Bria Lou Reviews

  After receiving a call late at night, a couple (Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys) race to the scene of an accident to help their daughter (Megan McDonnell). I’d seen the premise of this film pop up again and again and I’d always registered that it looked interesting, but for whatever reason there were other films to watch. So I’m glad I finally watched it! I really liked this film. It’s always great when a little 90-minute thriller can surprise you! The first thing I noted was how good the tension is. It’s created from almost the first moment of the film and it holds onto you for the entire runtime. You’re as stressed as they are the whole way through. The story is really simple, but it’s told in such an engaging way. Despite being entirely dialogue, this is a full story with well written three-dimensional characters that we really get to know through their interactions with each other. A situation like this strips the characters of their airs and graces, and we get to know who the...

  This film follows the life of John Davidson (Robert Aramayo), a man who grew up with Tourette's syndrome in 1980s Scotland. I saw the trailer for this film at some point last year, and that in itself looked so powerful that I couldn't wait to finally see the full product. So it's no surprise that I loved the film. One of the best things about the film is the performances. Aramayo was brilliant in the role, but Scott Ellis Watson, who plays a younger Davidson, was equally fantastic and deserves just as much praise. The story is really powerful, as shown in the trailer, particularly because this isn't a story that we hear often, if at all, so everything we learn is really impactful. It doesn't gloss over everything or make light of the hardships Davidson goes through. And while doing that, it's also really informative about the condition. Part of this is due to how well written is it. The characters feel so real and authentic, and there's never a moment when...

  After being thrown out of their family home for coming out as non-binary, Ben (Corey Fogelmanis) moves in with their estranged sister (Alexandra Daddario) and her husband (Cole Sprouse). I saw the trailer for this film randomly and immediately knew I wanted to watch it, so I was eagerly awaiting its release! I liked this film. Ben is such a great character to follow. They’re really sweet, and it’s easy to sympathise with them. All of the characters are great, and the actors do a really good job portraying them. Although the film moves slowly, it takes a long time before your interest starts to wane. For me I only started to lose interest towards the end, and by then I was invested enough in the lives of the characters that it didn’t matter. There were a few plot points that didn’t quite make sense to me, mostly around Ben’s parents, that took me out of the story. I couldn’t quite work out those characters and what their true thoughts and feelings were. At the beginning they were ...

  After an accident reveals deeply buried secrets, Morgan (Allison Williams) and her daughter Clara (McKenna Grace) reconnect as they rediscover life and love. I’m firmly in the middle of the Coleen Hoover discourse – I’m not a fan, but I haven’t read enough of her work to hate her writing either, so when this film came out, I was neutral about it. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t good. However, the actors were great! They all played their characters really well. The story is so cheesy and insane, in true Coleen Hoover fashion. But at least it’s fun! Everything about the way the story is told is heavy-handed. It doesn’t give you a chance to figure things out and instead just hits you over the head with themes again and again. While the couples all had believable chemistry, their relationships were underdeveloped and moved way too fast. The audience can’t connect with them, root for them or ‘ship’ them because they’re all together before we even have time to get used to the idea of th...

  When a woman in a small village is murdered, newscaster Anna Andrews and her ex-husband DCI Jack Harper both suspect each other's involvement. But in a town where everyone is lying about something, will the killer be caught before it's too late? This book was at the top of my 2026 reading list, mostly because I was really excited to check out the TV show adaptation (which I've seen and absolutely loved!). I've previously read one of Feeney's books and didn't love it, so I was slightly apprehensive about this one. Thankfully, I loved the book! I liked it from the opening. You get to know Anna really quickly and whether we trust her throughout the story or not, putting us on her side from the beginning is a great way to start things. I loved the dynamic between Anna and Jack. From the second they're together we understand so much about who they were, who they've become, and how explosive the rest of the story will be. Even though we don't trust eithe...

A down-on-her-luck mother (Rose Byrne) tries to navigate her daughter's (Delaney Quinn) mysterious illness. As we start getting into me watching movies just for the awards buzz, this is firmly in that category. The premise of the film didn’t appeal to me that much, so I’m firmly here for Rose Byrne’s performance. Unfortunately I didn’t love this film. It had a really slow start. The premise doesn’t give too much away so you’re essentially going in with not much information, and it takes a long time to get to grips with the story. The cast is so interesting – I’d never expect Conan O’Brien or A$AP Rocky to be in a story like this. But they didn’t pull me out at all, I really believed both of their characters. But of course Byrne is the standout. While I didn’t love the film, I think her performance was as good as everyone has said. She completely carried the movie and did it with ease. The story isn’t particularly engaging due to the way it is being told. It didn’t pull me in or mak...

