TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

There are a couple of items to address before going into my review of the highly anticipated "Man of Steel." The first is to pay respects to an actor who's passed, the incomparable James Gandolfini. I didn't have the privilege of watching "The Sopranos," but I thoroughly enjoyed his supporting work in "The Taking of Pelham 1 2  3" and "Zero Dark Thirty." He was a familiar face that'll be missed in the community, and a TV legend in his own right. Second, I haven't written in the blog in a long time; I've been working on a short film with several friends that I wrote and co-starred in, so I've spent a lot of time on that, and will post it as soon as filming completes! Now on to the review: I'd heard polarizing things on this superhero blockbuster, and none of them assured me I was going to love it. I'd listened to mostly good buzz about "Iron Man 3," with raves from my peers in high school, but that obv...

Some could look at the one word and dismiss this as a cliche-ridden horse flick for kids: Disney. That's what I thought about it, the feel-good story, the PG rating, it all led to a "better than direct-to-DVD so we stuck in theaters" vibe. I was definitely stereotyping, something critics are known for, and I apologize sincerely. Most everybody knows the story, though the film's younger audience should be eager to soak up the engrossing story. The movie really isn't exactly for children, there's nothing explicit about it but the subject matter deals more with an adult subject: how Secretariat's owner struggles financially to support the horse, her somewhat crumbling relationships with her husband and her brother. She gets so involved in training this underdog horse that she loses track of her older daughter's (her other 3 children are merely props for as much attention she gives them) life as a hippie, which is pretty accurate. Diane Lane does ...