Bria Lou Reviews

Next up for the Bucket List was a re-watch. And honestly, one I wasn't really looking forward to watching again. I had seen this film twice before, more than 10 years ago at this point, and never liked it. Maybe I had never really been paying attention, maybe I never really understood it, I'm not sure. But I had always filed it away in my mind as a film I didn't like. So it feels really crazy that I ended up liking it this time around! For a start, it was the first time I really thought about the way the film injected real-life events. Maybe I never noticed it before, but this was done really well and definitely went a long way towards making everything feel authentic. The character of Forrest is really interesting. He carries the film with ease and every story told is a really engrossing one that feels like a puzzle piece that goes towards forming the character we see at the end of the film.  There were also an amazing group of supporting characters that really did a great...

After falling for neurosurgeon Ryle (Justin Baldoni) at the same time her first love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), comes back into her life, Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) finds herself in a relationship that mimics her childhood trauma. I reviewed the book this film is based on HERE , and after reading the book I was really excited to finally see the film. All in all, I had mixed feelings about the movie. For a start, I was sceptical about some of the casting choices before seeing the film, and while I do feel like all the actors did great in their roles, some of them probably should have been more accurate to their book descriptions. I also felt that a lot of the cast was underused. Yes this is a story about Lily, Ryle and Atlas, but there are a good few supporting characters that didn't have the importance they were given in the novel. And this is even true of major characters. For example, I thought the present-day relationship between Atlas and Lily was really watered down in compariso...

  Next up for the Bucket List was a first-time watch! Not only had I never seen this movie, but I'd never heard of it, so I didn't have any feelings one way or the other about watching it. I really liked this movie. I had no idea what to expect, so I was really happy it was so interesting and engaging. My favorite thing about the movie is that it's a coming-of-age story.  Typically stories like this are about children becoming teenagers or teenagers becoming adults, so it was really nice to see a coming-of-age movie about older people - and it feels important to see the genre explored in this way. There's also a love story at the heart of the film, which is really sweet to watch. For me, though, the most important love story is the story between friends, rather than the romantic story. The three friends had great chemistry and worked really well together. This is a character-driven story, and the characters are all great. Not only are they people you want to follow, but...

  When Daniel, a dreamer, meets Natasha, a realist, he challenges her - he will make her fall in love with him in one day. But Natasha doesn't have a day. She's hours away from being deported and doesn't have time for falling in love. As an hour turns into two, it seems like fate is intervening. Did Daniel and Natasha meet for a reason? I've had this book for years and never really felt too compelled to pick it up. But because there's so many books I want to read, I really wanted to finish this one and remove it from my TBR! I liked this book. It wasn't amazing or anything, but it was an interesting read, and more compelling than I expected. The story is told from multiple points of view, which took me quite a while to get used to. And while it was good for the main characters and one other, I didn't really like it for any of the other viewpoints. It just took me out of the story a bit. One reason for this was because there were so many times throughout the ...

  While at a concert with his daughter, Cooper (Josh Hartnett) discovers that the concert is being used to trap a notorious serial killer. I am always first in line for the latest M. Night Shyamalan movie regardless of the plot, so it was great that this plot actually looked really interesting. Unfortunately, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the film. I didn't love it, but it was a fun ride and I was definitely engaged and interested from the beginning to the end.  So it was a weird one! For a start, it played like a comedy when it didn't feel like it was supposed to. The suspension of disbelief that you need to truly believe any of these events could happen is crazy, let alone being expected to believe that all of them happened in quick succession. In fact, I would go so far as to say that not one realistic thing happened in the film. And that was what made it comedic. Every time something unrealistic happened, it was just funny! My entire cinema was cracking up at moment...

  Next up for the Bucket List was another first-time watch! Not only had I not seen this movie before, but it's the first Bruce Lee movie that I've seen in many many years, if at all. I had heard of this film in passing but didn't really have a strong desire to see it, and never really knew what it was about. I completely get why this film is as highly revered as it is, considering it's a Bruce Lee action/martial arts movie - and the action is definitely the best part of it. But in saying that, I didn't completely love the film. Taking the action away, I wasn't particularly invested in the story or the characters. And that's not to say either were bad, but I was only really interested in the action scenes, so everything that took away from that felt less enjoyable to watch. Nevertheless, I'm glad there was a martial arts movie on the list - in fact, I'm surprised there aren't more!

When a heist goes wrong, unlikely partners Rory (Matt Damon) and Cobby (Casey Affleck) have to team up to escape the police and take the money they need. I was looking forward to seeing this film so much - to the point where I was counting down the days until it came out! I love the actors involved, the plot looked interesting, and it was promised to be quite funny so I was here for it! Thankfully I loved the movie. I've seen it three times since it first came out and I've loved it more each time. I was really glad that it got straight into the action. In under 10 minutes, we know the characters and what the heist is, and we can sit back and enjoy without any unnecessary backstory. The fun thing about the movie is that it plays like a reverse heist - usually in a heist movie the heist takes place at the end of the film, goes well and everyone walks away with everything they wanted. In this one, the heist takes place at the beginning, everything goes wrong and no one really know...