  A woman (Tatiana Maslany) begins having terrifying visions while staying with her boyfriend (Rossif Sutherland) in a secluded cabin. I didn’t know much about this film before putting it on, but I really like Tatiana Maslany, so to be honest her being in it, and it being a horror film, were the only reasons I watched it. This film wasn’t great. There were parts of it that I liked, but the overall product had too many major flaws. But I will say that the actors all do a really great job, particularly Maslany who was the absolute standout. I was slightly apprehensive about the film when I heard who the director was – I’ve not been a fan of any of his previous movies, but that didn’t put me off. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t change my mind about his films. There was a lot of great imagery and visuals that made things feel genuinely creepy, particularly the visions. But as interesting as the visions could have been, they were too frequent and made the story feel disjointed and all ...

  Desperate to help his sick daughter, Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced to compete in a deadly gameshow. I was really annoyed to miss this one in the cinema because I was looking forward to it. Based on the promotional interviews, it seemed like it would be a fun popcorn movie, and even though the reviews weren’t great I was open-minded about it. And thankfully I really liked it! It was really quick to get into the action. We meet Ben, we meet his family, we get to know a little bit about him, but before we really get into anything he’s in the competition fighting for his life and we’re right alongside him. It gets your adrenaline going from really early on and doesn’t let up. The downside of this is that the concept of the competition wasn’t explained as well as it could have been. You get the gist of things after a while, but it would have been would have been great to know more earlier on. That being said, it doesn’t matter too much because you’re invested in Ben and his ...

  Next up is some early Wes Craven! I saw the remake years ago and really liked it, but I'd never got around to seeing the original so I'm really glad it was on the list - it probably wouldn't have occurred to me to watch it otherwise. I liked this movie. I really enjoy the concept, so it wasn't a shock that I liked the original as much as the remake. I loved how classic this feels. When I think of old horror, this is the kind of thing that comes to mind - simple basic stories, obvious villains, actual scares. I love the way the genre has evolved over the years, and I can't wait to get into classic movies that are less obvious horror too, but I will always love things like this. Tension was created really well. Keeping the faces of the 'monsters' a secret until the last possible moment was a really great idea. It keeps the audience in suspense, and the longer it takes to see them, the scarier it gets. But even the amount of time it takes for the main plot to...

  A seemingly impossible murder inside a church causes Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to become involved in a mystery that sees a close-knit community begin to turn on each other. I was really excited about this one! I didn’t love the movie that came before this, Glass Onion, but I loved the first Knives Out and the concepts of both, and I’ll definitely watch as many movies as they make. Unfortunately, and I think I’m completely alone in this, I was disappointed by the film. But one thing I really loved was the cast – this may be the best cast yet! All of the actors were amazing and did such a good job with their respective characters. I also liked the introductions to all the characters. This film goes back to the first of making the audience see all the characters from the point of view of an outsider, and that’s the best way to do these things. This was also the first time that Blanc wasn’t the most interesting character. It was funnier than I expected, and as with the other movies...

  Injured quarterback Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers) receives the opportunity of a lifetime when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) offers to train him at his isolated compound. This film was heavily marketed as a Jordan Peele movie, obviously in the hopes of getting people to connect it to his other movies. This marketing didn’t really work for me due to me not being a huge fan of Peele’s movies post Get Out, but even with that it’s an absolute disservice to connect this film with Peele’s previous works. This movie wasn’t for me at all. It took a really long time to have any idea of what this was about or what was happening. It doesn’t let the audience get to know the character as well as we need to to really care about the story and what happens to Cade. None of the characters felt authentic or realistic, but the story isn’t fantastical enough for this to be a filmmaking choice. So again, this is another thing that makes you not really care about them. Speaking of the character...

