I often recall watching a movie but can’t remember its ending. There is a website called Movie Spoilers that allows you to search for nearly any movie, providing a concise summary of the main plot, the key characters and their roles, as well as the ending. In an attempt to stump the website's database, I searched for The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), and to my surprise, it was there. — MF

A good example of how technology and innovation can transform even something as elemental as surfing, check out this documentary series on HBO Max called 100 Foot Wave. It’s about the zigzagging insane quest to surf a 100-foot wave. Because there is no professional surfing without professional photography to record it, this 12-part series documenting all 30 years of the quest is incredibly complete and cinematic. Big wave surfers are unique human beings. — KK

The movie I have rewatched the most often is the sci-fi classic The Fifth Element. Directed by Frenchman Luc Besson, it is sublime in most ways, especially its worldbuilding, and design style, which are influenced by French comic book artists rather than Hollywood. I somehow completely missed that Besson released another sci-fi film in 2017, this one based on a legendary French comic book series: Valerian. I only recently discovered Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets on Amazon Prime and have already rewatched it. Its plot is forgettable, but like the The Fifth Element, it’s all about a playful, whimsical, baroque high-fashion future, a style not seen in Hollywood science fiction movies. (Valerian is the most expensive indie film ever made.) This exuberant future seems to be more plausible than the sleek streamlined future we usually expect. — KK

The Three-Body Problem is an original science fiction book trilogy from China. It is a major phenom in China and a huge hit in the rest of the world, sweeping the major science fiction awards in the US. Tencent, the owner of WeChat, funded a TV series version that ran on China TV. You can watch an English-subtitled version of The Three-Body Problem on YouTube, complete with Chinese TV advertisements. Even though I read the books I found the movies hard to follow, and too arty in an effort to be cool. I would only recommend it for the most diehard fans of the books, or just to see how China does long-form TV. — KK

OpenCulture is a clearing house directory for thousands of free movies to watch, thousands of free audio books, free ebooks, free textbooks, free online courses, and all media free and open. — KK

Here is an uplifting, charming film that should not work, but does. It is a live-action film with a talking sea shell as the hero. Marcel-the-shell overcomes disabilities (he is just a sea shell!) to reunite his lost family. It’s adorable, strange, inventive, weird, and heartwarming. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On began real life as a YouTube short that went viral, and was turned into a feature film with expert stop-motion effects. It’s so odd, but joyful, you won’t forget it. Available for rental ($6) on all the commercial video streams. — KK

I’ve been a regular at Burning Man and this short video, called Above the Dust, is the best summation I’ve seen of the event’s energy. Burning Man is primarily a night city, and a leader in light innovation and urban experiences. – KK

The Star Wars series Andor is the best Star Wars so far. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. There are no jokey comedic relief scenes, so it seems aimed squarely at adults rather than kids. You feel for the villains. It has unexpected turns. Also it has the most sophisticated science fiction world-building since DUNE. Twelve episodes on Disney+. — KK

I giggled for an hour watching standup comedian Sheng Wang’s Netflix special, Sweet and Juicy. I love his uplifting and positive style, which is rare in comedy. He cracks jokes about enlightenment, except he is serious. And instead of long buildups to punchlines, he delivers an unending patter of quiet epiphanies. It’s laugh therapy! — KK

With so many streaming channels out there, it’s hard to keep up with what’s worth watching. A Good Movie to Watch is a freemium service that rates and recommends movies and shows. A premium subscription opens extra features, such as sort-by-rating. — MF

WeCrashed is the 8-part mini-series on Apple TV about the astounding rise and subsequent crash of WeWork, the office sharing company. It’s heavily fictionalized, but nonetheless a gripping drama about the kind of magical belief that is needed to do something big. I was very sympathetic at the beginning. This roller coaster movie is well-done, very convincing, incredibly watchable and all the more compelling because the protagonist, Adam Neumann, is back this week in real life with an even bigger scheme, which another billionaire funded for $350 million at day one. Watch this series to see where the real season 2 might go. — KK

I like to keep tabs on the pulse of the two largest countries in the world by watching their hit movies. The latest megahit in India is “RRR” which is the most expensive and highest grossing movie in India to date. It’s a Tollywood mythical superhero action movie, that is naturally very long (3 hours), over-the-top, color saturated, bonkers, ridiculous and bombastic, and suitably interrupted with fabulous song and dance. The despicable evil villains are British Raj colonials set in pre-independence India. It’s a delightful popcorn flick. On Netflix. — KK

