For a riveting multi-cultural experience, watch Pachinko, now streaming on Apple+ (2 seasons). It’s a multi-generational saga of a Korean family migrating from their peasant roots, into second class persecuted citizens in Japan and eventually striving for overachievement in the US. They switch between three languages, so Korean subtitles are in yellow, Japanese in blue, none for English. The depictions of everyday life are very authentic, with high realism, and first class productions, but the story is still a Korean drama. — KK

Sprint is a Netflix reality series following the colorful characters trying to become the world’s fastest human. The Olympics is only one meet in a parade of races all year as they face each other again and again. The really simple test of being the fastest highlights the drama and their sacrifices over years. Season 1 ends just before this summer’s Olympics. The upcoming Season 2 will focus on the tribulations through this Olympics, and its unexpected surprises. Sprint is one of the better, well-crafted sports documentary series out there, and my preferred way of “watching” sports. — KK

I surprised myself by watching the full 4 hours of a “review” of a Disney Star Wars Hotel by an obsessive fan on YouTube. I didn’t think I cared about a theme hotel, but Jenny Nicholson’s four-hour video critique was compelling, astoundingly astute, endless insightful, and highly entertaining, as she does in-depth business analysis in cosplay costumes. After the first hour of her deep review, I understood why the review has 10 million views (!!!!); it’s a great overview of an interactive experience. After staying for the second hour, I subscribed to her channel because it was also a fantastic introduction to any kind of immersive experience. After continuing to watch the third hour, I thought Disney ought to pay her thousands of dollars as a consultant instead of trying to get YouTube to takedown her video; this was the best course in interactive media I’d ever seen. After finishing all four hours, I thought she should be running Disney herself as their new CEO because she understood virtual reality and immersive experiences better than anyone. This is why I love YouTube: with no one’s permission, a passionate person can make a dent in the universe. Be prepared for the ultimate nerdy obsession in The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel. — KK

I really enjoyed this doc about the Blue Angels – an elite jet squadron showing off Navy flying skills. But since pilots are rotated out after two years, it is really a training program that constantly absorbs newbies. Their training process is worth emulating. At the end of the touring season their planes are flying with only 12 inches between wing tips!  I had no idea. Produced by JJ Abrams, with incredible cinematography inside and out. Free on Amazon Prime. — KK

I love watching artists work in their studios. I really delight in seeing how they make their art, what tools and techniques they use, and their material approach to creation. Getting access to a studio is rare, but very easy to do via two YouTube channels. Art21 is a multi-season PBS show, available on YT, that features a contemporary American artist at work in their workshop or studio. Some artists even reveal their process in detail, which is  a plus. The other venue is Craft in America, another PBS show, which lets you watch how crafts people manifest their exquisite artifacts, such as a chair from a log, or a knitted coral reef. I am constantly inspired to make my own art after watching others create art from such raw ingredients. — KK

Moses stars in all three monotheistic faiths believed by “people of the book”: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Netflix special, Testament: The Story of Moses, is a surprisingly good retelling of his story in full. Half Hollywood biopic, half documentary commentary, it enlivens this mythical character with more depth. Everyone has heard part of his life, but the full story is far more interesting. Setting aside the immense degree that the character of Moses has shaped western civilization, this is a dramatic story well told. – KK

The biggest cultural export from China this century is the science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem. A ten-part Chinese version of it was made a few years ago, which was okay, but Netflix has just remade 3 Body Problem into an 8-part series produced by the guys behind Game of Thrones megahit series. I’m enjoying this version even more than the book. The story has been globalized, ramped up, and supercharged with appropriate effects, to make it clear, compelling, great science fiction. — KK

Do you find certain subjects too stressful to bear in a movie? If so, Does the Dog Die? is for you. Here, you can input a movie title and it provides a list of content warnings. For example, Marathon Man includes a warning for "damaged teeth," which makes my skin crawl. You can also search in reverse — a search for “Are any teeth damaged?” results in a scarily long list of movies that depict teeth being broken. — MF

I’ve run out of worthy new science fiction movies to stream, so I was happy to find the old episodes of Firefly streaming on Hulu, or downloadable on Amazon or Apple+. I missed them when they originally aired in 2002, so it’s a joy to watch them now. Firefly is an inventive “space western” set 500 years in the future, a science fiction drama with engaging characters – a ragtag collection of misfits – and what a science fiction series should be. I rapidly binged all 14 episodes (plus the Serenity movie), and can see why its fans are so ardent. — KK

“How to choose the streaming services that are right for you” is an incredibly helpful breakdown of the major streaming services and their costs. The guide suggests keeping a TV diary for a week to write down what you watch as you watch it to reveal where you direct most of your attention as a viewer. I’ve been slowly getting kicked off of shared streaming services and was surprised to find that I don’t miss Netflix at all. The shows I most enjoy are on Max and Hulu. — CD 

I’ve recently enjoyed some good streaming movies that were not blockbusters, and maybe not even Great. I thought they were entertaining, maybe just good, yet still recommendable, if below the radar.

