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What do you want to watch tonight?

Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.

Closest to Explained first

  1. Investigators reveal how Boeing’s alleged priority of profit over safety could have contributed to two catastrophic crashes within months of each other.

    The sides of Downfall: The Case Against Boeing

    • Two 737 MAX crashes months apart
    • Families of the victims
    • Engineers and pilots on the record

    Good for you if

    • you want to understand what led to two real crashes.
    • you like seeing how money can win over safety inside a company.
    • you want the technical failures explained clearly.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch grieving families talk about the people they lost.
    • you need some hope by the end. The families are still waiting for justice.

    About: profit · accountability · grief

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  2. With a magical new invention that promised to revolutionize blood testing, Elizabeth Holmes became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, heralded as the next Steve Jobs. Then, overnight, her 10-billion-dollar company dissolved. The rise and fall of Theranos is a window into the psychology of fraud.

    The sides of The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley

    • Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos
    • A blood test machine that never worked
    • A ten billion dollar company that collapsed

    Good for you if

    • you want the true story of Theranos and its blood test.
    • you like watching hype and investors carry a company to ten billion dollars.
    • you want to understand how Elizabeth Holmes convinced so many people.

    Bad for you if

    • you need more than interviews and boardroom footage.
    • you want surprises, and you already know how Theranos ended.

    About: fraud · ambition · hype

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  3. Alien Worlds 2020

    Documentary

    Applying the laws of life on Earth to the rest of the galaxy, this series blends science fact and fiction to imagine alien life on other planets.

    The sides of Alien Worlds

    • Imagined planets and the life on them
    • Animals on Earth as the model
    • Computer-made alien creatures

    Good for you if

    • you like imagining what life could look like on other planets.
    • you like exoplanets and the science of where life could exist.
    • you like real animals on Earth used to explain alien ones.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't like documentaries built on computer-animated creatures.
    • you need people and a story to follow.

    About: life · evolution · the universe

    Explore its sides
  4. A presentation of a case for a needed transition out of the current socioeconomic monetary paradigm which governs the entire world society. This subject matter will transcend the issues of cultural relativism and traditional ideology and move to relate the core, empirical 'life ground' attributes of human and social survival, extrapolating those immutable natural laws into a new sustainable social paradigm called a 'Resource-Based Economy'.

    The sides of Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

    • A case against the monetary system
    • A proposed resource-based economy
    • Interviews, animation and narration

    Good for you if

    • you like questioning who money really serves.
    • you like hearing real experts such as Gabor Maté and Robert Sapolsky on what shapes human behaviour.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't sit through two hours and forty minutes of argument.
    • you roll your eyes at a film that pleads one case from start to finish.

    About: money · society · sustainability

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  5. The Universe 2007

    Documentary

    From the planets to the stars and out to the edge of the unknown, history and science collide in a wondrous yet deadly adventure through space and time.

    The sides of The Universe

    • The planets of the solar system
    • Black holes and dying stars
    • Astronomers explaining the cosmos

    Good for you if

    • you like feeling small next to galaxies and black holes.
    • you want a tour of the solar system and far beyond.
    • you want real astronomy explained by scientists.

    Bad for you if

    • nine seasons is too much for you.
    • you need characters to follow, not planets.

    About: the cosmos · time · scale

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  6. Life After People is a television series on which scientists, structural engineers, and other experts speculate about what might become of Earth should humanity instantly disappear. The featured experts also talk about the impact of human extinction on the environment, and the vestiges of civilization thus left behind.

    The sides of Life After People: The Series

    • Cities without a single human
    • Engineers predicting how buildings fall
    • Nature taking back the streets

    Good for you if

    • you like imagining the world going on without us.
    • you like watching plants and animals take back a city.
    • you want experts explaining what would really happen to steel and concrete.

    Bad for you if

    • you need people and a story to follow.
    • you'd rather not spend an evening on a world where humanity is gone for good.

    About: time · extinction · nature

    Explore its sides
  7. How the Universe Works 2010

    Documentary

    A users' guide to the cosmos, from the Big Bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons: where did it all come from and how does it all fit together? A primer for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered.

