rilinafiu Reviews

Challengers (2024)

incomplete story and a bombardment of product ads

[6/10 · 27 May 2024]

I fear yall kinda overhyped this movie 🙃. Was it good? Yes I guess so. But did it live up to the expectation? Unfortunately no. Don't get me wrong Luca guadagnino is one of my favorite directors, you could put me in front of any of his shows/movies and I'll instantly be able to tell he worked on it. He has a certain brand/aesthetic that carries over across projects which makes them eye catching and captivatingeven with differing genres. And Josh O'Connor is by far my fav actor but this movie failed to do the one things all movies/shows are supposed to do which is have the actors act. Even in one man one scene projects like "American son" the actors are giving it all but here it just felt like an incomplete story and a bombardment of product ads and commercial. Moving on to the plot, I think they were all manipulative to each other and their relationship would've worked a lot better as a throuple cause the second Ant started to conspire and break them up, the flaws in all of them started to show. The music was boring and dull, acting:mediocre, storyline could've been more linear. However things they did good: camera angles were amazing, the metaphors use was brilliant, there was always that perfect pause and facial expression that'll captivate and reinforce the plot but the movie fails short at being as exhilarating. Zendaya said you're meant to watch it multiple times to "get it", but a proper film shouldn't need that. You would watch a movie a couple times if the first time was "that good" and you needed that "high".

Dead Boy Detectives (2024– )

For my supernatural fans

[9/10 · 29 April 2024]

This is exactly what I expected Lockwood and Co would be if the show was actually good. Definitely 9.3/10. If you were into chilling adventures of Sabrina, Lockwood & co, riverdale, the magicians, the irregulars, Mortel, etc etc you'll def appreciate this. I love that they show us death of the endless and despair of the endless, some ppl hinted that the cat king was desire of the endless because of their power and eyes (not fully convinced), but this was definitely a good "bide your time" till they release Sandman Season 2. Also loving that they are expanding the sandman universe. If u wanna watch a show about a badass black magic-user (psychic/medium) this is def a show you should try. The acting was a bit off in some scenes but the plots and conversations make up for it. Black ancestral magic, coming to terms with queerness, romance, the maleficent influence with Diablo/Monty. Demons, Ghosts, witches, psychics. For a first season they kinda ate it up, I hope they get a second season just to see what other adventures they have.

3 Body Problem (2024– )

Excruciatingly long, excruciatingly boring

[5/10 · 4 April 2024]

Excruciatingly long, excruciatingly boring, what was going on??!!! The middle of the season was the only part that was semi-enjoyable but the rest was all over the place. There was so much going on, it was honestly annoying how fast and slow everything was. The 5 protagonists were also all over the place, how yall friends but none of yall know what's going on with each other. It just seemed like they over compensated by trying to overcomplicate and add unnecessary drama to the show. I will be extremely extremely shocked and confused if it got a season 2. I only finished because I really had to understand wtaf was going on.

Boarders (2024– )

Brits finally brought us something new

[9/10 · 1 April 2024]

I won't lie the brits highkey kinda ate with this. If ur looking for a show to binge I'd def recommend. Kinda zoomed past the episodes cause it was so entertaining. Synopsis: What happens when you take 5 black teens from London and force them to assimilate in an all-white environment. If you black you can kinda already predict the behaviors of the characters and how it differs from each other, but it was interesting to watch in real time. Loved everything about it, however I hated that Omar was a carbon copy of Lionel from "Dear White People", their characters were identical it was so disappointing; they had the same look, same interest, same mission(joining a secret cult), same personalities: both were shy, forgiving, queer nothing made Omar unique from Lionel besides the accent. I also wish they didn't try and force the femi Nigerian thing, it's ok to be a black-Britain or Nigerian-Britain without him butchering the language and stereotypes. Toby, Leah, and Jaheim were prefect I wouldn't change a thing bout them. The actors did their shi, also can we just take a sec to recognize that even in a setting with bare colored folks they still showed us black and poc love/relationships. 9/10 available on Tubi (originally BBC3 show but Ig Tubi bought it for American folks to view). This one of those shows where you know if they get a season 2 it'll be so good.

