Latest news with #JackMacInnes
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 OTT Release Date - When and where to watch docu based on viral 2019 Facebook joke
Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 OTT Release Date - If you've ever wondered what happens when an internet joke spins out of control, Netflix's upcoming documentary Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 is your next must-watch. Set to premiere on July 29, 2025, this explosive docuseries dives deep into the bizarre yet hilarious chain of events triggered by one viral Facebook post in 2019. Directed by Jack MacInnes and produced by RAW and BBH with Alex Marengo as the executive producer, Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 unpacks the absurdity, chaos, and accidental cultural movement that grew out of a single online joke reminding us how the internet, when left unchecked, can take on a life of its own. What is this docuseries all about? Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 isn't your regular sci-fi flick. It's a real story about a fake event. The series takes viewers back to 2019, when 20-year-old Matty Roberts created a Facebook event titled 'Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us.' What started as a sarcastic invite to break into the secretive U.S. military base quickly gained traction. The Facebook event went from a silly post shared among friends to a viral internet movement attracting millions of clicks, memes, and sign-ups. Suddenly, the U.S. military, FBI, and other federal agencies were issuing public warnings, while internet pranksters and alien fans were gearing up for a desert party. Yes, seriously. The real incident behind Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 Back in July 2019, Matty Roberts had no idea he was about to create one of the internet's biggest viral moments. His idea was simple - make a joke about 'storming' Area 51 to 'see them aliens.' He picked a date (September 20, 2019), wrote up a tongue-in-cheek event description, and hit "post." Within days, the event gained traction. Within weeks, over 2 million people RSVP'd as 'going', with another 1.5 million marked as 'interested.' The U.S. government, sensing potential danger, got involved. The Air Force issued a warning, the FBI contacted Matty, and authorities started prepping for an actual turnout in the Nevada desert. In the end, it didn't lead to a mass break-in, but instead turned into a music-festival-like gathering called 'Alienstock,' with costumes, music, and of course, lots of alien talk. But the world had already witnessed how a meme could almost spark a national security concern.
Telegraph
10-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Surviving Black Hawk Down, Netflix, review: cleverly captures the chaos of war
Surviving Black Hawk Down , a Netflix historical documentary looking at the disastrous I say 'sensible': the danger for any documentary about how awful war can be is it comes out making war look great. The original 2001 film Surviving Black Hawk Down does its utmost to render the absolute chaos of the battle while still offering context and hindsight. It's a high-wire act, marrying calm with carnage, but film-maker Jack MacInnes, who also directed the excellent Leaving Afghanistan, follows the good documentarian's playbook to the letter. There are first-hand accounts from the US soldiers, but there are as many from the Somalians who fought back. The three episodes are alive to the suffering and cruelty of both sides, while also, particularly in the first episode, making time for the bigger picture and questioning what the Americans were doing there in the first place. It also notes, cleverly, that the Battle occurred at an interesting time in technological terms — this was a pre-mobile phone age, but a Somalian cameraman with a camcorder was on hand both to film the mayhem of the original mission as well as to capture the infamous footage of the US helicopter pilot, Mike Durant, who was taken prisoner. Both are interviewed at length here, in a nod to how media representations of war – filming it – are so central to our understanding of modern history. The producers might, I thought, even have gone a little further and asked the soldiers who fought that day what they made of the movie that has enshrined them in American military legend. You can't attempt to tell a true story without addressing the abiding fictions, after all. But then Surviving Black Hawk Down is a This is both its strength – it looks incredible; the re-enactions are movie-quality and the access is superb – as well as its weakness. Black Hawk Down the Hollywood movie embodied the controversies that always surround thrilling war stories. It might have been good to see what Ridley thought about all that.
