Bria Lou Reviews

After the death of her best friend, Eleanor (June Squibb) moves to New York. Desperate for community, she accidentally tells a lie that spirals out of control. I had been looking forward to seeing this film for such a long time. When I first saw the trailer I thought that it looked like such an interesting concept that could really pack a punch if it was done in the right way. I liked the film, but unfortunately it didn't pack the punch that I needed it to. It started in a great way. We get to know Eleanor really quickly, which is essential for a movie like this where we have to sympathise with her for it to work. The plot is genuinely insane, and I had a hard time working out whether or not it was in bad taste. I still don't really know, but an argument could definitely be made that it is. The cast is absolutely the best thing about the film, and they're all great. In particular, June Squibb is phenomenal in the role, but Erin Kellyman is almost equally fantastic, and is t...

  20 years after leaving her job at Runway, Andy (Anne Hathaway) is back. But after reuniting with old friends, old adversaries, and her old boss Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) she discovers exactly how much can change in two decades. The first movie is iconic, and absolutely one of my favourites, so I was really sceptical about this one from the very beginning. A sequel wasn't necessary, and there were so many ways that it could fall flat. And unfortunately, it did. I don't even know where to start. After getting back from the cinema I wrote down what I could remember, and a lot of it just ended up being things that I found really odd while watching.  So let's start with the reason for the sequel. When I love a sequel, especially if time has passed, it's because the filmmakers hit the sweet spot between giving me the characters I loved, but also making them develop enough that I feel like they've grown. That's what I needed from this film. And in some ways thi...

  As he gets closer to finally being released from prison, Taylor (David Jonsson) is given a new cellmate (Tom Blyth) that puts everything he's worked for in danger. I tend to quite like prison dramas, but a few of the ones I've seen have either hit me so deeply or been so average that it's not a genre I go back to with excitement. So I went into this one with a bit of trepidation. I liked this film, but I did think it would be a bit better than it was. One thing that stood out immediately was the found footage element. These clips were great and really added to the realism of the situation. From their first moments on screen together there was great chemistry between the leads. Jonsson and Blyth played off of each other really well and their relationship felt authentic. And they were both great in these roles. That being said, all of the actors felt authentic and added to the overall tone really well. The movie is shot in a unique way, there were so many interesting angles...

  When a family's chimpanzee becomes rabid, a group of friends has to fight for their survival. I can't lie, I love cheesy horror and creature features, so even before the film started I was feeling really positive about it. And thankfully I had such a good time! It's kind of exactly what you think it would be, in the best way. It was interesting that the film actually let us get to know the characters a bit. Usually in a film like this, the horror of the 'creature' is the most important thing and everything else falls to the side. While I don't think we necessarily needed as much information on the characters as we got, it was still nice to see. That being said, as much as we know about them, they're not as developed as they could be. This film is stupid decision central, which will have you rolling your eyes in frustration but is also actually quite fun to watch. It was a lot more tense than I thought it would be. This aspect of the film was done really we...

  In 1930s Chicago, The Bride (Jesse Buckley) is created as a companion to Frankenstein's monster (Christian Bale). I'd heard mixed things about this film, most of it on the bad side, but I'm a fan of the Frankenstein story, and the actors involved were great, so this was always going to be on my watchlist. I understand the mixed reviews because my thoughts on the film are also mixed. The first word I wrote while reviewing this was 'weird'. That's not unusual for a Frankenstein movie, but this was weird even for Frankenstein! I really loved the character of Frankenstein's monster, or Frank, played by Bale. He's such a well written, interesting, actually quite sweet character and I loved watching him. Weirdly, as this film is about The Bride, this is probably my favourite depiction of Frankenstein's monster to date. And in contrast, I didn't feel much for the character of The Bride. She's not the one I remember when thinking about this film, a...

  A thief (Chris Hemsworth) and an insurance broker (Halle Berry) team up to pull off a huge heist, while being pursued by a detective (Mark Ruffalo). I was looking forward to this one. It took me a while to actually see it, but even though the premise seemed quite generic, the cast was interesting enough to generate excitement. I think the film was fine, nothing really special, but I definitely had fun with it, so it's worth a watch. At the start there was too much going on in quick succession. The audience doesn't get a chance to breathe, which is an interesting way to mirror the main characters' emotions, but it also makes your head spin. As mentioned, the cast is great. But I did feel about halfway through that it may have suffered from having too many power players fighting for the spotlight. I personally would have liked to have more depth from both Berry and Ruffalo's characters, I didn't get to know them as well as I would have liked. I found the first 40 mi...

  Ella McCay (Emma Mackey) struggles to balance her family relationships and marriage with her job as governor. I heard really bad things about this film when it came out, which felt weird for a film that seemed quite simple and inoffensive. But it definitely made me more intrigued to see it. In fact, I don't know that I would have seen it without hearing the negative reviews. I thought the film was fine. I didn't love it, but it definitely wasn't as bad as the reviews suggested. I was surprised by the cast, though - there were, oddly, some great people in the film, and I do wonder why they all said yes to it. It's not exactly original or ground-breaking. I found the time jumps at the start of the film too significant, considering that all of the actors looked exactly the same in all time periods. The biggest problem of the movie for me was that it was more a collection of scenes than an actual movie. Some of them didn't even feel connected to each other. The charac...