One Day (2024)

Don't delay true love

[8/10 · 26 February 2024]

Disclaimer I haven't read the book, only watched the movie version of this series and the movie was absolutely horrendous which made me appreciate the series more. I will say initially I wasn't a fan of the show but gosh the last two episodes saved it beyond belief and now I'm considering maybe I should rewatch later on with more context and a more open mind. The show has no villains or heroes, it's for the majority normal person who simply exist and lives on this world without causing too much impact to the cosmos and that's absolutely fine. I think the main thing it teaches is that life should be lived and delaying what we want, or who we love only delays our happiness and shortens the story we crave for ourself. I think both characters were horrible to themselves and to each other because neither could be honest with themselves and they ended up having to live with those consequences, but I have more anger towards Dexter because we see this privilege classist white boy gallivanting the world with all the privileges it has to offer and we see him do nothing with, instead he pretends life waits for when he calls upon it and death is something he can evade but his character is a reflection of so many ppl in the world, people who forget our lives our finite and majority of us are footnotes in other ppls story. The show emphasizes why "right person, wrong time" isn't always the case because some times we never have any time and we just live in regret of what we could've had if we had been honest with ourselves and willing to become better for who we love. I wanted Emma to move on from her feelings and was so glad when she broke up their friendship because it seemed like he was just using her to keep sane and abusing the love he knew she had for him. I also think Emma acted irrational in some parts but again they are both personifications of the scale and limits of what it means to be human. I wish they showed more of how they finally end up together but I understand they want to be strict to source material and we did get 11 years of foreplay. Before the last two eps I would've given it a 6 but the amount of raw emotion, makes it a 8.5 by the end. The show unfortunately is so chronically British which made it a little slow but still worth the watch for all the hopeless romantics.

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

Prospero for the win

[7/10 · 23 February 2024]

Idek where to start, it kinda fell off after eps 4, and you kinda just get confused as to wat is going on and why it's happening. Originally I just assumed everyone had the same disease as the father so that was what's making them insane but whole time this is a fantasy (made a deal with the devil) gothic horror drama. Which I'm not mad about I think they could've made that clearer from the middle at least. Eps 2 was my favorite, and honestly the most memorable mainly because of Prospero. I absolutely love Prospero and his story, he's the character that everyone makes out to be the villain but in actuality is simply the most hated because he's the most fearless, unapologetic and free sibling/character in the show. He has nothing to lose, which in my opinion made him so unstable but envied. The other characters seemed so inconsequential compared to him which is why I'm upset his episode came so early on but it acted as a match for the other characters actions especially Fredrick. If the show wasn't so podcast-like between Roderick and Auguste it would've been so much better in my eyes. I cared more bout the stories, plot, and flashback than listening to two old men banter continuously for 8 eps. Including how each character dies in the beginning of each episode as a foreshadowing element was pretty cool but overall the show was excruciatingly long which made me excruciatingly bored.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024– )

An hour each eps and what was gained?

[6/10 · 23 February 2024]

