TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Looking back on my 2012 predictions....I really didn't do too shabby! I'm taking my predictions now, the snowed-in Tuesday before the nominations announcement this Thursday, where last year I got all but three right more than a month before the announcements. Hurray for being increasingly less reliable and accurate! This really is one of the hardest awards shows to call....for comedy. There are literally 25 movies that could be eligible to be put into the five slots and I wouldn't be surprised at all. This Oscar race is riDICULOUS. So don't expect too many accurate picks in comedy...or even the overstuffed drama category. My money's actually only with animated film... Bale needs a Globe for this picture alone in "Hustle" BEST DRAMA: 12 Years a Slave (all right, this and the next movie will indeed be easy to predict. But the other three are literally interchangeable as the hours pass)  Gravity Captain Phillips (you can always bank on a Hanks movie...

Oscar season has kicked off with the arrival of "Gravity," so what better time to reflect on the buzzed around movies that have already been released this year? "Lee Daniels' The Butler" (directed by Lee Daniels, who would've known) and Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine" both saw a lot of potential, while being vastly different in subject matter. I give my abbreviated reviews of both in this double Oscar bait movie review! LEE DANIELS' THE BUTLER: Carey in the mute performance of a lifetime "The Butler" features a "Where's Waldo?" cast of celebrity cameos that range from John Cusack (Nixon) to Alan Rickman (as Reagan no less) that greatly distract from the emotional impact Lee Daniels' "Lee Daniels' The Butler" attempts to portray. The first mistake "The Butler" makes is having Mariah Carey as our protagonist's slave mother in the opening sequence. I think Daniels has a suppressed cra...

School is rearing its head again, but I don't mind because that means it's time for ridiculously early Best Picture predictions, in which, on September 1, I take a slightly more educated stab in the dark then my previous attempt on April 25. Despite not knowing if the number will be from five to ten, I always plan for the most and guess ten. THE RETURNING NOMINEES: Fruitvale Station (after seeing this movie and being floored by it a nomination is certain) The Wolf of Wall Street (now that the trailer's been released it seems like an even safer bet) The Monuments Men Inside Llewyn Davis Captain Phillips August: Osage County Right now, "Fruitvale" and "August" seem the only for-sure films to earn a slot, with "Fruitvale's" timely themes and "August's" powerhouse female performances. But these next four movies have nearly the same buzz, three of which I can confirm I've seen, and all of them I wouldn't min...