Take the legendary Planet Earth TV series and marry it to Jurassic Park technology times one million and what you get is the fantastic new nature series narrated by David Attenborough, Prehistoric Planet. It’s about the life of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. It employs state of the art synthetic beings and the latest scientific understanding to depict everyday dino life with stunning veracity and clarity. It genuinely tracks like an intimate nature documentary. Streaming on Apple TV. — KK

The 6-part Netflix series Babies changed my ideas about human babies. Babies are far more smarter and adaptable than they appear. This series uses video from scientific experiments on babies to demonstrate their remarkable intelligence and stunning development. I look at them with renewed wonder now. The series is a remarkable work of science communication. I strongly recommend to any parent or grandparent. — KK

Pirates invented early forms of democracy and organizations that were far more “modern” in shape than other work environments in the past. But what if there was a Gentleman Pirate who gave his pirates diversity training, casual Fridays, safe places, suggestion boxes, and encouraged them to express their artistic natures with art projects? That’s the parody of a very funny HBO comedy series “Our Flag Means Death.” The farcical absurdity is just background for a midlife crisis and workplace drama that is witty, heartfelt, refreshing, and touching. I binged all ten episodes in two sittings. — KK

Throughout his career Dan Pink has been a master of distilling actionable advice about all parts of life. He is at peak wisdom in this series of videos that encapsulate an entire book’s-worth of advice into 3 minutes or less. Plus one dad-joke. He calls them Pinkcasts. They are totally worth your 3 minutes. — KK

I’ve been watching a lot of new streaming science fiction recently. My favorite shows, ranked in order of my enjoyment. — KK

• Dune (HBO) — Part 1. Perfect in all dimensions. Best world-building since Star Wars.

• The Expanse (Amazon) — Six seasons of an epic saga, with well-done characters and worlds.

• For All Mankind (Apple+) — Super fantastic counterfactual history of what if the Russians won the race to the Moon.

• Westworld (HBO) — Excellent cautionary tale of our relations with human-like robots. Already a classic.

• Ascension (Amazon) — Plenty of unexpected plot twists in story of 100-year ship to the stars.

• Silent Sea (Netflix) — Korean drama on Moon base.

• Station Eleven (HBO) — What if mostly actors survive a dystopia? Odd, perplexing, slow, but in a good way.

• Book of Boba Fett (Disney+) — Continuation of the Mandalorian space western, with shoot outs.

• Altered Carbon (Netflix) — Unlikely scenario, but rich, fun exploration of downloading personalities.

• Wandavision (Disney+) — Part of the Marvel universe. Amusing premise and very creative meta levels and format.

• Foundation (Apple+) — Based on classic book. Liked the beginning but I couldn’t finish it because it became too implausible.

You may remember the story of the Thai boys stranded in a deep cave years ago. There was an international effort to get them out that lasted weeks. But the story of how they actually rescued the kids is so unbelievable, so amazing, so insane, and so crazy that it is definitely worth watching The Rescue, the thrilling National Geographic documentary about this unlikely feat. The heroes of The Rescue are unexpected and unlikely themselves. I call this the best documentary of the year. (Streaming on Disney+) — KK

5 stars for the new movie DUNE. It’s the most exquisite world building (worlding) I’ve seen since Star Wars. Crisp, inventive, plausible and coherent. The soundtrack and cinematic style are appropriate to the world. The story is forceful and mythical. I want more. After you watched it once, but before you watch it again, this long Max Read annotation will fill you in on the Dune book/movie references. I watched it streamed on HBO, but it would be worth seeing it in a theater. — KK

One of the reasons I am relentlessly optimistic is that our capacity for innovation is greater than we think. Inventor Saul Griffith lays out a very optimistic plan whereby we can accomplish half of our climate goals simply by electrifying everything. Instead of burning carbon, we can use solar, wind, water, and nuclear to make electrons. Electric vehicles, stoves, furnaces, motors — all currently doable — are far more efficient than oxidizing carbon and bring compounding benefits. Griffith explains all in this readable and comprehensive new book, Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. It is an important vision because it is feasible. — KK