  American actor Phillip (Brendan Fraser) takes an unusual gig with a Japanese agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. But he soon finds himself becoming too invested in his clients' lives, building relationships that blur the lines between personal and professional. I really liked this movie. The concept is really really interesting. I didn't quite get what it would be based on the description alone, but seeing the idea play out is fascinating, and I'd love to know if the job really exists. Brendan Fraser plays this character perfectly, and with complete authenticity. You become invested in the story so quickly because of this character, and how connected you feel to him. I really empathised with him and loved following him on this journey. But all of the actors are so great and play their parts so well. They have great chemistry, in particular, Fraser and Shannon Mahina Gorman, who plays Mia - their relationship was so special and powerful. One underrated thing that...

  Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up in space with no recollection of how he got there. As he starts putting the pieces of his life together, he soon discovers his mission to save the world. But he also discovers that he doesn't have to do it alone. I had heard great things about this film. I went into it completely blind, I had no idea what it was about, but because of all the positive reviews I was looking forward to it. Thankfully I loved the film. The story itself was a great one. It's genuinely interesting and is told in a great way. It moves backwards and forwards in the right places, it lets us get to know and love the characters, and it forces us to become truly invested. It was much more emotional than I expected it to be. Even when you start to understand the direction it's going in, I didn't expect to care as much as I did by the end. One thing about space-based sci-fi movies is there can be a lot of technical jargon that the audience doesn...

  After a surprise confession causes chaos a week before their wedding, Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) wonder if they can still make it down the aisle. I'd heard really mixed things about this movie before seeing it, on polar opposite scales, so while I was looking forward to it, I didn't have exceptionally high hopes. I liked the film, but all-in-all it felt quite average. There were things about it that I really liked but I didn't love it overall. But I have to start with the confession that kicks everything off. For me the whole situation felt a bit weird. Without spoiling anything, the confession was based on something that hadn't actually happened, mixed in with other confessions from people who actually had done things. So while I understand why that might give you slight pause when thinking of marrying someone, it felt like a lot of what happened as a result was a bit dramatic and based on a character's own issues than the confession itself. Th...

  While trying to raise his children following the unexpected loss of his wife, a man (Benedict Cumberbatch) has to deal with the physical manifestation of his grief. I heard about this film a while ago but it took me way too long to actually see it! That said, I'm glad I finally saw it because I liked it. From the first second, it feels really authentic. You never doubt that the characters are going through exactly what is being shown. Depicting grief in this way is really powerful. Even before the grief becomes physical, we really get to understand the characters through the way they grieve. The actors are great. Cumberbatch is fantastic in the role, and the child actors, Richard and Henry Boxall, are perfect and very authentic. There are times when the metaphor feels heavy-handed, particularly when the crow makes a speech. I don't think things needed to be spelled out for the audience like this. In fact, it took something away from the overall idea to make things too obvious...

  When five ballerinas find themselves trapped in a roadside inn with the dangerous inhabitants, they have to use all of their skills to save themselves. I'd heard mixed things about this film before deciding to watch it. The plot was kind of vague so I wasn't completely sure what to expect. I really liked this film. For a start, the cast is great! The film stars Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Avantika, Millicent Simmonds, Iris Apatow and Uma Thurman, and all of the actors do a fantastic job portraying their characters. It's engaging from the very first moment to the moment the credits roll. The beginning of the film feels very odd, it's hard to know what to make of it. But once the real plot gets going, you're completely locked in.  The dialogue is probably the thing that lets the film down a bit. It takes a while for the characters to actually sound like real people, even when the acting is great. This is particularly true of the villains, a few of which just felt l...

  After the events of the first two chapters, Maya ( Madelaine Petsch)  faces off against the masked killers one last time. I don't know why I keep doing it to myself with these movies, but at least the franchise is (hopefully) over now. As expected, this was not a good film. I have no idea why the writers went down the route of giving the killers a backstory, because in all of horror history, these are the killers that least need an explanation. The only reason the first two movies outside of this trilogy worked so well is because there was no reason! I actually liked the way the film began, maybe I was just hopeful that they would move on from Maya's story, because that's exactly what the movie needed. New characters, fresh blood, another new start. But that's where the good things started and ended. There were way too many characters in this one. But in addition to that, they're all dull and badly written. Maya as a main character is one of the issues - I barely ...

