TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

"I'm wild again, beguiled again, a simpering, whimpering child again..." goes the 1940 show tune from the musical "Pal Joey. Going into this movie, to be shamefully honest, I was more familiar with the director's body of work than the actual title. Sofia Coppola was one of the filmmakers I studied this past year in college for my Film Studies minor. Distinctive in her slow burning, female-centric film style, Coppola's been called an auteur director, and if she keeps making movies like these, I'll be on my path to forgiving her for Godfather III and that unfunny Bill Murray Christmas special from a couple years ago. "Beguiled" basically means smitten, but said in the 1864 Virginian (represent!!!) accent, it's a much more fun synonym to say. Of course, no one actually says the word on film, it's not Coppola's style to be that on the nose. But the term is certainly written on the faces of the women in Miss Farnsworth's girls s...

Sugar and spice may run through "Saving Mr. Banks'" veins, but certainly not everyone in it is nice. Emma Thompson plays "Mary Poppins" author P.L. Travers with a Sheldon Cooper type of emotional unawareness, except she's much thornier and frostier to everyone: including the head of the Mouse himself, Walt Disney. Disney's played by soon-to-be "Captain Phillips" Oscar nominee Tom Hanks, who, with the help of the mustache, does nail that late Disney founder's appearance, but you can't help but realize it is  Hanks playing Disney instead of just ol' Uncle Walt in the flesh. Does he nail his voice/cadences? The jury's still out for me, as I always distanced myself from Walt Disney the man as a younger child; he was sort of the wizard of Oz of all my favorite childhood animated films. The story is Disney was hounding Travers for the rights to her beloved novel, with the preface of keeping a promise to his daughters to adapt the ...