TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

Sugar and spice may run through "Saving Mr. Banks'" veins, but certainly not everyone in it is nice. Emma Thompson plays "Mary Poppins" author P.L. Travers with a Sheldon Cooper type of emotional unawareness, except she's much thornier and frostier to everyone: including the head of the Mouse himself, Walt Disney. Disney's played by soon-to-be "Captain Phillips" Oscar nominee Tom Hanks, who, with the help of the mustache, does nail that late Disney founder's appearance, but you can't help but realize it is  Hanks playing Disney instead of just ol' Uncle Walt in the flesh. Does he nail his voice/cadences? The jury's still out for me, as I always distanced myself from Walt Disney the man as a younger child; he was sort of the wizard of Oz of all my favorite childhood animated films. The story is Disney was hounding Travers for the rights to her beloved novel, with the preface of keeping a promise to his daughters to adapt the ...

It's been a hectic last few weeks, but just yesterday when coming up blank on ideas to post on this blog, I thought I was going to be attending a screening of "Evil Dead" with some friends, but that didn't pan out.  Not to fear, I looked at the calendar and realized that it was April 25th!  This date might not mean anything to you, but to me it's one of three very essential dates: my stab in the dark at what might be nominated for Best Picture come January.  I partake in this every 4/25, every 9/1 and every post-Golden Globes day.  It's stupid, but sometimes the little things are what keep you going in life! BEST PICTURE NOMINEES 2013: (I do it out of 10, even though the range could be 5-10 films nominated, though ever since this bizarre system came into fruition its been 9) The Great Gatsby (actually on the list last year, but it was delayed til summer '13) The Wolf of Wall Street ( a safe Scorsese bet) August: Osage County...