TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

This is just a straightforward list of predictions for the eleven major film awards! I will make my should win/could win predictions once it gets closer to the actual Oscar night, but since Oscar tends to stick fairly close to the Foreign Press, I'll save it for later. For now, I'm going to predict who's taking the gold home, and how this will determine the Academy Awards! A full list of the nominees HERE. BEST ANIMATED MOVIE: Nominees: ( Big Hero 6 , How to Train Your Dragon 2 , The Lego Movie , The Boxtrolls , The Book of Life ) Winner: This isn't because it was my second favorite movie of the year, but I honestly believe that if any movie but Lego wins it will be an upset. I love HTTYD2 , but this seems like the frontrunner. BEST SCREENPLAY: Nominees: ( The Imitation Game , Gone Girl , The Grand Budapest Hotel , Birdman , Boyhood ) Winner: This is actually one of the toughest races to call! There's no clear winner here, no Aaron Sorkin or Woody All...

I've been saying to friends and family that the fact we're living in the year twenty fifteen sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie. And it was! (Thank you, Back to the Future Part II ). But let's go back to last year for the last time and examine some of the best written/acted/directed roles of 2014. Whether it was a wicked music teacher, a teen with cancer or simply a man driving his car, these are the actors, in alphabetical order, who grabbed my attention this year. EMILY BLUNT as Rita in EDGE OF TOMORROW- Emily Blunt had an incredible 2014, starring in this action flick that got a lot of critics and audiences calling this "underrated" and standing out in the musical ensemble Into the Woods .  I thought it was an inventive movie but didn't wow me. What we can all agree on is Blunt's performance. Hopefully, after great turns in Looper  and The Adjustment Bureau this will cement her as one of the best action stars of today. She's fearless as...

Who says musicals are dead? Well, probably anyone who's seen this year's  Annie  that's over the age of 10. But I'd like to make a case for the art that is, at least, attempting to come back to life! Rob Marshall, the director of Into the Woods , essentially revitalized the genre with 2002's Chicago , an adaptation of the stage play. It took home the Oscar for Best Picture, beating much better films like The Pianist and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers . It also won the ancient Golden Globe category of Best Comedy/Musical, which has nominated such hilarious classics like Pride & Prejudice , My Week with Marilyn and The Tourist . It turned out to be a fluke for the genre, until Marshall again tried to wow us with Nine , a box-office failure. It wasn't until 2012's Les Mis , (which I saw twice!) that really excited people and brought theater geeks and casual film fans alike in drove to the box office to watch Hugh Jackman steal bread and hear Russel ...

Tom Cruise knows how to keep them guessing. Last year he starred in Oblivion , the fairly entertaining sci-fi action flick starring Cruise as someone who's not exactly positive about the situation he's in, and has a kick-butt female counterpart partner. And in here he's....well you know where the joke's going. As reviews have noted, perhaps why this film has garnered the acclaim not because the premise is 100% original, but it works on its premise, has plenty of great special effects, and to be blunt (ba dum tss) the female action hero kicks the pants off of Oblivion 's. Emily Blunt, who has really emerged as the Sigourney Weaver of the present. Turns in films like Looper  have cemented her as the biggest female action star out now, and the critics are unanimous in her elevating the movie to something more than just typical summer science fiction fare. The premise is basically this, and I'm giving a condensed version because it's better not to know the p...