‘Kaleidoscope’: The Netflix Series That Will Change How You Watch TV
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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.
See: Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope is a thrilling heist tale with a bold twist. Episodes are presented to all Netflix users in a different order, and putting the pieces of its central mystery together might just be enough to pull you out of that New Year’s Eve champagne haze. That and, like, five McChickens.
Here’s Coleman Spilde’s take:
“As it turns out, Kaleidoscope is even more fun if you play around with it. Upon closer examination, Netflix mixes up the episodes for each user in three different sets: The first two installments (“Yellow” and “Green”), followed by the middle three (“Orange,” “Blue,” and “Violet”), concluding with the final two prior to the finale (“Red,” and “Pink”). But undoubtedly, some users will break the rules and hop around, looking for clues that help make sense of the series and testing whether the disorganized nature actually works.
Netflix’s Mind-Bending Heist Is 2023’s First Great Series
The series itself is a delightful mind-bender, one that’s even more satisfying to connect the dots to when you think about how the episodes will play in different orders. But Kaleidoscope doesn’t only rely on the unusual narrative device it uses to snare its viewers. Beneath those shuffled colors is a slick and stylish heist series that keeps the tension building as it skips through timelines. Viewers will find that their allegiances change depending on the episode order, making the greed and betrayal even more intriguing. Pair all of that with a cast of stellar performers, whose characters are as cunning as they are conniving, and Netflix had just dropped the first great series of 2023.”
Skip: The Witcher: Blood Origin
The Witcher: Blood Origin is a strange, four-installment prequel to Netflix’s fantasy series that commits an even worse crime than being dreadfully boring: misusing Michelle Yeoh. Time to ditch-er this witcher.
Here’s Nick Schager’s take:
“So generic as to feel focus-tested, The Witcher: Blood Origin, which launches on Netflix on Dec. 25, is framed as an ancient legend recounted to bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) by some ill-defined shapeshifter played by Minnie Driver, who wants him to sing a vital old story back to life. There’s endless talk about songs and storytelling strewn throughout Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich’s series, yet it’s just decorative babble intended to lend weight to what amounts to a rehash of every other swords-and-sorcery saga from the past half-century.
‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ Is the Worst ‘Game of Thrones’ Copycat Yet
Why Michelle Yeoh chose to lend her considerable talents to such a tossed-off venture—one that barely utilizes her over the course of its four installments, and offers her scant future franchise opportunities—is a question left unanswered by The Witcher: Blood Origin. It’s a deflating end to her standout year, and further proof that Netflix’s would-be fantasy goliath is just a pale imitation of its bigger, more established magic-and-might brothers. If the streaming service continues to have long-term designs for The Witcher, it would do well to more drastically differentiate it from its competitors—and, additionally, to convince Cavill to stick around.”
See: Matilda the Musical
Matilda the Musical manages the rare, extraordinary feat of making precocious singing children not annoying. In fact, it’s a musical marvel you’ll want to watch again and again. Revenge and justice never sounded quite so good.
Here’s Kevin Fallon’s take:
“There’s something gratifying during the holiday season about watching children stage an uprising against a sniveling, diabolical, oppressing overlord who has ruined their lives. In their success, those kids turn the world into the accepting utopia it should be. That is to say that this holiday season in particular, with those in power hellbent on making life miserable for us all, there’s something invigorating about Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical. I had been resistant to watching the musical, which is now on Netflix. I don’t know why. I love musicals. Now that I’ve seen it, I feel foolish. It’s wonderful.
Netflix’s ‘Matilda the Musical’ Is a Thrilling Blast With a Surprising Message
Director Matthew Warchus did something that, bafflingly, is rare for recent movie musicals: He let us see the dancing. Long, sustained group shots allow us to see these kids nailing incredible choreography. The highlight of the film, “Revolting Children,” finds the students storming through the hallways while executing complicated dance moves that are all rapid movement and sharp elbows, captured in vigorous, long tracking shots as they move through the school. It ranks high among the coolest movie sequences I’ve seen this year. “We are revolting children living in revolting times,” they sing, as they take back their right to a happy life—heck, even just a normal one. “We will become a screaming horde… Never again will we be ignored.” I gotta say: It’s quite the rallying cry.”
See: The Best Animated Films and Television of 2022
From Pinocchio to Marcel the Shell, 2022 was a fabulous year for innovative animation. And like most years, a good portion of animated greatness flew under the radar. We compiled them, so we’re not doomed to repeat the past.
Here’s Allegra Frank’s take:
“Since I’ve had the ability to do so, I’ve been shouting the same dang thing from every couch, desk chair, and barstool upon which I perch: Give animation a chance! It is, without fail, the most inspiring visual medium—the work of creating something out of nothing, translating dreams into reality, and making the fantastical relatable. Nothing feels more exciting to me than an especially successful animated work for these reasons. It’s cinema at its purest, finest, and most fun.
The 12 Best Animated Movies and Shows of 2022
But animation is regularly passed over by quote-unquote “mainstream” critics, who are largely hoity-toity adults who can’t fathom spending time watching that cutesy stuff for children. Never mind that films like L’Illusionniste and Grave of the Fireflies are among the most heartbreaking in history, or that The Simpsons is the world’s most consistently funny sitcom. Interpreting what’s in your mind’s eye into something tangible—er, visible—is child’s play, compared to the heavy-duty work of having human beings make faces at a camera.”
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