I had zero expectations for this show, before the release I didn't look up the trailer or actors just so I'll be "surprised" and give an honest objective review and I'm glad I had zero expectations because if I did have any I would've been sorely disappointed. Not to say it's bad, it's definitely not bad, it just doesn't give you the lvl of hype that so many ppl had for it. I understand why the original creators abandoned the project cause I would've too. To start off with what wrong: they said the target audience was the original viewers but they treated us like we were children incapable of critical thought, I cant get over how many important points were being delivered in random lines and how everything was so over explained (it was like they had nvr heard of show don't tell). Whereas the animation had left us ponder on so many deep topics here there's no room to explore and learn, what are the motifs, what are the lessons. Moving on to costume: it was giving cosplay, I actually had to pause and laugh when they showed yue and azula's crew cause what were they wearing. Even aang's fit was questionable and ik they wanted to copy source material but they failed to do that in so many aspects they might've well switched the fit since it looked cheap and laughable. Storylines: I'm not mad that they combined some storylines I think it makes it easier for another season but the storyline becomes iffy when they starts to mish-mash episodes, it got messy and lacked sense ex:episode 3 was rushed character plots. Why was the cave of two lovers in season 1, why weren't aang and Katar in love (the age gap between characters messed it up and ik they wanna hold tight to him being 12 but in the show it doesn't seem like that at all, they could've made him a lil older. If aang knew the northern water tribe was gonna be attacked n he was showed that vision why were they not in a rush to go from the beginning, they were taking their time which made no sense (the vision shouldn't have been included so early on). Biggest problems are pace, tone and characters. Idk how the actor for aang got that role because he struggles to say lines comprehensively, katara's potrayal set feminism back at least 4-5 years, they clearly didn't understand her at all, where was her anger, passion, leadership, parental drive, they forgot it was her anger that released aang from the iceberg in the first place, they made her so docile and soft. A character like that won't be able to bloodbend in the upcoming seasons. Iroh and the side characters (Jet, zhao, the mechanist,suki) were more interesting to watch than everyone else and that's an issue. The bending was slow, it only got better when I replayed it in 1.25x speed cause then it actually flowed. Katara's battle with Pakku was underwhelming and became easily forgettable. Gyatso vs Sozin was also underwhelming. I liked that they introduced each avatar n kyoshi's fight but I couldn't understand why in the world she was constantly yelling at aang, she's dominant, yes but angry, no. I also didn't understand why aang didn't waterbend at all whatsoever during the entire season, a major plot was supposed to be katara's anger/jealousy that something she trained for her whole life could come to aang so easily and we didn't see this. The original movie in terms of acting, script were horrible. But in terms of the Wardrobe, shots, color grading and the locations were far better in the movie. If ppl wanna settle I think that's fine, but unfortunately the show doesn't give what I thought it should've for the budget and the time.

Bodies (2023)

Psychologically not for the weak

[7/10 · 22 January 2024]

Psychologically not for the weak, had me studying temporal mechanics cause my brain was tryna understand the theoretical framework of it all. Overall I'd still recommend cause the character selection for the time periods they were in immensely added to the plot.

A closeted gay man in 1890, a Jewish man in 1941, a black-south Asian hijabi in 2023, and disabled paraplegic in 2053. 4 detective in 4 different time periods investigate the same murder case, and their lives are in the hand of a manic dictator hell-bent on being loved. It was somewhat entertaining but also illogical in a sense that there are so many loopholes and they don't explain why you can't just do X,y,z. You pretty much have to wait till the last episode for it to really come together and and make sense.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2022)

I wish there was more

[6/10 · 7 January 2024]

I wanted to watch this movie for so long and just didn't know where to see it. As a fan of the books I think I expected a lot from the movies and I won't say it was bad, I was just disappointed. The film has no flow and it's like they took chapters from the book independent of each other and just made scenes from it without considering how everything merges together. The dialogue was okay I guess but the chemistry was so off and the acting was so novice like this was a YouTube made film. Another issue I had was the 'experiment', the movie portrayal of the experiment was completely different from the book. What I love about Ari was he was nvr homophobic to Dante, although he was going through his own internalized crisis, he never said or did those things to Dante. Dante's portrayal also seemed so different from what I had in my head but they captured Ari perfectly. The pace of the movie was so quick, 3 scenes in and we were already at the middle of the book. Bless the costume designers for putting Dante in the gayest outfits ever.

Saltburn (2023)

sexually sadistic, bisexual compulsive psychopath is in love (obsessed)

[8/10 · 30 November 2023]

The movie is definitely......something, it's one of those films you can't decide which rating to give. I understand why it wasn't as publicized and advertised until a couple weeks before release.

