TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

As a movie critic walks out of a theater, he has to think hard of how much he enjoyed the movie, but mostly, what the majority of people do reading reviews, think of the bad parts to warn patrons of the cinema.  As I walked out of Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," I realized I couldn't find anything wrong with it.  It really is one of the best films of the year. We begin by seeing Matt King's (excellently portrayed by a subtle, defeated George Clooney) wife water skiing happily on a motor boat.  The next scene we hear Matt's voice giving us the intro to his life, the work that consumes him, his profane little girl who wants to be anything but, and his other little girl, who really isn't little anymore, a rebellious, headstrong teen named Alex, played with devastating confidence by Shailene Woodley, who will hopefully no longer be solely associated with that stupid teen pregnancy soap opera.  Most importantly, we see King's wife in a coma.  We...

It's been brought to my attention that recent Best Picture winners haven't been great.  Common winners that are cited that suck are: "The Greatest Show on Earth," (God was that long) "Chicago" (a satisfactory musical at the most) and "Around the World in 80 Days," which I've yet to see.  I omit one Best Picture winner that EVERYONE calls the worst because I sincerely enjoyed it, and that is 2005's "Crash."  People take a dump on "Crash" a lot, but I really liked it when I saw it on TV several months ago.  Was it the best movie ever?  No.  Was it the best movie of 2005?  I wouldn't even go that far.  I'd even go as far as to say there probably was homophobia among Oscar voters, and that's why "Crash" won over the favorited "Brokeback Mountain," because their Rotten Tomatoes scores are: Crash-76 Brokeback Mountain-87. That's a significant 11 points.  I've yet to see "Brokebac...

A wide variety of films are up for Best Picture this year, including one that got some pretty bad reviews, cough cough, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."  I take a look at what will win and (IMO) what should win: BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: (The Ides of March, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Hugo, The Descendants, Moneyball) WILL WIN: While "TTSS" got this award at the BAFTAs, last year's winner Aaron Sorkin has got it again this year for "Moneyball." SHOULD WIN: Moneyball.  It deserves it because it made an odd topic like baseball statistics seem interesting, and the character development is top-notch. BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: (The Artist, Midnight in Paris, Margin Call, A Separation, Bridesmaids) WILL WIN: Midnight in Paris. SHOULD WIN:  Midnight in Paris.  It really doesn't get any more original from the mind of Woody Allen, who most likely won't even be there to accept it. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: (Christopher Plummer, Nick Nolte, ...

It is the day before the Oscar nominations are being announced!  I'm excited for tomorrow, I'll post the nominees as tradition since 2010.  Another tradition I have to uphold is predicting the Oscar nominees for the best movie of 2011 right before they come out.  This year it's going to be a lot trickier, so I'll do it like this: THE SHOO-INS: The Descendants The Artist (and the winner) Hugo The Help (a BAFTA nomination for Best Picture helped its outlook) and Midnight in Paris Like I said, this is where it gets harder.  Though there won't be 10, many are saying 7 or 8, there is always that possibility the Oscars will throw us a curve-ball.  So, if there are: 6.  War Horse 7.  Moneyball 8.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 9.  Bridesmaids/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (if they're going all out they'll want to include a blockbuster favorite) 10.  The Tree of Life  So, in hopes I don't lo...

I admit that I did have my doubts when I walked into the theater.  As any gullible fan may know buzzed about films rarely live up to the hype (that is except "Deathly Hallows Part 2" of course).  With talks of an Oscar Best Picture win, a recent Best Picture/Best Comedy win from the Critic's Choice and Golden Globe Awards respectively and a premise too good to be true (a throwback to silent movies?  That's awesome!) I wasn't sure if I'd like "The Artist" as much as people would think I would. I proved myself wrong!  I LOVED "The Artist," and am accepting the fact it'll win Best Picture.  I'm probably on the slim margin of people who like silent movies who are under 80, I loved "Sunrise" and the original Best Picture "Wings," both silent classics.  I will be straight up: no kid will want to go see "The Artist" until it sweeps the Academy Awards, like last year for "The King's Speech."  An...

Host Ricky Gervais proved tamer and even funnier this time around with the 69th Golden Globes held last night!  The night had a few surprises, but at the end here's what I really got: George Clooney, Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer are definitely winning Oscars this year after victories at both the Globes and the Critic's Choice Awards.  Also "The Artist," which I just saw, will most likely be taking home Best Picture.  Really the only wild card is Best Actress.  Meryl Streep won best actress in a drama last night for her outstanding role in "The Iron Lady" and Viola Davis won Best Actress for "The Help" on Critic's Choice Awards night.  Two very deserving ladies, I can't wait to see how it'll end up. THE COMPLETE LIST: DRAMA FILM: The Descendants (though I'd like to think this might win, "The Artist" pretty much has Best Picture on lock) ACTRESS: Meryl Streep- The Iron Lady ACTOR: George Clooney- T...

I know I'm late reviewing this but I have a pretty big awards weekend coming up.  Over this the three day weekend I'm going to be watching "The Iron Lady" and the Critic's Choice Award for Best Picture-winning film   "The Artist."  I'm slowly accepting even though I'd like "The Descendants" to take home the big prize on Oscar night "Artist" will be the victor.  Another awards-season movie you must make time to see this January is Jason Reitman's "Young Adult." Unlike Reitman's previous two films ("Juno" and "Up in the Air") this movie's gotten literally no Best Picture buzz at all.  This is very understandable.  The film is an awkward, uncomfortable and nearly scathing look at a life gone bad after high school.  I've yet to know what that feels like, and I pray it's nothing like the "Young Adult" world.  Charlize Theron, in a sure-to-be Oscar-nominated performance...

This year's Golden Globe's were surprisingly straightforward, where really nothing was totally out of the park. There were  no head-scratchers like last year's "The Tourist" and "Burlesque" getting Best Comedy/Musical nods except for the lame "Cars 2" getting a Best Animated Feature nomination.  This year's selection of movies was so good they actually expanded the Best Drama category to 6!  Here are the major nominees: BEST DRAMA: The Help (an audience favorite with 2 supporting nods for Spencer and Chastain, who both deserve the award) The Descendants (an excellent little movie I've yet to review, that's been generating a lot of buzz) War Horse (the yet-to-be-released Spielberg epic that's gotten considerable lauding) Moneyball (one of my favorite films of the year got both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill nominations) Hugo (Scorsese's breathtaking love letter to cinema of yesteryears) The Ides of March (Clooney got ...