TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Since there are rather obscure categories (Gut-Wrenching Performance? Best Kiss? And now Best Villain is referred to as "Best On-Screen Dirt-bag?" Geez) in the MTV Movie Awards, I'll only cover a few major categories.  "Hunger Games" and "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" appears so often it's almost ridiculous, but here are the big categories ("*" indicates my prediction to win): BEST CAST: Bridesmaids Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 The Hunger Games* 21 Jump Street The Help It's good to see actual Oscar movies nominated for this awards show.  The only movie actually in theaters right now from this list is "Hunger Games" and "21 Jump Street" (barely).  You want to know what was nominated last time they had a Best Cast award? "Fantastic Four" and "The Dukes of Hazzard."  Yeah. That's real. BEST ACTOR: Joseph Gordon-Levitt- 50/50 Ryan Gosling- Drive Josh Hutcherson...

While you're sitting in the theater I found myself with a question: Would I watch this movie if Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter himself, wasn't in it?  That's a no.  Radcliffe is making his premiere post-Potter performance, and if it seems like a step-down to what he could be doing, it is.  I don't think it's far off from saying Radcliffe and the rest of the Harry Potter youths are cinema's most powerful players; I saw Emma Watson in "My Week with Marilyn" but it was more of a cameo, and ultimately forgettable.  So would "The Woman in Black" prove to be a decent first wand-less film for Radcliffe? It really depends on how you look at it.  In terms of horror movies, it's one of the better ones I've seen.  The film doesn't rely too heavily on gore like some of the flicks I've seen these days.  The mood is consistently dark and scarier, and you're always waiting on something to pop out at you, maybe a crow flying through a w...

Who ever thought we'd be calling Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig Oscar nominees?  Who thought "Young Adult," "Shame" and "J. Edgar" would be left with nothing?  Not me.  I review the major categories in surprises and snubs. SURPRISES: Picture- While every predictor seemed set on 7 nominees this year, the academy turned in another twist with 9 nominees.  While "The Tree of Life" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" both came as shocks to people, I'd just like to mention this Best Picture list is the Critic's Choice Award Best Picture nominees minus "Drive," which I'll get into later. Actor & Actress - It's an understatement to say Demian Bichir of "A Better Life" getting nominated for best actor, beating out Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender.  Who is this guy?  We'll find out as award season progresses I suppose. Gary Oldman's inclusion was good to here, for ...

It is the day before the Oscar nominations are being announced!  I'm excited for tomorrow, I'll post the nominees as tradition since 2010.  Another tradition I have to uphold is predicting the Oscar nominees for the best movie of 2011 right before they come out.  This year it's going to be a lot trickier, so I'll do it like this: THE SHOO-INS: The Descendants The Artist (and the winner) Hugo The Help (a BAFTA nomination for Best Picture helped its outlook) and Midnight in Paris Like I said, this is where it gets harder.  Though there won't be 10, many are saying 7 or 8, there is always that possibility the Oscars will throw us a curve-ball.  So, if there are: 6.  War Horse 7.  Moneyball 8.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 9.  Bridesmaids/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (if they're going all out they'll want to include a blockbuster favorite) 10.  The Tree of Life  So, in hopes I don't lo...

It's that time of year again, when critics announce their ten favorite films of the year!  I'm unfortunately at a disadvantage, for the year of 2011 I only saw about 20 movies in the theaters, where pro-critics see about 80-90 movies.  2011 was a GREAT year for cinema, truly marking some of the best movies I've seen a while.  You got movies about Marilyn Monroe, a man trying to find his coma-stricken wife's lover and a whole lot of movies about Paris.  Go figure.  Here are my top five films of the year, some others that didn't quite make the cut, and some movies I wished I just hadn't seen.  I plan on seeing other 2011 films before Oscar season, like "The Artist," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and "The Iron Lady," but since I'll be seeing them in 2012 they won't necessarily count for this list. 5.   MONEYBALL Just like with last year's "The Social Network" Aaron Sorkin writes another incredible scr...

I didn't review last year's prelude to this film, because I didn't want to sound biased as a fairly big Potter fan. Or Potterite? Potthead? I don't know. All I know is that I HAVE to review this movie, not to let people know about it, obviously they do; $168,000,000 over the course of a weekend doesn't lie, but to say how excellent of a movie it is, how marvelous of a franchise it is, and how sad it made me that this is the last bit of Pottermania the world will know unless some very daring idiot wants to remake the series 70 years later. But is that even possible? I don't think so. The intricacies and complications and such spot-on casting make the Potter movies as easy to remake as "Gone with the Wind;" you just can't screw with it. There will be no main character as Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter, no one as comically funny as Rupert Grint's Ron Weasley, and no one nearly as intelligent and level-headed as the incredible Emma Watson...