TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

You won't understand The Big Short . "Stop calling me Michael Scott!" That is, unless you're an insider in the banking business. That's probably not even how you use that phrase. Banking industry? How about super villain headquarters? Yeah, I like that a little better. As we learned from The Wolf of Wall S treet (and uh, common sense: how many articles talk about the nice guys of Wall Street?) there are plenty of bankers and investors willing and ready to make a profit at the risk of the 99%. Ryan Gosling's Jared Vennett certainly knows this. He's one of the insiders who saw the 2008 bubble pop, the housing and banking collapse that led to one of the largest recessions in U.S. history. Everyone in this movie is based on real people, based on Michael Lewis' nonfiction book of the same name. But this movie will tell you when it's fibbing on the truth a little: and that's the biggest thing it has going for it. As I said, laymen to this bus...

One of the most uncomfortable viewing experiences I've sat through is last year's gripping thriller "Compliance." Without spoiling the film, I found myself yelling at my computer screen a number of times in protest to the character's actions. "12 Years a Slave" makes "Compliance" seem like a trip to Disney World. It's going to take me a long time to recuperate after seeing this unflinchingly brutal work of art, and likely years before I even consider giving myself the thought of a second viewing. It opens with the soon to be nationally revered Chiwetel Ejiofor and a handful of other slaves in a cane field, being instructed by an unnamed master. Why not include one of the many whipping scenes as a shocking opener to this picture? Director Steve McQueen wants to put you in the shoes (or lack thereof) of a slave, being instructed to do menial work in the blazing southern heat with the impending crack of a whip alongside your back in the fore...

Thanks to the perpetual Santa Claus that is Netflix, I've been able to see movies I've missed over the summer (or that didn't look all too great to me) and rent them. I've got still quite the catch up to do, with "Pacific Rim," "Monsters U" and "Into Darkness" on the list, but I thought I'd cap it off with something cheery: the zombie apocalypse. (This is more of a filler post since the movies I'm ecstatic about seeing; "Nebraska," "Catching Fire," "American Hustle," "Desolation of Smaug," etc. will be coming out late in the year. Also expect plenty of awards coverage!) Director Marc Foster has quite the filmography already: Oscar winners like "Finding Neverland" and "Monster's Ball," indies like "Machine Gun Preacher" and, of course, what he may never be able to live down, the oft-mocked 22nd Bond installment "Quantum of Solace." My only Bond film...

 "Moneyball" is notable for a few reasons. It got robbed at the Oscars, 6 nominations with 0 wins. It was one of the last appearances of "Fat Jonah Hill." Fat Jonah Hill, known for his crude frat boy persona he developed in movies like "Superbad" and "Knocked Up," got an Oscar nomination.  Therefore he's now known as "Skinny Oscar-nominee Jonah Hill." One of Fat Jonah Hill's last appearances. Though none of those reasons adds up to why "Moneyball" was one of my favorite films of the year.  Once again I'll be perfectly honest, I don't really know why F.J.H. got the Oscar nomination, and a Golden Globe nomination to boot.  He was Brad Pitt's portly sidekick.  He was very smart, and came up with the whole concept for the moneyball formula, but he was still his portly sidekick. Brad Pitt on the other hand...he's incredible in this movie.  To see scribe Aaron Sorkin's (The Social Network) ...

It's that time of year again, when critics announce their ten favorite films of the year!  I'm unfortunately at a disadvantage, for the year of 2011 I only saw about 20 movies in the theaters, where pro-critics see about 80-90 movies.  2011 was a GREAT year for cinema, truly marking some of the best movies I've seen a while.  You got movies about Marilyn Monroe, a man trying to find his coma-stricken wife's lover and a whole lot of movies about Paris.  Go figure.  Here are my top five films of the year, some others that didn't quite make the cut, and some movies I wished I just hadn't seen.  I plan on seeing other 2011 films before Oscar season, like "The Artist," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "The Iron Lady," but since I'll be seeing them in 2012 they won't necessarily count for this list. 5.   MONEYBALL Just like with last year's "The Social Network" Aaron Sorkin writes another incredible scr...