We critique the true history behind Will Smith's Oscar winning performance in King Richard, where he plays Richard Williams, the father and coach of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams. We talk about the real reason the family moved to Compton, the complexity of the real people that the movie leaves out, and ask ourselves how the movie holds up against the real story. We also fit in a great Rotten Tomatoes game where Mel gets to guess the scores of Will Smith's filmography!

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Apollo 13 - Movie vs History

Gari and Mel critique the Ron Howard 1995 move Apollo 13, the landmark drama about the daring rescue of NASA's Apollo astronauts, starring the insurmountable Tom Hanks, a sickly Bill Paxton and a painfully single Kevin Bacon. Mel takes us through the true story to tell us what's true and what's fiction in Hollywood's depiction of the infamous ill-fated attempt to land on the moon. Gari then takes us behind the scenes into the details of how you fake zero gravity on a movie set, which somehow involves drugging your lead actors. This is one you don't want to miss!

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The Grizzlies

Gari and Mel critique The Grizzlies, the 2018 Canadian drama about the creation of an Inuit student larcrosse team in Northen Canada. Inspiring and confronting in equal measure, we talk through the true story, discussing the harsh reality of living in the isolated Artic town of Kugluktuk, the sobering causes behind the community's historical trauma, and the remarkably uplifting story of how a sport can provide hope to youth just when they need it most. It's a beautiful story, and you won't want to miss us chat about what makes it special.

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Gorillas in the Mist

This time Gari and Mel critique Gorillas in the Mist, the 1988 true story of primatologist Dian Fossey, whose remarkable conservation work with Mountain Gorillas and unsolved murder have become the stuff of legend.

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Gladiator

This is it. This is the big one. We finally critique Ridley Scott's Oscar winning Gladiator, starring the formidable Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius. He may be a father to a murdered son and a husband to a murdered wife, but does the movie he's starring in hold up after all these years? Mel takes us through the real history of Rome and its gladiatorial combat and gives us the lowdown on the many accurate and inaccurate aspects of the history that's represented.

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King Richard

Nuremberg review

Upcoming Episodes | Best and Worst Movies of 2025 (so far)

Real Movies Fake History