TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

The Oscar nominations are coming right around the corner! After a surprising Golden Globes, where The Revenant had a near sweep of three of the night's biggest awards, really anything could happen! Interestingly enough, Revenant isn't even up for a Best Cast nomination at the SAGs. No movie since the SAG's inception in 1995 ( Braveheart ) has won without a  Best Cast ensemble. Then again, eccentric choices like The Birdcage and The Full Monty have won, so it's anyone's guess. My choices for Best Picture are equally eccentric: you have fantastical blockbusters like Fury Road and Martian  here, along with solid indies ( Carol and Brooklyn ) and movies with big stars and small-ish budgets ( Spotlight and The Big Short ). I lost my bananas last year when The Lego Movie  only got a sole nomination for "Everything is Awesome!!!" I won't be that surprised if Inside Out doesn't make it with the big dogs, but I will lose what is left of my faith in the Osca...

No one can ever say the Golden Globes are predictable. Phew. I'm so glad we have getting stranded in the middle of space and the 2008 financial crisis to laugh at because APPARENTLY these are two of the best comedies 2015 had to offer. Remarkable. Also I learned valuable lessons, like you can't always bank on Meryl Streep (and if you do, then bank on Maggie Smith, who over the years has just become one hilariously cranky awards statue from all of her wins), not to underestimate the power of Alicia Vikander, and to always remember the movies that came before the November-December Oscar season (sorry for leaving you out Danny Collins !) Without further ado, here are the major film category nominations for the Globes, and ones I missed/left out are in red. The list is notable for having completely gotten one field wrong, and another entirely correct! What can I say, it's the week before exams. DRAMA FILM:  Spotlight Carol The Revenant Mad Max: Fury Road (I could ex...

Now that the unforgiving season of January is over, let's movie on to 2015. Now, some forewarning before you cheat and scroll down and see two very large absences from the list. Besides the 1977 original, I haven't seen any other Star Wars movie, and I also haven't seen Mel Gibson's Mad Max trilogy. I am very much looking forward to Force Awakens and Fury Road, because I plan on binging the whole series of both before they come out. It's just I'm looking forward to them right now, I'm not sure if my interest will diminish after what I hear are rough prequels. There are a few sequels on here, and they're all to movie franchises I've seen and greatly enjoyed. Without further ado, here are some picks that might surprise but hopefully there'll be at least one you'll research and want to scope out as well. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON This list is alphabetical, but this my number one. I saw the Pinocchio themed teaser in The Battle of Five Armies , ...