THE JINX & THE JINX-PART TWO

PLOT SUMMARY: Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki examines the complicated life of reclusive real estate icon Robert Durst, the key suspect in a series of unsolved crimes.

WHERE TO WATCH: Max

JAIMEE’S NOTES: All the way back in 2015, there was a little documentary about the life and deaths of Robert Durst. Deaths meaning, he was accused of killing three people all in separate situations. Robert was a real estate heir who was thought to have killed his wife in New York, his friend in Beverly Hills, and his neighbor in Galveston, Texas. The disappearance of his first wife, Kathie, was talked about in depth in New York City at the time and a filmmaker, Andrew Jarecki, made a film based on the events with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst called All Good Things, which will definitely be a movie of the week sometime! Then, Andrew started making this documentary and Robert, stupidly, agreed to be interviewed several times for the documentary. I can’t think of many other documentaries where the accused person so willingly chose to be involved when it was about murders he may have committed. It’s like OJ writing If I Did It, like sure, just put yourself right in the middle, no one will suspect a thing! Robert is an odd man so this made the documentary very interesting and the finale of the first part is riveting, maybe one of the most compelling documentary episodes I have ever seen. I mean, talk about a bombshell! And now, nine years later, we get to see the ramifications of that first part. Because, trust me, there were ramifications. I have been excited about this part two coming out since I heard about and re-watched part one in anticipation. This is probably one of my top five documentaries and I do recommend it quite often. It’s kind of just insane to see how Robert Durst’s brain works and how smart he thinks he is. Also the way he kept people around himself, whether it was because he was rich or known to others is fascinating. I’ve watched the first episode of part two and I am already so into this next installment! I highly recommend tuning in. There is a short recap at the beginning of part two, but I think it’s worth it to watch the first part if you haven’t seen it. The remaining episodes come out every Sunday night at 9 PM central time. Let’s all watch and discuss, people. I love to discuss some true crime!

THE TRUTH ABOUT JIM

PLOT SUMMARY: An investigator confronts a traumatic past and secrets that have plagued her family for generations. Was Jim Mordecai, their husband, stepfather, and step-grandfather a notorious serial killer?

WHERE TO WATCH: Max

JAIMEE’S NOTES: Once I saw the trailer for our documentary of the month, I was very excited for it. Meet Sierra Barter, she is trying to find the truth when it comes to her now deceased creepy ass step grandfather, Jim. Jim is a predator, Jim is violent, Jim ruined many people’s lives including his family’s. But the objective of this documentary is: Sierra is wondering if there is more. Could Jim have been a serial killer? Once you learn about Jim’s background, you know that this is a terrible person. Jim was married three times and has multiple children and step children, some that he sexually harassed, abused, or intimidated. Sierra’s mom, Shannon, is one of those step children. Shannon has some wild stories about Jim who, don’t you know it, also used to be her teacher. So Jim had access to lots and lots of young girls. Shannon always knew that something was weird with Jim and found him very creepy so it was very discouraging when he started dating her mom, Judy. Judy and Jim were eventually married and she was married to him until the day he died. I don’t mean to victim blame Judy, but she did not listen to one red flag that her daughter presented to her. She was manipulated fully and that made her and Shannon grow apart. Sierra spends the first couple of episodes talking to Shannon and Judy and also Jim’s previous wives and children. They all have some kind of creepy story or strong stance against Jim. Sierra also talks to former students of his who have, of course, more creepy stories. Sierra starts doing lots of research about two unknown serial killers, the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Killer and the Zodiac Killer. She honestly has lots of great points and evidence. It may be mostly circumstantial, but to me it is very promising. Based on his location at the time, his violent tendencies, and one very chilling interview with a woman who saw her friends leave a skating rink with a man and then never saw them again. Shannon also found some damning evidence when they cleaned out Jim’s belongings after he died but sadly disposed of it. Now, don’t get too excited because I will say once I got to the end I was a little pissed. There is little to no resolution. From what Sierra and her private investigator said, the cops seemed to take their tips seriously and maybe they are taking lots of time to vet this and come up with more evidence. But damn, give us something! I can only hope that now that this documentary is out, they will work harder to give us an update. Overall, though, this was a very good, interesting documentary and I think if anything you get to watch this family talk through their traumas and become closer in spite of Jim. Worth the watch!

AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

PLOT SUMMARY: After a harrowing home invasion and kidnapping in 2015, a couple is accused of staging the ordeal when the woman reappears in this true-crime docuseries.

