Agent Palmer

We all have those movies. You know the ones I mean. They’re those films that we are aware of, that cycle in and out of are periphery once they leave theaters. They’re on streaming services we don’t have or, maybe worse, they’re on the ones we do pay for, but we don’t have time to watch them.

Any number of things can happen as time goes by and yet, we’re still adamant that one day we’ll watch that movie.

Not all documentaries are cinematic. Sometimes it’s the perspective or narrative that makes it more informative and less entertaining, and sometimes it’s just the story. But when a documentary is truly cinematic, it is something to behold. That is what Untold: The Race of the Century is.

The official Netflix description for the episode of their Untold documentary series about The Race of the Century states, “The Australia II yacht crew looks back on the motivation, dedication and innovation that led to their historic victory at the 1983 America’s Cup.”

Generally speaking, I would say Creedence Clearwater Revival is the forgotten great band of their era. When conversations about the greatest rock bands pop up, before people start acknowledging their preference for Lynyrd Skynyrd or Aerosmith or Thin Lizzy as outliers, the default options are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the like.

But as the Netflix music documentary Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall reminds us all, there was a time when CCR was the absolute cream of the crop!

Hunter S. Thompson is much more than just Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I knew that, but knowing that isn’t the same as knowing the wider breadth and depth of that statement. Alex Gibney’s 2008 documentary “Gonzo” filled in a few gaps for me, but for those uninitiated it may just enlighten you to just how much more than one book Hunter was.

Gibney does an amazing job throughout the documentary weaving Thompson’s words with his life. As a writer, even one like Hunter, not everything is relevant, yet it all could be usable depending on the story you want to tell.