Here we are again - the long Christmas week.

With New Year’s still a week away, a lot of us will have a lot of free time over the next couple of days: the perfect opportunity to relax and throw something on the TV...

2018 was something of a landmark for Netflix - it was the first year the streaming giant really became a major player in terms of original film after tentative steps over the past few years. From brand new films from some of the world’s best directors to the release of Orson Welles’ final masterpiece (finished three decades after his death), Netflix went all-in this year.

Here are some of the highlights, as well as some other gems well worth checking out.

Roma

In a year that saw quite a few noteworthy Netflix originals, Roma is the undisputed highlight.

Roma is the latest from the acclaimed director Alfonso Cuarón, best known for Gravity and Children of Men. His latest is in some ways a departure from his more fantastical material, but this is unmistakably his film - full of extraordinarily rich imagery and hypnotic long camera shots.

It’s also his most personal film to date. Set in Mexico in the early 1970s, the film focuses on Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio) - the live-in maid and nanny living in a wealthy household. Over the course of the film, Cleo and the family become embroiled in both domestic turmoil and political upheaval.

It’s a relatively low-key film, but beautifully so and packed full of genuine emotion. Very likely the best thing Netflix has ever put its name to, don’t be surprised if you hear a whole lot more about Roma when Oscar season rolls around.

Ballad of Buster Scruggs

It’s a testament to Netflix’s punching weight (and its seemingly endless finances) that they’re able to secure new works from filmmakers as well-known as the Coen Brothers.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs reportedly started life as a TV series, before morphing into a film - the transition is obvious, with the final release taking the form of an anthology film broken into distinct chapters. Still, this is vintage Coens - a playful, darkly comic series of stories that subvert the norms and expectations of the western genre.

Like any anthology film, you’ll inevitably like some chapters more than others. For our money, highlights include the titular opening section featuring a very musical cowboy played by Tim Blake Nelson, and a mid-film chapter about a gold-digger (Tom Waits) searching for his fortune in a mountain valley. Still, all six segments entertain and surprise in their own ways - the film runs over two hours, but the time flies by.

Shirkers

Netflix has long had a good reputation for original documentaries, and a highlight this year was Sandi Tan’s remarkable recounting of a cinematic masterpiece that never was. Tan was the writer and star of Shirkers - a 1992 production by a group of young filmmakers in Singapore. While those behind the film wanted it to be the calling card for a new wave of independent Singapore cinema, it sadly was never completed.

In this documentary, we got hints of what might have been with plentiful footage from the lost film. But every bit engaging is the story of the production itself - in particular what Tan discovers about her old film teacher and Shirkers’ director Georges Cardona.

As Tan takes a very personal deep dive into the past, we find out more about the strain the production had on the friendships of those involved, as well as the complicated reasons why the feature was never finished. A fascinating gem of a documentary.

Private Life

One of the problems with the steady stream of content released online these days is that some things may get lost in the crowd. Private Life, the new film from writer/director Tamara Jenkins, may not have had the same profile as some of the films on this list, but it’s well worth your time.

The excellent Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn star as a New York couple who are desperately trying to have a child of their own. As they work through the IVF process, they also start looking into adoption and surrogacy. Things get very complicated, however, when they recruit a good friend’s daughter as a possible surrogate mother.

Private Life is as funny as it is poignant, but it’s most notable as an unusually intimate, honest look at modern pre-parenthood.

Giamatti and Hahn are two of the best actors in independent American cinema, and this is a great showcase for their talents.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Looking for something for the whole family? You could do a whole lot worse than this delightful animation.

Kubo is the latest stop-motion film from Laika, the studio known for films such as Coraline and ParaNorman. A fantasy set in feudal Japan, it’s almost definitely their most ravishing production to date with some truly astonishing art design and imaginative setpieces. The story follows the adventures of Kubo - a young boy armed with a magical guitar-like instrument. While it’s a little bit slower than your average modern family film, it is nonetheless packed with wonders.

It didn’t a major dent in the box office back in 2016, unfortunately, but if you’re looking for some high-quality, family-friendly animation this Christmas Kubo and the Two Strings is a very good bet.

Arrival

Not a Netflix original, but this recent… ahem… arrival deserves your attention.

Linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is asked by the US army to become a member of a team attempting to make contact with aliens who have arrived on Earth in a dozen mysterious spacecraft. After initial struggles to make meaningful contact, Louise makes a breakthrough and soon learns to communicate with the strange creatures. However, not everybody is willing to take a peaceful approach...

Denis Villeneuve’s film is mainstream sci-fi with a difference - it tones down the bombast in favour of a more grounded, thoughtful take on a ‘first contact’ story. Arrival's helped along by some outstanding visuals and music, which makes this both thought-provoking and spectacular.