TRAVIS BYRAM'S MOVIE REVIEWS

2018 was indicative of many things: the biggest being departure. I said goodbye to the comforts of college back in May, where I was working on my own script called "Black Chicken." I told myself that's why I wasn't working on this blog, because all of my creative attention was being poured into my senior project. But honestly, seven months after I graduated, I realized I had lost the lust for this little website. Why review superhero movies when everyone's already going to see them? I thought. The act of critiquing or lauding someone's art has left me. Nothing I wrote last year came close to the buzz of creating, of sculpting a character's jokes or figuring out where to put my B plot. I hope this is temporary, as movie reviewing is what's kept me active here on Blogspot. But for now, it might be for a while, as I hope to turn to making art instead of just writing about how bad I want to be these actors, these directors, these storytellers. That asid...

It's been a hard year, y'know? Nothing made me happier than to ring in the new year last night with friends and family. I know what you may think: years are arbitrary markers of time, what difference does it make? Even if 2017 isn't an automatic clean slate for us all, it's what it represents, isn't it? And that's all the cinema is, life represented. This year offered a lot of hope...and superhero movies. In my personal selections of the five greatest films released this year (1/1/16-12/31/16), you'll see reoccurring themes of grief, family, hope, identity. It was a stellar year for the movies, and the fact that I had to leave gripping films like Love & Friendship , Nocturnal Animals , Hacksaw Ridge and Sausage Party (my ultimate guilty pleasure) off the final cut. And I still haven't movies I've been dying to see like Fences , The Lobster or Hell or High Water . Revel in the new year with me and enjoy my list! 5. SING STREET I nodded knowingl...

Here at old Randolph College, I take whatever chance I get to partake in a moviegoing experience. I'm currently enrolled in a French 102 class for my Gen Ed. requirements, and was given the opportunity to attend the 23rd Annual French Film Festival in Richmond, Virginia. I was a little reluctant at first, I'd never attended a festival of any sorts before, another tick against a guy who calls himself a so-called "movie buff"! It consisted of a full Thursday to Monday schedule of a medley of short films and feature-length films, with the directors of these movies attending the screenings and answering questions afterwards. Embassy Sutites Hotel (very Grand Budapest) We were able to stay in the beautiful Embassy Suites (pictured here), and I personally had to attend at least four sessions of films at the Byrd Theater, located in the tres chic Carytown of downtown Richmond. Saturday morning at 8, six short films were shown: among my favorites were Son seul , Sam...