TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

I picked categories to predict that I thought I could actually attempt; goodness knows I never know anything about the shorts races, the doc races, or all the international contenders. But here, with a smattering of commentary, are my predictions for tomorrow's nominations:  BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: All Quiet on the Western Front Avatar: The Way of Water Empire of Light The Fabelmans Top Gun: Maverick BEST MAKEUP: All Quiet on the Western Front The Batman ( Whale is probably winning this one come March, but I think Matt Reeves' superhero flick should get it for The Penguin alone) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Elvis The Whale BEST SCORE Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Black Panther: Wakanda Forever The Fabelmans Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio BEST ORIGINAL SONG:  "Nothing is Lost (You Give Me Strength)" from Avatar: The Way of Water "Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever "Naatu Naatu" from RRR "Hold My Hand" from Top Gun: Mave...

#OscarsSoDiverse? I'm hoping the Oscars will set the correction straight on this one, hopefully rewarding the actions of people of color like Barry Jenkins, Ruth Negga and Mahershala Ali. That's just amidst others, Ali and Fences frontrunner Viola Davis are on their way to supporting actor glory. Octavia Spencer and Denzel Washington, already Oscar-winners, are poised to be nominated once again! But the film that I predict will get nominations in the double digits goes beyond color to deliver one of the century's finest musicals; I've called it since I saw it on December 27th that La La Land will make a clean sweep, hold for Ryan Gosling, who'll deservedly lose to Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea . Check out the rest of my picks for this coming Tuesday morning in all the major categories. BEST DIRECTOR: Chazelle is the clear frontrunner, but it'll be nice to see Jenkins, who might be only the fourth black director nominated in this category. Let's ho...

This year's Academy Award nominations, which took place yesterday at- NO LEG MOVIE NO LEGO MOVIE NO LEGO MOVIE NO LEGO MOVIE NO LEGO MOVIE NO LEGO MOVIE. I had to get it out, I have to vent, because shouting at my television as it went from How to Train Your Dragon 2 to Song of the Sea . And I'm sure the latter film is very respectable, but at least until Oscar time people will be hating it, because it STOLE the coveted fifth spot from, I think it's safe to say, everyone's favorite animated movie of 2014. Enraged fans swept to Twitter, prompting the directors to make characteristically clever tweets, including co-director Phillip Lord showing a Lego Oscar. I'd rather win that than an actual one, though a regular Academy Award wouldn't hurt that much if I stepped on it. There were other snubs and surprises that occurred the other morning. They are not as important as The Lego Movie 's absence, but I will proceed regardless. A full list can be found HERE. ...

"Bad Grandpa" and "Lone Ranger" Oscar nominees? Tom Hanks shutout of everything?!? There are nine nominees...AGAIN?!? This morning's Oscar nominations didn't exactly provide an abundance of surprises, mostly a lot of exclusions from already established award show favorites! Without further ado, here is a full list of the Oscar nominations , and here are buzzed about movies that got COMPLETELY shut out by the Academy: SHUTOUT: Rush, Fruitvale Station, Mud, Blue is the Warmest Color, Enough Said, The Butler PICTURE: SNUBS : Where to begin? And why don't they ever use the full 10 slots?! "Fruitvale," "Prisoners," "Mud," "Blue Jasmine," "Saving Mr. Banks," "Inside Llewyn Davis" to name a few. But I was very pleased with all but "Hustle's" astonishing 10 nominations, matching "Gravity" for the most nods. What are critics seeing that I'm not? SURPRISES : I love...

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...