TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

After enduring the tragedy that was "Iron Man 3", I felt disappointed in summer blockbusters.  That was, until I saw "The Great Gatsby," which featured stunning style and gorgeous cinematography.  But my expectations were turned for the better when I saw something that was, decidedly the anti-"Gatsby," an independent film with rave reviews, a guitar-based soundtrack and a leathery Matthew McConaughey.  That film is one of the year's best (already, I know) and that film is "Mud." "Mud," like its title, begins deceptively simple with two young country boys going out on their cheap motorboat exploring.  Right away the movie flashes similarities to one of my favorite 80's films "Stand by Me," and that's a direction you can never go wrong in.  I'm a sucker for films with kids who try to act grown up, it makes their coming-of-age story that more interesting. The kids in question are Ellis and Neckbone (they never d

Here's the irony I had walking into Baz Lurhmann's "The Great Gatsby:" most people who I've talked to refer to "Gatsby" as that book that they had to read in their high school English class.  As someone who's currently enrolled in a high school English class...I've never read "The Great Gatsby," mostly because I'd assumed we'd have gotten to it by now, but...nope.  We did however watch half of the 1974 Jack Clayton version starring Robert Redford, which was, to say the least, romantic but dry.  I was hoping this version wouldn't share these undesirable qualities. Luhrmann, the real star of the film Wow, is it good to be right. Luhrmann's "Gatsby," which was moved from December 2012 to now for some reason, is a gorgeous film with enormous scope and, dare I say, brave decisions.  All my peers had raved about the "Gatsby" adaptation, but then again they did the same for "Iron Man 3," and

Let me completely preface this with a review with the fact that, despite my low-ranking social status in high school, I never have been a nerd about much except for movies.  Film provides an escape for me, which is really why I got into it. So before I get into my thrashing of this movie, I want to make it clear I've seen all of the Marvel Phase 1 movies in theaters only ONCE. I do not re-watch them, I do not read the comic books they're based off of or ever desire to, I'm purely interested in the cinematic adaptation.  The strongest I've ever felt connected to a superhero is Spider-Man, who was a pasty nerd like myself. (And the Hulk to some extent, I was an angry kid.) And I fully realize I'm in the minority when I say I didn't enjoy "Iron Man 3," a sputtering, one-line firing disappointment of a trilogy finale. There's obviously a way of doing them right, take my #2 favorite film of last year, "The Dark Knight Rises," a dark, gritty