TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Say the words "First Lady" to anyone over about 30, and the next two words they associate with that will probably be "Jackie Kennedy," or if they really know their history, "Jackie Onasis." Anyone around my age will probably say Michelle Obama, and while I anticipate a movie made about her legacy in the decades to come, Jackie is surely the most iconic in modern history. The last memorable depiction of a First Lady was in Spielberg's Lincoln , where Sally Field played Mary Todd Lincoln as an unhinged, witty partner to her husband's more calm figure. Field lost the Oscar that year to Anne Hathaway crying, but Natalie Portman looks poised to win her second Best Actress Oscar as the widow who captured the hearts of a generation. The film follows Lincoln 's outline of effective biography: focus on one aspect of this person's enormous life and dissect it, find out the key players, and examine the conflict that made them who they are. In that f...

"Iron Man 3" has left me with a bitter aftertaste since early May, so my expectations for the sequel to 2011's "Thor" were not the highest. Before the "Iron Man" threequel "Thor" had previously been my least enjoyed Marvel, and it wasn't even a bad flick. I didn't enjoy Thor's extremely cocky attitude (RDJ played it off much better in the original "Iron Man" with that smart alack snark) Natalie Portman's sidekick Darcy (played by the usually funny Kat Dennings) and a general lack of enjoyment. So I imagine this is how the meeting went at Marvel, to vamp up Thor's already improved image post-"Avengers:" MARVEL: So none of you liked Kat Dennings' character right? WORLD: NO. MARVEL: She was annoying and added nearly no purpose to the film? WORLD: YES. MARVEL: So what you're saying is you want her back in the sequel? WORLD: NOOO! MARVEL: Right. Silly suggestion. You're saying ...