Bria Lou Reviews

I'd probably heard of this film before, but I had no idea it was based on 'The Haunting of Hill House' novel, so that was intriguing. I didn't love the Netflix adaptation but that didn't make me feel apprehensive about this one. I liked this film a lot.  The opening is great. It does a good job of showing the house's history in a way that's interesting and compelling to watch. It's nice that we get to spend a bit of time with the characters before we get into the main plot. Speaking of the characters, they're well written and fun to follow. Eleanor in particular is fascinating and gives 'Janet Leigh in Psycho' vibes.  The way the characters interact is really fun to watch. Their personalities are so distinct and interesting that at times you forget you're watching a horror movie. The characters are at least as interesting as the story, if not more so.  The film does a great job of creating the horrors. We're in the same position as th...

  A piano tuner's (Leo Woodall) life is turned upside down when he discovers a talent for cracking safes. I hadn't heard much about this film when it first came out, and I couldn't work out what the film was actually about from the premise, so it wasn't one that I was particularly excited about. So I was surprised that I ended up really liking the movie! You're invested from the very start. You get to know the characters quickly, you care about them almost right away, and you feel a connection with them that makes it easy to follow their journeys. I loved the relationship between the characters played by Woodall and Dustin Hoffman. It's a unique friendship that really grounds the movie. But all of the characters have great relationships and it's really lovely to see them develop as the story continues. It's really engaging, and also a lot sweeter than I expected. But it's also really entertaining. There are some deeper ideas and sadder scenes here, b...

  It was announced a few months ago that this film will be getting a remake, so even though I didn't know much about it, the announcement suddenly made me really interested in seeing it. Plus, with the recent news about Sam Neill (I'm writing this, and watching this, less than a week after his death) it seemed like the best time to finally give this one a go. I don't know if I can really say that I 'liked' or 'enjoyed' this movie, but I'm definitely glad I've seen it. It starts from a really odd place compared to your typical horror movie - it definitely feels like a drama at first. We're dropped into the middle of an impending divorce with no idea who anyone is or whose side to be on, if anyone. It forces the viewer to let their guard down and actually get into the story, rather than thinking about where the plot will go. The actors are so fantastic. Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani go toe-to-toe amazingly well in some of the early scenes, it's...

  This is the oldest movie on the bucket list, and the only silent film, so I was really looking forward to seeing it - I'd never seen a silent horror film before and had no idea how it would work or if the horror would come through. The first version of the film that I found on Amazon Prime had a voice over, which felt really jarring, not least because the movie is billed as a silent film.  When I switched over to the proper silent version, it really made it clear why the film is told in this medium. There's something really powerful about only hearing the score. It changes the atmosphere of the film and gives it the undertones of horror that make it work well.  One of the most important things about the film is the visuals. The filming style is really unique and adds to the tone the story creates.  And then there's the story itself, which is great, particularly once you've seen the end. The way everything comes together is so much fun and the story is told really w...

  After the Trojan war, Odysseus (Matt Damon) begins a perilous journey back to his family. I was really looking forward to this film. I've read the book, so I was familiar with the story, and I heard amazing things when it came out. Despite not being the biggest Nolan fan, I thought I'd probably enjoy this. But I really didn't expect to love it as much as I did! There are so many great things about this movie I don't even know where to start. This is the first film that I've seen in IMAX and I'm so glad I got to experience it that way! One point of apprehension before seeing the movie was the length and pacing, given that the movie is almost three hours. But the pacing is so good that you really don't feel that runtime. You're invested and locked in from the second it starts, and because there are so many characters that we need to hear about, you're never stuck in one place for too long. There wasn't anything I'd cut out. There are a few sc...

It's been hard to narrow down what to write about when capturing the last three months - there's been so many great things that I've loved! Favourite Movie (1): The Odyssey I'll be uploading a full review of this movie, but as it's here, it's not a surprise to read that I loved it. I'm really glad I got to experience it in IMAX, which was my first ever IMAX experience, and such a fantastic one! This is worth watching in whatever format, but it definitely felt incredibly special on such a huge screen. Favourite Movie (2): The Love Hypothesis This was a late addition to the post - I watched this movie the same day I'm writing this post, but I loved it so much that I had to include it. It'll get a full review but it's worth saying here that it was pretty much everything I wanted from an adaptation of this story! Favourite Show (1): Shameless (US) Pretty much the entirety of my July was dedicated to watching this show. I think it's the quickest I...