Bria Lou Reviews

I haven't decided whether I will write reviews for long TV-shows - as up until now I have only reviewed limited shows. But whether I continue or not, I finished Girlfriends two weeks ago, and I really wanted to write about it. Girlfriends is about four (technically five) friends - Joan (Tracee Ellis Ross), Maya (Golden Brooks), Toni (Jill Marie Jones), Lynn (Persia White) and William (Reggie Hayes) who navigate the ups and downs of life together. This show first aired from 2000 to 2008, and I didn't catch any of it at the time (due to being about 11 when it finished in 2008), so when it came out on Netflix, I got to watch it all from scratch. I absolutely loved this show! First of all, I feel like I've been severely deprived of Black sitcoms, so I definitely had room for this in my life, and it didn't disappoint.  But I also loved these characters. This is a character-driven show, and these characters are what made the show, and has kept the show, so popular. They were ...

This is an Amazon original, and I had been aware of it for a while because I'm a fan of Tessa Thompson, but all I really knew about it was that it was a love story. And I'm always ready to see a love story. In the '50s, Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) and Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) meet when Robert takes a job at Sylvie's father's record store. This meeting sparks a deep connection that changes their lives forever. I heard a lot of amazing things about this film before I saw it, but I was actually a bit disappointed with the end result. But I'll start with the things that I liked. There's something really innocent and pure about these two characters and their story. They feel transparent - what you see is what you get, and I really liked that about them. Music is a big part of the film, and it does a really good job of keeping the audience in the right time period. You almost feel like you live in the 50s/60s too. There is amazing chemistry between our lead actors. Th...

This has been on my to-watch list for a really long time. The premise immediately attracted me to the story, and I'm really glad that I finally got the chance to see it. Amber (Auli'i Cravalho) is preparing to go to college while keeping a huge secret - she is homeless and lives on the school bus that her mother drives. But as Amber's life spirals out of control, will she be able to keep her secret? I loved this film. I had no idea it would be as powerful as it was. The characters that make up this film are all great. Not only do they all feel really important to the progression of Amber's story, but they're all great characters in their own right. And while this is true of Amber's friends, this is particularly true for her mother. Amber's mother, Becky, is played by Justina Machado, and there is such good chemistry between the two actors. Their relationship, particularly early on in the film, is the heart of the movie, and I loved watching them. My favourit...

  I had heard so much about this show that I was desperate to watch it by the time I actually got around to it. The show is on Apple TV+, and is short enough that you can watch it within the free trial if you don't want to pay for the service. Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber (Chris Evans) and his wife Laurie's (Michelle Dockery) lives are changed forever when their 14-year-old son Jacob (Jaeden Martell) is accused of murder. I knew that I was going to enjoy this show, due to the subject matter, but I had no idea how much I was going to love it. For a start, the show is 8 episodes long, which means that it takes off with a running start and doesn't stop running until the credits roll on the last episode. We are thrust into the action from the beginning, and the show manages to hold our interest for the entire time. The thing that makes this show work so well is the characters, and the way they are portrayed by the respective actors. Not only are we interested in the ...

  Karen M. McManus is an author that I have really liked for a while. I have read the three books that she released before this one, and based on them, I pre-ordered this one as soon as it was announced.  Milly, Aubrey and Jonah Story are cousins who hardly know each other. When they're invited to spend the summer on the resort of the grandmother that they've never met, they use this invitation as an excuse to finally discover why their grandmother disowned their parents. But when they uncover secrets that they never should have known, will they discover the whole truth behind the mysterious Story legacy? I loved this book! For a start, these are great characters. Not only do we have the three Story cousins, who are such interesting characters in their own right, but we also have their parents, and the legacy that takes over the entire resort. It would have been really easy for these characters to morph into one another - particularly when you're dealing with at least 8 mem...

I hadn't heard that much about this film before it came out, but I became intrigued about it after seeing Viola Davis speaking about it on the Graham Norton show - not the mention the great reviews it's been getting. When Blues singer Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) joins her band for a recording session in 1927, tensions reach boiling point and lives change forever. I really enjoyed this film. Well, enjoyed almost feels like the wrong word, but I appreciated it. My expectations may have been a bit higher than what I saw, due to all the amazing reviews, but it was good nonetheless.  The first thing I could tell about the film is that it was based on a play. It was extremely dialogue-heavy and set in limited locations, and I liked that about it. You get to know the characters through their conversations and banter. A lot of the time through these conversations, it does feel like you're just waiting for something to happen, but your enjoyment of this will be based on your own persona...

I remember ticking the 'remind me' box on Netflix, so that I could watch this as soon as it came out. And that was based solely on how interesting the premise was. When a home birth ends in tragedy, a woman finds herself picking up the pieces of a life that she no longer recognises. Of course I knew that this film was going to be full of emotion and grief, but it's really hard to go into the film expecting the things that it hits you with. The first scene in and of itself contains so much. It's half an hour of a harrowing, heart-breaking, almost chilling situation. But from an external, critical perspective, it is so well done in terms of writing, directing and acting. It goes from joy to despair so quickly that you almost get whiplash, and this scene is amazingly powerful even without the rest of the film backing it up. The portrayal of grief was really interesting, mainly because we got to see it from the point of view of so many characters. Speaking of characters, th...