TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

It seems like people are always facing off in Zack Snyder films. With 300 , it was the Spartans v. the Persians. With Watchmen it was a batch of old superheroes against the effects of time. With Man of Steel , he pitted Kal-El against the insanity of General Zod (though some could argue Michael Shannon didn't realize he was in a Superman movie and the cameras kept rolling). And with Batman v Superman , Snyder is dramatizing the ultimate battle: himself v. the source material v. the studios v. setting up a franchise v. fans' expectations v. making a coherent blockbuster (in March?!) that additionally serves as a sequel to Man of Steel v. establishing a new Batman. Oh and Wonder Woman's in it. And Lex Luthor. And Holly Hunter? Spoiler alert: I'm afraid Snyder lost this fight. I was initially very disappointed walking out of the film, thinking of the things they could have cut, other heroes they could've introduced (how many times do we have to see Lex Luthor onscree...

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...

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...