  A woman (Camille Sullivan) becomes obsessed with finding her missing sister (Sarah Durn), leading her to uncover a horrifying secret. The only thing I knew about this film was that it was a debut movie by a director who is also a movie critic that I’d heard of. I didn’t have any thoughts about this in terms of the perceived quality of the movie, but it did make me more interested to see it. I didn’t love this one unfortunately. The concept was really interesting, though when it starts it has a really similar feel to The Blair Witch Project, which makes it feel a bit less original than it probably should. It would have been nice to get to know the characters outside of Mia (Sullivan) and her sister, as I never really connected with either of them. And as much as you don’t need to care about them for the film to work, it would help. It probably would have been better to see this story from someone else’s point of view. I don’t think Mia brought much to the story. If we saw this fro...

  As Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) fights for the people and animals of Oz after being branded the Wicked Witch of the West, she realises that she needs to reconnect with her best friend Glinda (Ariana Grande) to truly change Oz for good. This was one of my most highly anticipated films of the year. I absolutely loved the first movie, and being familiar with the theatre show, I really wanted to see how they’d translate the second part of the story to film. I loved this film. I went in with low expectations due to some negative reviews, but it was exactly what I wanted – the conclusion to this story with some songs that I’ve been waiting to hear! There has been a lot said about the casting choices, and I have to agree in some respects. There were a few people that were miscast, and a few instances where the singing could have been stronger, but for me this didn’t matter too much because when the casting works, it’s amazing. There is great chemistry in every corner of the film – particular...

  This is a random one to start off the 100 horror movies bucket list! I picked it more due to availability than anything else. I didn't know what it was about so it was really interesting to go in blind. I really like this film! It starts in a fascinating place - giving us a villain from the outset and having the viewer follow him rather than the victims of his tyranny is a really great way to start things because we get to see the full spectrum of character development. He's also the most interesting character, and played so well by Vincent Price. Though in saying that, Francesca ( played by Jane Asher ) is also a really great character, and gets some great development. She is a completely different character from the beginning to the end. The story is really engaging from the very beginning, long before we truly get into the horror. The more characters we meet, the better the film gets. There are a really eclectic group of well written people who may not always feel authenti...

  College professor Alma (Julia Roberts) faces internal conflict when one of her students (Ayo Edebiri) makes an accusation against her colleague (Andrew Garfield). I was apprehensive about this one. I started off excited but as the negative reviews started coming in, this seemed like one that was universally disliked. But because I really liked the premise I tried not to let it cloud my judgement too much. So I was surprised to find that I actually liked it more than I expected! Unfortunately it starts unbelievably slowly. I was interested to see where it would go so this didn’t bother me too much, but I was watching it at home and everyone I was watching it with gave up after less than 20 minutes, so I think it’s really easy to lose interest at this early stage. Not enough is done to grab the audience. One of the other reasons you might give up early is because the environment of this world just isn’t accessible, which makes the story really hard to get into. The actors are great...

  A group of teenage boys participate in a gruelling competition, being forced to walk continuously or face deadly consequences. I had heard so many great things about this film, but because the idea of the story didn’t completely appeal to me, I was a bit apprehensive going in about whether or not I’d like it. Thankfully I loved the film. For a start, as much as I didn’t love the premise, I do love Stephen King stories, and this is so undeniably King, while also throwing in a sprinkle of The Hunger Games. As most of the film is dialogue-based, you have to have great actors and characters to make this work, and these actors and their characters are the best thing about the film. The characters are interesting for so many reasons, not least because they’re in this competition in the first place, so you want to find out as much about them as possible. They’re all really different, they have such interesting interactions with each other, and they’re what keep you watching. The actors ...

  Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) is an MMA and UFC champion. When he has the chance to become a legend, he risks everything to achieve greatness. I’d heard a lot about this film in the lead-up to it being released, some good things and some bad things, so it’s not one that I rushed out to go and watch. I also didn’t really know what it was about until I watched it. This one pleasantly surprised me. It wasn’t amazing, but I liked it more than I thought I would. For a start, I liked that we really got to know the characters. They were likeable, and you want to root for them and follow their story. I liked Kerr in particular, and felt a connection with him from really early on. I was sceptical about Johnson going in but I think he did a great job in this role, as did all of the actors. Speaking of Johnson, he and Blunt have great chemistry and work really well together. I know they’ve worked together before, but this is the first thing I’ve seen them in, and I liked them together. As impo...