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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: Ghosted
Ghosted’s screenplay plays like it was written after spilling water all over a Chromebook on its last legs. Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are a duo devoid of charm, the latter of whom continues her strange selection of roles in this bland action comedy.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“Ghosted is a big-budget, star-studded action-romance premiering on Apple TV+ Apr. 21, although a more fitting destination for it would be a dark closet on a high shelf where no one might ever find it. Featuring not a single convincing element or exchange, this fiasco plays like a wannabe-Knight and Day exercise in eliciting annoyed reactions: groans for its awful one-liners, exclamations for its moronic plot twists, and eyerolls for its terrible CGI and desperate cameos. It feels like ChatGPT wrote it, and the fact that it didn’t is all the more damning for those who did.
The responsible scribes in question would be the duos behind the Deadpool films (Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) and Marvel’s recent Spider-Man trilogy (Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers), who bring none of those predecessors’ wit and charm to this derivative undertaking.
Directed with maximum clunkiness by Rocketman’s Dexter Fletcher, Ghosted concerns the dreary adventure of two characters who are completely unreal and share zero chemistry. Chris Evans is Cole, a farmer who works for his parents (Tate Donovan and Amy Sedaris, who must have had him when they were quite young) and spends his time being a jerk to customers at the local farmers’ market.”
See: Somebody Somewhere
Somebody Somewhere Season 2 allows even the smallest of emotions to feel as monumental as we sometimes need them to, letting humor repair the cracks just long enough for us to be broken back open again. Real life has never felt so good.
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“If you’ve yet to watch an episode of HBO’s wonderful Somebody Somewhere, I am extremely jealous of you. You have the experience of a lifetime to look forward to, should you choose to press play. But you also wouldn’t be alone in your hesitation. The half-hour-ish dramedy’s first season aired last year to rave reviews and a slew of awards nominations, but still flew under most people’s radars.
Somebody Somewhere, which premieres its second season Sunday night, is a comedy without the dark humor of Barry, and a drama without the cutthroat narcissism of Succession. For a series so seemingly incomparable, Somebody Somewhere has no shortage of relatability. It’s that stunning empathy that gives this small show its cogent edge.
In its second season, Somebody Somewhere replicates everything its first seven episodes did so well, without ever feeling like a retread. This latest batch of beauty confirms the series as one of the decade’s finest, thanks to its delightful ensemble cast and a knack for fleshing out life’s minutiae, with gravity and irreverence in equal measure.”
See: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret proves that the classics are always timely, in a brilliant coming-of-age story that has the potential to be just as impactful as Judy Blume’s beloved novel, for both kids and parents alike.
Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:
“For quite a while, the relentless revamping of treasured children’s stories was the most annoying trend in contemporary filmmaking. No, Disney, we don’t need live action remakes for The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and Moana, a movie that was released less than a decade ago. Who asked for Shawn Mendes crooning pop songs in a bonkers Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile adaptation? Don’t even get me started on Wednesday.
All this considered, it felt natural to be skeptical of the first big screen adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume’s seminal coming-of-age novel. Thankfully, it’s unlike any of these aforementioned retellings. This recreation joins Paddington in the canon of rare adaptations that are even better than their already stellar original stories.
Somehow, the movie manages to make good on a promise to stay faithful to the original story, while also bringing in charming new elements to brighten it up. This adaptation isn’t just for young teen girls in health classes—it’s witty and heartwarming enough to please every audience member, no matter their age, gender identity, or relationship with the book.”
See: Suzume
Suzume hits all the right notes with its dazzling anime, creating a bold heroine for a new age of animation lovers, who is sure to prove herself as enduring and refined as those in any of the genre’s biggest hits.
Here’s Jasmine Valentine’s take:
“Director Makoto Shinkai (2016’s Your Name) has delivered a new female protagonist that scratches the itch for effective representation with his newest film, now in theaters. Enter Suzume, a 17-year-old high schooler who’s suddenly faced with the possible end of the world, after she opens a misplaced door. In the film of the same name (another green flag), Suzume meets a dashing stranger by the name of Sōta, who explains that it’s his job to travel the country closing these doors—or “gates”—to a mysterious in-between world, which our protagonists believe to be a paradise.
Even outside of its sprightly female protagonist, Suzume is a movie that ticks plenty of boxes. It’s a film that’s both joyous and able to tap into an abundance of moral dilemmas, including family dynamics, childhood trauma, and the will-they-won’t-they of platonic work colleagues. Suzume never overly explains itself, but it doesn’t have to. Every scene has a clear purpose, driving the narrative (and Suzume) forward to bigger and better things.”
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