  After escaping from prison, Jeffery (Channing Tatum) breaks into a Toys R Us and finds a way to live there for months in secret. But when he falls for employee and single mother Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), his secret becomes compromised. I'd heard really good things about this film, so it was the first one I watched once the Oscars were over. And I agree with all the good things, I liked this movie more than I initially thought I would. Your impression of the film is entirely based on how you feel about Jeffery as a character, and I loved him. I found him really endearing and fun to watch. You can really root for him. The opening scene sets the tone of the whole film really well, particularly when it comes to the humour. Despite the subject, the film has an overtone of joy and whimsy, and that makes it such a great watch. You can forget the characters' pasts, forget what might happen to them in the future, and just focus on the present. It took a really interesting direction. It...

After being left at the altar, Matt (Kevin James) decides to take his honeymoon solo, and finds more than he ever expected. This film was mainly on my radar because of the actors involved - the premise was one that could go either way but I was hopeful! Thankfully, I liked the film. The introduction to the main character, Matt, was great. We get to know him quickly, he's likeable right away, and it's great to be on this journey with him. You're invested in the story from really early on. I loved the group of characters that we're introduced to. The film also stars Nicole Grimaudo, Alyson Hannigan, Kim Coates, Jonathan Roumie and Julee Cerda, and they're all really great and believable in their roles. It's the kind of friend group that you can imagine watching a sitcom about! I loved the way the new friendships were portrayed. They almost had a found-family feel to them, which was really sweet to watch. I thought the overall tone of the film would be funnier, mos...

  When two best friends (Paul Rudd and Jack Black) who dream of remaking their favourite movie, Anaconda, finally get the opportunity, they travel to the Amazon jungle to begin filming. But they soon find themselves in their own movie when they start being stalked by a giant bloodthirsty anaconda. I like the original Anaconda movie, so I was interested in seeing this one. And I was even more interested to see that it was meta, set in a world where the original movie already exists, rather than an entire remake. I liked this film, though that's not to say it was an amazing movie. As I said, I loved the idea of the characters themselves remaking the original, rather than this being a straightforward remake, mostly because the film really didn't need a traditional remake. The actors and their characters are so much fun. The film wouldn't have worked if anyone involved took it slightly more seriously than they did - it was a great balance of humour and drama, leaning much more ...

In the afterlife, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) finds herself torn between her husband of many decades (Miles Teller), and her first love who has been waiting for her to arrive (Callum Turner). With one week to decide who she spends eternity with, Joan has to make the hardest decision of her life. I loved the concept of this film. The idea is so unique, and yet you immediately understand it and can put yourself in the character's shoes. I really wanted to see how it would be dealt with. I liked this film a lot. Though that said, even with how fantastical the concept is, I did have to suspend my disbelief. Mainly because of the way this situation is treated, as if this kind of thing is a one off that has never happened before and would never happen again. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that, in this world, no one before Joan had ever lost a spouse, remarried, and then had to choose between them - it doesn't make sense to me! Based on the description alone I didn't...

When Linda (Rachel McAdams) and her boss Bradley (Dylan O'Brien) become stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash, they have to overcome their differences and work together to make it out alive. I couldn't really guess what the tone of the film would be based on the description alone, other than knowing it was a horror comedy, so I definitely tried to go in with an open mind. Unfortunately I didn't love this film. For a start, as I've mentioned the tone, I really couldn't work it out. It felt like the characters and the world were two entirely separate entities that were forced together even though they didn't really fit. I would have liked the office scenes to be extended, and the plane crashing scenes to be shorter. I felt like I really wanted to know these characters before we got to the plane crash, or at the very least just Linda. That would have made it easier to connect with them and become invested in their futures. As it was, I didn't really...

  When Todd (Shane Jensen) and his dog Indy move homes, Indy begins to feel a presence haunting their new home. But can he save his owner before it's too late? I was sceptical about this film. It was marketed as a possession movie from the point of view of a dog, and that wasn't particularly interesting to me. Plus the mixed reviews suggested this would be something you either really like or hate, and I didn't know what camp I would be in. Thankfully, I'm in the loved it camp! I didn't know how the concept would work, but it just does. It's a really creative, original idea. Because there was such a strong gimmick in the dog being the main character, I thought the story or scares would suffer, but thankfully, this isn't the case. It's genuinely creepy, which is great! I loved the relationship between Indy and Todd, and it's one of the reasons why the film works. We care more about Todd because of how much Indy loves him, and when things start happenin...

New mother Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) is slowly slipping into madness, leaving her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson) worried about their future. I was looking forward to this one. Not only did I want to see Lawrence and Pattinson together after becoming interested during their press tour, but going into post-natal depression in this way had the potential to not only be interesting, but ground-breaking. Unfortunately, I didn't love the movie. From the beginning, it reminded me of 'If I Had Legs I'd Kick You'. Not only due to being about motherhood, but also in the way it was so chaotic and jarring that it just wasn't an enjoyable watch. And that's not to say that it should be enjoyable, just that both films evoked the same feelings. The somewhat single location does a great job of creating isolation. The viewer almost feels suffocated just watching it. The actors did a good job of portraying these characters, but I couldn't tell if they worked well together, ...