Bria Lou Reviews

After being catapulted to fame, conductor Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) begins a relationship with Felicia  Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) that changes both of their lives forever. I had been putting off this movie for a long time. Ignoring all the press and the Oscars and everything else, I just didn't think it would be something I'd like. If it wasn't nominated, I'm not sure I ever would have made myself sit down and watch it. As expected, I didn't love the film. There were things about it I liked, and things I didn't like, but overall I found it just okay. The first thing that stood out was the cinematography. If nothing else, the film is great to look at and shot in a really interesting way. Cooper and Mulligan have great chemistry. But as good as they are together, the characters often don't feel like real people. In some scenes, they feel almost like caricatures. The story is told well, but it isn't particularly interesting. In fact, I hate to s

  This was a really highly anticipated first-time watch. Though I had never seen this before, I feel like I knew the entire plot solely through watching a Family Guy episode that parodied it. And even then, I was surprised how close the parody was! I already knew all of the pivotal plot points because of that, and honestly it just made it more entertaining to me. Every classic should get a cartoon parody! But I had been wanting to watch this film for years, and honestly it just seemed a bit intimidating, and also like something you had to be in the mood for, and I never was. So I put it off until, thankfully, I needed to watch it for the Bucket List. And I absolutely loved it! I never give first-time watches 5 stars on Letterboxd (I usually have to re-watch something to realise how much I love it), and this was the first time I had to do that, because there was no other rating to give it. What a film! And yes this shouldn't come as a shock, it's very clearly a classic, it's

When a woman (Emma Stone) is brought back to life by a scientist (Willem Dafoe), she decides to leave her oppressive home to discover who she wants to be in a new world. This was probably my most anticipated watch in the run-up to the Oscars. The way people were talking about it, I just knew I had to see it as soon as possible. I loved this film! It was wild in the best way possible. For a start, hopefully this isn't a spoiler, but I love the way the film approaches sex - both the idea of it and the actual scenes. A lot of the time, usually with American productions, violence is seen as much more palatable than sex. The European approach to this is often the other way around and I think that makes a lot more sense. So I'm really glad the film approached the sexual liberation of the character in this way. It was so well written - the humour doesn't ever feel like it's trying.  Speaking of the humour, it was so smoothly woven into the story that I often didn't find th

  Next up for the Bucket List is one of my favourite romance movies ever! I've seen this a few times and love it every time, so it wasn't a surprise at all that I loved it again this time. I actually think I loved it more this time than I ever have before. It definitely earns its place on the list - it's a classic for a reason. It has everything - believable romance, great music, iconic dances and an actually interesting storyline regardless of the romance. I would definitely encourage everyone who's never seen this movie to give it a go! It also holds up really well over time. It's the kind of film that never gets old - I could watch it over and over again. But other than that, there's not much to say about this one. I loved it before I saw it this time around, I still love it after re-watching it and I will definitely be watching it again!

A disliked teacher (Paul Giamatti) at a boarding school stays behind during Christmas break to look after a trouble-making student (Dominic Sessa), with the help of the school's head cook (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). What starts off as an annoying obligation becomes a life-changing experience, as the three form a bond they never expected.   We are now into Oscar season! At the time of writing this, the nominations came out last week, and thankfully I guessed correctly that this film would be nominated for Best Picture. I loved this film. So far this is probably my favourite of the Best Picture nominees (though there are some key movies I haven't seen yet). For a start, just to get this out of the way, if I was in charge of the Academy, all of the main actors would walk out of that ceremony with an Oscar - especially Dominic Sessa, whose performance is extremely underrated. I was completely entertained throughout the movie. It's not particularly long, around 2 hours 13 minute

  Next up on the Bucket List was an animated classic! This is a rewatch - I've seen it so many times! Less than I've seen the second and third movies, but still a lot. I've been seeing a trend lately with the films I'm rewatching for the list, and this definitely fell into that trend. This was so much better this time around! My favourite Toy Story movie is 2, without a doubt. As well as the story being more enjoyable to me, it also has an element of nostalgia that the first doesn't for some reason. I think I probably just rewatched the second over and over again when I was young. But anyway, I didn't mind rewatching the first, but I had no thoughts about it. I only really picked it because it was short and I only had an hour and a half to spare. So I was really surprised that I ended up liking it as much as I did. There were so many iconic lines and shots that I didn't even know I remembered. Animated movies don't often get revered as much as they shoul

