Netflix/Prime/Hulu Discoveries

[oleada]

@kosjenka - I'm not basing this just based on the documentary, because I was aware what their biases were (as I said I was already predisposed to think she was guilty). I went online and looked up the case quite a bit after. There's no physical evidence linking her or Sollecito to the crime and plenty linking Guede - feces, DNA on Meredith's body and room, the palm print, plus the fact he fled the country. Amanda lied about Lumumba being involved but that came after many hours of questioning, and without a lawyer - she would hardly be the first to give a false confession under duress. I just don't see the evidence being there.

 

[kosjenka]

@oleada well - you basically summed up what her team of PR and lawyers give to the US press. Her version of events on how she confessed conflicts with other witnesses who were at the police station and are not police officers. Her own story of how she got in her house on the day the body was found is bizarre. She keeps telling it differently every time, even today. In her book and according to her phone - she called her mum when it was 4am in Seattle and did not see major blood traces (like that bloody footprint they showed in the documentary) and she spent almost an hour in the house where she felt unsafe, but once she returned to Soleccitos place, she did not tell him hour hours what she saw - the opened/damaged front door, blood stains, Merediths locked/closed door.
The DNA evidence that was discussed in the documentary is not all DNA evidence presented at court and other qualified experts disagreed with the expert in the movie.
Knox also has several calls on her phone to her mum and others she claimed she did not remember. She also lied to the police who surprisingly came to the house to return the missing phones of Kercher and their fItalian flatmate, when she and Solleccito came to check the place up. Most of details were never contested by her lawyers at court.
There were also computers that were used by Knox and Sollecito to watch movie at the night of the murder. There were evidence of usage of that computer that leaves gaps in their alibis - like that there were no human interaction with the computer for several hours and than some interaction when she claimed they were both sleeping. Those drives were destroyed by police error and thus were not used as evidence.

I agree with the final verdict because there were way too many flaws in the investigation. The scientific work was not done by the more qualified police force, because the regular police force and their scientific team got on the spot first and had jurisdiction. It was stupid power play and the murder victim, Meredith Kercher and her family will never get their answers thanks to power play between assholes. That bra clasp is one the example and there were others.
And btw - Knox could have had a better chances ending this sooner in her favor had she and her family followed the advice of her lawyers and not her PR team form US.

 

[VGThuy]

All I really know is that the Netflix commercials for that documentary are seriously bizarre.

 

[kosjenka]

@VIETgrlTerifa very. almost disturbing in a way.

 

[oleada]

I find Amanda as a person bizarre and unlikeable but just don't see any changes compelling evidence of her guilt.

I agree that the investigation was a mess and the Kercher family paid the cruelest price.

 

[BigB08822]

The documentary just solidified my thoughts on her being innocent. I think she was the victim of being an awkward teenager and being an American. The prosecutor loved to come up with these crazy theories that should have certainly been looked into but instead he just took them to be 100% true and refused to look at other options. The worst of all was the journalist. He was complete scum and at the end admitted that they made up all sorts of headlines just to get the story on the front page. These are the stories that were circulating in Europe and I find it no surprise that so many Europeans seem so convinced of Amanda's guilt.

 

[kosjenka]

@BigB08822 I am puzzled why Americans feel this way. Knox is American, but was charges with her Italian boyfriend and he was sentenced the same as she was (got one less because she got one year more for slandering Lamumba) so I don see why Americans are so into this being anti American thing.

It is much more anti woman thing, because it was Knoxs face everhwere as murdere, slut, manupulator and executor, not Sollecitos or Guede. And those two men were both convicted of same murder.
Knox had support in Italy (she wrote about it in her book) and in UK - she even reglary corresponded with a journalist from a major news outlet from UK.

 

[MacMadame]

I don't see it as anti-American so much as sometimes people aren't likable and so you are more willing to believe bad things about them. But it's not a crime to be weird.

And all that stuff about how her story changed and some of it contradicted the evidence -- that's what real life is like. Memory is a tricky thing and not alway very exact. I think we've seen many tv shows & movies where only the guilty do that, but in real life people remember things wrong and their memory changes over time as well even if they aren't bad people.

 

[VGThuy]

Yeah. Memory isn't like a video tape where you rewind it and it plays exactly the way it played out in your head. It's problematic that many criminal cases hinges on eye-witness testimony where recollection is shaky at best much less whether the witness was actually in the best position to observe the alleged occurrence.

 

[MacMadame]

Eye-witness testimony has been shown to be notoriously unreliable. Some of that, I think, stems from how witnesses are treated. For example, sometimes witnesses find out who the police think did the crime (based on how they are interviewed or how the police line-ups are conducted, where police make it clear who they think is guilty even though they aren't supposed to) and that changes their "that could be him" to "that's definitely him". And they honestly believe it too, which means they won't be shaken on the witness stand.

For me, the compelling evidence is that Knox and Sollecito didn't have enough biological evidence at the crime scene. Just the normal stuff you'd get from living/visiting there while Guede's was all over the place in the right amounts and types. There really isn't any way to clean up a crime scene so only your biologics are removed (but just enough to be credible) while someone else's remain at expected levels. That says to me that Guede did it and acted alone.

Everything else is just noise.

 

[znhurston]

I don't see it as anti-American so much as sometimes people aren't likable and so you are more willing to believe bad things about them. But it's not a crime to be weird.

