TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

There's no easy way to review a movie about 9/11 without bringing up views that are going to offend some people.  So let me start this out with something a little unorthodox: a quote from rapper Lil Wayne.  I'm not the biggest Weezy fan but I did watch his "Behind the Music" special a few years ago.  Regarding Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, Wayne said: (and I'm paraphrasing because it was a while ago) "Why should y'all  care about Katrina?  That's my hometown.  Why are y'all so worried about it?" Wayne meant why did anyone who wasn't from New Orleans care about what had happened so much?  The same thing could be applied to 9/11:  We weren't in the World Trade Center. Why should we care? Sorry if the quote seems a little out there, but I think Wayne had a point, and I can solve it.  It's nationalism.  When terrorists come on to American soil and take down a symbol of not only New York but America, we feel angry, hurt and mos...

Who ever thought we'd be calling Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig Oscar nominees?  Who thought "Young Adult," "Shame" and "J. Edgar" would be left with nothing?  Not me.  I review the major categories in surprises and snubs. SURPRISES: Picture- While every predictor seemed set on 7 nominees this year, the academy turned in another twist with 9 nominees.  While "The Tree of Life" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" both came as shocks to people, I'd just like to mention this Best Picture list is the Critic's Choice Award Best Picture nominees minus "Drive," which I'll get into later. Actor & Actress - It's an understatement to say Demian Bichir of "A Better Life" getting nominated for best actor, beating out Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender.  Who is this guy?  We'll find out as award season progresses I suppose. Gary Oldman's inclusion was good to here, for ...

It is the day before the Oscar nominations are being announced!  I'm excited for tomorrow, I'll post the nominees as tradition since 2010.  Another tradition I have to uphold is predicting the Oscar nominees for the best movie of 2011 right before they come out.  This year it's going to be a lot trickier, so I'll do it like this: THE SHOO-INS: The Descendants The Artist (and the winner) Hugo The Help (a BAFTA nomination for Best Picture helped its outlook) and Midnight in Paris Like I said, this is where it gets harder.  Though there won't be 10, many are saying 7 or 8, there is always that possibility the Oscars will throw us a curve-ball.  So, if there are: 6.  War Horse 7.  Moneyball 8.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 9.  Bridesmaids/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (if they're going all out they'll want to include a blockbuster favorite) 10.  The Tree of Life  So, in hopes I don't lo...

I admit that I did have my doubts when I walked into the theater.  As any gullible fan may know buzzed about films rarely live up to the hype (that is except "Deathly Hallows Part 2" of course).  With talks of an Oscar Best Picture win, a recent Best Picture/Best Comedy win from the Critic's Choice and Golden Globe Awards respectively and a premise too good to be true (a throwback to silent movies?  That's awesome!) I wasn't sure if I'd like "The Artist" as much as people would think I would. I proved myself wrong!  I LOVED "The Artist," and am accepting the fact it'll win Best Picture.  I'm probably on the slim margin of people who like silent movies who are under 80, I loved "Sunrise" and the original Best Picture "Wings," both silent classics.  I will be straight up: no kid will want to go see "The Artist" until it sweeps the Academy Awards, like last year for "The King's Speech."  An...

Host Ricky Gervais proved tamer and even funnier this time around with the 69th Golden Globes held last night!  The night had a few surprises, but at the end here's what I really got: George Clooney, Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer are definitely winning Oscars this year after victories at both the Globes and the Critic's Choice Awards.  Also "The Artist," which I just saw, will most likely be taking home Best Picture.  Really the only wild card is Best Actress.  Meryl Streep won best actress in a drama last night for her outstanding role in "The Iron Lady" and Viola Davis won Best Actress for "The Help" on Critic's Choice Awards night.  Two very deserving ladies, I can't wait to see how it'll end up. THE COMPLETE LIST: DRAMA FILM: The Descendants (though I'd like to think this might win, "The Artist" pretty much has Best Picture on lock) ACTRESS: Meryl Streep- The Iron Lady ACTOR: George Clooney- T...

I know I'm late reviewing this but I have a pretty big awards weekend coming up.  Over this the three day weekend I'm going to be watching "The Iron Lady" and the Critic's Choice Award for Best Picture-winning film   "The Artist."  I'm slowly accepting even though I'd like "The Descendants" to take home the big prize on Oscar night "Artist" will be the victor.  Another awards-season movie you must make time to see this January is Jason Reitman's "Young Adult." Unlike Reitman's previous two films ("Juno" and "Up in the Air") this movie's gotten literally no Best Picture buzz at all.  This is very understandable.  The film is an awkward, uncomfortable and nearly scathing look at a life gone bad after high school.  I've yet to know what that feels like, and I pray it's nothing like the "Young Adult" world.  Charlize Theron, in a sure-to-be Oscar-nominated performance...

It's that time of year again, when critics announce their ten favorite films of the year!  I'm unfortunately at a disadvantage, for the year of 2011 I only saw about 20 movies in the theaters, where pro-critics see about 80-90 movies.  2011 was a GREAT year for cinema, truly marking some of the best movies I've seen a while.  You got movies about Marilyn Monroe, a man trying to find his coma-stricken wife's lover and a whole lot of movies about Paris.  Go figure.  Here are my top five films of the year, some others that didn't quite make the cut, and some movies I wished I just hadn't seen.  I plan on seeing other 2011 films before Oscar season, like "The Artist," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "The Iron Lady," but since I'll be seeing them in 2012 they won't necessarily count for this list. 5.   MONEYBALL Just like with last year's "The Social Network" Aaron Sorkin writes another incredible scr...