Bria Lou Reviews

Hey Guys x It's Oscar time again! I am so excited for this year's award show TOMORROW, but of course, this post has to come first. Obviously, I'm only gonna be able to predict the winners for the categories that I've seen at least a majority of the films, so a few categories will definitely be getting left out as I haven't had a chance to see everything yet. Just like last year, I'll start by ranking my picks for Best Picture, and if you click on each film's name, you'll be taken to my review of it. But just to let you know, I think my least favourites in particular are kind of controversial because I seemed to really dislike a lot of the films that the majority of people seemed to love! But who cares? Opinions are opinions and film is subjective. 9. The Post 8. Call Me By Your Name 7. Dunkirk 6. Phantom Thread 5. Darkest Hour 4. Lady Bird 3. Get Out 2. The Shape of Water 1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri If you...

Hey Guys x This isn't nominated for 'Best Picture', but it is still nominated for a few Oscars, so it still counts as an Oscar review. This film is about the true story of figure skater Tonya Harding. She was the first woman to complete a triple axel (a really hard skating move) during a competition, and at one point she was one of the most talked-about people in the world. However, one day her husband makes a decision that causes her figure skating legacy to be destroyed forever, as she is embroiled on one of the biggest scandals in history. I thought this film was amazing. The story itself was before my time, so I really didn't know that much about it. However, I've since looked it up and it is such an interesting story, and it looks like the film portrayed it so well! It was filmed through a series of 'present day' interviews, and then the majority of the film is flashbacks, and I think this really works. Rather than just telling the story, we...

Hey Guys x I've finally finished watching the 'Best Picture' Oscar nominees, and I ended with this movie, which I'd probably heard the most about. It's about a 17-year-old boy called Elio who is living with his family in Italy. One day during the summer, a man comes to stay, called Oliver. He's a doctoral student who is working as an intern for Elio's father. As the men spend more time together, they discover an attraction that changes their summer, and their lives, forever. I tried not to have any expectations of this film when I was watching it, but I couldn't ignore all the praise that it was getting, so I did assume that I'd like the movie. And I hate to say this, but I didn't. I liked the idea of the story that it was telling, and I feel like I'd probably enjoy the book because I was really interested in the story itself - a young boy discovering himself and having some kind of sexual awakening. But I didn't like the fi...

Hey Guys x Up next is 'The Shape Of Water'. I literally just got back from seeing this at the cinema and it's still heavily on my mind for a number of reasons. It is about a woman called Elisa. She is mute, and as a result only has two people that she really communicates with, leaving her isolated and lonely. She works in some form of government facility, where she comes across something in a tank. Upon closer inspection, she finds that it is a creature that lives in the water, taking on the appearance of a human-type amphibian thing. As it can't speak, and neither can she, she forms a bond with the creature, and becomes completely attached to it. However, when she finds out what the government plan to do with her new friend, she sets out to make sure that this creature gets the life, and freedom, he deserves. Wow. I can't even describe my thoughts and feelings about this film, it's just 'wow'. Visually, this film is the most stunning piece o...

Hey Guys x As you can tell, up next we have 'Lady Bird'! I'm writing this the day after I saw it so it's still really fresh in my mind. Lady Bird is about a girl, in high school, who calls herself Lady Bird. She's from Sacramento, California and will do anything to go to college in New York... or anywhere out of her State. But, like all coming-of-age tales, life doesn't run smoothly. Whether it's an overbearing mother, the mystery that is boys, or falling in with the wrong crowd, will Lady Bird get to live the life that she's always wanted? Or will she be stuck in her small town, on the wrong side of the tracks? I really really enjoyed this movie. I love coming-of-age stories, and this is definitely one of the best that I've seen. There were so many things about this to love, but my favourite has to be the character of Lady Bird (or Christine, as her birth certificate suggests). She is feisty and strong af and passionate and she's a g...

Hey Guys x This is the next Oscar nominated film that I saw, and in terms of the 'Best Picture' nominees, I haven't got a lot left! Which is good because the Oscars are coming around so quickly! This film is about a dressmaker called Reynolds Woodcock who falls in love with a waitress called Alma. Quickly, they become a couple, she moves in with him and becomes a permanent fixture in the lives of Reynolds and his sister Cyril.  However, the relationship between the couple doesn't run smoothly. As Alma begins to disrupt Reynold's life, he begins to wonder why he brought her into it in the first place. And as the story begins to take a dark turn, it seems like this love story is set to end in disaster. This film didn't get a lot of publicity. In fact, before the Oscar nominees came out I hadn't heard of it at all. And to be honest, that sucks, because this film should be getting a lot more people taking about it than it currently is. I really enjoyed...

