TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

I'm a sucker for coming of age movies. "Meatballs," "Stand by Me," "My Girl" just to name a few of my favorites. Perhaps it's because I'm not quite done growing up, so I like seeing other go through with that struggle, if not just to confirm I'm not alone. I've been on a Netflix kick of the show "Freaks and Geeks," entirely devoted to chronicling high school children face obstacles in 1980's Michigan. So high school movies especially are my bread and butter (note "Perks of Being a Wallflower") but give me a story where a kid finds himself in a water park and I'm down. I'm especially down if the co-director/writers/actors/executive producers of the movie Jim Rash and Nat Faxon are involved. They co-wrote one of my favorite films of all time, "The Descendants," the gorgeous Hawaiian set tale of a man coming to grips with his comatose wife. This is a pretty big 180 from that film, about a boy nam...

No. The answer is no, but it's an eye-catching headline isn't it? The only legit name that is box office poison right now that comes to mind is M. Night Shyamalan, and the HR for "After Earth" really did try to focus more on the Smiths starring in the movie than the fact that he directed it, and it still bombed. If studios measured critical disdain as much as they weighed box office success to a movie, Shyamalan would've been dead to Hollywood after "The Happening," and it would've prevented him from making "Last Airbender" (still haven't seen it, too good of memories of the show.) But Reynolds isn't like that, though to the shallow eye it would appear. He voices the titular snail in the animated movie "Turbo" and co-stars with Jeff Bridges in "R.I.P.D." They came in third and seventh place respectively, neither pulling any big numbers. In fact, both films cost around $130 million to make, and that is enormous ...

Entertainment Weekly's recent issue unveiled what new villain Electro would look like in the upcoming "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," and I had...mixed reactions. Jamie Foxx's villain resembles a high-tech "Avatar"-like character on meth, certainly a far cry from the original version of Electro I had growing up as a kid, the one with lightning bolts growing from his face in that ridiculous green leotard. I also find it interesting that while they hired a black man to take over the role of the Caucasian comic book antagonist, it looks like he'll be decidedly indigo for most of the film. Just a bit of a difference But those are mostly nitpicks. The fact that Foxx, one of Hollywood's brightest and talented stars, was employed with no outcry from the fans regarding his color shows progress in tolerance for sure. Mega comic book nerds probably have too much to whine about anyway, giving the "The Amazing Spider-Man's" somewhat polarized rec...

Science fiction peered over its glasses in interest when the seventh "Star Wars" movie was announced in what feels like years ago. The genre, and let's be real here, has had only a few gems in the past few years, obviously "Inception," "Avatar" and "I Am Legend" have provided memorable genre astounding moments, but movies like "Prometheus," the grandson of the "Alien" series was received lukewarmly with critics and fans alike. Remakes last year like "Total Recall" and "Dredd 3D" underwhelmed audiences, perhaps because they don't want to see retreads of their science-fiction staples on the big screen. Before "Inception" and "Avatar" however, was "District 9." A wholly original sci-fi tale cleverly wrapped with themes including xenophobia, poverty issues and social problems, "District 9" also provided gorgeous (if grotesque) special effects and a riveting stor...