When a woman (Sandra Hüller) is accused of murdering her husband (Samuel Theis), their blind 11-year-old son ( Milo Machado Graner) faces a dilemma as the only witness. When the Best Picture nominees were announced, this was one of the ones I was most looking forward to. Not just because of the interesting plot, but because of the way people spoke about it. I knew it would definitely be one to watch. I really really liked this film. It's so compelling from the very beginning and you become engrossed in the story really quickly. I found that at some points it was hard to look away from the screen. The film was really interesting throughout, but my favourite scenes were definitely the ones in the courtroom. The camera movements were great, there were so many unique shots. If the plot wasn't interesting enough by itself, it was definitely an interesting watch visually. The way the story is told, going back and forth between the present and the past, is really well done. I really l

A grumpy man called Ove sticks to the same routine, happy with his solitary life. But when a young, eccentric family move in next door, his life changes forever. I bought this book after watching ' A Man Called Otto '. I already loved the story, so I wanted to read the original version of it. I also wanted to see if the book would make me as emotional as the film did. I absolutely loved this book. The opening chapter is a great way to introduce the characters. Even though it's short, we get to know Ove really quickly, which goes a long way in getting the reader to love him. One of the best things about Ove as a character was how amazing his development was. Everything that happened made sense, but it was so slow and steady that we see him changing in real-time, which is really interesting. Because I definitely fell in love with Ove. But in saying that, I also fell in love with all the characters. They were such an eclectic bunch, there's definitely someone for everyone

  I have a weird history with Blade Runner.  I've never see this movie. But not only did I read the book it was based on years ago, I also watched the sequel. And yet, I never really wanted to see the original. When I saw it was on the bucket list, I wasn't surprised, but I also wasn't particularly looking forward to it. I know it's an important movie in film culture, but I was never really interested in it. And in saying that, I really liked the book, and I liked the sequel too.  But anyway, I watched the movie, and as I had predicted, I didn't really like it. I think it's the first bucket list movie that I was a bit bored by. Of course some of this will come down to the fact that I'm not a huge sci-fi fan (which seems to make up a good portion of the bucket list movies), but I wasn't really interested in the story.  I knew what was going to happen because I researched it a couple of years ago before watching the sequel, but the plot never interested me

Mike (Josh Hutcherson), a security guard, begins working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria and soon finds that nothing is as it seems. I've never played the game this film is based on, but I have watched other people playing it, so I was fairly familiar with the world and was excited to see how it would be adapted to the film medium. I liked this film! It wasn't amazing, but it was definitely a good adaptation. The beginning was great. It was clear that the filmmakers wanted us to get to know these characters and gave us time for that. Going in, I thought I'd only be interested in what happened inside the pizzeria, so it was great that I found myself being really interested in the general story too. Having said that, Mike's backstory and the way it formed the most important parts of his character was really interesting, but after a while I didn't care. Without any spoilers, the name 'Garrett' became a point of comedy for me and the people I watched it with be

This is the first film I've watched for the bucket list where I've never even heard of it before and had no idea what it was about. I mainly picked this because of its short runtime (there are so many long movies coming up!) and I was intrigued about it. I don't know that I've ever really watched a biblical satire.  I liked the movie. It wasn't my favourite, and I didn't love it, but I liked the risks it took. It was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. I didn't think I would care about the characters, so I was surprised that I did. I also didn't think it would be my type of humour, so I was surprised that I found it funny. It wasn't laugh-out-loud hilarious, but I enjoyed and was amused by it, which I was glad about. I don't know anything about Monty Python, but it feels like this was a good entrance into those type of movies. I don't have any plans to watch more, but who knows?

  While role-playing to spice up their marriage, Emma (Kaley Cuoco) and Dave (David Oyelowo) get caught up in a scandal that reveals Emma's secret life as an assassin. I have to admit I didn't have high hopes for this one. I didn't have any particular negative or positive feelings about the concept, and I had no idea how it would be executed. It actually ended up being better than I thought, but it still wasn't great. I took an instant liking to the characters. They were fun to watch and had an interesting dynamic - though they didn't have enough chemistry for me to really be invested in them as a couple. The events of the film from the very beginning are really inauthentic and unrealistic, even with the suspension of disbelief. This does get better as the film continues, but at first it feels quite jarring. This is particularly true of the fight scenes, which felt too long and didn't always add anything to the story. One of my main issues was that I wanted a co

