Bria Lou Reviews

  When William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) lose their son Hamnet, Shakespeare is inspired to write his classic tragedy 'Hamlet'. This is one of the Best Picture nominees that I heard the most people talking about. Grief is always an interesting topic to explore, so I was looking forward to seeing this. I found the film quite average, which was so disappointing because I thought I'd love it. The actors are the best thing about the film. Mescal and Buckley work really well together, and all of the child actors were so great. All of the performances feel really authentic. That being said, most of the supporting cast were underutilised. As much as this is a story about one family, it would have been interesting to see more from the people around them. I found the pacing odd. Every scene, and by extension the entire movie, felt almost double the time it actually was, and some scenes felt particularly slow. And when it did decide to speed up, it ...

  When Vahid ( Vahid Mobasseri) runs into the man who he believes to be his former torturer, he decides to get revenge. But when the man ( Ebrahim Azizi) vehemently denies involvement in the torture, Vahid's confidence begins to falter. This was one of the Oscar-nominated movies that I was most intrigued about, and I ended up watching it before a lot of the Best Picture nominees because I thought that I'd probably like it more. And I was right, I liked this film more than a good few of the Best Picture nominees, and I would have loved to see it nominated in that category. It starts from a really great place. We're following a family, we don't know their place in the story, we don't know who they are, but we're put into their point of view. So when the story takes a turn, the viewer is left in an odd position where we don't really know where to place ourselves. And for me, this just made me feel a connection to the story that I probably wouldn't have othe...

  Two men (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) kidnap a CEO (Emma Stone) when they become convinced that she is an alien trying to destroy Earth. This one was on my radar before I knew the premise, purely based on it's Oscar potential. So I was really surprised to see what it was about. But because the premise is really interesting, and I liked 'Poor Things' by the same director (and starring Emma Stone) I was looking forward to seeing it. I had to let this film sit with me for a bit because I wasn't sure how I felt about it, it's a really odd mix. I've come to the conclusion that I did like it, but it wasn't on the top end of the Best Picture nominees for me. It had a slow start. Given we know the basic premise, we're looking forward to getting into it, but it takes way too long to actually start. And an argument could be made that it's good to get to know the characters first, but I don't think we get to know them that well. There were scenes that ...

  I was looking forward to this one. I must have watched it years ago but I had no memory of it before this re-watch so it was like watching it for the first time, which was fun. I liked this film. The first thing I have to say about it is that it popularised found footage movies, and that alone makes it iconic. Even though it wasn't the first, it paved the way for so many amazing modern movies, some of which are favourites of mine, such as most of the Paranormal Activity franchise. One of the best things about the film is the commitment to realism. The actors were playing versions of themselves and their dialogue was improvised, which makes everything about the film feel really real. You believe everything that's happening because so much effort was put into making it authentic. The dialogue is one of the best things about the film. The actors do a really great job with their characters - not only do we get to know them despite only seeing them in this context, but we feel lik...

  The story of Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a logger whose life takes many unexpected turns in the early 20th century. I'd heard great things about this film, but it's probably not one that I would have chosen to watch had it not been for the awards buzz. The premise was vague and not particularly intriguing. That being said, I'm glad I watched it because I did like it. I went in blind, which I'd definitely recommend, as the less you know about a story like this, the easier it is to become truly invested. It takes a while to get used to the characters and their world. For me the voiceover that's throughout the entire film took me the most time to get on board with. There was great chemistry between the actors. This was most obvious between Edgerton and Felicity Jones, who played Gladys, but it's present in all the relationships Grainier makes. Speaking of the actors, while I'm not surprised that the film received the nominations it got, I was surprised t...

  I've seen this film twice and hated it both times, so here's hoping third time's the charm! Unfortunately I still didn't like it. It had been so many years since I'd seen the film that I didn't really remember much, which was good because it almost felt like coming to it fresh. One thing I absolutely didn't remember was how, for want of a better word, annoying the character of Sam is. Noah Wiseman plays him really well, but I never felt as much sympathy for the mother, Amelia (played be Essie Davis) as I did on this re-watch. That being said, there's not one likeable character, or one that you can really connect with. And in the case of the mother it's completely clear why, but whatever the case, it makes it harder to engage with the story. Every time an ad came on, I was happy to just have a break from this family. I couldn't wait for the film to be over! Not much happens during the film, which was probably why I didn't like it the first t...