TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

The powers that be at the Academy have spoken, and these are the nine films they've chosen as the finest of the year. I have my beef with a couple picks, but I can't say there's a truly weak one in the bunch, unlike past years (here's looking at you Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close  and War Horse ). To celebrate, I chose the best quotes from each of the films, a brief 6 word review on them, and their best scenes, no spoilers I assure you. Enjoy! 12 YEARS A SLAVE BEST QUOTE: Northup : I survive. I will not fall into despair! I will offer up my talents...I will keep myself hardy until freedom is opportune. SUMMARY: Heart wrenching because it actually happened. BEST SCENE: After a certain character attempts to hang Northup unsuccessfully, Solomon simply stands there, with no help whatsoever from anyone, dangling from a noose, trying to make his feet connect with the muddy ground. It's horrifying. AMERICAN HUSTLE BEST QUOTE: Irving : She was the Picasso of ...

"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...

My Golden Globe predictions were off. I'm the first to admit it. I got three right in the drama category, and ONE right for comedy/musical! How was I supposed to know "Wolf of Wall Street" and "American Hustle" were going to be considered comedies? Technically though, I did get all of the animated nominees right, since the Globes surprised me by just nominating three. The one I claimed to be the front runner, "The Wind Rises," was put into the foreign film category instead, "Monsters U" was downright snubbed! I think it's "Frozen's" prize to lose. Here's my reaction to the rest of the list, which can be found right hurr .   DRAMA: I'll admit the Globes didn't do half bad this year. They really didn't. I could see all 10 of their best picture category films getting Oscar nods. But why oh why did they leave out THREE of the year's best films from all categories?!? That's right, no "Fruitvale S...