  Next up for the Bucket List was a first-time watch. This was one I'd never heard of before seeing it on the list, and while it wasn't one I was particularly looking forward to, it wasn't one I was opposed to watching either. But even with neutral feelings, I was really pleasantly surprised by the film. I had such a good time with it! For a start, the story was a really interesting one. I got into it right away and became invested in the characters almost immediately. One of the reasons I became invested in the characters was because they were played so well. The actors in the film were all amazing and really made me feel connected to the characters they played. I loved that it was so grounded in reality while also being a fantastical epic.  Everything feels real and authentic, and while you're watching the movie, you're completely living in this world with the characters. The only negative I have of the film was that I didn't love the flashback sequence. It ma...

  When Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) is confronted by the TVA, he has to work with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to save his world from an existential threat. I was so excited to see this movie. I'm a huge fan of the Deadpool movies, the X-Men movies and the Wolverine solo movies, so the idea of these characters teaming up felt perfect to me. Even if it wasn't a perfect movie, I knew I'd get something enjoyable out of it. Thankfully, I absolutely loved the movie! For a start, my favourite thing about the film was Deadpool's signature humour - the film was hilarious. I saw it in a full cinema and I don't think we went more than 10 minutes at a time without the whole theatre bursting out laughing. This humour obviously won't be to everyone's taste, but I feel like if you're a fan of the Deadpool movies, you probably already know what to expect here. Without spoiling anything, the cameos are awesome. They were probably the thing I was most looking forward to, and the...

  Next up for the Bucket List was another animated re-watch! This is one of the core Disney movies from my childhood, so I've probably seen this upwards of 50 times. I've always liked the film, so liking it again this time around isn't exactly news. The one thing that struck me this time around, though, was how amazing the soundtrack was! Every single song is iconic and honestly, as good as the story itself is, I truly believe the reason the film is as highly regarded as it is, is because of the amazing soundtrack. That was definitely my favourite thing about it! As far as animated Disney classics go, there are definitely some that I probably would have liked to see on the bucket list more than this one, but this is definitely a classic and absolutely deserves its place!

  After a devastating experience, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is lured back into the world of storm chasing, where she, her friends, and a competing group of chasers fight for their lives against a deadly tornado. As a big fan of the original 'Twister' movie, I was really looking forward to seeing this one! I have mixed feelings about this film. Overall it was fine, but there were some things that I really liked, and other things I really didn't. For a start, I loved the opening scene. I thought it set things up really well and showed how high the stakes were. But then, I thought the scene it could have told us more about the characters. We don't really get to know them very well, and for the ones we only see for a short time, we don't get to connect with them.  There were some really fun, exciting sequences throughout - particularly during storms and tornadoes. But the downside of this was that it wasn't always interesting watching the characters wait for a storm....

  Next up for the Bucket List was another re-watch! I hadn't seen this film in years so I was excited to see it again.  I was actually surprised to see it on the list. Because while it's great, there aren't a lot of animated movies on the Bucket List, but I'm really glad it made the cut! I absolutely loved this movie.  In fact, I think I loved it more on this re-watch than I ever have before. The writing, the characters, the music, everything about it was perfect. And the story was so much more compelling than I remembered it being - I was completely engaged the whole way through. I'd definitely say this is my favourite animated movie on the Bucket List and definitely deserves it's title as an iconic classic!

Zara's (Joey King) life is turned upside down when the famous actor she works for (Zac Efron) starts dating her mother (Nicole Kidman). I didn't find the premise of this film particularly exciting, maybe because it's similar to 'The Idea of You', but the calibre of actors involved was interesting enough that I wanted to see if it would be better than it looked. In short, The Idea of You was the better movie. This one had some interesting ideas but nothing worked as well as it could have. For a start, the pacing was really weird. If the film is about a love story, why are the characters basically already together in the first 30 minutes of the movie? It feels like it comes completely out of nowhere. And while this may have been interesting when it comes to exploring how King's character feels about the romance, that's not how the audience should feel. And this may not have been as big a problem if the characters had some kind of undeniable chemistry that just...

  Next up was a rewatch. I'll be honest - this isn't one I was looking forward to watching again. I used to watch this film a lot when I was a kid, but I never really had fond memories of it. So when I saw it was on the Bucket List, while I wasn't surprised, it wasn't one I was itching to see. And after watching it, I understand why I felt that way. I can understand why millions of people have a connection to the film, especially those who grew up with it. It's a really sweet story and it was written and directed really well. The actors are amazing, especially the children - Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore did so well in their roles and made the film what it was. But in saying all of that, it didn't connect with me any more now than it did when I was younger. I thought it was good, but that's kind of it. I'm glad I got to rewatch it - there's a lot I didn't remember, and I was definitely harsh on it in my mind. It was better t...

When New York City is faced with an alien invasion, citizens try to find a way to stay safe. Soon, they discover that the mysterious creatures hunt by sound. I really liked the first Quiet Place movie, and really disliked the second one, so I was in two minds about seeing this film. Ultimately, though, I had high hopes that a prequel would be a good way to continue this unique story. Unfortunately, while I liked this film more than the second, I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I had a lot more problems with the film than I had positive things, so I'll start with the positives. It was filmed really well. There were some really beautiful, scenic shots that were really interesting. The dialogue (and lack thereof) was done well. Because the characters could only speak in certain circumstances, it made their limited words hold a lot more weight and meaning. As with all of the movies, the thing that stands out is the use of sound and silence. It especially works really well in...