Bria Lou Reviews

The story of the meteoric rise and fall of iconic British pop star Robbie Williams. There was so much being said about this film before it even came out, so it was always on my radar, but especially when it started getting really positive reviews! I really liked this film! For a start, it's a really unique idea. Biopics are nothing new, and sometimes there's a hook that draws you in, but a lot of the time your interest is based on how much you like the subject. With this one though, regardless of how you feel about Robbie Williams, the unique hook sparks your interest. And while it takes a bit of getting used to, once you're in, you're completely locked in. The songs were done so well! The younger Robbie in particular (Carter J. Murphy) was so good! The songs were like event pieces, tied together with great dance numbers that really add a new meaning to the songs, particularly as someone from the UK who grew up listening to this music. I loved that having the monkey as ...

  After a devastating loss, Hanno (Paul Mescal) uses his hidden past to battle the powerful emperors trying to conquer his home. I watched the first Gladiator film as part of last year's movie bucket list and I liked it. I didn't think it absolutely needed a sequel, but I was interested to see one nonetheless - even moreso after it got an Oscar nomination. I thought this film was fine, there were things I liked and didn't like almost in equal measure. I really liked the opening sequence, it was really engaging and took the audience straight back into the world of the first film. I also really liked the way this film connected to the first one. The visuals are stunning, particularly all of the scenery and set pieces.  From the offset, I cared about these new characters less than I cared about the first ones. Maybe because it's a sequel, but in the first film there was a real connection to the characters that this one wasn't able to replicate for me. It felt a lot lon...

  It's Oscar day! I'm always so excited for this night, and this year I've seen more nominees than I usually would so I'm really excited to write this post and see them laid out! As usual, I'll go through the categories where I've seen most or all of the nominees and highlight what I think will win, what I want to win, and why. But I'll start by ranking the Best Picture nominees. 10. A Complete Unknown 9. Dune: Part 2 8. Emilia Perez 7. I'm Still Here 6. Conclave 5. The Brutalist 4. Nickel Boys 3. Anora 2. Wicked 1. The Substance This ranking is mostly based on my initial ratings after seeing each of these films for the first time, rather than what I think should win Best Picture. The only change I've made is moving Anora up a spot after rewatching it and really loving it. If I was reviewing it today the score would definitely be higher! I also put Dune above A Complete Unknown despite not giving Dune a rating because I felt that the visuals, cinemat...

  Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) tries to keep her family together while piecing together the truth behind her husband Rubens' (Selton Mello) disappearance. This was the last Best Picture nominee I needed to see, so I went to see it without looking up what it was about, only knowing what it was nominated for and the fact that the acting was being very highly praised. I liked this film. The premise of it kind of took me by surprise. Because I didn't know what it was about I was locked in from the beginning to see where it would go. It was really engaging. The performances really were great. Torres is nominated for her performance and I'm glad because she did an amazing job with this character. Eunice is the heart of the film and the audience needs to be able to connect with her emotionally to truly care about this family, and it's really easy to do so. One of the best things about Torres' performance is her chemistry with Mello. The film did a really great job of sho...

  Elwood (Ethan Herisse) has a promising future when he is sentenced to brutal reformatory Nickel Academy. Once there he meets Turner (Brandon Wilson) and forms a friendship that becomes essential to his survival. This is one of the Best Picture nominees that I knew the least about, so because of that, it was also one of the ones that I went into with the least context. I loved this film. I was immediately gripped just by the unique way it was shot. From what I've seen online the first person pov is a bit hit or miss, but it really hit for me. It was so creative and interesting, and immediately allowed me to build a connection with the characters. It also made everything that happened much more powerful, being able to live in this world through Elwood and Turner's eyes was really impactful. The film was really reminiscent of the film 'Sleepers', not just in terms of the subject matter, but in the way it creates fear and tension, and how these feelings are passed on to t...

  Cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) tour Poland in honour of their grandmother, but as they explore their family history, they are forced to confront their complicated relationship. This was one of the films of Oscar season that I was most looking forward to seeing. I really liked the premise and had heard really good things. I really liked this movie. For a start, it was clear from the first 15 minutes why this film has been nominated for a screenplay Oscar. The film is written so well, captures and evokes so many complex emotions and really makes the audience pay attention to the characters. Speaking of which, I loved both of the characters almost instantly. They're so different, and their interactions are what the film is pretty much centred on, and why it works so well. The balance of comedy/humour and drama is done really well, which is down to the writing, direction and acting. I didn't know until the credits rolled that Eisenberg wrote and directe...

  While imprisoned at Sing Sing Correctional Facility for a crime he didn't commit, Divine G (Colman Domingo) finds his purpose while putting on a comedy show with a group of other incarcerated men. This is a film I hadn't heard much about until it was nominated for an Oscar, but once it was I looked it up and was definitely interested in seeing it. I liked this film a lot. The group of characters was really interesting. They were all unique, fascinating to watch and wholly authentic. I knew before starting the film that a lot of the actors played themselves, as they were men that were formally incarcerated. But once I got into the film, I kind of forgot this. They felt like actors doing an amazing job of creating authenticity for these characters, so the fact that this was so real, and so close to them, just made the film a real experience to watch. It was also shot really authentically in the sense that it felt like a documentary. It never felt like the actors were on a '...

  Escaping post-war Europe, an architect (Adrien Brody) moves to America to rebuild his life and bring his family to safety. But their lives are forever changed when he meets a wealthy industrialist (Guy Pearce). This was probably the most highly-anticipated film of Oscar season for me, based on what I'd already seen and the way people were talking about it. It seemed like a front-runner for some of the major awards, so of course I had to see it. I liked this more than I expected to. I feel like the things most people talk about are the runtime, and the fact that it's broken into two parts (with the second part generally considered the worst). The runtime didn't really worry me much. Of course there's always the fear that a long film will feel 10 times longer if it's boring, but in general I don't mind long runtimes - though it was nice that it had an intermission. Though in saying that, I didn't really notice the runtime, particularly in the first half. It ...

In 1970s New York, a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) becomes the protégé of cutthroat lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). Now if I'm honest, I wasn't planning to watch this film. I didn't think I'd find it entertaining and I didn't particularly care about the subject matter, so it wasn't on my list. But seeing that it has been nominated for awards, with one of those nominations being a very well-deserved 'Best Actor' Oscar nomination for Sebastian Stan, I couldn't not watch it. And as expected, the best thing about this film is Stan and his performance. He's great in the role, and the supporting actors do a great job of helping to tell this story. I didn't really know what to make of the tone of the film. From the very beginning things just feel a bit weird, and because of that, it took me a while to really get into it. It never made me care about any of the characters one way or the other, which may have been the intention.  The relationshi...

Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) must fight alongside the Fremen to avenge his family, while being plagued by visions of a dark future.  This was the biggest surprise to me during Oscar season. It's not that I didn't think it would get nominated, I just never really thought about it period, so I didn't expect that I'd have to watch it. I saw the first Dune, and I couldn't even review it or give it a rating because I felt nothing about the film, and didn't think it would be fair to try and critically review it. There was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't for me. And so I was never planning to watch the second, and I definitely wasn't planning to review it. So, while I have to write a post on it because it's nominated, this won't be a proper review, and I won't be giving it a rating. Because just like the first, I felt nothing about this film, I don't have any positive or negative feelings about it, and that doesn't usually happen ...

In the 1960s, 19-year-old Bob Dylan ( Timothée Chalamet)  arrives in New York to make music that ends up changing the course of history. This is the time of year where most of the films I see are films I'm watching just because they've been nominated, and this is the first of the films I watched after the nominations came out, so I didn't have feelings about seeing it one way or the other, I just had to. This film didn't really click for me. I didn't hate it, but there was a lot I didn't like about it. But let's start with the good things. As someone who has never really listened to folk music, or to Bob Dylan's music, the film brought both of these things to the forefront. I heard so many songs I'd never heard before, and the songs were sung really well. I didn't know while watching if the actors were actually singing the songs, but it didn't matter because the music scenes felt authentic. It's clear there was a lot of passion behind the...

  Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is participating in the selection of the new Pope. But as secrets are unveiled, Lawrence discovers that what he knows could shake the foundation of the Church, and the lives of the prospective Popes, forever. This wasn't a film I was particularly looking forward to, but as I heard the rumblings of Oscar nominations I wanted to check it out. And now I know it's been nominated, I'm really glad I saw it! I liked this film more than I thought I would. The thing that initially put me off the premise was just that it seemed like a really odd concept to make a film about, when you take everything at face value before delving deeper. It didn't really seem like an interesting idea. But this is immediately thwarted when we get to know the characters a bit better. I loved the variety of them, and the way we learn about them through the selection process. It was really unique and immediately draws you into the film. It was a lot more engaging tha...

  When sex worker Anora (Mikey Madison) meets and marries the son of a Russian oligarch, her fairytale is threatened when news of the marriage reaches Russia. I hadn't heard much about this film until it started getting awards buzz, but after hearing so many amazing things, I was intrigued about it. I really liked this movie. It was really engaging from the very first minute until the credits rolled. I loved the setting, the characters and I was immediately locked in. As intriguing as the story was, what sucked me in was the character of Ani. I absolutely loved following her. Even at the beginning when we don't know much about her she's still easy to root for. Even taking Ani out of the equation, the rest of the characters are also really unique, interesting and a lot of fun to follow. But the most surprising thing to me was how endearing they are by the end - we bond with them as Ani does (sometimes more than Ani does). And one reason for this is because all of the actors ...

When Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) travels to Transylvania for a meeting with the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), his wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) is plagued with horrifying visions. I was so excited to see this film! Taking away my love and excitement for anything horror, I studied the original 1922 Nosferatu back in university and loved it, so I really wanted to see this new take on it. It's not a surprise that I loved the film. The first thing I made a note of after watching was the way the director used light and dark so effectively to tell this story. There's a lot of darkness in the trailers, and because it's a gothic horror you expect the darkness to play a huge part, and it does. But the advantage of this is that the use of light is sparing, and is used to emphasise the most important parts of these scenes. It's clear that every single instance of light was thought about really carefully and it definitely paid off. There are a lot of impressive things a...

Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a girl with green skin and mysterious powers, forms an unlikely friendship with Galinda (Ariana Grande). A friendship that will change both of their lives, for good or bad, forever. I was so so excited to see this film. Not only am I a fan of musicals in general, but I saw the stage show of Wicked years ago and loved it, so I've been waiting with bated breath for the movie adaptation! I absolutely loved this film! I had chills from the first bar of the opening song and they stayed with me the entire way through. It was a really interesting experience seeing it in the cinema, it almost felt like seeing it in theatre. I wanted to applaud after every song. And this was partly due to how well the songs were sung, and by extension, how well the parts were played. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were perfect - I wouldn't have changed a thing about what either of them did in this film. They completely embodied their roles, played these characters and their dev...

Lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana) is offered a strange job when she is asked to facilitate the transition of a cartel boss, so he can finally live as a woman. I had no idea what this movie was about until I decided to put it on, so I went in blind with no expectations. I ended up liking it. The style is really unique. And at first, especially when the singing starts, it feels a bit weird and jarring. But once you get through the first couple of songs, you understand the angle the film is going for. I thought the songs themselves were generally good. It's not the kind of soundtrack you'd really listen to outside of the film, but the way the music is used in certain scenes shows how powerful music can be. It seemed to give so many aspects of the film a new meaning. And in addition to this, for the most part the songs are well written, and do a good job of both showing (not telling) us more about the characters, and moving the story forward. The story itself is really original, and so int...

  When Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is fired on her 50th birthday, she is offered the chance to become a newer, better version of herself.  I had heard such good things about this film before watching it, but I read as little as possible because I wanted to go in completely blind – and that definitely paid off! I absolutely loved this film! When you know completely what it’s about, the concept is really intriguing and original, because it takes a somewhat universal experience, turns it on its head and creates a world that shows us the visual manifestation of these feelings. And it does this in such a creative way, with really unique visuals. This film is visually one of the most original films I’ve seen maybe ever! And that goes for the dialogue too – very well written and original. The film has so much to say about ageing, vanity, beauty and self-esteem, and it’s saying these things so well. The performances were incredible. Demi Moore certainly deserves to be awarded for h...