My Personal Synopsis: in a chronically European classist society, a sexually sadistic, bisexual compulsive psychopath is in love (obsessed) with someone he can't have so instead he goes after what the person has at any means necessary. (I don't like saying he's in love cause it's not love, it's literally just chronic obsession however he uses the word 'love' numerously to justify his actions). I wouldn't say I'd recommend to the general public, at least not necessarily going to theaters for. I'd say just watch it online, and only if ur into weird black psychological nudity-thrillers. I will say that Barry Keoghan deserves some type of applause or award cause it takes a lot to potray the character that he did, there's a lot of scenes most actors would've declined to do. The movie itself is definitely conflicting idk if I liked/appreciated it or despised it. However it is extremely European, like very chronically European which I think you need to be in the right mood for, from the aesthetic, music, culture, setting, nuance even the one American sounds like a European cosplaying an American. (As I'm writing this, I checked it up and apparently the one "American" is indeed British his accent,and stereotype was so off). It was so European some parts seemed boring and antiquated/obsolete, the classism portrayal doesn't transfer the same and appears fairytale-like. It's definitely not "scary" but u might profile it "unsettling". I'm definitely going to rewatch it, (mainly cause it's so thought provoking) and I nvr ever rewatch movies or shows, so that should tell you something. If your queer I'd def recommend.

Prisma (2022– )

Best coming of age I've seen in a minute

[10/10 · 14 September 2023]

I honestly don't know where to start when it comes to this show. I saw a few clips of it last year and had it on my list but nvr felt the urge to watch until recently I learned the directors of skam italia also worked on this MASTERPIECE. First and foremost I would just like to applaud Mattia Carrano who objectively has got to be the best newly coming actor in 2022-23. Mattia's level of acting is profound, for context he play twins in this show and it's not a new concept to have one person plays twins but i genuinely thought he had a twin brother playing the other character.

Andrea and Marco were so incredibly different, the way they talked, smiled, laughed, mannerism, the way they carried themselves, their character, even when the show emphasizes that Andrea and Marco are identical twins you see differences in their features that disspell the idea that Mattia is playing both. Now to go to the actual show, we have Marco who's so lonely, depressed, bullied, and even self harms and we have Andrea who I empathize so much with. Andrea battles so much intrinsically with his own gender identity, sexual orientation, personal relationships and trying to claim freedom for himself but with all that he's facing he appoints himself Marco's caretaker. He worries about himself and his brother and you can see the toll it takes on him when he breaks down in episode 7 cause it's just too much to handle, but Marco has no one, and you can see how it affects their relationship because Andrea has this huge secret which he should be comfortable telling his twin brother but he's more worried about not burdening him leaving them both in isolation. And all Marco wants is for Andrea to be open and comfortable with him. Andrea makes you (the viewer want to love because throughout all he wants is to be loved but he's so preoccupied with taking care of someone and protecting his fears. The show is so thought provoking, introspective and deep you have no option but to feel for both characters. 10000/10. Season 2 has been confirmed thankfully.

Marry My Dead Body (2022)

Queer Relationships can be Platonic tooo!!! Beautifully done

[9/10 · 21 August 2023]

This movie was so good, I genuinely don't know how they pulled off putting so many genres into a singular film. It had a platonic queer aspect, it was comedic, had the science-fiction, and action element.

It was so interesting seeing Ming's character development and the way they told their story was beautifully done, it's one of those movies we can be contempt with, like they didn't need anything else or for it to be turned into a show. I also like that their relationship wasn't sexual like we see this relationship develop between a straight guy and a gay guy that makes them into soulmates that doesn't revolve around a sexual relationship. They'd both die for each other and call each other husbands both comfortable with their sexuality not needing anything else to happen between them. I love that ming-han character matures and he's still dedicated himself to mao's causes and family. We see him start to actively support climate change, queer rights and his form of love for mao isn't something we usually see in bromance cinema.

