This Machine News
Was Martha Stewart Really the Original Influencer?
“Martha,” a new documentary now on Netflix, offers a candid portrait of the rise and fall (and rebirth?) of the homemaker extraordinaire, who last year, at 81, appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
A Prickly Martha Stewart Makes for a Bracing Netflix Portrait
The re-evaluation of maligned celebrities — especially women who reached the height of fame in the 1990s — has become its own mini-genre of pop culture. Often the story tells a bigger tale: a culture bent on taking down successful women, or beautiful ones, or just ones who accidentally strayed into the spotlight.
‘Martha’ Stokes a Debate: What’s a Documentary, Anyway?
As a vérité filmmaker for the past 31 years, Mr. Cutler has tackled a wide variety of subjects, from politics (“The World According to Dick Cheney”) to Vogue magazine (“The September Issue”) to e-cigarettes (“Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul”). He has been nominated for an Oscar. He has won three Emmys, including one for “American High,” a docuseries that tracked 14 high school students over a year.
Elton John Secures EGOT With Emmy Win
Elton John secured an EGOT on Monday night, joining the select group who have won all four major entertainment awards — an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony — when he won an Emmy for outstanding variety special for his livestreamed farewell concert at Dodger Stadium.
‘South to Black Power’ Review: Back to a Future
In a new documentary, the opinion columnist Charles M. Blow calls for Black Americans to move to the South to gain political footholds.
When to watch: ‘Murf the Surf’ on MGM+
The documentarian R.J. Cutler (“The September Issue”) turns his attention to a horrific larger-than-life tale in this four-episode series that avoids the worst drooling habits of the true-crime genre. Jack Roland Murphy, known as Murf the Surf because of his early life as a surfer, gained notoriety as a convicted jewel thief and was later tried for murder and sentenced to two life sentences plus 20 years.