Bria Lou Reviews

  It's December in three days, which means that it's also 3 days until Blogmas! This year will be my 8th year of doing Blogmas, and I think I've perfected the way I do it over the last few years. As I've done previously, this year I will be uploading a Christmas movie review every day in December until Christmas Day - so 24 Christmas movie reviews. I'm going to try and stick to movies that came out in 2020 or later but a couple of older ones might sneak in too. As always, I'll be forgoing my usual star rating and instead rating each movie on the following things: Originality  (self-explanatory) Christmas Spirit  (i.e. is Christmas integral to the plot, or could the events of the film have happened at any time of year?) Christmas Music  (again, self-explanatory) And that'll be Blogmas 2022! Come back on 1st December for the start of Blogmas, where I'll be reviewing 'Falling for Christmas'!

  I can't believe we're almost at the end of November already! I'm putting this post up before the end of the month so that it doesn't clash with Blogmas, and my Blogmas post will be the only one that isn't up yet. 3 Month Favourites | July - September 2022  - My very late July-September favourites post, with a focus on Sons of Anarchy. Wedding Season | Film Review  - This was a Netflix film that I enjoyed, but I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Book Review #108: Hostage by Clare Mackintosh  - Next is a book review. I really liked this book, and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a thriller. Goodnight Mommy (2022) | Film Review  - I was really looking forward to this film, and it ended up being disappointing - especially the ending itself. Father of the Bride (2022) | Film Review  - I think I loved the Steve Martin version of this film too much to really enjoy this updated version. Don't Worry Darling | Film Review  - This film w...

I have a couple of books by B A Paris, but this is the first one that I got around to reading. I bought it because I really liked the concept, and I was definitely in the mood for a good thriller! When Alice and Leo move into The Circle, a gated exclusive community, it seems to be everything they dreamed of. But when Alice discovers the history of the house, and what happened to the woman who used to live there, she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery. Is The Circle, and its residents, really as perfect as they seem? I really liked this book! I didn't love it at the beginning, but by the end, I was hooked. At the start, everyone in the story, including Alice herself, felt very disingenuous, and I couldn't work out if that was how it was supposed to feel. The book goes from odd to captivating in the space of a few lines. I went from not really caring about it to not being able to put it down. There was a lot of unnecessary description. We don't need to know that someon...

  I only uploaded 5 posts each for September and October, and as we're now in November, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the months for this round-up post. September The Gray Man | Film Review  - My first review of September was The Gray Man, a highly anticipated film that ended up being really disappointing. Where the Crawdads Sing | Film Review  - This is another highly anticipated film that ended up being a disappointment. Marry Me | Film Review  - This was a film that I was looking forward to, and I really enjoyed it! Anything's Possible | Film Review  - This film went under the radar but it's a really lovely romcom that I'd definitely encourage people to watch. Look Both Ways | Film Review  - This is a Netflix film that I enjoyed a lot. It wasn't perfect, but definitely worth a watch! October Orphan: First Kill | Film Review  - I enjoyed this sequel, but it definitely didn't come close to the original. August Post Round-Up | 2022 ...

I didn't love the last Halloween movie, Halloween Kills. But as this is supposedly the last one in the franchise, I couldn't not watch it. When Corey (Rohan Campbell) is accused of murdering the boy he was babysitting, a series of events leads to Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) having to face the man who has haunted her life, Michael Myers, for the final time. Like Halloween Kills, I also didn't like this movie. In fact, I think it was worse than the last. I liked the opening scene, with Corey and the boy he's babysitting. It was nothing like a 'Halloween' movie, but I liked that it was turning the genre on its head a bit, giving us something different. I just wish it hadn't strayed so far from the franchise for the whole movie. The friendship/relationship between Corey and (potential spoiler) comes out of the blue and doesn't feel particularly realistic.  It takes too long for the film to get to the point. The audience is only here because we care abou...

