducted In Plain Sight, this is a doco that respects the victims and refuses to glorify or deify the villain. As the story slowly unfolds, you may become even more baffled and incredulous at what happened and who these people were. But the film never becomes sensational. Girl In The Picture is one of the very best of its kind I’ve seen.

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the sea beast

I think “from the director of Bolt, Big Hero 6 and the co-director of Moana” means this Netflix original animation arrives with some very high hopes in tow.

And luckily The Sea Beast delivers. This is a great, witty and very nicely made movie. I wish I could have seen it on a big screen.

Karl Urban, Zaris-Angel Hator, Dan Stevens, Jared Harris and many others provide the voices for these Moby Dick-inspired romps.

The Sea Beast from the title is a monster from the deep called The Red Bluster. And on the hunt for the beast is the crew of the ship The Inevitable, including the right-hand man of Captain Jacob – Urban – and stowaway Maisie – Hator – but when the hunt goes horribly wrong, the pair get lost at sea with only each other and The Red Bluster. for company.

Soon, the action moves to the island that is home to the monsters – and to many secrets waiting to be discovered.

The Sea Beast is based on everything from Jonah and the Whale to The Land That Time Forgot and Where The Wild Things Are for its plot points. But it’s all held together by beautiful voice work and absolutely gorgeous design and animation. Sometimes the look of this movie reminded me of How To Train Your Dragon, Avatar and even Pacific Rim.

Even though the adults on the couch will see where this movie is going and the pro-nature, pro-ecological fable it will become, you’ll still be captivated and mesmerized by how well it’s done. While the little ones just have to love every minute of it. The Sea Beast is awesome.

American made

Barry Seal was a brilliant pilot. He was probably recruited by the CIA to use weapons in Central America. While working for the CIA, Seal was also — perhaps — hired by the Medellin drug cartel to fly cocaine back to the US.

It’s a creaky yarn. Even if there’s been a lot of doubt about Seal’s own version of his own life, it at least provided some pretty good material for a screenplay. And with Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) in the director’s chair and Tom Cruise in the lead role, American Made can’t quite fail.

With the support of Domhnall Gleeson (Black Mirror) as Cruise’s CIA manager and Sarah Wright Olsen (The House Bunny) as the long-suffering Mrs Seal, American Made has plenty of talent on the bench. But this is Cruise’s movie, and he delivers.

Writer Gary Spinelli clearly wanted American Made to be more than a boyhood adventure—and he usually succeeds in that. There are some moral dilemmas and complexities here, as well as plenty of chases and stunts to please the crowd. American Made is usually a pretty good time.

There’s probably no one better than Cruise at elevating average material to a blockbuster. He makes his money here – and it seems like he’s enjoying it.