After a pretty solid run of documentaries for August, it's finally September, and for non-fiction fans, that means Netflix has re-upped its library of gripping real-life stories to sink your teeth into.Let's jump right in.Two of this weekend's picks are new this month—one is a new installment of the streamer's Untold series that windmills into the life of an Olympic laughingstock, and the other is an inspiring film about a group of high school students who fight the power.
My top pick this weekend is also Netflix's No.1 TV show at the moment.3 Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly Australia's b-girl meme-queen has come to clear the air Netflix's popular Untold series of sports documentaries has pointed its cameras at the likes of Caitlyn Jenner, Brett Favre, the world of chess, and soon, Mr.
T, but this new 72-minute installment in the franchise might just cover its oddest subject yet—Rachael Gunn, a.k.a.Raygun, the Australian breakdancer who became a global laughingstock and meme at the 2024 Paris Olympics.does what it does best by putting its subject in a chair and letting them tell their own story, in their own words.
Directed by brothers Chapman and Maclain Way (), the slickly produced doc might just change your preconceived notions about the highly likable Gunn, as she—with the help of her parents—takes viewers through life as a young, talented dancer, and through her meeting her future husband, Samuel Free, a breaker known as, ahem, Sammy Sex, who would change Gunn's life by introducing her to the world of breaking.The doc continues the emotional ride through Raygun's disastrous Paris performance and how the fallout affected her and her life, but it then pivots to a story about redemption and perseverance (and some integral help from Sir Richard Branson) as she works towards performing in front of people once again.Netflix Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.
Live TV No Price Starting at $8/month Visit Netflix Expand Collapse 2 Teenage Wasteland High schoolers point their cameras at toxic waste dumpers This powerful documentary film from Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine () has a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating because it has all kinds of good things going for it—it's an underdog story, it has scandal, cover-ups, and criminals, and a group worth rooting for.arrives on Netflix today and takes us back to 1991 to tell the story of how Fred Isseks, a teacher at New York's Middletown High, inspired his "Electronic English" students to chase a story about corruption and toxic waste dumping in their community.Armed with camcorders and looking for a story, Isseks' students discovered brown sludge and other chemicals had been leaking from a nearby landfill, poisoning their groundwater.
Soon their investigation—culminating in their own documentary, Garbage, Gangsters and Greed that took six years to produce—exposed a toxic waste conspiracy involving corrupt politicians and organized crime.The 110-minute uses more than 400 hours of preserved VHS footage and weaves in fresh reflections through present-day interviews with many of the former students who contributed—who share tales of wiretapping and threats—as well as Isseks himself.1 Death of the Pastor's Wife Inside the tragic Mica Miller case Currently sitting at No.
1 in TV Shows on Netflix (at the time of writing), I highly recommend digging into this seething and stomach-churning three-part true-crime series this weekend.is not for the faint of heart, but its detailing of the much-publicized Mica Miller case serves as an important story of domestic abuse, coercive control, and institutional failure.Told in three roughly 45-minute episode stages—"A Note From Your Pastor," "Helpmate," and "What Happened to Mica"—it follows Mica, a 30-year-old worship leader in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, who met pastor John-Paul "JP" Miller at just 13 and married him in 2017 when she was 23; he was 38.
In April of 2024, Mica's body was found in a North Carolina state park, just two days after she filed for divorce, with the cause deemed a suicide.However, as the story unfolds, we learn what her family, friends, and attorney describe as years of harassment and coercive control—behavior state law didn't recognize, which left Mica unable to obtain a restraining order.Miller has denied abusing her and has never been charged in connection with her death.
From the directing team behind the Netflix hit docuseries , uses archival footage, Mica's journals and videos, police recordings, and interviews with her siblings and others to examine Mica's case and the system that failed her.The docuseries is a compelling watch, and it had a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.Fire TV Stick 4K Operating System FireOS Resolution 4K $50 at Amazon Expand Collapse Kick off September weekends right New month, new breed of real-life stories to bite into.
If you're still looking for more docs to watch, I've also rounded up the best documentaries of August on Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Hulu.Additionally, if you prefer to dig down on your own, give Netflix's secret codes a try.Netflix Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four Live TV No Price Starting at $8/month Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.
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