Maya Hawke’s ‘Inside Out 2’ Character Is All Too Relatable
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.
See: Inside Out 2
Inside Out 2 might retread the same themes and plot structure as its predecessor, but why mess with a great, heart-wrenching formula? Pixar’s latest is the win that they need, led by a hilarious Maya Hawke as the film’s best new character: the all-too-relatable Anxiety.
Here’s Allegra Frank’s take:
“There’s a lot riding on Inside Out 2, Pixar’s 28th feature film, which hits theaters June 14. As the sequel to a beloved, Oscar-winning movie, it arrives with high expectations from fans. But it also means a lot to Pixar’s bottom line. The venerated animation studio has suffered numerous setbacks in recent years, due to the back-to-back disappointments of Lightyear (a commercial and critical flop) and Elemental, which posted the studio’s worst-ever opening weekend, before bouncing back by the end of its theatrical run. A string of pandemic-era Disney+ exclusives performed well critically, but they left the impression that skipping the theater to watch the new Pixar movie at home is a solid option. This led to layoffs and a stated commitment to reorient the studio’s production strategy away from personal, original pictures and toward sequels and spinoffs of surefire hits—just like this one.
‘Inside Out 2’ Is Brilliant: The Win Pixar Desperately Needs
Animation fans and cinephiles balked at the report that Pixar was going hard on franchises and established stories, which is a reasonable reaction. The studio is beloved for its original storytelling, and cashing in on popularity is what gave us the abysmal Cars trilogy. Thankfully, the charming Inside Out 2 suggests that returning to the well of its tried-and-true may not be such a bad thing after all. It’s not just a fitting sequel; it’s one of the studio’s best films in years.”
See: Tuesday
Tuesday has everything moviegoers want: a size-shifting bird that vapes, meditations on grief and death, and a wonderful dramatic performance from Julia Louis-Dreyfus. If only those weren’t so jumbled by the film’s ambitious but lopsided script.
Lola Petticrew and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“For as much as studies of grief and death have been twisted and mangled into trite gimmicks in the genre films of late, it’s rare to see a manifestation of the reaper that doesn’t come in the form of some horrific demon or protracted paranoia. Toni Collette’s grief got her family sucked into a cult in Hereditary; Natalie Portman grappled with her husband’s disappearance by venturing into a mutated Earth in Annihilation; sorrow was even portrayed as the literal Boogeyman in last summer’s lazy film of the same name. And, of course, there was the top-hatted apparition in The Babadook, the film from the past decade that’s easiest to point to when examining the abstract ways in which grief can be portrayed in cinema.
A Giant Talking Bird Is No Match for Julia Louis-Dreyfus in ‘Tuesday’
But in Tuesday, the feature film debut from writer-director Daina O. Pusić, death appears in the form of something much more unusual: a mutating, talking macaw (voiced by Arinzé Kene). This strangely beautiful vision of Death flies around the world, killing every living being—from house flies to humans—when their time comes. In the film, Death arrives at the home of Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her terminally ill teenage daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), who suffers from an unspecified illness that keeps her in chronic pain. Death assumes that helping Tuesday pass on will be business as usual, but both her bright spirit and appreciation for the world stop him in his tracks. Before long, the world’s balance is thrown out of whack, and when Zora further intervenes to save her daughter’s life, Tuesday morphs into something as truly fantastical as it is frustrating.”
See: The Boys Season 4
The Boys Season 4 finds the superhero series as maximalist and outrageous as ever, but with an even sharper focus on its cultural and political commentary. Yes, it’s true: You can make an insightful show about the dangers of fascism that features human centipede sex!
Erin Moriarty
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“The Boys’ fourth season revolves around its numerous characters’ attempts to grapple with past mistakes, regrets, and traumas. Yet despite that narrative focus, Eric Kripke’s wild superhero series remains a forward-thinking affair that has its crimson-stained finger on the pulse of our present, dysfunctional American reality. Once again attuned to contemporary political and entertainment-industry discord, the Prime Video hit, which returns June 13, continues to use its comic book conceit to plumb the ugly depths of domestic strife and, in doing so, to trace the many steps that lead democracies into fascism. In terms of shining a spotlight on the factors threatening to transform the United States into a new extremist Reich, it’s as sharp as anything on television—not to mention as outrageous as ever, its satire infused with trademark X-rated explicitness.
‘The Boys’ Returns With More Fascism, Blood, and…Human Centipede Sex???
While The Boys’ latest run may not feature a jaw-dropping sight to equals last season’s premiere-episode sex scene, that’s not for lack of trying; from a human centipede-style clone orgy and a photo of a gaping rear end to a gaggle of suped-up animals and, ultimately, a ‘murder boner,’ Kipke’s series habitually pushes the boundaries of good taste. Such sensationalism is, on the one hand, simply a byproduct of its out-there sense of humor, which includes ceaseless creative profanity. However, it’s also central to its critique of a modern world that’s gone increasingly mad. Of course, in this universe, society has been fundamentally altered by Vought International’s Compound-V, a drug that bestows humans with extraordinary abilities. Yet despite its outlandish premise, Kripke’s saga (based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic of the same name) is vital for the ways in which it ridicules not merely its genre but, additionally, the current, perilous state of the union.”
See: Hotel Cocaine
Perfect Match Season 2 builds on its middling first season with more sex, scandal, and sleaze—just how we like it. Netflix reality obsessives will be head over heels for this new installment, which is the ideal summer binge for anyone craving oiled-up men in ugly patterned shirts.
Yul Vazquez, Danny Pino, and Michael Chiklis
Here’s Barry Levitt’s take:
“The glitz and glamor of 1978 Miami comes to life within the walls of the Hotel Mutiny, an exclusive members club. Here, you can leave your worries at the door and indulge in pure ecstasy. Literally. Miami’s hottest destination is a place of drug-fuelled debauchery, sure, but also a place where you can leave your worries at check-in and let go of all that ails you. And if you’re a member of the Mutiny club, there’s an exceptional chance you have some seriously heavy worries.
If You Miss ‘Narcos,’ You Should Watch ‘Hotel Cocaine’
Created by Chris Brancato, Hotel Cocaine, premiering June 16 on MGM+, begins with a furious energy, matched by Swizz Beats' opening earworm, a song so catchy you’ll be singing ‘Hotel Cocaine’ like it isn’t an absolutely ridiculous title. The show's sense of excitement immediately separates it from its crime-drama competitors, as this seems to offer something different: Who said the cocaine trade can’t be fun?
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