Bria Lou Reviews

  It's Blogmas day 21! Former figure skater Courtney (Abigail Klein) teams up with former hockey player Noah (Ryan Cooper) to save the local ice skating rink from closing. I picked this one because it just seemed so quintessentially rom-com-y that I had no choice! And it also seemed like it would be really Christmassy, which is always important for a Christmas film. Unfortunately this one wasn't as romantic as it could have been. But I will say the Christmas part holds up - is there anything more Christmassy than ice skating?? My main gripe with the film is that I completely fell in love with a couple and was willing to spent all my time and energy on them. The only problem was, it wasn't the main couple! It was the side couple who were given no time! If the main couple of this film had been Beth (Caroline Portu) and Trevor (Matthew Grimaldi) this could have been a great Christmas movie. I really liked what little I saw of them and wanted so much more than the film gave us....

  It's Blogmas day 20! After getting dumped right before going home for the holidays, Katie (Christie Leverette) hires a man to pretend to be her boyfriend in front of her family. Finally a fake dating trope! A couple of the films this year have played with the theme, but this one really goes for it and I love that! But as much as I loved the premise, the film didn't really live up to it. However, one thing I loved as much as I loved the premise was Katie. Right from the beginning she was a character I could get behind and really root for. I also really loved Katie's roommate Sarah (Jeanne Lau) and I wish she had been given more to do, and more of a story. Why is she spending Christmas alone?? I tried not to look at the film from a point of realism, as this is a Christmas movie after all, but where was the sense of safety? The main couple are complete strangers at the start and it felt weird to see how quickly they trusted each other. And while I liked the characters intera...

  It's Blogmas day 19! When Holly (Jasmine Burke) uses her company's app to find a date to bring home for the holidays, a glitch in the app causes more than one date to turn up. This film had an interesting premise because it seemed really original, and it looked like there would be a lot of chances for fun and humour. I didn't end up liking it as much as I wanted to. But one thing I liked was how much more modern it felt than most of the other movies I've watched for Blogmas this year. Even just the idea of her finding her date(s) through an app is original for a Christmas film. It's nice that the movie was family-focused, but the family it focuses on aren't that interesting and can't really carry the story. The main couple have chemistry and it was fun to watch them interact, but I never really cared about them one way or the other. And if for some reason they didn't end up together, it wouldn't have mattered to me. It took about 40 minutes for the...

  It's Blogmas day 18! When sisters Cara (Emily Alatalo) and Amy (Vanessa Smythe) make a pact to find their soulmates, and a year later Amy is getting married, Cara sets out to find her true love. And she does... until she loses his number. This one had a fun premise. I'll admit I thought more of the film would be about the sisters finding love together, but either way I was looking forward to it. It ended up being a bit disappointing. As already mentioned, I really wish that it had been about two sisters who are both finding love. Dangling that in front of us, and then making it a generic one-couple love story with no attention on the sister at all was a weird choice. Speaking of the sisters, their relationship didn't feel as authentic as it needed to be, considering it was the catalyst of the story. I never really believed in, or cared about, the main couple. They did have nice chemistry, but it wasn't good enough to carry the film. I didn't really connect with an...

  It's Blogmas day 17! When Cathy (Lacey Chabert) accidentally brings a snowman to life, she discovers the magic Jack the snowman (Dustin Milligan) brings to the town of Hope Springs. This is the third of four highly anticipated Netflix Christmas originals this year that I'm including in Blogmas. And while it's not the most original story, I've always loved the idea of Jack Frost, so I was excited to see it. Thankfully I liked this one - though maybe not as much as I wanted to. I really liked the character of Cathy. Not only was she really likeable, but because we get to know her so quickly, we can really root for her. I also loved the tone of the film. It didn't take itself seriously at all and made it clear to the audience that we're just there to have fun. All of the actors, main and supporting, were great. They were so much fun to watch and all played their characters really well. The chemistry between Cathy and Jack is great! You really want to see them tog...

  It's Blogmas day 16! When Jason (Joshua T. Shipman) is forced to move for work, and his girlfriend cannot go with him because they are not married, he creates an elaborate plan to propose by Christmas. So apparently there are two films with the same name, made in the same year, and it looks like I picked the worst of the two! From the very beginning, the tone of the film is really odd. It was taking itself way too seriously for what is supposed to be a light Christmas movie. The plot didn't really make much sense. A few times throughout the film there was a point made that the character didn't want to be with his girlfriend, and had actually requested a be transferred to get away from her. So why are we watching him plan a proposal? Why is he planning a proposal in the first place? There were really weird moments throughout the film where the sound quality would drastically change when a character was speaking but not on camera, despite supposedly being in the same room. ...