Bria Lou Reviews

I had been meaning to watch this film for a while. I liked the premise immediately, so I'm really glad I finally got around to it! When aspiring influencer Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch) fakes a trip to Paris, she accidentally becomes caught in a lie that changes her life forever. I loved this film. I loved it from beginning to end and I wish I had watched it sooner! The first thing I loved was the opening. It felt really relevant to the world today, and immediately gives you an insight into what this story will be about. This film is a lesson in how to write a good unlikable character. Danni is an amazing character, and as much as you hate her, there are still things you might be able to sympathise with. The film itself is really well-written and feels really authentic. It felt really current without feeling pander-y or cringey (though there were a few moments of this). You believe this character and may know people who would do what she did. Danni has a lot of reverse character deve...

I was looking forward to reading this book. I didn't love Michaelides' first book, 'The Silent Patient', but I enjoyed the twist and knew that I definitely wanted to read another of his works. Mariana is grieving. When she gets a call about a murder on her old university campus she travels to Cambridge to support her niece, pushing back thoughts of her late husband. But when Mariana gets to Cambridge and meets Edward Fosca, everything becomes clear - he is a murderer, and she has to prove it before he strikes again. This book wasn't great. A few problems I had with it were similar to the problems I had with 'The Silent Patient', but this book also comes with its own problems too! There was too much description of things I didn't care about, and things that didn't move the story forward. Setting the scene is great, but beyond that, I would have preferred more plot points than pointless descriptions. Much of the story is centred around Mariana's gr...

I love a good romcom, but honestly, the biggest draw to this film for me was all the drama about the actors' awkward premiere pictures. If that was a marketing ploy, it definitely worked. Debbie (Reese Witherspoon) and Peter (Ashton Kutcher) are best friends who tell each other everything. When they swap houses for a week, they discover more about each other than they ever thought possible. This was okay. I wasn't expecting much from it, but I still ended up being a bit disappointed. The liked the premise, and once the film got going I enjoyed seeing these characters live each other's lives - though I think if this section of the film had been shorter, the film probably would have been a bit better. The characters feel a bit bland. You don't really get to know them, especially the host of secondary characters that actually feel quite useless in the film as a whole. The film isn't funny or romantic - is it really supposed to be a romantic comedy? My main issue with t...

The fourth instalment of After - each time I watch one of these films and see how bad it is, I almost think about not watching the next one. But here I am with a review of the fourth. After the events of the last film, secrets are revealed that threaten to break up Tessa (Josephine Langsford) and Hardin (Hero Fiennes-Tiffin) for good. This was not a good movie.  The first note I made was that I hate these characters. I hate them individually and I hate them together. They're not enjoyable to watch. Most of the dialogue feels inauthentic and disingenuous. The story itself is bland and boring. It feels like a bunch of random scenes cut together, rather than a coherent movie. There wasn't much in terms of plot, and the whole thing felt pointless. It had the most abrupt, random ending I've seen in a film in a while. Overall, I probably wouldn't recommend any of the After films, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this one - and yet I'll probably watch the next one (...

I know nothing about the original story this film is based on, I know nothing about the musical it comes from, I 100% watched this film because I'm a huge fan of Peter Dinklage and I have no regrets. Cyrano (Peter Dinklage) feels like he is not attractive enough to be worthy of Roxanne's (Haley Bennet) love. So when she falls in love with Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), Cyrano uses him to tell Roxanne how he feels. I really liked this movie a lot more than I thought I would. Because I knew nothing about the film before seeing it, I completely missed the memo that it was a musical. I love that, because I'm a big fan of musicals, but I can understand why some might not. I probably would have watched it sooner if I'd known. The characters are well-written and interesting to watch. At times I found it hard to stay completely engaged with the story. It moved slowly and once you get the gist, you can follow easily without having to pay too close attention. The tone of the fi...