Society of the Snow. Everyone’s heard of the sports team whose plane crashed in the Andes and the boys had to survive for 2 months. It was a great book (Alive!), and later an okay movie, but this 2023 movie, filmed in Spanish by a Spanish crew, is stunning, moving, accurate (parts filmed in original crash site) and as close to being there as anyone else will get. This one is memorable.

The Holdovers. A sweet drama about a jaded prep-school teacher and bratty, troubled students who have to spend the Christmas holidays together at school and they all get life lessons. Despite the well-worn premise, there are almost no cliches, and the turns are unexpected, in part because the story is semi-autobiographical. Perfect for a Christmas movie list.

Jules. A comedy about an elderly man living by himself (played by Ben Kingsley) who makes friends with an alien who crashes his space ship in his back yard. The alien is non-verbal and needs dead cats to fuel his rocket. It’s a rom-com with an alien. — KK

Many books would do better as an article, and many films should be a short. I’ve really been enjoying Short of the Week, a stream of short videos that carry the punch of a long movie. These shorts can deliver drama, new worlds, innovation, illumination, surprises, and are rarely boring. Wonderfully diverse in form and topic, they are also widely international. The home site has background info on each, but you can also subscribe to its YouTube channel. There’s great stuff here, from Oscar winners to the most ultra indie. — KK

The new movie The Creator posits a future war between humans and AI robots, but unlike previous Hollywood science fiction, it wants you to cheer for the AIs and robots. The Creator has the most daring and innovative sci-fi cinematography since the original Blade Runner, a deep blend of real and could-be. It might set a new standard for sci-fi style. For its visual pleasure alone, I found it worth seeing it on a big screen in a theater. — KK

Rocumentaries.com is a growing collection of over 200 documentaries handpicked by the website's creator for their quality and interesting subject matter. You can filter the selection by Genres and Channels, and each listing includes links that direct you to their streaming platforms. I always enjoy documentaries but don’t have the time to search for new ones, so I appreciate that these films have been vetted and vouched for, and I've added several to my watchlist. — CD 

Visit AirPano to watch 360 videos of beautiful places on Earth, from Tokyo’s Shibuya Scramble pedestrian crossing (the busiest in the world), to a village of the Warao Indigenous people on the Orinoco River in Venezuela. My travel bucket list grew after watching some of these videos. — MF

I think nature livestreams are the best corner of the Internet. Onlinesafari.tv has almost 100 wildlife cams online from around the world. You can search by type of animal or ecosystem. It’s always soothing to watch animals in their natural habitat. I was watching three bears roughhousing in a pond in Romania earlier. — CD

For laughs and for a sweet time watch a real-life Truman Show, the 8-part series Jury Duty on Amazon. Our unsuspecting hero is serving on a fake jury, where everyone else – judge, lawyers, witnesses, clerks and other jurors – are all actors.  Every one of the hundreds of people surrounding him are in on the fiction, except him. The level of deceit is epic. They conspire to keep comedic things happening every hour, but all the while our hero keeps doing the right things. He turns out to be a perfect juror, and as you go through the entire trial you also get a good lesson about the American jury system. The humor is honest, one surprise after another. — KK

The famous Chinese science fiction trilogy, The Three Body Problem, is now available as a Chinese movie production, consisting of 30 parts online (free YouTube), with English subtitles. Like the books, one of its attractions is that it does not feel American/Hollywood-made.  — KK

An emerging genre of lightly fictionalized dramas tell the true, improbable stories of how famous products came to be. Each legendary thing seems like a miraculous accident. Here are three product dramas that are extraordinarily entertaining, and mostly true to life. Tetris (Apple+) is the unlikely cloak–n-dagger tale of the Soviet KGB’s pursuit of this wayward video game’s escape to world domination. The Social Network (on Amazon or any streaming service, $4) is an oldie about Facebook that is still relevant and fascinating given its current return to grace. And the most recent is Air (Amazon Prime), the astounding story of how Air Jordan sneakers became the unlikely multi-billion dollar megahit they are. All have great casts and great scripting, but are “true stories” at the core. — KK

Running on Netflix, this 4-part nature documentary is extraordinary. Chimp Empire closely follows the largest known band of wild chimpanzees as individual chimps struggle to prosper, while their tribe wages war with other tribes for food resources. The intimacy you get is stunning. (It is directed by the same guy who did My Octopus Teacher.) Love triangles, betrayal, misfits, mafia bosses, murder. The personalities and drama are shockingly familiar. It is the chimpanzee equivalent of The Game of Thrones. I sure hope they keep it going with future seasons. — KK