I was always going to see this film - the premise was intriguing, I'm a huge fan of Chris Pine and I'm becoming a big fan of Florence Pugh. But the drama that surrounded it was so entertaining that it made me want to see the film all the more, just to see what all the fuss was about. In the 1950s, Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) live an idyllic life; a life almost too perfect to be true. But when Alice begins to get curious and starts asking questions, she discovers that the perfect world of Victory may not be what everyone thinks it is. This wasn't an amazing film, but it also wasn't a bad one. I had thought it would be one of those extremes, but it ended up being right down the middle - fine. The story itself is an interesting one, though it isn't told in the best way. As the audience, you're essentially confused until things are spelt out. It would have been fun to have more clues, so the audience could play along with Alice to try and figure ou...

  The Steve Martin 'Father of the Bride' movies are two of my favourite films of all time, so it took me a while to watch the remake, mainly because I was sceptical about whether it could come close. But I was interested to see how the story would be updated. A father (Andy Garcia) must deal with his daughter's (Adria Arjona) upcoming wedding, and all the family drama that comes along with it. This was an okay movie, but definitely not a patch on the one that came before it. Speaking of the Steve Martin version, because of that one, I went into this one expecting it to be a similarly-themed comedy. The tone of this film is very different. There are a lot more moments of drama, and a lot less laughs. I found it really interesting that the film had the parent's marital issues running alongside the main plot, to the point where the parents' marriage was more of a plot point than the actual marriage that the film was about. In fact, the actual wedding felt like the leas...

I loved the premise of this film so much when I first heard about it. I didn't know it was a remake, but I thought the idea was a great one, so I was really excited to see it. When twin brothers Lukas (Nicholas Crovetti) and Elias (Cameron Crovetti) visit their mother (Naomi Watts) to find her face covered in bandages, they begin to suspect that the woman they're staying with isn't their mother at all.  For such an interesting premise, the film actually ends up being quite disappointing. The beginning of the film is great. Tension and suspense are created really well. Once you start watching you don't want to stop. It was well-written, and the characters were interesting and believable. The acting was great, especially from the twins who played Lukas and Elias. I'm not sure what they've done before this, but they're both really talented and I hope to see them in more things. It was a bit slow in places, but ultimately the first 2/3 of the film was a captivat...

  I had heard really good things about this book before picking it up. I hadn’t read a thriller in a while, and this one seemed quite original – the premise was one I hadn’t read before and I really wanted to see where it would go. On a twenty-hour flight from London to Sydney, while trying not to think about the problems at home, flight attendant Mina is handed a note. A passenger on the plane wants to make sure that this flight never reaches its destination – and they know exactly how to ensure Mina’s cooperation. I really liked this book. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a thriller this good. The story is told through multiple points of view, and while I’m not usually a huge fan of this, it works really well for this story. You do need to hear from multiple characters, and the way it’s done makes the story suspenseful and intriguing. I wish this had continued throughout the story, particularly with other passengers on the plane. Despite the interesting plot, I found that th...

  I was really looking forward to seeing this film after watching the trailer. I love the fake-dating trope in movies and books, and this looked like an original take on that. Due to family pressure, Asha (Pallavi Sharda) and Ravi (Suraj Sharma) pretend to date over a summer of weddings, but are all of their feelings fake? I enjoyed this movie. I loved the opening scene. It was funny, original, and set the tone for the rest of the movie really well. As I've already said, I really liked the premise. It made for an interesting and fun watch. I felt like the relationship between the characters developed quicker than I would have liked. The way the characters are set up, it seemed like it would have taken a lot more time for Asha to like Ravi. Having said that, the characters, and their actors, have great chemistry. The montage of weddings is beautiful. It was the first time I really got these characters and their potential relationship. From here I started to enjoy the film a lot more...

This Favourites post is late, so it feels like even longer since my last one. I found and re-found quite a lot of things to mention in these three months, so let's get on with it! Favourite Movie (1): Marry Me I haven't seen a lot of movies recently, and I've seen even less good ones. I reviewed this movie HERE , and while it's not the best movie I've seen, it's one of the ones that I've most enjoyed watching recently. Favourite TV Show (1): Sons of Anarchy I've mentioned Sons on the blog before, maybe a year ago when I first started watching it. I started re-watching the show in August, and not only did I fall in love with it all over again, but I loved it more this time around than I did the first time. It has firmly become one of my absolute favourite shows, I would recommend it to anyone, and I'm already kind of ready to watch it again! This won't be the last mention of Sons in this post. Favourite TV Show (2): Luke Cage Back when Marvel show...