TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Wow, wow, wow!  That was a truly remarkable Oscar awards!  First off, congratulations are due to first-time Oscar host Seth MacFarlane, who knocked it out of the park, and only had one joke who didn't land for me: the Lincoln joke.  You know which one I'm talking about.  MacFarlane and the hilariously placed William Shatner predicted what today's headlines would read, and attempted to alter it by providing classy dances, while MacFarlane had previously made a sock-puppet version of "Flight," made out with Sally Field, and a song dedicated to....the risque women of cinema, to put it politely! MacFarlane was a welcome presence when commenting on the length of the show, saying 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva had been Quvenzhane Wallis' age when the program began!  But what I really came for was to see the race between "Argo," "Lincoln" and "Life of Pi," the presumed front-runners.  The awards started off great though, with Christop...

It's that time of year again, the Oscars are less than a week away!  I have to admit choosing the "will wins" have been particularly difficult to choose.  So let me not dilly dally, time to discuss what will win the coveted Oscar on February 24th: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: ( Lincoln, Life of Pi, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook) Should Win: "Lincoln"'s poetic and difficult, 19th century jargon really deserves it.  It flowed so beautifully, and was the only movie this year that made me feel that way.  Just listen to Tommy Lee Jones bashing a congressman who's anti-13th amendment! Will Win: "Pi," "Playbook" and "Beasts" all had wildly original premises, and executed perfectly, but "Lincoln" should have this award.  Look for "Playbook" to pull an upset though; Russel won a BAFTA for it. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: ( Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, Amour) ...

Let me tell you that it is not an easy task seeing all of the Best Picture nominees when you're not a professional critic!  I've been scrambling to see the last ones in theaters, and finally got around to catching one of the two relatively quiet Best Picture wannabes: "Beasts of the Southern Wild." (The other nominee being that feel-good film "Amour" about old people dying, (in subtitles) which I have still yet to see.)  Unlike last year while I dozed off during "War Horse" and was unsatisfied with "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," there hasn't been a movie nominated this year that hasn't blown me away in some fashion. "Beasts" kept up this streak, and that blown-away factor coming in the form of pint-sized force of nature Quvenzhane (Kwah-ven-juh-nay) Wallis, who I'll refer to as Q for the sake of review brevity!  At the age of six Miss Wallis shows us how strong the human spirit can be, as Hushpuppy, a to...

First off, if you want this question explained in one sentence it's this: A movie called "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" is the biggest movie 2013 so far.  What does that say about America? But if you want a further detailed explanation, keep reading. January is already an absolutely desolate month for movies, and February is no better.  Movie studio executives look at the movies that wouldn't do well literally any other time of year and defecate them into theaters for the audience's joying pleasure (*cough cough* lets make some money off some real idiots *cough cough*).  With my handy dandy friend Wikipedia (don't judge, this is actually accurate shtuff), I'll go through movie by movie and explain why it came out and why it bombed.  Maybe with a little assistance from yours truly people will realize the only reason to go to a theater in January is to catch up on your Oscar movies! TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D (ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 19%) The name alone offer...

First off, I must tell you a movie I fully recommend: "Django Unchained."  I didn't review it last week because of exams and the fact anyone who really wanted to see it probably saw it over Christmas when it came out.  It is a bold, extremely  gutsy movie that has become one of my favorite movies...not even of the year, but ever.  I'm still rooting for "Argo" come Oscar time, but I'd love to see Mr. Waltz pick up his second supporting actor Oscar for his remarkable work in this film. If you're thinking, wow, recommending a movie before the actual review...that can't be good!  It's not..."Warm Bodies" is absolutely a February movie, like the much-hyped "Mama" and "The Woman in Black" last year.  It's a (kind of) horror movie with some comedy and a whole lot of romance dashed in there, but not all of it works, and some of it is just downright predictable.  "Warm Bodies" works especially best as slum...