Bria Lou Reviews

This was another first-time watch! Not only that, but this was one of the few movies on the Bucket List that I'd never heard of before and went into completely blind. I only really picked it because it had a short runtime. Thankfully I thought the film was great! The dialogue was really funny and quippy. It did a great job of telling the audience exactly who these characters were and made the film a really fun watch. And this completely comes down to the characters. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson worked really well together and helped to create characters with such an interesting, complex relationship not only because of the way they delivered their dialogue, but also in their natural chemistry. The film itself is really well-written and, having no idea what it was about, I loved seeing where it went. Even though this is considered a crime comedy, I thought it was really sweet and heartfelt.  In terms of its classic status, I've never heard it mentioned when classic movies a...

When a murder takes place during a high school reunion, a group of old friends find themselves trapped in a mansion, knowing that one of them is the killer. I hadn't heard of this film before seeing it was available, but I was enticed by the fact that it was a murder mystery, and the fact that it has an amazing cast!  Unfortunately, despite the amazing cast, the film itself falls flat. I liked the beginning, the characters were great and the dialogue was actually funny. The film has a lot of comedic actors who do a great job, but even the actors not known for comedy do it really well. I love the idea of a murder mystery completely rooted in comedy. Movies like Knives Out balance the comedy and mystery well, but something like this, being much more comedic than mysterious, was an interesting change. In fact, the film starts to lose its way once it leans more into the mystery than the comedy. Once the tone changes, not much happens for a really long time and we start to forget the gr...

A long-awaited re-watch! There are a few films on the Bucket List that I've been saving because I know I love them and I don't want to watch them all too quickly. This was high up on the list of favourites, maybe in the top 4, so as much as I was saving it, I couldn't wait to watch it, which is why I only lasted until June! One of the reasons I love the film so much is obviously because it stars two of my favourite actors in the world, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also won an Oscar for writing it. I'm not sure if this is the film that introduced me to them, but it's one that I definitely love because of them. The performances in the film, Matt and Ben aside, are amazing. There's a few iconic lines of dialogue, and Robin Williams completely steals the show whenever he's on screen. It's also written really well, which is why it has the Oscar. We get to understand these characters so well just through their interactions. We know them, we love them, and I...

When a pool cleaner (Chris Pine) is approached by a mysterious femme fatale (DeWanda Wise), he becomes involved in uncovering a shady business deal. I have to admit that I only watched this film for two reasons. One, because I'm a huge fan of Chris Pine and this is his directorial debut, and two, because of the negative reviews. The film has been panned so harshly that I had to watch it to see if it could really be that bad! While I think it didn't need to be panned as harshly as it was, I didn't like the film, and there are definite problems with it! For a start, what is it about? At 30 minutes in I made a note that I had no idea what was going on or what it was about, and after watching it in its entirety, I don't think much changed! The characters were somewhat interesting, but very odd, and not particularly fun to watch.  This is especially true of the main character, Darren Barrenman, who I never really understood and definitely didn't like. The dialogue is goo...

Another first-time watch! There are a few movies on the Bucket List that are a bit intimidating, either because of their length or their reputation, and this one was a bit of both.  I had put off watching it for a while and eventually decided to do it in snippets, just to get over that intimidation. So I ended up watching a bit at a time until I finished, over about a week (it's 3hrs 47 mins). But it also has a reputation of being amazing, which was another reason for the intimidation! And honestly, I didn't get it. I think it just wasn't for me, because I never really enjoyed it, and every time I put it on, I was never looking forward to watching it. If anything, I forced myself to keep watching so I could finally tick it off. I've done a bit of research into why the film is so popular, particularly at the time it came out, and I do understand why so many people consider it a classic. For me, though, I just wasn't interested or invested enough to really enjoy it, a...

  A man posing as a contract killer (Glen Powell) breaks protocol when he finds himself falling for a client (Adria Arjona). I'll admit, this film wasn't on my radar at all until I started seeing positive reviews. I knew it was a new Netflix film, but had no interest in watching it. But as I kept seeing the reviews, I thought I definitely needed to see it. But unfortunately, I don't really get the overwhelming reviews because I didn't like the film that much! The concept is interesting, and while the idea of someone falling in love with the wrong person isn't the most original premise, the character being a hitman (or posing as one) definitely makes it more original! By the time I was 30 minutes in, I didn't really care about these characters or their story. I was never enticed. I think the thing that threw me off was that I had initially assumed the film was a comedy. And as much as there are funny moments, it definitely has a more serious tone that I wasn'...

This was another first-time watch! I had heard of this film once or twice but never knew what it was about, and I'd never been particularly interested in seeing it. I kind of don't know what to make of the film, but it was very different to what I thought it would be after reading the description - in a good way! The characters were really interesting and, while I didn't find myself getting completely invested in the story as a whole, there were definitely characters I liked and wanted to see more from. There were also a lot of recognisable actors who made their start in the film, which was really interesting to see. The acting was amazing! I also liked that nothing was shied away from. The film is about heavy drug use and also features a lot of scenes and themes that could be seen as controversial. This was done in a way that felt really authentic, and even with harrowing scenes, nothing is sugar-coated or diluted. So all in all, I thought this was good! Will I watch it ag...