You might think you know plenty about WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The Hollywood bio, "The Fifth Estate," starring Benedict Cumberbatch, fizzled at the box office earlier this month, suggesting that moviegoers don't much care about that pale-skinned activist.

But before you close your mind to the subject forever, check out the compelling documentary, "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks," from acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney (Oscar winner for "Taxi to the Dark Side"). The film is newly available on the Netflix Instant Streaming service.

The doc traces the origins of WikiLeaks and explores the background of the site's most infamous whistleblower, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning. The movie takes particular interest in the chat sessions between Manning and Adrian Lamo, who eventually turned Manning over to authorities.

As for Assange, the secretive WikiLeaks figurehead is only present in archival interviews, though Gibney does an admirable job exploring the moral implications of his information crusade. Assange isn't a fan of the movie, but Gibney neither celebrates nor demonizes the WikiLeaks movement. It lets the viewer be the ultimate judge.

The film's title, "We Steal Secrets" actually refers to a quote in the film in reference to governments that constantly spy on each other for diplomatic and military advantages. In that regard, the film is as relevant as ever, and definitely worth watching as a document of murky recent history.

'Dexter' slices into Netflix

Halloween may be over, but there's always room for a serial killer in your Netflix Instant queue. The Showtime series wrapped this summer after eight seasons, and now the first four are newly available on the streaming service. The final four seasons will be made available at the start of 2014.

Though the show can be inconsistent from season to season, Michael C. Hall (a standout from HBO's "Six Feet Under") gives one of television's most enigmatic recent performances.

Netflix Instant actually had "Dexter" a couple years ago but lost the content when the media giant began its rapid (and cable-TV-threatening) expansion. Whatever the circumstances, it's good to see this particular psychopath back in the fold.

Tyler Wilson can be reached at [email protected].