TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

The Oscar nominations are coming right around the corner! After a surprising Golden Globes, where The Revenant had a near sweep of three of the night's biggest awards, really anything could happen! Interestingly enough, Revenant isn't even up for a Best Cast nomination at the SAGs. No movie since the SAG's inception in 1995 ( Braveheart ) has won without a  Best Cast ensemble. Then again, eccentric choices like The Birdcage and The Full Monty have won, so it's anyone's guess. My choices for Best Picture are equally eccentric: you have fantastical blockbusters like Fury Road and Martian  here, along with solid indies ( Carol and Brooklyn ) and movies with big stars and small-ish budgets ( Spotlight and The Big Short ). I lost my bananas last year when The Lego Movie  only got a sole nomination for "Everything is Awesome!!!" I won't be that surprised if Inside Out doesn't make it with the big dogs, but I will lose what is left of my faith in the Osca...

Holy smokes do I have a lot of reading to do. All of the biggest movies of 2016 are comic book films, from Valentine's Day's Deadpool , to March's Batman v. Superman and the summer's Captain America: Civil War . 2016 looks like an incredible year for the movies, but don't be afraid to get nostalgic about the year that's passed us! For someone who champions original filming, I can't believe two sequels rest in my top five list (and maybe a comic book movie is sneakily hiding somewhere in this post). Being in college ate up most of my time this year, but I was still able to watch 22 candidates for my top spot, including Mission: Impossible 5 , Kingsman , Ant-Man and Crimson Peak . All (mostly action) movies I really enjoyed but couldn't find a place for. Maybe in a weaker year. Since I'm anal about only counting movies released in 2015 that I saw from 1/1/15-12/31/15, movies I missed like Room , Anomalisa , The Hateful Eight , The Revenant and the one ...

Without its more racy bits, Brooklyn is a film that could have been made decades ago, even as far back as the '50's. It's got an absolutely timeless feel to it, which makes it the even more surprising that it was adapted from a moderately recent novel from 2009. So how does John Crowley's film make you feel like you're watching a story that could be updated today with little change besides clothes and era? It's its evergreen material of youth vs. love, and all the entanglements that eternal struggle weaves into its many victims' lives. Saoirse (Sair-sha. It's Sair-sha! What a lovely Irish name, but I'm so desperate just to call you Sarah) Ronan carries this entire thing on her back, no matter how wonderful and strong the supporting cast around her is. It's not her fault, it's the nature of the story. We're not going to care who she picks romantically if we're not invested in her. We're not going to feel as sad if something devas...

No one can ever say the Golden Globes are predictable. Phew. I'm so glad we have getting stranded in the middle of space and the 2008 financial crisis to laugh at because APPARENTLY these are two of the best comedies 2015 had to offer. Remarkable. Also I learned valuable lessons, like you can't always bank on Meryl Streep (and if you do, then bank on Maggie Smith, who over the years has just become one hilariously cranky awards statue from all of her wins), not to underestimate the power of Alicia Vikander, and to always remember the movies that came before the November-December Oscar season (sorry for leaving you out Danny Collins !) Without further ado, here are the major film category nominations for the Globes, and ones I missed/left out are in red. The list is notable for having completely gotten one field wrong, and another entirely correct! What can I say, it's the week before exams. DRAMA FILM:  Spotlight Carol The Revenant Mad Max: Fury Road (I could ex...