TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

People are calling "The Dark Knight Rises," the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy "the most anticipated movie of the summer."  I'd like to think they're underplaying it a little bit, so let me be the fanboy who hypes/hams it up: "The Dark Knight" is arguably the best superhero ever made, some say one of the greatest period, Heath Ledger won on ACADEMY AWARD for playing the Joker, something that would've sounded bizarre but made so much sense after you watched the film, and America has been teased with whatever dental-wear we thought Bane had going on, the debate if Anne Hathaway was sexy enough which will make you feel dirty after watching "The Princess Diaries," and wondering if the trailers, posters and reviews of this film will ever succeed the unreachable mountain standards set by that Oscar-snubbed film in 2008? Well, it has.  I won't pretend I liked it better than "The Dark Knight," but as a...

I'm no news reporter, you can ask anyone.  But when I heard of the Aurora, Colorado movie theater massacre last Saturday...well I didn't know what to think.  I was at a hotel and the news just sort of stunned me.  At the time it was reported 15 people killed and dozens more injured, and I was sort of in a state of shock.  After learning more details, and seeing the suspect's  disturbing profile, confusion and frustration quickly  transferred  into anger and melancholy. As I said I'm not a news reporter, but I'm a movie critic.  I'm not even a real movie critic, I see films I want to see and write my stupid opinion about them.  But I am an avid moviegoer, and that is why I'm talking about this....because it hits home; hard.  The movies are a place to relax and avoid the drama and complications of everyday life while watching someone else go through those things.  Going to the movies is as American as it gets, and not even being abl...

Before I go into what is going to be a considerably lengthy review, I'd like to inform you on my weird, complicated past with Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight:" when it came out in theaters the summer of 2008, my uncle read a review in the Washington Post claiming the movie was too violent for preteens, so I couldn't go.  I didn't feel like I really missed anything until Oscar time, where I heard there were raves for Heath Ledger's performance.  Weirder still was he had died, and the mystique of his death only added to me wanting to see "TDK" even more. Well I finally got it for Christmas of 2008, and got around to watching it early 2009.  Almost immediately after I watched it, I had this sudden urge to vomit, not due to the movie of course,  but I had eaten too much previously.  Though it didn't sour the experience for me (I thought it was still an excellent film, if not a little over-hyped) I still associate "TDK" with thes...

Last year, Woody Allen made what some people would call a "comeback."  Is it really a comeback though, when you're Woody Allen?  Woody Allen's been making virtually a movie a year, and a lot of times he makes good movies, but not to the point of success that "Midnight in Paris" did.  I loved "Paris," but I also loved what some consider one of his misses, the Larry David comedy "Whatever Works." (But that could be because I love "Curb Your Enthusiasm.")  Overall I'm just a big Allen fan, although I've seen maybe 6 of his films at the most, he's become one of my favorite directors, due to his obvious style in cinema. "To Rome with Love" is the third (and supposedly final) installment of his European trilogy (along with "Paris" and the exquisite "Vicky Cristina Barcelona").  Allen is like Picasso in that way, when he goes through a period of films.  The fact that he could just go on a...

An appropriate "Wait, what?" was expressed by all when it was announced a Spider-Man reboot was getting a release this summer.  "Spider-Man 3," the one movie every one seems to hate but I kind of liked back in 2007.  5 years?  Is that all the time they're waiting to restart? Where's Mary Jane?  And then, once the cast was revealed, I gained a lot of faith.  In 2010 Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy) both released movies that showed they were ready if not overqualified to take on big Hollywood roles, in "The Social Network" and "Easy A" respectively.  These roles earned them Golden Globe nominations and an established part of young Hollywood, or whatever they want to call themselves these days.  And then the million dollar question still remained: would it go in the direction of "The Avengers," or southbound, a la "Green Lantern." I'm not sure if the box office success will match it, but th...

The summer of 2012 marks a successful return of popular actors!  In May, we got the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air back, Mr. Smith, himself, and with "Moonrise Kingdom," the comeback of Edward Norton and Bill Murray.  Murray was last heard in director Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" back in 2009, and even though his character is a bit of downer, it's still a treat to see him on the cinema.  Norton, who's played many menacing, unpredictable roles in films like "American History X" and "Fight Club," has turned, shall we say, softer, by playing a nervous, smoking Khaki Scout Headmaster. Welcome back, Norton If all of this is an overabundance of quirkiness, you're in for the mother-load as "Moonrise Kingdom" finally got a wide release.  The film's already broken a record, it only opened in 4 theaters initially, but still hauled in an impressive $167,000.  Anderson has now produced a cult following if nothing else!  As ...