Brief Reviews: Theranos and Michael Jackson Documentaries on HBO
Last weekend I watched both the Leaving Neverland documentary about Michael Jackson and the Out for Blood documentary on Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.
The Theranos documentary was fine -- Theranos is an amazing story and any documentary on it is naturally going to be engaging. My only issue with it was that it was very spare compared to the depth of the Bad Blood book. The documentary worked a bit too hard trying to be too stylized. I would have rather a faster-paced, harder hitting approach. But if you have not read the book, it is definitely worth your time.
On the other hand, the Michael Jackson documentary was simply riveting. I really had zero desire to sit and watch 4 hours on child molesting, but I was totally engrossed. The individuals telling the story were so articulate and honest that I just got sucked in to the story. The whole thing was simply devastating. And as an aside, the B-reel footage used in cut scenes and such was simply beautiful.