WHERE TO WATCH: Netflix

JAIMEE’S NOTES: Wow, what a wild ride. This is again, not actually a movie but a three part series with three different points of view, and so worth the watch! We have Denise and Aaron who are newly dating and one night, someone breaks into Aaron’s home when they are sleeping, drugs them, and kidnaps Denise. Truly a wild story with many insane details. Eventually Aaron calls the police but he is scared because the intruder told him not to. Once he gets down to the station and tells them the whole story, they do not believe a word he says. I’ve maybe listened to too many crime podcasts and watched too many datelines but every little thing Aaron did i was like oh, honey, no. He made suggestions when they asked, he talked to the police without a lawyer and he let them give him a lie detector test. Big no no’s. But guess what, no body…no crime. We also have Detective Mustard on the case…..big lol. So at this point everyone is really thinking sweet little Aaron killed his girlfriend because it’s always the boyfriend, am i right? BUT……then Denise is found just walking down the fucking street! And guess what movie just came out around this time…..Gone Girl. Detective Mustard was deeply affected by the writings of Gillian Flynn. In episode two, we get to hear Denise’s side of the story. And then in episode three, we get Misty Carausu, who cracked the case wide open, get it girl! I don’t want to reveal too much and I advise not googling prior to watching because the way everything unfolds is cinematic. If you have not heard of this case before, I do see why there were many theories about what happened because it is a wild story but in the end, the police should have really listened to the facts and those involved. My final statement: it’s always fuck Vallejo PD. And give Misty a raise, you go girl!

ESCAPING TWIN FLAMES

PLOT SUMMARY: This documentary explores the story of Jeff and Shaleia Divine, the leaders of Twin Flames Universe who sell online classes that guarantee harmonious union with your destined partner, a controversial online community that preys on people looking for love.

WHERE TO WATCH: Netflix

JAIMEE’S NOTES: If you know me then you know one of my favorite things to research is cults. They are fascinating to me. And this one is a real doozy. Is this technically a three episode series and not a movie? Yes. Do I care? No, I do not. Cult time! The number one piece of advice I learned from this documentary is to never google the phrase twin flames, that is oddly how so many people got involved in this cult. Jeff and Megan or as they sometimes like to be called, Ender and Shaleia, built their little cult by taking advantage of vulnerable, heartbroken people. They basically say that if people pay them, they can attend these little coaching sessions and groups and they are guaranteed to meet the love of their life, AKA their twin flame. In the beginning, Jeff and Shaleia would tell lots of the members to look at their exes or people that are already in their life and they could just tell who their twin flame was from that, I guess? There was one lady who’s ex-boyfriend got a restraining order against her and Jeff and Shaleia basically told her that it wasn’t real and boundaries aren’t real either. Guess what…it was real. You are probably thinking, that doesn’t really sound like a cult, it sounds like a scam. But also Jeff and Shaleia would isolate these people and have them cut off ties with their families. They said their “soul family” is their real family. One woman, Paula, and her mother are trying to get back in contact with her twin sister, Steph throughout the whole documentary because she sent them a letter basically telling them to fuck off. Well of course, as cults and scams go, Jeff wanted more money so he kind of invented a twin flames universe. There was counseling and a meal program and they also brought in religion so they didn’t have to pay taxes. He wanted to make the most money possible while paying the least amount of taxes possible. Jeff is a huge asshole who gets mad if he is questioned or things don’t go his way, he files a lot of lawsuits. Later on in the twin flames cult, Jeff and Shaleia said they got a vision or whatever they call it and they saw more twin flames. They also made up a new rule that everyone’s twin flame would be in this group already, no outsiders. This created a problem because there were mostly women left in the group. So Jeff and Shaleia just released their twin flame list and said who had a masculine energy and who had a feminine energy and lots of the people that were paired were straight women. A lot of these women really took what Jeff and Shaleia said to heart and some even got transgender surgeries and/or got married to their partner they were told about. There are so many more little crazy things Jeff and Shaleia did and it’s wild that seemingly everything so far that the police know about is legal. There are a few past members who are trying to get their lives back in order and they are working really hard to bring the twin flames universe down. I hope they do! And I hope all the family members are reunited with their children and siblings. There were some facts at the end and one that stood out to me was that there are currently 10,000 active cults in the United States. That is insane to me and also sad. Let’s expose them all, cult researchers!