Film
Dinosaur 13
Dinosaur 13 documents the true story of Sue, the most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered, and the legal battle that erupted when federal agents seized it from the paleontologists who found it. It's a tense, surprisingly gripping drama about science, ownership, and institutional power played out in court and badlands. For anyone who loves underdog stories or wants to see how the system can turn against the curious.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy a documentary that plays like a detective caper, where the fun comes from a tangle of bureaucrats, lawyers and fossil hunters squabbling over who owns the past.
Skip it if you want a tightly structured history lesson; this one wanders into courtroom procedure and personal grievance, and its argument about property can feel repetitive over ninety-five minutes.
What it asks of you: Settle in for a steady, talky runtime of about an hour and a half, with few visuals beyond interviews and archival footage, and keep track of a lot of names and legal turns.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Nightmare2015
Like Dinosaur 13, this explores a genuine mystery through testimony and investigation, letting viewers form their own conclusions. It's hypnotic, unsettling, and deeply respectful of the people at its center. You'll finish it changed.
But It's deliberately ambiguous and refuses to offer the comfort of answers. Some find that maddening rather than compelling.
Blackfish2013
Both films use documentary storytelling to challenge institutional narratives and ask uncomfortable questions about who owns the living or dead. It builds quietly to something devastating. Luminous and furious.
But The argument is shaped to make one side look bad. If you distrust advocacy docs, the technique will distract you.
The Battered Bastards of Baseball2014
Another story of outsiders taking on the system and finding unexpected victory. It's warm, funny, and genuinely moving. You'll leave rooting for people you've never met.
But The underdog energy can feel manipulative if you're skeptical of the film's framing. It's unambiguously on their side.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Dinosaur 13
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Possession1981
Both explore the philosophical and moral cost of claiming ownership over something essential—whether remains of the past or the body and will of another person.
Andrzej Żuławski's film is a nightmare about control, ownership, and what we believe we own in another person. Sue the dinosaur is only valuable as property; this film is about what that kind of ownership does to human souls. Both argue that some things should not be seized.
But It's a surrealist horror film with non-linear narrative, graphic imagery, and a register that shifts between intimate domestic chaos and cosmic dread. It will alienate you on purpose.
More like this (8)
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief2015
Combines patient investigation with dramatic stakes, building a case through voices and documents. It's absorbing in the way Dinosaur 13 is—a mystery you didn't know you needed solved, told with real cinematic skill.
But It's three hours and requires patience with repetition. The subject matter is heavy in a way that lingers.
The Toys That Made Us2017
Explores how ownership, corporate power, and cultural meaning collide around a physical object. It's lighter than Dinosaur 13 but shares the same fascination with who gets to decide what something is worth.
But It's a Netflix product celebrating a corporate story. If you're allergic to nostalgia marketing, you'll feel it.
The Dawn Wall2017
A tense, beautifully shot story of obsession and human persistence against impossible odds. Two climbers on a vertical rock face for nineteen days. Simple premise, genuine grip.
But It's essentially a sports doc. If climbing doesn't move you, the peril may feel abstract.
The Lincoln Lawyer2011
Documents a real wrongful conviction with meticulous care. It's angry and sad and ultimately about the same thing as Dinosaur 13—how institutions fail the people they're supposed to serve.
But The injustice will frustrate you. It doesn't resolve neatly or satisfyingly, because real life often doesn't.
Icarus2017
Begins as a lark and spirals into geopolitics and espionage. Like Dinosaur 13, it asks us to follow evidence and testimony. The shape-shifting keeps you off balance in the best way.
But It's sometimes unclear what's verifiable and what's conjecture. The geopolitical turn may feel distant if you don't care about the subjects involved.
Tickled2016
A documentary rabbit hole that keeps finding weirder and darker rooms. It shares Dinosaur 13's patience for oddness and its willingness to let a strange true story speak for itself.
But It gets into territory that will make you deeply uncomfortable. Some viewers find it exploitative despite its questions.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth2012
Both films ask: who decides the official story, and what happens when that story is challenged by people who were there?
A quietly devastating film about how institutions create, then destroy, then erase their own mistakes. It moves slowly through archive and testimony to show how power operates invisibly. A mirror image of Dinosaur 13's central question.
But It's dense with urban planning language and historical documents. It won't hold your hand. Some find it too abstract to engage with emotionally.
The Lobster2015
Both explore the way institutions enforce absurd rules as though they were natural law—and the cost to individuals caught inside that system.
Yorgos Lanthimos made a deadpan absurdist fable about a world where you must be in a couple or be turned into an animal. It shares Dinosaur 13's interest in the arbitrary rules we accept as fact. It's grotesque, funny, and unsettling.
But It's a pitch-dark comedy with no plot momentum, shot in a flat, detached style. It's designed to repel conventional cinema pleasure. Not for viewers who need narrative drive.
People
Cast
- Peter L. LarsonHimself
Louie PsihoyosHimself- Stan AdelsteinHimself
- Lanice ArcherHimself
Directing
- Todd Douglas MillerDirector
Writing
- Todd Douglas MillerWriter
Production
- Todd Douglas MillerProducer