TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

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...

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...

While this summer hasn't exactly been a blockbuster season, some definite big films have come out, some surprising us with their superhero goodness, and some disappointing us with....Johnny Depp as a vampire.  With no further introduction, here's a look at some of the most prolific movies of the summer, and maybe there's one you haven't seen: The summer officially kicked off back in May with "The Avengers" premiering with the biggest box-office weekend ever, eventually getting up to over a billion dollars. While parts of the movie felt a little bloated, I think it was all worth it just to see every Marvel superhero together fighting Loki (except Spider-Man, who always gets left in the dust).  With this mammoth of a franchise left theaters, the dust settled with...well, some major disappointments.  Disappointment number one rolled around with Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows."   When even Johnny Depp seems lame in a vampire movie, you kn...

The summer of 2012 marks a successful return of popular actors!  In May, we got the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air back, Mr. Smith, himself, and with "Moonrise Kingdom," the comeback of Edward Norton and Bill Murray.  Murray was last heard in director Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" back in 2009, and even though his character is a bit of downer, it's still a treat to see him on the cinema.  Norton, who's played many menacing, unpredictable roles in films like "American History X" and "Fight Club," has turned, shall we say, softer, by playing a nervous, smoking Khaki Scout Headmaster. Welcome back, Norton If all of this is an overabundance of quirkiness, you're in for the mother-load as "Moonrise Kingdom" finally got a wide release.  The film's already broken a record, it only opened in 4 theaters initially, but still hauled in an impressive $167,000.  Anderson has now produced a cult following if nothing else!  As ...

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 ...