TV review: Elizabeth Taylor critiques her own career in revealing HBO documentary

Anyone who thinks Taylor Swift has reached an unprecedented level of fame needs to watch “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes.”

Early in the documentary, premiering at 7 p.m. Saturday on HBO, there’s footage from her 1952 wedding to Michael Wilding, an event that drew a London crowd that Swift, Elvis Presley or the Beatles would have a hard time matching in terms of numbers and fervor.

Taylor, who died in 2011, looks back at such moments through newly discovered tapes she recorded in the mid-’60s with journalist Richard Meryman, who gently coaxes her through the most traumatic chapters of her life. It examines the price of fame as well as any documentary could without coming across as a pity party.

Taylor is brutally honest about her career in the Meryman recordings, as well as in other interviews she did later in life. She’s the first to admit that she didn’t make many good films, even bad-mouthing her performance in “BUtterfield 8,” which would win her the first of two Oscars. But viewers will be most struck by her reflections on her eight marriages. Think about all the attention Jennifer Lopez’s love life gets — then multiply that by 20. “The Lost Tapes” does an excellent job of showing how the failures in romance damaged her more than the response to “Cleopatra.”

Fans of “Veronica Mars” may get a kick out of this adaptation of Holly Jackson’s YA novel in which 17-year-old Pip Fitz-Amobi (Emma Meyers) is determined to dig up details on the disappearance of a classmate five years earlier. Pip isn’t as smart or as witty as Kristen Bell’s character in the beloved network series, but she’s got an equal amount of pluck. At the very least, the six-part series should satisfy viewers who just got done with “Presumed Innocent” and are searching for a fresh whodunit. Thursday, Netflix

The success of “Twisters,” now playing in theaters, may have you tempted to go back and watch the 1996 version. Go ahead and scratch that itch. The film is just as ridiculous as the standalone sequel, but the special effects are so convincing that you won’t scoff at the scene where a cow gets swept up by the storm. It also has a great cast that includes Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Todd Field, who would go on to direct and write “Tár.” And keeps your eyes peeled for a cameo from WCCO Radio meteorologist Paul Douglas, who announced his retirement last week. Max

Now that Jay Hernandez is done with the unnecessary reboot of “Magnum P.I.,” I hope he commits more time to sweet, inspirational movies like this one. He plays a school superintendent in 1950s Texas, battling racism by recruiting Latino students to compete in a state golf championship. Golf doesn’t naturally lend itself to dramatic moments — watching someone sink a putt will never be as thrilling as a quarterback tossing a winning touchdown — but director Julio Quintana keeps you engaged by focusing on battles far from the green. Netflix

Those with a serious case of Olympics fever should revisit this Oscar-winning thriller about two British competitors in the 1924 Games. Vangelis’ theme alone provides plenty of goosebumps. On Demand