TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Wow, wow, wow!  That was a truly remarkable Oscar awards!  First off, congratulations are due to first-time Oscar host Seth MacFarlane, who knocked it out of the park, and only had one joke who didn't land for me: the Lincoln joke.  You know which one I'm talking about.  MacFarlane and the hilariously placed William Shatner predicted what today's headlines would read, and attempted to alter it by providing classy dances, while MacFarlane had previously made a sock-puppet version of "Flight," made out with Sally Field, and a song dedicated to....the risque women of cinema, to put it politely! MacFarlane was a welcome presence when commenting on the length of the show, saying 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva had been Quvenzhane Wallis' age when the program began!  But what I really came for was to see the race between "Argo," "Lincoln" and "Life of Pi," the presumed front-runners.  The awards started off great though, with Christop...

It's that time of year again, the Oscars are less than a week away!  I have to admit choosing the "will wins" have been particularly difficult to choose.  So let me not dilly dally, time to discuss what will win the coveted Oscar on February 24th: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: ( Lincoln, Life of Pi, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook) Should Win: "Lincoln"'s poetic and difficult, 19th century jargon really deserves it.  It flowed so beautifully, and was the only movie this year that made me feel that way.  Just listen to Tommy Lee Jones bashing a congressman who's anti-13th amendment! Will Win: "Pi," "Playbook" and "Beasts" all had wildly original premises, and executed perfectly, but "Lincoln" should have this award.  Look for "Playbook" to pull an upset though; Russel won a BAFTA for it. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: ( Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, Amour) ...

AAAAAHHHHH!  Call it sad if you like, but I was hyped all day for the Oscar nominations, and in between classes I printed out the list.  In no way was I disappointed....the nominees for this year (you can find the full list here ) have some of the best variety I've seen from the Oscars, though of course there were a few I just couldn't let go of.  Without any further ado, here are my personal surprises and snubs of the 7 major Oscar categories: PICTURE: Surprises:  HOLY MOLY AMOUR!  Where did this little film from Austria come from?  Not only did oldest nominee ever Emmanuelle Riva get a nod, but the film garnered 4 more nominations including Best Picture! This was on my radar for foreign film, but in no way could I have ever expected this!  Also, "Beasts of the Southern Wild!"  This tiny indie with an even tinier star we'll get to later on got 4 nods, all in big categories.  I couldn't be happier for both of these Davids...

It's 2013!  Hooray!  It's that time again for me to gather the films I've seen this year, and somehow sort them into a dignified list of the most quality films I've seen in 2012.  As noted already, in the history of cinema, 2012 has been one of its greatest years, financially or otherwise.  Bloated sequels and bland remakes still crowded the cinemas, but the majority of films managed to blow me away.  Keep in mind I'm not a professional critic, and only count movies released this year I've seen from 1/1/12-12/31/12.  On my wish list are "Zero Dark Thirty," "Silver Linings Playbook" and "The Impossible," but I welcome criticism.  Let's begin, and don't forget to see the ones that juuuuuuust missed the mark, and the ones that were, well.... un remarkable. 5. BERNIE I didn't review this or the following film on my list because I saw them way too late, but I caught it on DVD over winter break.  Jack's nomination fo...

Before I go into detail about the powerhouse musical that is "Les Miserables" (referred to as "Les Mis" in this review, though throughout awards season I've heard it referred to as at least 5 other titles.), let me exclaim my bias for musicals, as I have worked on several of my high school's musicals along the way.  At first guys never want to profess their interest for the movie musical, but after a "Grease" or "Sound of Music," their interests are usually turned for the best.  The truth is, despite the macho stereotype, there are decent, non-Disney musicals out there on the market for an audience, and "Les Mis" happens to be one of them. Well, I suppose you could go into a "Grease" or a "Seussical" with no prior musical background and still be pleasantly surprised.  "Les Mis" is strictly for musical lovers, as it's not so much a musical as it is an opera (think "Jesus Christ Superstar,...

The glorious leaves splattered around the ground aren't the only reason I love the fall-into-winter season: award's season starts soon!  The Golden Globes will be announced in less than a month, and I'm ready to try my luck at guessing at the major categories, comedy, drama, and animated movie naturally.  This will all unfold soon, but I love taking a crack at what will be a really heated race, though the only definite is Daniel Day-Lewis taking home his third Oscar for portraying Abraham Lincoln!  Let's see! BEST DRAMA: This category will be much easier to predict.  Last year there were six, with "The Ides of March" being the only one that didn't pick up a Best Picture nomination in this category: DiCaprio in "Django Unchained" Argo (This one's for certain, and really does deserve all the praise it gets) Lincoln (Really strong lauding for the film, and not just Day-Lewis) Life of Pi (The buzz on this is massive enough to get a...

It''s that time again to take another ridiculous stab in the dark to see which movies are going to be nominated for that big gold trophy that will ultimately make their careers peak early.  My April 25th predictions can be seen here , and I was definitely off on at least half of the predictions.  The blockbuster films "Brave" and "Prometheus" both debuted to positive, but not Oscar-status reviews; "To Rome with Love" fell a little flat by Woody Allen standards, and "The Great Gatsby" got pushed to next summer.  Here are the 5 films I stand by that I'm pretty sure will get nominated from April 25th: The Dark Knight Rises (can Bane get a supporting Oscar?) Life of Pi (the trailer has cemented its status as one of the best movies to look out for) The Hobbit (despite Jackson turning this into a trilogy) Django Unchained Moonrise Kingdom Les Miserables (after the role of Catwoman people are starting to really pay attention to M...

Bane from "TDKR" Although it's outrageously early, I like guessing next year's Best Picture nominees!  I do it 3 times a year; I chose 2 random dates (April 25 and the first of September) and the day after the Golden Globes (Usually I'm most accurate on the last date.)  Last year I guessed 4 out of the 10 movies I chose both dates.  Let's see how I do this year. BEST PICTURE NOMINEES 2012: (I do it out of 10, even though it could be 5-10) The Dark Knight Rises Prometheus The Hobbit Brave To Rome with Love Les Miserables Life of Pi Django Unchained The Great Gatsby Moonrise Kingdom Woody Allen working on "To Rome with Love" So I'm thinking 2012 might be the Oscar year of blockbusters!  There are also the inclusion of great director's work, Tarantino ( Django ), Wes Anderson ( Moonrise ) and Ang Lee ( Pi ).  Pixar has also had 2 Best Picture nominees in the race in the past few years, so "Brave" is a strong ...