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

Disappointing, Could be better

[5/10 · 12 August 2023]

Was this show atrocious? Absolutely not. But was it a Young Royal? Not in a billion years. Was it even a Heartstopper? Hardly. Whereas Young royal gave us a thick plot, drama, engrossing scenarios that forced u to critically think, and heartstopper gave us relatability, desire, self-analysis; this movie gave us neither or even anything new to the table. I think my first issue was the main actors vividly looked way older than the characters they were trying to portray and not in the 20 yr old actor playing a high school student type of way but in a 30+ yr old actor trying to play a character a decade younger but forgetting how a 20 yr old acts so they come off altogether as a childish 14-16yr old. Who did the casting cause also beside getting young actors them not being queer can be seen by Alex's stereotypical queer caricatures in the first couple of minutes. It would've been nice to see fresh faces for this role. But criticism on the movie itself the first half was giving hallmark and second half gave tubi, the plot wasn't horrific it just wasn't exciting, the plot was fast paced and all the months go by in a shadowy-zoom fashion, mainly cause they tryna fit an entire year in two hours, the end result and overall theme was nice but they could've done so much better with this movie. Can someone who's read the book and watched this movie pls let me know if prince henry actually acts the way he does in the book cause I swear his entirety was a prince Harry parody, nothing about him seemed original it's like they took that Oprah Interview and Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary and told Nicholas that was his character.

Young, Famous & African (2022– )

The directors need to do better

[6/10 · 25 May 2023]

There's so much I wanna say about this latest season but first and foremost season 1 was way much better, season 2 was not bad but seriously heavily lacking and almost borderline boring/stupid. I blame the new personalities they invited into the show/group. Let's start of with Luis, can I have a Namibian tell me how to pronounce this man's name cause why were ppl calling him all sorts of diff things, Lewis, Louie, Lewish, Louise, I was so confused; anywho this man was just too fresh off the water, for someone who isn't known outside of the deserts of Namibia he came off so pretentious and bold in the beginning as if he's been doing this since day one, this is his debut and he was walking on paws of ppl who are known all over africa and experts in their field, closer to the end I felt sorry for him because you can't even blame him. Then there's fantana, they clearly only added her and Luis cause ppl had been complaining where's the young in young famous and African but who is she??? Cause no one in Ghana knows who u are. The second she spoke and I heard the American accent I was so confused cause I thought the show would be Africans born and raised who made it in africa. But that's not even the issue, her entire mannerism and behavior was so American it was just pissing me off like pls don't let thsi girl come back, when she started correcting zaris English I was pissed cause here's someone who speaks at least 6 languages and taught diamond English and you out here being disrespectful. She was just out yapping her mouth n carrying American values to a place that don't give a f3ck. I think bonangs issue was just miscommunication cause everyone in the show was just gossiping n u can see them lying to each other or twisting what someone else said. I find it funny that they brought in Sebo and Rosette when Bonang left when they should've brought them in since the beginning of season 2. Annie's stylist should be fire. Zarinah Hassan stay being a queen. Diamond is the devil. Swanky year of fame getting to his head. Khanyi should just stay in Dubai cause it don't even look like she interested in continuing with a season 3. Everyone else lowkey irrelevant.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023)

Lacking something-oomf

[7/10 · 8 May 2023]

Y'all was talking about this show like it was god-sent . Before I give my unpopular opinion I do have to say that I haven't watched Bridgerton and it's not even on my list yet, but I think that gives me a clearer view on how to rate the show, cause I'm not holding it up to a certain standard or basing it on a diff show since they are independent of each other albeit connected. One thing about me is I love a royalty historical fictional drama, I've seen everything from reign, to Victoria, the empress, the great, white queen, Spanish princess, the crown, etc and this show was good but certainly not the best. No doubt the writing was brilliant and the motif, acting, representation and how everything tied to each other was amazing but it doesn't have the oomf a lot of other historical fiction or even just fictional dramas have. It lacks something so essential which could make it more than what it already is. I think it's rated so high in ppls minds mainly because so many ppl were obsessed with Bridgetown and they waited for this and expected it to be so good that they've convinced themselves it is, or they simply just haven't seen enough historical fictional drama tv. It's a show where one season is enough and they should wrap up which imo is nvr a good tell.

