TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

My last review of the classic "Snow White" inspired me to think of the upcoming film's star; Kristen Stewart. To call an actress like Stewart polarizing is to display a misuse of the word; people hate, in bold, italics and underline, HATE her.  Legions of computer dwelling kids sitting at their laptops blogging how much they want to beat the entire crew of "Twilight" senseless. Well...not all bloggers are bad you know. I don't hate Stewart, Pattinson or Lautner.  They've all had good roles in other movies ("Adventureland," "Water for Elephants" and "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" respectively) and the fact they're not very good in "Twilight" might just be a fluke.  Actors have misses, a heck of a lot more than hits anyway.  And while of course the "Twilight" series is one of the world's biggest franchises, the cluster of hatred and parody towards is nearly overwhelming. A really good Stewart in ...

Had I not read Sara Gruen's electrifying novel of the 1930's Depression era Circus there was no chance I was going to catch "Water for Elephants," what with the "dude from 'Twilight'" Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, looks like a chick-flick right? Perhaps the chick-flick part is true, I must say that about the movie, the audience was about 80% elderly folks, probably 90& women. I read the novel when I was in late 6th grade mostly due to the lure of the critical appraisal the book had sprawled all over it's back cover and the look of a man entering a circus tent. I read the thing in a matter of days. It was so captivating: The setting of the Depression era circus, the sinister villain August, the enchanting heroine Marlena, and the down-on-his-luck underdog Pollack Jacob Jankowski who, after his parent's death joins the circus...it all seemed like a larger than life tale. And who could forget the humor of the older Jacob, who rec...