After having read the entire trilogy, I was always going to watch this Netflix series even though I quickly noped out of the Chinese adaptation. There was no way I was going to be able to sit through 30 episodes and so much repetitive content. This English-language version makes big changes to the story, moving most of the scenes to England for example and more importantly creating a new set of characters, the so-called Oxford Five, to serve as the protagonists. I’d say that the changes are for the better as it does away with the marked misogyny of Liu Cixin’s work and makes for a more varied and interesting cast. On the other hand, it is somewhat implausible that the chief of the MI6 would take such a central role in leading the defense of Earth and it really needed more extras to portray the sheer scale of the events. Overall it’s a good adaptation and managing to convey so much of the story in only eight episodes is commendable. I’ll definitely be waiting for the next season.

Jacques Tati is another of the great names of French cinema but I haven’t seen any of his work before this. PlayTime is considered his masterpiece and it’s so delightful and easy to watch that I wondered why I hadn’t made this a higher priority. There’s no plot and only incidental dialogue, with the real star of the show here being this huge caricature of a futuristic Paris that has been dubbed Tativille. The Monsieur Hulot character, played by Tati himself, reminded me of an extended Mr. Bean skit but of course this draws on older comedians like Charlie Chaplin. This film cost too much to make however and never made the money back. It also took some time before it was properly recognized as a work of genius and that may be why Tati ended up making so few films in his life.

Sideways was a surprisingly memorable film for me when I’ve forgotten many other good films and it seems to be a favorite of many others as well. So a second collaboration between Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti was highly anticipated. Payne’s films are always wonderfully humanistic but perhaps lean a little too sentimental. This one I think gets the balance just right, being recognizably a Christmas film with all the schmaltz that implies, yet finding new ways to imbue it with meaning. He did have to set this in 1970 however as it would be unimaginable for a student in such a school to submit to a teacher like that in the present day.

This was the feature film debut of Laura Samani and pretty much everyone else in it are total unknowns as well. It’s very much the kind of film in which the filmmaker had to gather funds from many sources to make and at times visibly looks like it was shot with a not too expensive digital camera. Still, it successfully evokes an Italy of an earlier era and a world in which Christian miracles are real and are to be taken seriously. It’s a short film and there’s not too much going on in it but it’s effective and original so that’s enough.

I’m not the biggest fan of Makoto Shinkai but I’m aware of how popular he is and I know that at least it will be a visual feast. Indeed, if nothing else this is an audiovisual delight, with intricately detailed scenes and enjoyable music that calls back past eras. Initially the story seems promising as well but it all falls apart very quickly as the supernatural world it introduces follows no consistent rules and its themes are a mess. Shinkai knows how to evoke strong emotions but these feelings are unearned as they are achieved through a series of misleading tricks. It’s spectacular and fit for the big screen but ultimately superficial.

I’m no fan of Sacha Baron Cohen and this is certainly not one of his better films. Still, I’ve seen plenty of clips from it circulating online and I thought it might at least be a comedy that is worth a few laughs. As it turned out, the best parts of it are the ones already being widely shared and from when the character in Wadiya itself. Once he arrives in America, it’s an endless series of increasingly implausible skits notable only for their readiness to cause the most offence possible. It’s mildly amusing at most and not something I would recommend watching, but it is surprising how Cohen could convince famous Hollywood stars to make cameo appearances that involve degrading themselves.

This was added to my list at some point because it is a highly celebrated film with many awards and is considered one of the last of the great musicals of the era. So when its very first big song, Thank Heaven for Little Girls, started up, I was shocked by the very obvious pedophiliac message in it. Things just get worse from there and the whole thing seems like a very malicious caricature of the French conception to love and romance. It’s a pretty film to be sure as it really was shot in Paris and even features scenes in the famous Maxim’s restaurant. But the music is banal and the morals are execrable as few other films are. I cannot believe that this film is as highly regarded as it still seems to be.