From XO, Kitty Season 2 to Wolf Man, Should You Add These to Your Watchlist?
Spy parents, chaos in love, and werewolf lore, we’re talking about new movies and shows and if they’re worth the watch.
Back in Action
Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz reunite for their third film in Netflix’s Back in Action. It marks Diaz’s first film in 10 years as it follows former spies who disappear into a normal married life. Fifteen years and two kids later, they’re brought back into action when their past finally catches up to them.
The film starts off strong with plenty of action, humor, and a stellar soundtrack, highlighting Foxx and Diaz’s chemistry. But half way through, Back in Action loses its energy. The supporting characters and their motivations get lost in the shuffle and the plot drags along until it reaches its formulaic ending. A fine enough action film, it teases a sequel that isn’t earned.
Back in Action is streaming on Netflix.
Goosebumps: The Vanishing
The new chapter of the anthology Goosebumps: The Vanishing finds twins Devin and Cece Brewer and their friends uncovering dark secrets tied to teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994. Each episode pulls inspiration from a Goosebumps book by R.L. Stine including Stay Out of The Basement, The Haunted Car, Monster Blood, The Girl Who Cried Monster, The Ghost Next Door, and Welcome to Camp Nightmare.
This season introduces us to a rising young ensemble that come together against mysterious alien creatures that we still don’t know much about by the end. While there are gross out Venom symbiote-style moments, the episodes felt uneven when it came to horror. With a heavy focus on sci-fi, I was missing some of the more classic scares seen in Goosebumps.
Laid
Stephanie Hsu stars as Ruby Yao, a single woman who finds that everyone she’s ever slept with is mysteriously dying in Laid. She teams up with her murder board-loving best friend AJ (Zosia Mamet) to try to stop the curse.
Ruby is pretty selfish and would be quite unlikeable if it wasn’t for the bold performance by Hsu. She has you rooting for her despite the consistent mistakes she makes, while Mamet is a stand out as her supportive and hilarious best friend. There are tons of exciting cameos and the script is full of funny and niche jokes. The season ends with a twist that sets up plenty of new lore around Ruby’s curse to explore on a deeper level in a potential second season.
The first season of Laid is streaming on Peacock.
Wolf Man
Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) gets a letter confirming his missing father’s death and uses it as an opportunity to reconnect with his family as they travel to Oregon to pack up his childhood home in Wolf Man. When they are attacked, they bunker down in the old farmhouse to hide from the creature. But things take a turn when Blake starts to transform into something equally as terrifying.
The film is part of the Dark Universe, which is a relaunch of the classic Universal Monsters in the style of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It kicked off with the success of Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man in 2020. Now Whannell returns to direct Wolf Man, which gives us a new look at the werewolf tale rooted in fatherhood and family. Abbott puts his all into his role as an active father who will do anything to protect his young daughter, while Julia Garner feels miscast. The jump scares got me and I enjoyed the atmosphere and visuals from the POV of the monster, but you’ll see the twists and turns coming from a mile away. All in all, Wolf Man is fine, but extremely predictable.
Wolf Man is playing in theaters.
XO, Kitty Season 2
Nothing can keep Kitty Song-Covey (Anna Cathcart) down! With help from Yuri, Kitty is back in Seoul at KISS for XO, Kitty season 2. There’s plenty of new love interests, a suspicious new roommate, and Kitty is ready to finally learn the truth about her family.
There’s still too much flip flopping of love interests and the story is a bit rushed. There’s a fun new addition of a music program in the series, which I wish they explored further as the musical moments were a particular highlight. Something that was missing in the first season was a more solid connection back to the To All The Boys universe, which was remedied this season as Noah Centineo makes a cameo as Peter Kavinsky. It was a welcome addition to the show. Through all the ups and downs of life at KISS, Kitty has been on a journey to understand her late mother Eve better and we see her fulfill her mother’s wish of reuniting with long lost family members. With that big mystery solved, the show ends on a big frustrating cliffhanger around Kitty’s relationship with none other than Min Ho — perhaps we’ll get answers in a potential third season.
All in all, XO, Kitty season 2 is a cute, fast binge watch. While I wasn’t a huge fan of season 1, I found the new season to move in a better direction.
Watch both seasons of XO, Kitty streaming on Netflix.
