TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

It's that time of year again, the Oscars are less than a week away!  I have to admit choosing the "will wins" have been particularly difficult to choose.  So let me not dilly dally, time to discuss what will win the coveted Oscar on February 24th: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: ( Lincoln, Life of Pi, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook) Should Win: "Lincoln"'s poetic and difficult, 19th century jargon really deserves it.  It flowed so beautifully, and was the only movie this year that made me feel that way.  Just listen to Tommy Lee Jones bashing a congressman who's anti-13th amendment! Will Win: "Pi," "Playbook" and "Beasts" all had wildly original premises, and executed perfectly, but "Lincoln" should have this award.  Look for "Playbook" to pull an upset though; Russel won a BAFTA for it. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: ( Moonrise Kingdom, Django Unchained, Flight, Zero Dark Thirty, Amour) ...

If you can hark back to the ancient days of Oscar season 2011, you'll remember that like this year, there were nine nominees, with one 9/11-themed movie as well: "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."   "ELIC" was the odd man out of last year's nominees, with critics not so polarized as they were flat out displeased with it.  That movie dealt with post 9/11 trauma in a completely different way, but Thomas Horn's whiny protagonist and Jessica Chastain's B.A. spy do have one thing in common: they are completely and utterly obsessed with their subject; his finding his father's last message and her....bin Laden. Is there a 17 year old version of her? The movie opens, surprisingly not with the torture sequences you've been hearing so much about, but with 9/11 emergency calls made on that day.  It's a lividly intense few minutes, even if the screen is completely back, and you realize listening to that audio is all the evidence one needs...

AAAAAHHHHH!  Call it sad if you like, but I was hyped all day for the Oscar nominations, and in between classes I printed out the list.  In no way was I disappointed....the nominees for this year (you can find the full list here ) have some of the best variety I've seen from the Oscars, though of course there were a few I just couldn't let go of.  Without any further ado, here are my personal surprises and snubs of the 7 major Oscar categories: PICTURE: Surprises:  HOLY MOLY AMOUR!  Where did this little film from Austria come from?  Not only did oldest nominee ever Emmanuelle Riva get a nod, but the film garnered 4 more nominations including Best Picture! This was on my radar for foreign film, but in no way could I have ever expected this!  Also, "Beasts of the Southern Wild!"  This tiny indie with an even tinier star we'll get to later on got 4 nods, all in big categories.  I couldn't be happier for both of these Davids...

The glorious leaves splattered around the ground aren't the only reason I love the fall-into-winter season: award's season starts soon!  The Golden Globes will be announced in less than a month, and I'm ready to try my luck at guessing at the major categories, comedy, drama, and animated movie naturally.  This will all unfold soon, but I love taking a crack at what will be a really heated race, though the only definite is Daniel Day-Lewis taking home his third Oscar for portraying Abraham Lincoln!  Let's see! BEST DRAMA: This category will be much easier to predict.  Last year there were six, with "The Ides of March" being the only one that didn't pick up a Best Picture nomination in this category: DiCaprio in "Django Unchained" Argo (This one's for certain, and really does deserve all the praise it gets) Lincoln (Really strong lauding for the film, and not just Day-Lewis) Life of Pi (The buzz on this is massive enough to get a...

It''s that time again to take another ridiculous stab in the dark to see which movies are going to be nominated for that big gold trophy that will ultimately make their careers peak early.  My April 25th predictions can be seen here , and I was definitely off on at least half of the predictions.  The blockbuster films "Brave" and "Prometheus" both debuted to positive, but not Oscar-status reviews; "To Rome with Love" fell a little flat by Woody Allen standards, and "The Great Gatsby" got pushed to next summer.  Here are the 5 films I stand by that I'm pretty sure will get nominated from April 25th: The Dark Knight Rises (can Bane get a supporting Oscar?) Life of Pi (the trailer has cemented its status as one of the best movies to look out for) The Hobbit (despite Jackson turning this into a trilogy) Django Unchained Moonrise Kingdom Les Miserables (after the role of Catwoman people are starting to really pay attention to M...