Valentijn78

I have no experience with the base material, but the series stands on its own. Numerous wealthy cutthroat children of powerful families vie with each other for ascendancy at their boarding school, but are disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious newcomer.

It's not a unique setup, but the delivery shines. It takes the usual ridiculous aspect of such shows, and instead of glossing over them, leans in hard. For example, teachers and actual classes just somehow just don't exist at all instead of merely lurking in the background. The natural uggo factor of school uniforms is replaced by edgy style, etc. Except instead of ignoring the unrealistic eye candy and convenient plot devices, the characters crack jokes about them.

And in the nature of camp, there's numerous 1980's references and stylistic flashes. Literally every character is an utterly over-the-top stereotype, but the strong plot and script full of hilarious quips holds them together. The only real weakness is that a lot of the younger actors are relatively inexperienced, and it shows at times.

I'm a sucker for musicals, and this ticked all the boxes: excellent vocals, a decent variety of songs, and a coherent and engaging plot. I hadn't heard of Sadie Sink before, but she blew me away both as an actress and as a musician.

The dystopian and sci-fi elements were a refreshing change in a genre which usually favors retro setting, and it didn't descend into the total cheese-fest that can subsume the more flamboyant sci-fi productions. A fraught teenage love-story isn't particularly novel, but the emotional aspects were convincing and the outcome wasn't trite or obvious.

The futuristic visuals were muddled, but that played nicely into the dystopian aspect. It made the world disjointed and disconcerting, as it should be, while some of the visuals (rainbow oil, pink earth) added dreamy elements. And the hyper-processed vocals from the singing villains was a nice touch.

My biggest criticism would be the dominance of power ballads. While each song was well-composed and balanced, the repeated succession of power ballads made the later ones feel repetitive when they should have been the most impactful.

I want more of this.

A well-made Hollywood movie. Good soundtrack, actors, filming, etc etc. But ...

First of all, this is not the rom-com which IMDB has labeled it - it simply has the superficial plot of one, and no discernible comedy. Netflix's "Drama" label is closer, despite lacking the expected depth or intelligence.

I really wish the writers had been able to leave it at a simple and shallow romance. But then we get the message near the end that pursuing a career is making the famous and well-paid TV ladies very unhappy, because of course they must choose between having that career or staying home with the Mr Rights who apparently can't conceive of moving for her career.

I couldn't bring myself to care what happened to the main character after that tidbit, and honestly didn't even pay attention to outcomes of the prophecy, romance, or job.

Jolie's performance was good - she made a convincing superficial television personality. But the bleach blonde being a natural blonde in childhood flashbacks was intrusively bizarre.