    The sides of How the Universe Works

    • The Big Bang to black holes
    • Astrophysicists explaining the cosmos
    • Computer-animated planets and stars

    Good for you if

    • you like learning how stars, planets and galaxies are born.
    • you like feeling very small under the night sky.
    • you like exploding stars and colliding galaxies on a big screen.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't commit to 11 seasons of episodes.
    • you need people and a story, not a science lesson.

    About: the cosmos · physics · origins

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  8. The Great Hack 2019

    Documentary

    Data—arguably the world’s most valuable asset—is being weaponized to wage cultural and political wars. The dark world of data exploitation is uncovered through the unpredictable, personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data story.

    The sides of The Great Hack

    • Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data
    • A former insider who turns whistleblower
    • Brexit and the 2016 US election

    Good for you if

    • you want to understand the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
    • you like stories about who controls elections and how.
    • you like a documentary that plays like a political thriller.

    Bad for you if

    • you need some hope, not a worrying look at your own data.
    • you lose track when a film follows Brittany Kaiser, David Carroll and a journalist all at once.

    About: privacy · democracy · manipulation

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  9. Tim's Vermeer 2013

    Documentary

    Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

    The sides of Tim's Vermeer

    • An inventor who has never painted
    • A room in Texas rebuilt like Vermeer's
    • Mirrors, lenses and years of patience

    Good for you if

    • you like a theory tested with real lenses and mirrors.
    • you like a centuries old question about how Vermeer painted.
    • you like Dutch painting from the 1600s.

    Bad for you if

    • you need momentum, and months of painting wear you out.
    • you want Penn and Teller's stage comedy. Here they mostly watch a friend paint.

    About: art · obsession · patience

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  10. Naqoyqatsi 2002

    Documentary

    A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

    The sides of Naqoyqatsi

    • A wordless montage of a digital world
    • A Philip Glass score with Yo-Yo Ma's cello
    • Archive images reworked by computers

    Good for you if

    • you like letting images wash over you for an hour and a half.
    • you like a Philip Glass score carrying a whole film.
    • you like the third Qatsi film's strange computer-made imagery.

    Bad for you if

    • you need a story that moves forward.
    • you want people talking, and nobody speaks here.

    About: technology · violence · modern life

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  11. Take a trip inside the mind of Bill Gates as the billionaire opens up about those who influenced him and the audacious goals he's still pursuing.

    The sides of Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates

    • Bill Gates talking about his childhood
    • His foundation's work on toilets, polio and nuclear power
    • The people who shaped him

    Good for you if

    • you like a portrait of a real man in his own words.
    • you want to understand how Bill Gates thinks.

    Bad for you if

    • you roll your eyes at big plans to save the world with new toilets and vaccines.
    • you need momentum. Much of it is Gates thinking out loud on long walks.

    About: ambition · philanthropy · the mind

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  12. Objectified 2009

    Documentary

    A feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

    The sides of Objectified

    • Designers explaining everyday objects
    • Chairs, phones and toothbrushes up close
    • Questions about what we buy and throw away

    Good for you if

    • you like hearing designers like Dieter Rams explain their choices.
    • you enjoy looking at well-made objects in clean, careful shots.
    • you want to see the objects on your desk differently.

    Bad for you if

    • you need characters with a story, not a gallery of designers and their products.
    • you want something to happen rather than people talking about design.

    About: design · consumption · the everyday

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  13. Fed Up 2014

    Documentary

    Fed Up blows the lid off everything we thought we knew about food and weight loss, revealing a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history.

    The sides of Fed Up

    • Sugar in American food
    • Teenagers trying to lose weight
    • The food industry and Washington

    Good for you if

    • you want to know what is really in the food on your plate.
    • you like seeing how lobbies shape what the government tells you to eat.
    • you care about the kids and parents fighting their weight at home.

    Bad for you if

    • you roll your eyes at a documentary on a mission.
    • you want a light evening, and this may change how you look at your fridge.

    About: health · industry · childhood

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  14. Powaqqatsi 1988

    Documentary

    An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

    The sides of Powaqqatsi

    • Workers of the developing world in slow motion
    • A Philip Glass score
    • No words at all

    Good for you if

    • you like faces and crowds filmed in slow motion.
    • you like a Philip Glass score carrying a whole film.
    • you like feeling the scale of human labour across continents.

