Bria Lou Reviews

  After an amazing first date ends abruptly, Charlotte (Isabelle Fuhrman) goes searching for answers and uncovers a secret that changes her life forever. The thing that made me immediately want to watch this film was recognising the two main actors. Particularly with Fuhrman, this is a role that I've never seen her do, so I was really intrigued about it. Unfortunately, this one was a bit disappointing. Without spoilers, the thing that disappointed me the most about this film was knowing what it was actually about. How many times can this story be remade? The actors were great in their individual roles, but when they came together, it weakened the story. They didn't have the chemistry they needed to make the audience believe they were truly soulmates, yet the filmmakers pushed the soulmate angle really hard. The story is told in a really weird way. The main couple spend so much time apart that it doesn't even feel like a romance. By the time they come together they haven...

  After moving into a new home with her family, Chloe (Callina Liang) soon begins to feel a mysterious presence. I knew nothing about this film beyond 'family gets haunted', but I was interested due to that alone. Haunting movies always have great potential, so I was looking forward to this. I liked this film, but it definitely wasn't what I thought it was going to be! For a start, the camera work. Without going into it too much, the film is created and shot in a really original way, putting the audience into a position that we rarely get to be in, and that was really fun. The most powerful themes of the film, grief, parenthood and childhood, are explored through a unique lens, partly down to the way everything is shot. I did feel like some of these could have been explored in more depth, but they were still interesting to see. The family dynamics feel so real that some scenes are almost hard to watch. These actors work so well together, to the point where you truly believe...

  This is another one that I was saving because I was really looking forward to it. I'm pretty much a fan of most superhero movie franchises, and that definitely includes X-Men in a big way!  I wrote a post ranking the X-Men movies back in 2018 and I ended up putting this film at number 5, because I loved the prequel movies so much that they overtook my love of the originals.  And while I've seen pretty much all of the movies again since writing that post, it was fun to go into this one remembering that post and now seeing if I'd still put it in the same place. And I'd definitely move it up! I still love the prequel movies, but this one is something special. Of all the superhero movies on the bucket list, this was my biggest surprise because the X-Men movies are never given the credit they deserve. Which is especially sad because they have one of the most interesting and important messages of all superhero franchises. But anyway, on to this specific movie. I like this ...

  When washed-up, paranoid ex-revolutionary Bob's (Leonardo DiCaprio) daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) is captured, he has to connect with the person he once was to find her. I was looking forward to seeing this film just based on how interesting the premise was, but all of the incredibly positive reviews made me want to see it that much more! I absolutely loved this film. And I knew from the first 30 minutes that I would. I had a weird experience in that, due to cinema issues, I ended up seeing the first 30 minutes of the film twice. And that really helped me because the first time around I was so enthralled and engaged with the first 30 minutes that I really really wanted to see the rest and was really disappointed that I couldn't. So the second time around, I knew enough of what was coming that I would watch the beginning as a re-watch and really get into the details of it, and then I finally got to see the rest, which at that point I was desperate for. I wouldn't want to...

  I was really excited for this one. This is my favourite origin story in the entire MCU, and my favourite trilogy. But while I watch the second and third movies a lot, I don't really go back to this one, so it was nice to see it on the list. And as usual, with every time I watch this movie, I loved it. It starts in a really interesting place, already setting up for the future of the franchise as well as laying the groundwork for the characters we'll be interested in for years to come. Speaking of characters, Steve Rogers is such a fascinating one. The film really gives us the opportunity to get to know exactly who he is and what his motivations are. Before he even starts to become a 'hero' we are rooting for him and invested in his story.  But of course, the characterisation makes it clear that he's a hero before he becomes one, and that's one of the reasons I love this story so much. Particularly looking at earlier superhero movies, for me Steve is one of the ...

  A real-estate agent (Ke Huy Quan) finds himself thrust back into the world of crime when his past as an assassin comes back to haunt him. I don't really know what made me watch this film, other than it being available. The premise was somewhat intriguing, but I'd heard a lot of not-great reviews, so it wasn't one that I was particularly hopeful about. So because of that, it wasn't a surprise that the film wasn't great. But that doesn't mean everything was bad. Marvin (Quan) was a great character to follow. He was fun, we could connect with him, and he's easy to root for. The action scenes were also great. But while they were well-choreographed and created, they didn't have any substance, and after a while they stopped adding anything to the story. The chemistry between Marvin and Rose (Ariana Debose) never felt right to me. They never seemed like love interests and they didn't work particularly well together. I wouldn't even really call this a ...