And all that stuff about how her story changed and some of it contradicted the evidence -- that's what real life is like. Memory is a tricky thing and not alway very exact. I think we've seen many tv shows & movies where only the guilty do that, but in real life people remember things wrong and their memory changes over time as well even if they aren't bad people.

Amanda Knox never inspired sympathy with me but what struck me about this documentary is just how much her case sounds like other wrongful conviction cases involving youth who cracked under the pressure of lengthy and intense police interrogation and confessed to crimes they did not commit. Ken Burns does a masterful job of examining this phenomenon in The Central Park Five, which also is on Netflix.

 

[TheGirlCanSkate]

I watched Steampunk'd on netflix. It a contest show where teams build steampunk contraptions, clothing, and design a room and the winning room gets to be part of the set. It's pretty cool - people are very clever and dedicated to their hobby.

 

[topaz]

I am on episode 7 of Luke Cage and so far I like the series.

 

[Nomad]

I watched Steampunk'd on netflix. It a contest show where teams build steampunk contraptions, clothing, and design a room and the winning room gets to be part of the set. It's pretty cool - people are very clever and dedicated to their hobby.

You got me curious, so I watched that, too. I don't really know anything about steampunk, but it was an entertaining show.

Now I'm going to give Vikings a try; I'm hoping it's not overly violent.

 

[VGThuy]

Now I'm going to give Vikings a try; I'm hoping it's not overly violent.

It's not Game of Thrones violent, but...

 

[AlpineSkater]

Just finished Narcos season 2. Great series. Intense.

 

[Mayra]

Not sure if it's been mentioned previously but the new season of Black Mirror is out on Netflix and I highly recommend watching it if you haven't caught it yet. So so good!

It's very Twilight Zone-esque with a modern twist in it's commentary on technology in the modern world. Each episode stands alone and definitely worth watching.

The "San Junipero" episode this season had me and "Nosedive" was awesome with Bryce Dallas Howard.

 

[ChelleC]

Now I'm going to give Vikings a try; I'm hoping it's not overly violent.

Good luck with that. Vikings is one of my favorite shows, I would definitely say it is violent.

 

[Nomad]

Good luck with that. Vikings is one of my favorite shows, I would definitely say it is violent.

I expect it will be but I've had several people tell me they liked it, so I'll still give it a try.

 

[Yehudi]

Amazon Prime has Robotech AND the original Japanese Animes that it was based off. I am now getting through Genesis Climber Mospeada (the third part of Robotech) and I like this much better than it. And the soundtrack is early Joe Hisaishi.

 

[Artemis@BC]

Well poop. So much for my grand plan of getting my free month of Shomi before it disappears: they're no longer accepting new subscribers. I just hope Crave or Netflix picks up some of the programs that were exclusive to Shomi in Canada (specifically Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent).

 

[Artemis@BC]

Thanks to whoever suggested Dreamland. I re-subscribed to Netflix (after the Shomi fail mentioned above) and dove right in. What a hoot. Reminds me a lot of the John Morton series on BBC, Twenty Twelve and W1A. Or a less-sweary version of Armando Iannucci's shows.

 

[centerstage01]

For a Halloween movie, I'd like to recommend The Babadook. It's on Netflix and will both scare the crap out of you and make you want to hug the main characters forever. If it also happens to coincide with my love for Essie Davis, well, that's just kismet.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

I thought the last episode of Season 2 was the final episode, but Season 3 of The Fall is now out on Netflix.

 

[TygerLily]

Thanks for the heads up @Artistic Skaters ! Not sure where S3 could go, but I'm curious.

 

[gkelly]

I've seen the first three episodes so far. It's slow getting started. The focus seems to be on the trial, but there are some complications.

 

[JoannaLouise]

Thanks to whoever suggested Dreamland. I re-subscribed to Netflix (after the Shomi fail mentioned above) and dove right in. What a hoot. Reminds me a lot of the John Morton series on BBC, Twenty Twelve and W1A. Or a less-sweary version of Armando Iannucci's shows.

I think that was me - glad you're enjoying it! And I agree about the similarity to those BBC shows; I loved them too.

 

[gkelly]

Re The Fall, series 3:

I've seen the first three episodes so far. It's slow getting started. The focus seems to be on the trial, but there are some complications.

I've watched the whole thing now.

My prediction was not quite accurate.

There is some more backstory and explanations provided for several of the characters and loose ends, there is closure of a sort, but only small amounts of forward movement.

I'm not sorry I watched it, but it wasn't incredibly compelling television.

If anyone else watches, we can discuss in PM or in spoiler tags.

 

[Yehudi]

I mentioned in the Royalty thread that "The Crown", the Queen Elizabeth II series, debuted on Friday. Matt Smith is excellent as Prince Philipp.

ETA: But where are the corgis?

 

[Peaches LaTour]

Does Netflix have season 2 yet? Last time I had a Netflix subscription they only had season 1. My library has season 2 on order but I wasn't quick enough and there's a long queue.

I love lots of the other series mentioned, particularly the British ones like Foyle, Bletchley, Midsomer, and Scott & Bailey. But I've seen them all already the old-fashioned way on PBS and Knowledge Network.

I can tell you that I am really disappointed by the new & last, three episode, series of Scott & Bailey. I don't know why they decided to bring this splendid series back in this manner.