How Is ‘Babylon’ Such an Epic Disaster?
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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: Babylon
Babylon is an over-the-top feast of Hollywood hedonism, the latest in a string of “love letters” to the movies. Too bad it’s really just a barrel of stars who can’t keep it from spinning down the toilet of dead-weight debauchery.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“Chockablock with profanity, nudity, and all manner of demented degradation, Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to First Man is a three-hour work of grand and grotesque excess that strives to celebrate the wondrous power of the movies. All it does, however, is crassly steal the magic of its superior ancestors, right up to a finale that parasitically pinches yesteryear’s classics for the pathos it can’t conjure on its own.
‘Babylon’ Is an Orgy of Every Worst Idea in Hollywood
Chazelle’s lumpen, maudlin, misbegotten opus has almost too many illustrious forefathers to list, although Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese certainly have valid paternity claims on their hands, as does Paul Thomas Anderson, whose Boogie Nights is pilfered ad nauseam.”
Lucas Bravo and Lily Collins in Emily in Paris.
See: Emily in Paris
Emily in Paris has something special that no other show has. Maybe it’s Lily Collins’ heinous outfits, or maybe it’s the McBaguette. But Season 3 evolves its same love triangle formula into more dopey escapades, a real treat for fans of the series.
Here’s Fletcher Peter’s take:
“Each new season of Emily in Paris somehow feels like the same story is being repeated again, and yet somehow a completely different show. The plots are the same—every single character is in a love triangle at this point, with the Emily (Lily Collins)/Gabriel (Lucas Bravo)/Camille (Camille Razat) entanglement still ongoing—but the format keeps being reinvented. Emily is obsessed with being an influencer and posting to Instagram in the first season, but by Season 3, we rarely get to see her iconic chunky camera phone case.
‘Emily in Paris’ Is More Wonderfully Ridiculous Than Ever
Sure, the chocolate croissant Insta posts are missed (and so are Emily’s tongue-in-cheek captions), but the evolving formula leaves room for dopey new escapades with the same Emily in Paris sheen.”
Naomi Ackie in I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
Skip: I Wanna Dance With Somebody
I Wanna Dance With Somebody will make audiences tire of hearing Whitney Houston’s voice, an egregious sin. It’s a Wikipedia article as a film, and at some point, you just want to stop scrolling.
Here’s Kevin Fallon’s take:
“Watching I Wanna Dance With Somebody is, overall, a strange experience. It is a crowd pleaser. It features all of Houston’s most iconic performances. At my screening, people applauded after each song, as if they were watching Houston herself sing. (Ackie lip syncs, impressively, to recordings of Houston’s voice.)
Whitney Houston Deserves So Much Better Than ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’
The movie borders on being a concert film, which is fan service that it’s too preoccupied by. There is so much insistence on meticulously portraying every memorable note, movement, and glance, leaving the scenes that are supposed to reveal what it took for Houston to produce them to seem like an afterthought.”
Billie Piper in I Hate Suzie Too.
See: I Hate Suzie Too
I Hate Suzie Too is the most heart-wrenching, gutting, and gut-busting show of the holiday season. It’s a Christmas special about Suzie Pickles’ (Billie Piper) stint on a dancing competition show. What fun! What joy! Good tidings to all!
Here’s Allegra Frank’s take:
“This is a woman whose quest for stardom is ill-fated, doomed by her unsatisfied need to be loved by people who are not good for her. For as good of a mother as she is to Frank, Suzie is best defined by her failures. It’s what makes her such a compelling character, made even more so by Piper’s stellar performance.
‘I Hate Suzie Too’ Will Give You a Panic Attack for Christmas
Piper inhabits a woman constantly on the verge of a breakdown, imbuing her with a sense of unsteadiness that feels authentic, thrilling, and a little horrifying. It’s hard not to laugh at her as she clowns around with a plastered smile, bobbing and weaving between ‘I want to bury into a hole and die’ energy and reality show, talking-head posturing. But it’s also easy to pity her at the same time.”
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