TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

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...

Awards season has kicked off! The Critic's Choice, SAGs and Golden Globe nominations have all been announced, and there have been several consistencies in those three! One is the presence of Reese Witherspoon, someone who hasn't led a good movie since her Oscar-winning turn in Walk the Line . Call it an Oscar curse, but fare like This Means War and Water for Elephants have plagued her career since the Academy Award win. Last year she came back as the object of McConaughey's affection in the amazing Mud , but Wild sees her anchoring an entire film, mostly, and I know this backpacking pun will come up a lot, on her shoulders. Buh dun tss. Wild is based on Cheryl Strayed's account of her travels on the Pacific Coast Trail. I was very much unfamiliar with her adventures, and though this might say something about me, I only knew it from seeing it in Borders (this was a while ago after all) as an Oprah Book Club book. Witherspoon's performance has been repeatedly lauded...

Getting "TFIOS" for my 17th birthday It's only too easy to dismiss TFIOS as a chick flick if you are unfamiliar with the source material. While it does sound a bit sappy that two cancer stricken kids would meet together and fall in love, I suggest you familiarize yourself with the works of John Green, and his signature, smart alec wit. There hasn't been a wrong note in his novels, Looking for Alaska  probably being the most deserving in my book. Avoiding most cliches of the hospital drama, Green instead chose to go the route of love, not pandering at all to his fan base, who appear to be nearly as intelligent as the rapid, word churning YouTube vlogger himself. The big question to nearly every adaptation in the business: is it as good as the book? Honestly...nearly. The film isn't flawless like your teenage daughter will tell you, but it's a very solid addition to not only the teenage romance canon but to cancer movies, which can be partially indistingui...