A prison community comes together and tries to be better men in The Alabama Solution, when they’re not festering in filth and the guards aren’t beating them to death.
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: Oscars Quest ’26 continues! Once again we see how many among the latest wave of Academy Award nominees I can catch before the big ABC ceremony on March 15th, including entire genres that I’m terrible about sidestepping during the other 10½ months of the year.
Documentaries can be keen, but much like reality TV, they aren’t part of my routine intake. Guided by the recommendations and/or questionable motives of the voting body of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, I’m compelled to watch at least five of them every year. In that spirit this wordy bumpkin presents a rundown of this year’s nominees for Best Documentary Feature in all their instructive, immersive, saddening, maddening, hilarious, harrowing, bewildering natures. I streamed all five online, though one of them had a narrow window of opportunity. These are recapped alphabetically, not ranked — I’d recommend any of them, though you might not want to watch them back-to-back unless sudden-onset depression is your idea of a good time. Just like the Documentary Short Subject category, apparently everyone forgot to document any excellent inspirational triumphs last year.
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 