  Next up for the bucket list was a first-time watch. The only version of Ghostbusters I've ever seen is the 2016 reboot, and while I enjoyed it, it didn't make me want to see the original at all, so I never did. The first thing that struck me while watching this was how much the reboot took from it! I knew it was the same story, just updated, but so much of it felt like a shot-for-shot remake. It actually made me like the reboot a bit less knowing that it wasn't as original as I assumed it was. But as for my thoughts on this movie alone, it was good. I didn't love it, but I didn't love the reboot either. The story itself isn't one I love, so I knew this wouldn't be a favourite. For its time, this film was really original and inventive for the sci-fi and comedy genres. The plot was interesting, it was well-written, the cast was great, and I completely understand why it's considered a classic. So even though it wasn't 100% for me, I definitely get why

  When new student Cady (Angourie Rice) makes friends with the schools mean girls, led by queen bee Regina George ( Reneé Rapp), she makes the mistake of falling for Regina's ex-boyfriend and finds out just how crazy high school can be. I was looking forward to this movie so much! It's been on my radar since it was announced and I couldn't wait to finally see it! Thankfully I loved the movie! I didn't think I would at the beginning, for reasons I'll explain. But by the end, I was obsessed. At the start, everything took a bit of getting used to. This is probably because I'd watched the original so recently, but I wasn't prepared for things to feel so familiar, and then the addition of songs felt a bit jarring. But I got over this really quickly. Let's start with the music. I had never heard any of these songs before the movie (other than 'World Burn'), so I went in completely fresh. So many of the songs are incredible, and since watching the movie

  This is probably one of only about two or three movies on the list that I've seen upwards of 10 times and still watch on a regular basis. It's an iconic classic, and I was so glad it was on the bucket list because I really wanted to rewatch it before I saw the new musical version (which I have seen, reviewed and will be uploading next!). I will always have a special place in my heart for the group of noughties coming-of-age movies I grew up watching, and this fits right in that. But with this one, the nostalgia is only a small aspect of this. It's a great original film with a great message, and so many iconic scenes and quotes. The casting was amazing, it was really well-written and so much fun to watch! I love that it spawned a Broadway musical-turned-musical movie, and firmly cemented itself into the cultural zeitgeist. I never expected it to be on the bucket list, but it makes complete sense because it's definitely a classic. If you haven't seen this film, watc

  Sebastian (Sebastian Maniscalco) is forced to invite his father (Robert De Niro) to spend the 4th of July weekend with his girlfriend's family so that he can propose to her. I had never heard of this film before it came out on Prime Video. But it was new, and it starred Robert De Niro, so I was interested in seeing it. It ended up being better than I expected it to be, but it definitely wasn't as good as it could have been. It started off really well, and I found myself enjoying the concept a lot more than I thought I would. The characters were fun and interesting. I especially liked the eclectic mix of Sebastian's girlfriend's (Ellie, played by Leslie Bibb) family. Because as much as this film is about the father/son relationship, it would have been a bit boring without Ellie's family. However, I found myself liking the characters less and less as time went on. It didn't feel like any of their personalities, together or apart, were enough to make the film as

  This is the first Bucket List movie that I had absolutely no idea about. I'd heard of it, but I'd never seen it before and I didn't know what it was about. I really liked it! Not knowing what to expect was great because I went in blind, enjoyed it for what it was, and had a really good time! It was also really surprising to see clips that have become memes, gifs and iconic pieces of dialogue that I've always seen/heard but never known where they came from. This film has so many of them! Jeff Bridges was perfect in the role of 'the Dude', and having not seen him in many films before this, it was a great quasi-introduction to his work.  But I was so surprised by how amazing John Goodman was in his role. Because he's someone that I've seen a lot of in passing, but this feels like the first time I've really paid attention to him, and I loved whenever his character was on screen. I've seen a couple of Coen Brothers movies, and this was definitely my

After losing his husband, Marc (Daniel Levy) takes his best friends Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel) to Paris, where discoveries are made and secrets are revealed. I was really excited to see this film. I loved the trailer and thought it would be a really hard-hitting, emotional watch. Unfortunately, I didn't like the movie as much as I wanted to. From the start, it wasn't as engaging as I needed it to be. It almost felt like it should have been based on a book or previous movie - something that would allow the audience to already know the characters. Because the film didn't really give us a chance to get to know them, but treated us like we already did. The premise definitely got more interesting as the film went on, but it took a turn that surprised me, and I'm still not sure if I liked it. I loved the use of grief to explore the theme of friendship, and kind of wished the grief was explored a bit more before the little twist came. I think it's great