TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Though this isn't as impressive because most handlers of a Tumblr account have likely achieved this as well, I'm very proud to say I've read nearly all of author John Green's work; I'm missing a short story he did for the compilation book "Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances." Green's work, like I'm positive his countless YouTube projects, are compulsively enjoyable. He combines awkward teenage realism, highlighting hilarious situations that might be mundane otherwise, but in his hands come out swimmingly, with ultra cool characters the teenagers and other who read his work aspire to be. Maybe it's Hazel Grace Lancaster, brought to beautiful life by Shailene Woodley in last year's ultimate date movie The Fault in Our Stars . (I always sing the title to the tune of Coldplay's "A Sky Full of Stars" for some reason, and now that you've read this maybe you will, too.) Maybe it's the titular Alaska in "Looking for Alas...

I hate to say it but the last time Pixar really delivered the magic to me as they usually do was half a decade ago! With two other friends, fresh out of middle school, I remember being relatively close to the front of the theater for Toy Story 3 . When you're a millennial growing up in daycares, you've knowingly or unknowingly watched the Toy Story franchise alone at least 15 times a year. Maybe I couldn't rattle off the script verbatim like some can, but if you sit me down and ask me to explain the entire plot of the original to you, I think I could. That's how deeply ingrained Pixar and its cavalcade of wonderful films is in my blood, and although their last offering, the prequel Monsters University was cute, it nowhere near held a candle to the charm of the original, and even though this will date me I saw it in theaters when I was five. We all know Cars 2 was clunky, and you either loved, hated or just weren't affected by Brave despite the typically lovely ani...

Movies rarely hit as close to home as Me and Earl and the Dying Girl did for me. This summer alone I'll have written/directed/acted in a movie for the tiny "production company" my friends and I have been building and working on for years. Though we don't put in the almost Pixar-worthy effort characters Greg and Earl seem to, employing stop-motion animation and Star Wars -esque miniatures to get the job done, I certainly relate to the passion they put into their parodies, such as 2:48 Cowboy instead of Midnight Cowboy . Book to film adaptations always get nerds nervous, unless you're Shrek, Lord of the Rings or To Kill a Mockingbird , but that's a short list. It's great when young adult authors can make the jump from page to silver screen themselves, as Stephen Chbosky did, directing/adapting his Perks of Being a Wallflower to huge success three years ago. Jesse Andrews was able to adapt his novel, and it's been reported he and director Alfonso Gomez-...