TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

It's no surprise to anybody that "Paranormal Activity" made nearly $30,000,000 this past weekend.  The shaky cam found footage film series has been destroying box office numbers since 2009.  I'm going to try to dissect this...this bizarre film phenomenon. First, for those unable to recall the hype of "Paranormal Activity," boy that was something else.  People usually only buzz about superhero movies, the Harry Potter series, Twilight, etc.  You know: big movie franchises.  All of a sudden, this tiny movie with a budget of $15,000 comes out freaking people out in theaters.  The famous trailer accompanying it with people's erratic, horrified reactions to the movie, said to scare the pants off you.  I partly think this works psychologically as people went to see "Paranormal Activity" because it was a challenge of nerve:  will I become as scared as these people are?  Will I be more scared? I bet it won't scare me!  I vividly remember ...

Was there ever a Golden Globes before Ricky Gervais?  It doesn't seem like it, or anything memorable anyways.  If we're talking awards shows, and this is including the MTV Movie Awards, the Golden Globes are the weird uncle of the three.  You hear about it on the news, see the highlights on YouTube the week after...but who really watches it?  I actually do, but only because I care about the nominees because they indicate who'll be up for an Oscar.  90% of the people walking home with a Globe is also going home with another, cooler golden statue the next month. While I'm sure many Americans haven't seen the British version of "The Office," and therefore weren't as well acquainted with Ricky...well, they got their chance in 2009.  He did fairly well, providing some of his sarcastic, biting humor with that vampire grin of his and that slicked back hair we've grown accustomed to.  If you want to feel old, that's when "Avatar" and "...

Feel lucky, ladies and gentlemen, for we're witnessing the peak, the pinnacle, the highest point of Ben Affleck's directorial career so far.  I can't obviously speak for his next project, but Affleck can't stop winning when it comes to directing.  Who knew a guy who starred in "Gigli," "Pearl Harbor" and "Surviving Christmas" could pull off a second act in Hollywood.  His debut feature, "Gone Baby Gone," was a grimy look at Boston's underworld, and had an extremely strong ensemble and a heartbreaking ending, the cast consisting of greats like Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and Amy Ryan, who won an Oscar nomination for her bold work.  When his second effort "The Town" rolled out two years ago in the summer of '10, I was disappointingly too young to attend the hard-R flick.  It amassed even higher lauding, and Affleck directed another one of his costars into a supporting Oscar nomination: Jeremy Renner.  So now, the bi...

After a tsunami of homework, projects and social activities (well....let's be honest, mainly a lot of homework) it was sweet relief to go back into a place that demanded nothing but my money and my attention: the movie theater.  I knew little about "Frankenweenie" except that it was supposed to be a scary movie...you know, for kids.  Wanna know what's really scary?  Running into your teacher at a movie theater and pretending you're happy to see them. That didn't happen to me, (though it has happened in other public outings) but I didn't expect to be scared at "Frankenweenie" like I was when I attended "The Woman in Black" (yeah, you forgot about that one, didn't you?)  That movie scared the bejeezus out of me, and I went into this film thinking it would have the same effect on younger kids.  I'll admit some jump cuts did scare me and the five other people in the audience, one of whom looked a decade younger than me.  I'm...