Bria Lou Reviews

Next up was a re-watch that I really wasn't looking forward to!  This film is definitely in at least the top 10 of highly revered films on the List. I studied it back in university, so I wasn't surprised that it was on there. I'm pretty sure it's the film that I was least looking forward to watching. I didn't like it when I studied it, and I didn't like it this time around either. The reason for this is mostly that I just find it really boring. I didn't care about the character, so watching the whole film going over every aspect of his life to find out the significance of his last word just isn't appealing at all. Now that's not to say that I don't recognise the good things about the film. For the time it was made, it was really innovative, and probably permanently changed the way films are made. The performances were also great, both for the time and now. So while I don't feel like the film is a masterpiece, and am definitely not in any rush...

  Next up was another first-time watch! I had never heard of this film before seeing it on the Bucket List, but after looking up what it was about, I was intrigued by it. I really really like it.  The premise in and of itself was a really interesting one, but the thing that makes it work so well is definitely the performances.  Jean Reno as Léon was amazing, but Natalie Portman completely steals the show as Mathilda. She was incredible, and the fact that she was 13 when she played the part just makes it all the more amazing. The dialogue between the main characters and the way they played off each other was the best thing about the film. No matter what else happens, you are compelled by the unique relationship between these two characters, shown in both the acting and the writing. Considering how highly revered the film is, I was surprised I hadn't heard of it before. But it's a great film, and definitely earns its place on the List!

When podcaster Alix meets her 'Birthday Twin' Josie in a pub, she can't resist the temptation of digging into this woman's life. But before she knows it, not only is she buried in Josie's life, but Josie is buried in hers. Does she know who this strange woman really is? And can she find out before it's too late? I had a rule not to buy any new books this year - unfortunately this book broke that rule! Walking around a bookshop one day, the premise just looked so intriguing that I had to pick it up! Unfortunately, as good as the premise is, the book itself doesn't completely live up to it. But having said that, it started really well! At the beginning you don't really have any idea where the story is going, so all you have to keep you watching is the characters of Alix and Josie. And they're both great, interesting, really intriguing characters. Things are teased out really well. Because of the nature of the story you have no idea what's important...

  As Christopher Robin (Scott Chambers) tries to deal with the events of the first film, Winnie-the-Pooh (Ryan Oliva), Piglet (Eddie MacKenzie), Owl (Marcus Massey) and Tigger (Lewis Santer) bring their rage to the town of Ashdown. I reviewed the first movie HERE , and while I only gave it 3 stars, I didn't hate it as much as the general population. So when I heard that the second was a lot better than the first, I was really excited to see it! And yes, this one is a lot better than the first! For a start, my major issue with the first was that Christopher Robin was not the main character and the audience didn't get to follow his story. This was completely rectified in this film. Christopher Robin was the main character, we followed the entire film from his point of view and really got to know him as a character. Because of this, the story is a lot better. We can actually understand what's happening! However, in saying that, I still didn't care about the characters as m...

  Next up for the Bucket List was Rocky! I was really excited to watch this one again. I've been a Creed fan since the first film came out, and I'm a fan of boxing movies in general.  About two years ago, I decided to watch all the Rocky movies back to back over a few days, and I completely fell in love with the franchise. So when I saw that this was on the list I was really excited about it! I love Rocky as a character. He was one of my absolute favourite parts of the first two Creed films, so seeing his origin was always going to be interesting. I think my favourite thing about the movie, which also happened to be my favourite thing about 'The Terminator', is that underneath the main plot, there's a really sweet love story. Because Rocky's relationship with Adrian defines him almost as much as boxing does, so to see where that all began was really lovely. There's a great story behind the film in the way Sylvester Stallone wrote it and was able to get it ma...

Roy (Russell Crowe), a former police detective suffering with memory problems, tries to solve a murder that he can't remember. The premise of this film was one that could go either way - it could either be really great or really bad. But because of the great cast attached, I was hopeful for the former! Unfortunately, while I wouldn't say the film was really bad, it could have been so much better! I found the present-day story so much more interesting than the past story told in flashbacks. Of course these flashbacks were necessary to fully explain the secrets behind the murder, but for me they didn't work because the film never really made us care about the backstory. In addition to that, some of the flashback portions were way too long, especially considering the film is less than 2 hours long.  The story itself is slow and can get a bit boring at times, especially if you don't care about the characters from the offset. There's a lot you can do with an amnesiac pro...

  This was another first-time watch. This film was one of the more intimidating ones on the list. I knew it won a few Oscars and was really highly revered, but it had always seemed like it would be quite an intense watch, so it wasn't something I was particularly looking forward to. So because of that, the film ended up surprising me! I can't say it was enjoyable, as a film with these themes can't really be described that way, but I engaged with it a lot more than I thought I would. I thought the film was great. It was a really hard watch, as you'd expect. It's set during WWII and there are a lot of scenes that are upsetting. In other words, it's not the kind of thing you'd watch if you're looking to have fun. But that being said, I'm really really glad it was on the Bucket List, and that I've now seen it. It's a really important film and feels truly authentic. The acting was amazing, as was the writing. It's engaging and interesting, and...