Teen Wolf: The Movie (2023)

Disappointing

[4/10 · 4 February 2023]

The writers they hired were extremely lazy or prob only watched half of season 3 of teen wolf n thought they knew everything there was to know. So much of the film made no sense; the thing that happened to Derek, Scott n Liam have been burned with hellfire before n nothing happened so why is it fatal now for them, Liam and mason not interacting as if they weren't basically brothers, wat did Jackson add to the movie if he wasn't gonna use any powers, the way they dismissed whatever happedn to stiles like let's bffr Lydia, who is Eli's mom cause if he's 15 and 15 years passed since Allison's death he would've been 4 by the end of teen wolf show and he was nvr mentioned, Scott and Allison were literally both dating diff ppl when she died and everyone accepted her death why bring her back or fixate on dating someone you were over with, and where's Cory? The kitsune couldn't have hold down the nogitsune? Or give Derek her fire armor liek she did Scott? How is the nogitsune still a thing like we were done with that storyline, he couldn't be a fox and wolf at the same time which is why he was destroyed but apparently now he can be both? I think instead of revisiting storylines they have already done and played they should've given us something new and something more powerful and frightening, a new mystery like we already know everything about the issue from season 3 so there's nothing new to think about.

Gossip Girl (2021–2023)

Impassive n boring

[4/10 · 2 January 2023]

I'm going to get a lot of hate but the show did not hit. There is no suspense no thriller no real drama just little petty stuff, it was borderline impassive, not good or bad but like not worthwhile. Like when I think of nearest elite or top percent they just didn't do it for me. And I haven't watched the original show but I thought they'd at least be hunting for the identity of gossip girl but in actuality no one cared they just kept feeding into it there was no hero or bug brained solver. There wasn't this big reveal like we know who it' is in first five minute of ep 1 leaving no room for actual viewers to engage. And I find it even more wierd that these ppl were teachers, maybe it's personal cause I'm in that educator hemisphere and I'm surrounded by felllw teachers almost every morning, but they were so immoral, and disgusting I genuinely wanted to puke after episode one, especially. Also none of the characters had an origin story or anything interesting that'll make u intrigued in the plot. The only person I liked was ak and it was more so cause of personality relativity. It's one of the shows I'd be okay with if they canceled cause it doesn't make u feel anything like no aha or haha moment. If you need a good show about privileged teenagers I'd say watch kiltz, or blood & water, rebelde, elite tbh. Even Zion morenos portrayal of her character in rebelde was more elite and exclusive than her luna la. Netflix is actually really good at this specific genre I feel like they would've recreated the show differently n better. There wasn't even a cliffhanger for season it's like they wanted it to be done. And so many interactions didn't make sense. The only thing I think is remotely interesting is aki, max and Audrey only because throuple successfulness in teen drama is unprecedented and never lasts a season.

The White Lotus (2021–2025)

Extremely boring and slow

[1/10 · 19 December 2022]

Someone had mentioned this is a show of nothing about nothing and I think that's the best and only possible way to explain it. It's not only excruciatingly boring it's also extremely slow with no plot or theme or motif and even if there was one ur doesn't show to the last five minutes of the show. I never give bad reviews and always try and finish a show before commenting on it but my brain was literally wilting trying to continue it. It took me a month just to get through and stream 3 episodes cause I just kept getting more and more bored and tired of the show. I sincerely don't get where's the hype in the show.