Ben Travers

Critic, Columnist, and Contributor

Los Angeles, CA

• Contributor at Indiewire • Associate Editor at PopMatters • Writer/Co-Creator of "Model Idiots" • Box Office Analyst • Academy Awards Expert

Ben Travers

Critic, Columnist, and Contributor

Los Angeles, CA

• Contributor at Indiewire • Associate Editor at PopMatters • Writer/Co-Creator of "Model Idiots" • Box Office Analyst • Academy Awards Expert

Why 'American Hustle' Is Not This Year's 'Silver Linings Playbook', At Least to Oscar
"Well, I guess it's over." After Sunday's Producers Guild Awards, it would be easy to imagine many "American Hustle" fans muttering the aforementioned lament about their favorite film's Oscar odds. After all, the PGA has accurately predicted the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards six years running, and "American Hustle" placed third—at best—after the history-making tie between "Gravity and "12 Years a Slave."
indieWIRE
Edgar Wright On Wrapping Up His Comedic Trilogy With 'The World's End' and the Latest On Marvel's 'Ant-Man'
Finishing a trilogy is never easy. Once your first film is successful, expectations rise exponentially with each following entry. When your first two films are the massive cult hits "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," hopes for the final film are as high as for any mainstream blockbuster. Edgar Wright can handle the pressure.
indieWIRE
Box Office: 'Before Midnight' Carries 'Lowest-Grossing Trilogy' to New Heights
Long before its impressive opening weekend put its predecessors to shame, Richard Linklater's long-awaited third part of the "Before" franchise screened on March 9 at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. After the film, the director took the stage to answer audience questions and eventually got around to discussing the trilogy’s evolution.
indieWIRE
Casey Affleck and Ben Foster Open BAMcinemaFest with David Lowery's 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints'
Just four days after making its Los Angeles premiere at the LA Film Fest, David Lowery's "Ain't Them Bodies Saints" hit New York as the opening night selection for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's fifth annual cinemaFest, co-hosted by The Cinema Society. Casey Affleck and Ben Foster joined their director for the screening of the Texas-set romantic western as well as the after party celebrating BAMcinemaFest's fifth anniversary.
indieWIRE
SXSW Day 6 - Grading the Grand Jury Winners
Maybe the Academy could learn a thing or two from the good people at SXSW. They absolutely got one right when they chose Short Term 12 as the best of the fest (narrative category).
PopMatters
The 10 Things We Learned from the 'The Butler' Press Conference Including Why Lee Daniels Put a "F'in Parrot" In a Scene
What with all the brouhaha over the title of "Lee Daniels' The Butler," entertainment reporters haven't had the time to write about much else regarding the star-studded historical film from the director of "Precious." With its August 16 release rapidly approaching, a press conference was held on Monday, August 5 to promote the film.
indieWIRE
Alfonso Cuaron's 'Gravity' To Open the 70th Venice International Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival has chosen one of its favorite directors to kick off its 70th anniversary. "Gravity," Alfonso Cuaron's long-awaited follow-up to "Children of Men," will premiere out of competition on August 28 as the 11-day Italian festival's opening night film.
indieWIRE
He's Still the Boss: The 10 Best Springsteen Songs of the Last 10 Years
In the last 10 years, with and without the now-dwindling E Street Band, Springsteen has created some of his best music. No album as a whole approaches Born to Runs cultural status, but select songs are equally memorable and musically vital.
PopMatters
Lee Daniels, Julia Stiles Help Honor Ghetto Film School Students and The Criterion Collection at 9th Annual Spring Benefit
Last night's ninth Annual Spring Benefit for the Ghetto Film School featured plenty of celebrities, a few surprises, and six very happy high school students. Presenters Lee Daniels, Julia Stiles, and sportscaster Gus Johnson were all on hand to honor the six college-bound high school students who earned $2,500 in college scholarships to continue their film education.
indieWIRE
Cannes Winner Mads Mikkelsen Discusses 'The Hunt,' the Three Choices for 'Hannibal' in Season Two and the Sequel to 'Valhalla Rising'
It's tough to tell what Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is best known for in the film community. If you're a Bond enthusiast or mainstream movie junkie, he's Le Chiffre, the card player with a bleeding tell in "Casino Royale." If you're an art house devotee, he’s probably known by either One Eye or Tonny, depending on your preference between early Nicolas Winding Refn works, "Valhalla Rising" and "Pusher."
indieWIRE
Californication's Note-perfect Becca
Madeleine Martin reflects on a season of Californication that saw her character, Becca Moody, play an essential part in Hanks slow transition to adulthood.
PopMatters

About

Ben Travers

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Ben Travers is an awards season analyst and prognosticator with a devout interest in all things film & TV. He writes for Indiewire.com as a contributor and PopMatters.com as an associate editor.

Mr. Travers lives in Los Angeles as an experienced writer and filmmaker with an extensive portfolio of coverage, including thorough reporting on the Academy Awards, weekly box office analyses, and more reviews written than will ever be read.

He is a graduate of the University of Iowa with degrees in both journalism and cinema.