Bria Lou Reviews

  It's Blogmas Day 8! Sparks fly when exes Sonny (Tatyana Ali) and Kip (Jesse Kove) team up to help their friends get engaged at Christmas. I've seen a few Tatyana Ali Christmas movies over the years, so she's definitely becoming a staple for me, and was entirely the reason that I picked this film. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of the best I've picked this year. It took a really long time to get into the story. If I hadn't read the description, I wouldn't have had any idea it was about a proposal for a really long time. And even after the proposal was mentioned, this never seemed like the main focus. The characters are all 2-dimensional and honestly boring. None of them stood out, none of them were fun to watch, they weren't written particularly well and there was nothing about them that I connected to or was particularly interested in. And speaking of the characters, the chemistry between Sonny and Kip just didn't work for me. They didn't work pa...

  It's Blogmas Day 7! When a girl writes a letter to Santa for her mother to find love, the letter goes viral and the whole town becomes invested in 'Santa Mom', including a reporter covering the story. I have no idea why the title of this movie was changed from 'Peppermint and Postcards' to 'It's a Christmas Thing', as the original is definitely the better name even if it has little to do with the story. I love when the films you're anticipating the least end up being some of the best! I added this film to the Blogmas list mostly to fill spaces and use different platforms, so I am so happy that I ended up liking it as much as I did. I instantly took a liking to all of the characters, and I love the way the relationship between the exes was handled. Everything is mature and amicable and just so nice to watch, particularly as this isn't a film about exes getting back together, they're just genuinely friends, which is so rare for a romance movi...

  It's Blogmas Day 6! A historian (Jill Wagner) goes back to her hometown of Aurora to get inspiration for her next project and experience the Northern Lights. I'm not really sure why I chose this one outside of availability, but I was looking forward to it for the Northern Lights alone! This wasn't the best Christmas film. From almost the first moment, I knew that this film would be completely forgettable. Whether it was actually good was a separate thing, but I knew that it wasn't one that would stay with me. That being said, the setting was great. So many of the locations had a really sweet, cosy feel, and it was definitely Christmassy in terms of the decorations! But that being said, this is as generic as it gets. It's a good one to have on in the background - the story is really simple and easy to follow, so you can put this one while doing some Christmassy cooking or baking (or scrolling on your phone) and it won't make much of a difference. The characters...

  It's Blogmas Day 5! Three siblings, each dealing with issues in their personal or work lives, reluctantly join their parents on a Christmas cruise. I liked that the premise of this one was quite vague - I didn't know if this was going to be a love story, a story about family connections or something different entirely, and that really worked in its favour. I really liked this film - it was definitely the best of the 5 Blogmas movies so far. For a start, I love that it was based on siblings rather than one character, particularly because all three siblings were equal characters with their own stories. You can get invested in each one and the film never felt crowded. All the stories worked well together. Plus, it was helpful that all the siblings were likeable - you want to be involved in their stories because you genuinely like them. And along with that, the actors were great. They really nailed their sibling chemistry and you believe in the authenticity of their relationships...

  It's Blogmas day 4! After finalising their divorce, Kate (Alicia Silverstone) and Everett (Oliver Hudson) want one last family Christmas, but new relationships and old feelings threaten to complicate everything. This is the first of many Netflix Christmas movies this year, and the selection is really varied and interesting so I'm looking forward to them! I liked this film. It wasn't amazing, but there were definitely things that it got right. For a start, I loved the place it started from. It's really original to begin a love story when the characters have just got happily divorced. I took an instant liking to almost all the characters, and this remained the entire way through. I really liked this group of people, which made it easier to connect with them. Our main characters work well together, have a believable relationship, and enough chemistry that you find yourself rooting for them. There were times when the film tried to go into some really deep issues, but did ...

  It's Blogmas Day 3! Mira (Rekha Sharma) is determined to make a success of her family's fruitcake business, even if that means working with marketing executive Brady Phillips (Dion Johnstone). I was looking forward to this one - I have a few movies about baking on the list this year and I'm looking forward to them all! This one was okay - it had some good moments and some not-so good, so it's a mixed bag. The story itself isn't particularly gripping. The audience don't have the emotional history with this fruitcake that Mira has, so there's no way we can be as invested as she is, and because so much of the story is about the fruitcake that we don't care about, it makes it hard to connect. The main characters don't have the best romantic chemistry. You believe they're friends, and even that they're in the beginning stages of liking each other, but anything more than that just doesn't work. And it got worse when every character around Mir...