This film adaptation itself is only moderately well known but the short story by Rudyard Kipling is very famous, not least because of the impressive title, and is often referenced in other media. I know that this film is horribly regressive and anachronistic by today’s standard but I thought it might be fun to watch and of course I was looking forward to Sean Connery and Michael Caine in their prime working with each other.

The unrest in Hong Kong has been going on for months now and shows no signs of abating. I’m partial to the opinion that instead of it being about actual freedom, the unrest is mostly being driven by economic anxiety and wealth inequality as more and more Hong Kongers find themselves being priced out of what they see as a decent standard of living. That makes for a pretty good lead-in to this film which is really about mediocre people are who find themselves on the losing end of society in Hong Kong and struggle to come to terms with it.

With all of the new streaming platforms furiously competing for subscribers, now is truly the Golden Age of television. There are far more shows I have some interest in than I have time to watch. My cinephile friend recommended this to us but we’ve been burned by Japanese anime before as they are usually too juvenile for our tastes. So it was with some reluctance that we dived into this and the early episodes seemed to only confirm our worst fears. However the pace picks up later and the first season ends on a rather strong note, so this turned out to be surprisingly good overall.

After a spate of Disney CGI-heavy live-action remakes, here’s a palate cleanser featuring old fashioned hand drawn animation from Japan. With its heavy use of loud primary colors that makes it look very much like a comic book, this one looks even more traditional than usual. While its juvenile conception of romance is regrettably rooted in the young adult genre from which it was adapted, I do love its energy and originality. It’s easily one of the best animated films I’ve watched all year.

We keep going back in time for films by the Coen brothers and this is as far back as we can get as it is the very first feature film that they made. Apparently they had to scrounge for financing for a year after making a trailer for it on their own and yes, it does star an unrecognizably young Frances McDormand. It’s crude in some ways and bears some hallmarks of inexperienced directors but on the whole it is an excellent film and that is an impressive feat indeed.

Here’s another film by Noah Baumbach and he’s back working with his frequent collaborator and partner Greta Gerwig. One difference this time around is she isn’t playing the point of view character here as newcomer Lola Kirke is the lead. However she is credited as a co-scriptwriter, just as she was for Frances Ha, and I like how the two films share some similar themes.

Since Edgar Wright is mainly known as a director of comedy films, I initially dismissed this as more of the same, especially since my wife doesn’t get his English brand of humor. My cinephile friend told me that this is something else entirely and really quite good, so I put it on my list. But that was of course way after it had already finished its run in the cinemas.