TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Here's the first thing I can tell you about Jon Favreau's sixth directorial effort: consume it on a full stomach. Maybe let this be your family's post-Thanksgiving meal, because regardless of whether or not you dig Chef , I assure you that you will want to strap on an apron and try being Paula Deen for the next few days. Favreau had food truck owner Roy Choi (the creator of Korean BBQ, which I've tried and enjoyed!) prep him on all aspects of the movie's culinary creations, and it more than pays off. Stick around for the end of the credits and you'll see Choi school Favreau on how to make the perfect grilled cheese! Besides leaving me physically famished, Chef also left me hungry for more. Or, perhaps, a little less. Everyone knows Favreau's got the chops to make big special effect movies: Zathura and the first couple Iron Man 's. What I really dug was the meta-plot of the film. Favreau's Chef Carl Casper has been working at a high-class restaurant...

It is not exactly great to be a movie critic right now.  Recent releases like "Olympus Has Fallen," "Admission" and "The Host" have all received to middling to brutally negative reviews, the latter falling more into that second category.  I love Morgan Freeman, Tina Fey and aliens equally (I'm just kidding Tina, I love you) but I'm avoiding all of the above films like the plague.  "Olympus" looks brainless, "Admission" looks lifeless and "Host" looks...awful.  Sorry Twihards.  So what's a critic to do when nothing's even passably decent in theaters? See it anyway, because they're professionals, but lo and behold I don't have that burden (yet.)  What I do is go back to the 2012 movie season, and see a film that got a little awards love, but surprisingly strong box office appreciation.  This, ladies and gentleman, is "Quartet." "Quartet," directed by directing newbie Dustin Hoffman, ...