Bria Lou Reviews

Of all the movies I watched for the bucket list, this one was without a doubt the hardest to track down. Thankfully I managed to find it but it was looking impossible for a while! I ended up watching a version that didn't include the musical numbers, so I had to listen to the soundtrack separately, which felt really weird. But at the same time, I don't feel like anything was missing from the story by not having the songs in it. I'd never heard of the film before, but an almost 4-hour long movie about cricket wasn't exactly enticing. Thankfully the film is a lot more interesting than it sounds! There's a lot of underlying themes, and even when the scenes are about cricket, the game isn't really the most important thing. It was really fun spending time with these characters and seeing them interact. The one thing I didn't expect from this film was for it to be so uplifting. Even though it's not entirely sunshine and rainbows, you fall into step with this g

  After meeting by chance one evening, Amanda and Wendy realise they have something in common - they are both experiencing grief and want to make the men who destroyed their families pay. Knowing they can never exact the revenge they crave, they come up with an idea: if you kill for me, I'll kill for you... The premise of the book is deliberately vague, but I think the main idea of it is enough to give you a flavour of what the story is about. I have mixed feelings about this book. There's so many things about it that I really loved, but there are also a few things that I could have done without. To start off, the first two chapters are absolutely riveting. I feel like it took no time at all to bond and connect with the characters. Not only are the chapters exciting, but they're also really visceral. You feel like you're living in the scenes with the characters. It would have been amazing if the whole book had stayed like this. The story is told from two points of view,

At this point in the bucket list we start getting to the films that are a bit harder to find. I had never heard of this film before seeing it on the list, and I didn't look it up before watching it (beyond searching for a platform to watch it on), so I had no idea what it was about. Sometimes when I'm watching the bucket list movies I write a couple of little notes to remind myself how I felt about it, as I don't give them full reviews. For this one, the only thing I wrote was 'harrowing' and I think that describes it well. The film doesn't shy away from anything troubling or uncomfortable, and it doesn't try to sugar-coat what the characters are going through, or what their lives were like. Apparently it's loosely based on true events and that feels really evident. Because of that, these characters feel extremely authentic. Whether you're familiar with their lives or not, you empathise and sympathise with them because it feels like you're watchi

After a harrowing accident, popstar Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is putting her life back together and embarking on a world tour. But after witnessing a suicide, she begins to experience strange occurrences - the strangest of which is a smile that seems to follow her wherever she goes...  Having absolutely loved the first film, I was so excited to see where this next one would take the storyline, and it seemed really promising! But my high expectations were probably why I ended up being so disappointed with the final result. I know that this is definitely an unpopular opinion, but I didn't really like this sequel. However, I did like how it began. It directly connects itself to the first film in a really interesting way, and that was fun to watch. Then it kind of went downhill. For me personally, I didn't love the character of Skye Riley. I didn't really feel connected to her, and it never felt like the film allowed me to get to know her that well. So as much as the events are

Next on the list was 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'. This isn't one I was particularly looking forward to.  I've never been a huge fan of Westerns, so watching what is probably the most famous Western for 2 and a half hours wasn't high on my to-do list.  But because of that, it was actually a much more intriguing watch than I thought it would be. It took me quite a while to really get into it, but once I got the plot and focused on it, I found the story was a great one. What made it great for me more than anything was the characters. I really enjoyed watching them interact. And as someone who had only seen Clint Eastwood in 'The Bridges of Madison County' and 'Million Dollar Baby' before this, I definitely gained a newfound respect for him as an actor. Whenever I think of Westerns, my mind instantly goes to 'Back to the Future 3', even though the actual movies aren't like this in any way. But this movie was the first to directly remind

While attempting to go straight, former criminal Moke's (Josh Brolin) efforts are derailed when he is reunited with his twin brother Jady (Peter Dinklage), who convinces him to join a cross-country road-trip to retrieve the score of a lifetime. I remember seeing the trailer for this a few months ago and being surprised by the actors involved, because no one seemed to be anticipating its release at all. I wasn't particularly interested in the plot, but as a fan of a few of the actors in it, I wanted to see it. And after watching the film, I understand why no one was really talking about it. But let's start with the good things! The characters are great. Jady and Moke are fun characters to spend time with, and the actors had great chemistry. If nothing else in the film felt realistic, their brotherly banter worked. At the beginning, it was funnier than I expected it to be. This unfortunately didn't last and the film got less and less funny as it went on, but for a while t