Bria Lou Reviews

I was so excited to see this film. I loved the premise, but when I was seeing something else in the cinema, the trailer was shown, and it made me so hyped! I'm a huge fan of creature-feature movies, human vs beast, all that stuff, as well as goofy comedies, so this seemed right up my street. After ingesting a huge amount of cocaine, a 500-pound black bear goes on a rampage. I actually ended up being a bit disappointed with the film.  First of all, I found the characters really frustrating. There were so many (too many) to keep track of, and none of them were particularly easy to warm to. In fact, we didn't really get time to warm to them, which would have been fine if the entire focus of the film was on the bear. But the film tried to make us care about the characters while giving us no time or information to do this. And in the same vein, there wasn't enough of the bear. The focus of this film is on characters and cocaine, and that's definitely not what I signed up for...

The only thing I knew about this film before starting it was that it starred Kat Graham, who I'm a huge fan of. So I was glad that the premise actually seemed like a good one. A woman (Kat Graham) becomes entangled in a web of lies after meeting her boss's wife (Merritt Patterson). I didn't have high hopes for this movie, so I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked it! While the plot took a little while to get going, I found myself completely engrossed in the story and characters almost immediately, which never really went away. I loved the characters - they were interesting, well-written, and played extremely well by the respective actors. Particularly Claire (Graham) and Eve (Patterson) who had amazing chemistry. The film was compelling, well-written and had great pacing. I never felt bored or like I was just waiting for it to finish. There are some great twists and a good reveal. Some parts of it were obvious and guessable, but I never felt disappointed or short-...

I hadn't heard too much about this film around the time it came out, other than one negative review, so when it came out on Prime Video, I was apprehensive, but also really interested in seeing it. A nun (Jacqueline Byers) trains to perform exorcisms to save a young girl from the same demon that possessed her mother. The concept of this film was a lot better than the film itself. It was a really interesting place to start. It sits in a weird time. The film feels old-fashioned, but in some places it also feels somewhat modern. Not much happens. There's a lot of downtime between 'scary' scenes and exorcisms in which the characters are just talking, or moving around, but nothing is actually happening. The story and characters aren't as interesting as they could have been. Some of the supporting characters could have definitely done with having a bit more development to allow the audience to connect with them. If I cared more about the characters, I would have cared a l...

I love the 'Scream' franchise, but because I wasn't the biggest fan of the one that came before this, I probably wasn't as excited to see it as I could have been. The survivors of the previous 'Ghostface' attacks leave Woodsboro for college in New York. But when a new Ghostface killer emerges, they once again find themselves fighting for their lives. I really liked this film, much more than I liked the last one. I liked the subversion of the opening. It is reminiscent of previous movies while also trying, and succeeding, in being unique. The story is better than the script. Or rather, the plot of this one is a lot better than the dialogue that the actors are given. I liked that the killer's motivation seemed to be different this time around - which was one of the reasons I found this a lot more engaging than some of the other movies in the franchise. It's definitely one of the more exciting movies in the series. The reveal ended up being disappointing, w...

I am such a huge fan of all the Rocky/Creed movies, so I was really excited to see this third Creed movie, especially knowing it was Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut. Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) is happily retired from boxing, focusing on running his gym and being with his family. But when childhood friend Damian (Jonathan Majors) returns to Donnie's life with a challenge, he must risk everything he has built to settle the score. I really enjoyed this movie. The first fight sets everything up really well - the filming style, the choreography of the fights, and Jordan's directing. It tells you exactly what the rest of the film will feel like and I loved that. The chemistry between Donnie and Bianca (Tessa Thompson) is as amazing as ever. I love seeing these characters, and actors, together. I also loved the representation of the Deaf community. Sign language is used repeatedly throughout the film, showing how important it is not only to the characters, but to the f...

It took me a long time to get into this story, and a really long time to actually read it, but I finally finished it! Avery Grambs' life completely changes when she is left an enormous fortune by a billionaire she has never met. But to receive her inheritance from Tobias Hawthorne, she has to move into Hawthorne House and live for a year with the family that has just been disinherited - including Tobias's four mysterious grandsons, hellbent on discovering who Avery is, and how she stole their inheritance. This was an okay read. Maybe if I read it over a quicker time period I'd feel more positively about it, but it never really captured my interest. I liked that the reader gets to know Avery really quickly. We are always in her head, and therefore always on her side. Having said that, I found Avery quite juvenile and childish, especially towards the beginning of the story. She is supposed to be young, but it seemed like she was almost made too childish so that she could have...

At the time of writing, this film came out a couple of days ago in the UK on the Sky Premiere channel. I had been looking forward to seeing it for a while, not only because I'm becoming a big fan of Florence Pugh as an actress, but also because I really liked the trailer and was interested to see how the plot would be executed. Allison's (Florence Pugh) life is great. But when she escapes a tragedy that she might have caused, she falls into a pit of grief and addiction. In trying to put her life back together, Allison forms an unlikely friendship with her would-be father-in-law (Morgan Freeman) that gives her the chance to get back what she lost. I really wanted to like this film. It was okay but definitely wasn't as good as the trailer or description would suggest. I liked the opening. You get to understand and care about the characters really quickly - main and supporting. It sets up the rest of the film really well, and the characters are interesting and 3 dimensional. I...

I'm a fan of the first two Magic Mike movies. Even though I don't think they're perfect, I love the group of actors, and they're both really fun watches. So while I was sceptical about whether this one would be as good as the others, I was excited to see it. While working as a bartender in Florida, Mike follows wealthy socialite Maxandra (Salma Hayek) to London to help a group of dancers put on the performance of their lives. I didn't love this film. It was okay as a standalone, but it didn't really feel like a Magic Mike movie. Particularly in the beginning, some moments feel a lot more cringey than they would have felt in the previous movies, almost like their time had passed. The story itself isn't that interesting, and at times it feels really far removed from the point of the first two movies - particularly the second which was about the friendship between the group of guys more than anything else. One of the reasons this didn't feel like a Magic Mi...

I really enjoyed the first film of this nature, 'Searching', so I was really excited to see this. Not to mention it stars some amazing actors. When June's (Storm Reid) mother (Nia Long) goes missing while on vacation with her new boyfriend (Ken Leung), June uses all the technology at her disposal to find her before it's too late. This was a really good movie. I'd go as far as to say it's as good as 'Searching', if not better. It's engrossing as soon as it starts. You feel invested in the characters and their story before you even really know them, which makes the entire story that much more intense. The unique way the story is told works really well, as it did in the first film. But having said that, I'm really glad this was an entirely new story told in the same format. It was nice that there were nods to the first, but the film didn't rely on that connection and didn't need to. Even though some events of the film are quite far-fetched, ...

  I was really looking forward to seeing this one! I love a rom-com, and I love seeing George Clooney and Julia Roberts on screen together, so this was a no-brainer. When their daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) announces her engagement to a man she hardly knows, David (George Clooney) and Georgia (Julia Roberts) put their hate for each other aside to stop her from making the same mistake they made. I really enjoyed this movie, it was what I wanted it to be, and what I thought it would be. As expected, the chemistry between Clooney and Roberts is still as amazing as always. But in saying that, the entire cast is incredible. The film is genuinely funny without having to try too hard. It doesn't quite keep up this momentum as it continues, but is still enjoyable all the way through. One thing that felt a bit jarring was that, in terms of the daughter's wedding, it felt like the film was trying to stop us from being on the parents' side, but I was on their side and still am. It was like...