Bria Lou Reviews

A down-on-her-luck mother (Rose Byrne) tries to navigate her daughter's (Delaney Quinn) mysterious illness. As we start getting into me watching movies just for the awards buzz, this is firmly in that category. The premise of the film didn’t appeal to me that much, so I’m firmly here for Rose Byrne’s performance. Unfortunately I didn’t love this film. It had a really slow start. The premise doesn’t give too much away so you’re essentially going in with not much information, and it takes a long time to get to grips with the story. The cast is so interesting – I’d never expect Conan O’Brien or A$AP Rocky to be in a story like this. But they didn’t pull me out at all, I really believed both of their characters. But of course Byrne is the standout. While I didn’t love the film, I think her performance was as good as everyone has said. She completely carried the movie and did it with ease. The story isn’t particularly engaging due to the way it is being told. It didn’t pull me in or mak...

  A woman (Tatiana Maslany) begins having terrifying visions while staying with her boyfriend (Rossif Sutherland) in a secluded cabin. I didn’t know much about this film before putting it on, but I really like Tatiana Maslany, so to be honest her being in it, and it being a horror film, were the only reasons I watched it. This film wasn’t great. There were parts of it that I liked, but the overall product had too many major flaws. But I will say that the actors all do a really great job, particularly Maslany who was the absolute standout. I was slightly apprehensive about the film when I heard who the director was – I’ve not been a fan of any of his previous movies, but that didn’t put me off. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t change my mind about his films. There was a lot of great imagery and visuals that made things feel genuinely creepy, particularly the visions. But as interesting as the visions could have been, they were too frequent and made the story feel disjointed and all ...

  Desperate to help his sick daughter, Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced to compete in a deadly gameshow. I was really annoyed to miss this one in the cinema because I was looking forward to it. Based on the promotional interviews, it seemed like it would be a fun popcorn movie, and even though the reviews weren’t great I was open-minded about it. And thankfully I really liked it! It was really quick to get into the action. We meet Ben, we meet his family, we get to know a little bit about him, but before we really get into anything he’s in the competition fighting for his life and we’re right alongside him. It gets your adrenaline going from really early on and doesn’t let up. The downside of this is that the concept of the competition wasn’t explained as well as it could have been. You get the gist of things after a while, but it would have been would have been great to know more earlier on. That being said, it doesn’t matter too much because you’re invested in Ben and his ...

  Next up is some early Wes Craven! I saw the remake years ago and really liked it, but I'd never got around to seeing the original so I'm really glad it was on the list - it probably wouldn't have occurred to me to watch it otherwise. I liked this movie. I really enjoy the concept, so it wasn't a shock that I liked the original as much as the remake. I loved how classic this feels. When I think of old horror, this is the kind of thing that comes to mind - simple basic stories, obvious villains, actual scares. I love the way the genre has evolved over the years, and I can't wait to get into classic movies that are less obvious horror too, but I will always love things like this. Tension was created really well. Keeping the faces of the 'monsters' a secret until the last possible moment was a really great idea. It keeps the audience in suspense, and the longer it takes to see them, the scarier it gets. But even the amount of time it takes for the main plot to...

  A seemingly impossible murder inside a church causes Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to become involved in a mystery that sees a close-knit community begin to turn on each other. I was really excited about this one! I didn’t love the movie that came before this, Glass Onion, but I loved the first Knives Out and the concepts of both, and I’ll definitely watch as many movies as they make. Unfortunately, and I think I’m completely alone in this, I was disappointed by the film. But one thing I really loved was the cast – this may be the best cast yet! All of the actors were amazing and did such a good job with their respective characters. I also liked the introductions to all the characters. This film goes back to the first of making the audience see all the characters from the point of view of an outsider, and that’s the best way to do these things. This was also the first time that Blanc wasn’t the most interesting character. It was funnier than I expected, and as with the other movies...

  Injured quarterback Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) receives the opportunity of a lifetime when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) offers to train him at his isolated compound. This film was heavily marketed as a Jordan Peele movie, obviously in the hopes of getting people to connect it to his other movies. This marketing didn’t really work for me due to me not being a huge fan of Peele’s movies post Get Out, but even with that it’s an absolute disservice to connect this film with Peele’s previous works. This movie wasn’t for me at all. It took a really long time to have any idea of what this was about or what was happening. It doesn’t let the audience get to know the character as well as we need to to really care about the story and what happens to Cade. None of the characters felt authentic or realistic, but the story isn’t fantastical enough for this to be a filmmaking choice. So again, this is another thing that makes you not really care about them. Speaking of the character...