    Bad for you if

    • you need a story that moves forward.
    • you need the images explained, and no one says a word.

    About: labour · modernity · tradition

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  15. AlphaGo 2017

    Documentary

    The ancient Chinese game of Go has long been considered a grand challenge for artificial intelligence. Yet in 2016, Google's DeepMind team announced that they would be taking on Lee Sedol, the world's most elite Go champion. AlphaGo chronicles the team as it prepares to test the limits of its rapidly-evolving AI technology. The film pits man against machine, and reveals as much about the workings of the human mind as it does the future of AI.

    The sides of AlphaGo

    • Google DeepMind's program against Lee Sedol
    • A five-game Go match in Seoul
    • Engineers watching their machine play

    Good for you if

    • you like holding your breath over a single move on a Go board.
    • you like a champion facing an opponent nobody has faced before.
    • you want to see the real match that made the news in 2016.

    Bad for you if

    • you need more on screen than two players and a board.

    About: artificial intelligence · man against machine · defeat

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  16. Hawking gives us the ultimate guide to the universe, a ripping yarn based on real science, spanning the whole of space and time -- from the nature of the universe itself, to the chances of alien life, and the real possibility of time travel.

    The sides of Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking

    • Stephen Hawking's ideas about the cosmos
    • The chances of alien life
    • Whether time travel is possible

    Good for you if

    • you like imagining the universe from the Big Bang to its end.
    • you like wondering what alien life might look like.
    • you want big questions grounded in real physics.

    Bad for you if

    • you need people and a story, not a guided tour of the cosmos.
    • you need things to happen, not ideas explained over CGI.

    About: time · the cosmos · curiosity

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  17. THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.

    The sides of The Yes Men Fix the World

    • A fake Dow Chemical spokesman on the BBC
    • Two pranksters in cheap suits
    • Hoaxes at big business conferences

    Good for you if

    • you like executives applauding absurd ideas with a straight face.
    • you like seeing big corporations caught off guard.
    • you like real pranks pulled on real conferences and newsrooms.

    Bad for you if

    • you roll your eyes at films with a message to sell.
    • you can't laugh at a hoax built on the Bhopal disaster.

    About: activism · corporate power · truth

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  18. Inside Job 2010

    Documentary

    A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

    The sides of Inside Job

    • The 2008 financial crisis, from Iceland to Wall Street
    • Bankers, regulators and economists in front of the camera
    • Professors who can't answer a simple question

    Good for you if

    • you want to know who made money from the crash and who paid.
    • you like a case built with real figures, real names and real interviews.
    • you like interviews where the person in the chair starts to squirm.

    Bad for you if

    • you don't want to follow derivatives and credit default swaps for an evening.
    • you want a reassuring ending. Here almost nobody goes to jail.

    About: greed · corruption · the economy

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  19. An Inconvenient Truth 2006

    Documentary

    A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

    The sides of An Inconvenient Truth

    • Al Gore's slideshow on global warming
    • Melting glaciers, before and after
    • A politician's own story between the charts

    Good for you if

    • you like a clear case built on data and photographs.
    • you care about glaciers, oceans and the climate.
    • you like a man who believes every word he says on stage.

    Bad for you if

    • you need momentum. Most of it is a lecture with graphs.
    • you'd rather keep politics out of it. A former US vice president makes the case.

    About: climate · responsibility · politics

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  20. Home 2009

    Documentary

    In 200,000 years of existence, man has upset the balance on which the Earth had lived for 4 billion years. Global warming, resource depletion, species extinction: man has endangered his own home. But it is too late to be pessimistic: humanity has barely ten years left to reverse the trend, become aware of its excessive exploitation of the Earth's riches, and change its consumption pattern.

    The sides of Home

    • Aerial footage from every continent
    • Dried riverbeds, oil fields and greenhouses seen from above
    • A commentary counting what two hundred thousand years cost the planet

    Good for you if

    • you want ninety minutes of images you could never see from the ground.
    • you like deltas, ice fields and herds filmed from a helicopter.
    • you like being made to feel small by the scale of a landscape.

    Bad for you if

    • you roll your eyes at a voice telling you what to feel about every image.
    • you want someone to follow, and there is not a single character in it.

    About: the planet · consumption · time

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