Hey Guys x Oscar season = reviewing Oscar nominated movies, including this one! This movie is about Britain during World War II. Winston Churchill has just been made prime minister and he has the face the problem of whether or not he should sign a peace treaty with Nazi Germany. But with the rest of the politicians sceptical about him, the threat of invasion imminent and the world watching, can he make the right decisions and continue to secure his term as PM? Let me be honest, I didn't expect to like this movie at all. Just like with 'Dunkirk', it wasn't a subject matter that I knew too much about, so I didn't think I'd have any interest in the movie. However, I liked this film so much! I don't know what it was, whether it was the story itself that was compelling, the characters or whatever, but I found myself so invested in what was happening and I wasn't bored for a moment, which is what I was expecting. Speaking of 'Dunkirk', th...

Hey Guys x In keeping with Oscar season, Dunkirk is the next film that I'm reviewing! The film takes place in May 1940, and is about troops from Britain and France that were trapped by Germany on the beaches of Dunkirk, and if/how they managed to be evacuated. I didn't really have any idea of this story before I started watching this film. The only thing I knew was from the brief descriptions of the film that I'd already read, but nothing about how accurate it is to the true story, so I didn't know what to expect. The biggest theme of this film was definitely the sense of heroism, of what these men managed to accomplish and the sense of relief and freedom that came from them finally making their way back home (which is a spoiler but to be honest, this came out AGES ago and it's a true story, so if you haven't seen it, you probably know how it ends anyway). However, the other theme for me was the human basic instinct of survival. Even as a viewer safe...

Hey Guys x There are so many films in the X-Men series that I know there would be no point in reviewing them all in separate posts, especially because I don't have much to say about some of them. So I thought that I'd just review them all in one post. And then I thought, why don't I rank them too? So that's what I'm doing! (If you're here from my 'Oscars 2018' tag/label, that's because Logan has been nominated for an Oscar!) Although I have to say, I've only seen each movie once, so the rankings are definitely on first impression, and will probably change if I ever go back and watch them all again. And there will definitely be spoilers, because they all (with the exception of Logan) came out so long ago that I assume that whoever wanted to see them already has. Also, I'm not including Deadpool, because I watched it ages ago and my mind kind of keeps them separate. But let's be honest, it would probably be at the top of the list. ...

Hey Guys x As you may or may not know, we're now into Oscar season, which is one of my favourite times of year. I'm hoping to see as many nominated films as possible, more than I did last year. But in the UK the films come out so late that I might not get a chance, which would be a shame. However, every nominated film that I see, I will review. I've already reviewed 'Three Billboards...' 'Get Out' and 'The Big Sick', and they're all under the tag 'Oscars 2018', so feel free to view them here ! But anyway, let me get on with this review! This film is about a woman called Katharine Graham (played by Meryl Streep) who is the first female publisher of a newspaper, The Washington Post. When she and her team get a hold of a story that exposes government secrets regarding the Vietnam war, Katharine, her editor Ben Bradlee (played by Tom Hanks) and everyone else involved in her paper have to decide what's more important - their jo...

Hey Guys x This is the first film I'm reviewing that's an Oscar contender (aside from Get Out back in April), which means that Awards Season is truly upon us! Anyway, I'm gonna get on with the film review because I have a lot to say! This film is about a woman called Mildred Hayes. At the start of the film, her daughter had been murdered 7 months previous. Disillusioned with the fact that the police department haven't managed to find her killer, she decides to move them along. To do this, she puts up three billboards with messages inspired to make the police stick to their current task - finding her daughter's killer. However, with one of the messages targeting the highly revered chief of police, her billboards become a very significant problem for everyone in town. But who's to blame? The chief, his immature, racist second-in-command, or the woman that made everything worse by trying to make it better? I LOVED THIS FILM. Loads of people have been sa...

Happy Blogmas day 4! Today's is another film review as you can see. Today I'm gonna be telling you about 'The Big Sick'. This film is about a man called Kumail who is trying to be a stand-up comedian. At one of his shows, he meets a woman called Emily. After a one-night-stand, they get into a relationship. However, they face the issue of a cultural clash, due to the fact that Kumail's Pakistani parents try again and again to set him up with a Pakistani woman that they approve of. When Emily finds out about this, they end up breaking up, both getting on with their separate lives. However, one night Kumail gets a call and finds out that Emily was taken to hospital, so he goes to be with her. But is he still in love with her? And will he be able to get along with her parents? I heard such good things about this film before I saw it, and let me tell you, every single good thing said about this film is completely true. It's a true story, written by, based o...

Hey Guys x I know I've been rubbish with my posting this past two months! But I've decided that I'm not apologising for it because I definitely should not be apologising for putting uni work above my blog at this moment. But blogging will definitely be a top priority after May, when I'm done for the year! Now, let's talk about Get Out! There has been so many reviews and opinions about this film since it came out, I thought I'd add my two pennies worth here on the blog! This film is about a guy called Chris who is taken by his girlfriend Rose to meet her parents. It doesn't seem like a big deal, until we establish the fact that Chris is black, Rose is white, and her parents have no idea about his race! So understandably, Chris is a bit sceptical. However, when he actually gets to her parents house, he finds that, maybe, he was right to be worried. Is he reading too much into things, or is there actually something wrong with Rose's...