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There are roughly 47,000—oh, wait, a new Netflix Original just dropped; make that 47,001—TV shows and movies coming out each week. At Obsessed, we consider it our social duty to help you see the best and skip the rest.
We’ve already got a variety of in-depth, exclusive coverage on all of your streaming favorites and new releases, but sometimes what you’re looking for is a simple Do or Don’t. That’s why we created See/Skip, to tell you exactly what our writers think you should See and what you can Skip from the past week’s crowded entertainment landscape.
Skip: What Happens Later
What Happens Later is, sadly, not the rom-com comeback that Meg Ryan fans (Meg-Ryfans) have hoped for. A stilted hodge-podge of ideas muddles an ambitious, single-location idea into something that verges on peculiar, and at times, sinister.
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“You may think you know what a Meg Ryan rom-com is going to look like. You might even think you’ve got her latest one—What Happens Later (in theaters Nov. 3), which also happens to be her first role in almost a decade—pegged from half an hour into its run. The film, about torrid ex-lovers stranded in the same regional airport on Leap Day, has an air of surreality to it. It’s so small, efficient, and hyper-focused on the dynamic between its two stars that one can’t help but wonder if something truly catastrophic has happened outside of the floor-to-ceiling picture windows of this provincial terminal. “Maybe this isn’t a Meg Ryan rom-com after all,” you’ll say. “Maybe it’s a Meg Ryan dystopian thriller.”
But even that guess would be incorrect. What Happens Later has far fewer twists than its dreamlike atmosphere purports, though it happily teases its audience until its final moments. For all of its build-up, the movie ultimately deflates with a disappointing squeal, like a half-blown-up balloon that someone abandoned because finishing the process felt like too much work. While it’s not a complete and total dud—there is romance, there is comedy, and there is electric chemistry between Ryan and her equally game co-star David Duchovny—What Happens Later tries to do too much with too little, devolving into a saccharine misfire that not even a genre legend can hold up.”
See: Invincible Season 2
Invincible Season 2 continues this superb superhero story’s impressive exploration of human dread and depression. Even if that sounds a little trite, the series finds exciting ways to revamp superhero stories and trauma dissections. Super powerful, indeed!
Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:
“What happens when you’re a superhero with the opportunity to do… well, pretty much anything? According to Invincible, you cry about how much you miss your dad. You have unlimited existential crises over all the lives you’ve seen lost. You panic about accidentally crushing your girlfriend during sex. Sure, you crush a few skulls and save the day here and there, but the gig comes with a lot more baggage than any of us could ever imagine.
In Prime Video’s animated superhero show, which returns for Season 2 on Nov. 3, the fear for protagonist Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) is never the Big Bads he’ll face. Instead, it’s always the feeling of dread after a battle, returning to the real world where his life has turned into a sob story. The show, which is adapted from creator Robert Kirkman’s (The Walking Dead) comic book, has offered a unique take on the superhero formula from the start. With its sophomore season, Invincible joins the ranks of Prime Video’s similar hit The Boys as a twisted, emotional tale of epic proportions.”
Sylvester Stallone in Sly.
NetflixSkip: Sly
Sly is an obnoxiously superficial portrait of icon Sylvester Stallone that, while fascinating at points, fancies itself to be inherently interesting simply because it exists. But not even an actor as good as Stallone can cover up his own faux candor on display.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“Sylvester Stallone paints himself as a self-made man who created a Hollywood persona rooted in his true character, struggles and spirit in Sly, Thom Zimny’s hagiographic documentary. By letting him tell his own tale, however, this non-fiction affair—debuting on Netflix Nov. 3, following its world premiere at this fall’s Toronto International Film festival—provides only some of his story, its up-close-and-personal view masking as much as it reveals.
‘Hell yeah, I have regrets. But that also is what motivates me to overcome the regrets,’ says Stallone at the start of Sly. As the ensuing snapshot of the artist conveys, the mistakes that most plague him have to do with prioritizing work over family. Despite much talk about putting his career ahead of his wife and children, though, there’s so little substantial mention of his clan or personal life that the sentiment rings hollow. It’s not that Stallone seems to be lying so much as he wants to grapple with such issues via generalities. By refusing to even say his kids’ or wife’s names on-camera, much less discuss the nature of his relationships with them, he neuters his own purported desire to reckon with the missteps he believes he’s made along his A-list career path.
(l-r) Guerdy Abraira, Larsa Pippen, Lisa Hochstein, Julia Lemigova, Alexia Nepola, Nicole Martin, and Kiki Barth.
Jeff Daly/BravoSee: Real Housewives of Miami Season 6
Real Housewives of Miami returns to its home network for a typically over-the-top sixth season filled with plenty of cockies (alcohol, not…the other thing) and senseless spats, courtesy of what may be Bravo’s most hilarious cast of Housewives.
Here’s Kyndall Cunningham’s take:
“The first season of Real Housewives of New York City reboot is finally behind us. And I can safely say that I never need to see women cry that much on a Housewives show—and especially at a reunion. This isn’t to disregard any of the cast members’ hardships or tough upbringings. We all have our own trauma, including Erin for having to babysit her younger siblings. However, the producers clearly thought they could make us connect with this random ensemble of women by sympathizing with them. And while I did feel genuine compassion for some of them, I mostly just sat at my computer screen waiting to laugh.
That said, I can’t think of a better antidote to RHONY’s problems than the current season of Real Housewives of Miami, which made the move from Bravo to Peacock and back to Bravo in its sixth season. For those who enjoyed the reboot’s cinematography, you’ll be glad to know that RHOM is just as vibrant and dreamy on cable. No one has downsized their lavish living, minus Lisa Hochstein, who’s in the throes of a divorce from her demonic ex-husband, Lenny. Nor has anyone modified their wacky, delusional behavior, thankfully. In this supersized premiere, Julia Lemigova puts diapers on a goat, Adriana de Moura brings a literal white flag to a lunch, and Alexia Nepola says, with a serious face, that she’s the perfect person to bring the girls back together after last season’s drama. I love comedy!”
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