Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

[ChipRock]

I've tried looking for a thread on this film, but with no luck. Surely I'm not the only one really excited for its release?
Not out in the UK until January, but with a limited US release from October. Starring the legendary Michael Keaton. Personally I can't wait.

[henryeatscereal]

I has gotten great reviews so far and i'm glad to see Keaton back, the movie looks interesting enough to watch and i think it will be more on the side of "Kick Ass" and "Watchmen" than on "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" side (So glad about it...)

[thefragile_jake]

Ain't nothing wrong with that 1990 TMNT though.

Oh and Birdman looks fuckin' fantastic. I can't wait to see it.

[thefragile_jake]

Yep, this movie delivered on so many levels. Keaton deserves a Best Actor nomination...hell....maybe even the award. Whole film was fantastic.

[ChipRock]

Well it's been released in the UK and I got to see it the other week. Was really worried I would be disappointed after all the excitement of seeing great reviews, but no... it was absolutely perfect. It's sad that maybe not many people are seeing it, but I can understand it's a tough one to market. It's not a superhero film, and it's not really a comedy either... some people seem to slate it for being simplistic in its satire, and others see it as indulgent and pretentious. Personally I thought they got the balance just right, and ultimately it was all rather beautiful. Really glad to see Keaton get the Golden Globe (although Fiennes would have been a good win too), and presumably he'll get a mention in the Oscar nominations this week.
So yes, do go and see it if you haven't done so already. Apparently Piers Morgan walked out of a screening, so that should count in its favour.

[somethingelse]

A fancifully dark comedic look into Spoiler: mental illness and suicide, definitely not superheros.
Great film. Four and a half doilies out of 5.

[FeedYourHead]

Did anybody else get irrationally excited about finally getting a glimpse into what the inside of Broadway theaters look like?

...Anyone?

[Alexandros]

Exellent film. Michael Keaton gave a top notch performance. Loved the surreal touches here and there.

[Swykk]

Loved it. Michael Keaton deserves the Best Actor Oscar for sure.

[elevenism]

ok, you guys have me sold.

i'm gonna watch it in the AM.

i would watch it now, but the wifey is asleep and we have always watched all of the oscar nominated films together.

[Corvus T. Cosmonaut]

Beautifully shot, albeit pointlessly one-shot, and shockingly dumb. The high school drama student's narcissistic fantasy of fighting for art. One of those unfortunate films that has me nodding along with Armond White, of all critics: "Birdman’s antics just beg for applause. Banality, thy name is Inarritu."

EDIT: WHEW, okay, FilmCritHULK agrees. Now I can bathe of this A.W. business: "BIRDMAN: A BEAUTIFUL, SOULFUL EXPRESSION OF A JUVENILE WORLD VIEW ABOUT A BANAL STEREOTYPE THAT DOESNT EXIST. THE MOVIES PERSPECTIVE IS A UGLY, JUVENILE MESS."

[Swykk]

Okay. Well, agreeing with that tool is never good. I took it as a hilarious send up of actors who are self obsessed and purposely take roles in artsy pretentious crap (aka Tom Hanks a lot of the time). "Oh, look at that, Tom Hanks is making his Oscar face again."

[TheyCallMeDrug]

from a technical standpoint its incredible. story was very funny at points as well.

[BrewHa]

To me this film is a work of art, almost like a painting. There are so many ways to look at it and everyone walks away with a different perspective or meaning. Whenever I find myself thinking about a film for days, then I know it did the job.

[elevenism]

It was too "meta" for me, if I'm using the word correctly

[Jinsai]

It was too "meta" for me, if I'm using the word correctly

I haven't seen it yet, but I believe you are using the word correctly regardless from what I understand about the movie. I'm planning on seeing this today.

[mfte]

Not perfect but highly enjoyable. Wonderful to see Keaton and norton doing their best work in recent memory. I loved the one shot editing. I didn't much enjoy the last 30 seconds or so as it felt vague and surreal when it didn't need to be.

Did anyone else think that in the last scene he looked like James Caan in profile?

[thelastdisciple]

Pretty good movie, i was kinda expecting Keaton's character was gonna "lose it" a lot more than he did...sort of heard wrong about what this movie was really about i guess. I thought it was going to deal more with him thinking he was Birdman and actually trying to save people and do hero things which ended up being happy accidents haha boy was i way off, it was a downward spiral of a different kind.

[Space Suicide]

Bought the blu-ray! Whooooo! Cool shit.

Will watch tomorrow.

[Wretchedest]

Reading this thread, a lot of people seem to have mistaken the main characters motivation for the actual theme of the film... Which is definitely the reverse of that. To me it seemed to champion the idea that the distinction between art and kitsch is arbitrary. The perspecti e of the movie always seemed to be that it would have been better for him to embrace his role as birdman.... Maybe im wrong

It was a fun movie. I dug the continuous shot thing. It had a nice role in the surrel nature of the movie. Still not my favorite movie of the year. All the components are truly great, but i am stunned that this beat out Boyhood at the oscars. That is among the best examples of why they are more a game of politics and favoritism than anything else.

[mfte]

For some reason all references to batman are listed as "a man dressed like a bat" on Keaton's wiki page.


...wait this is widespread. where have i been?

[Dra508]

Finally got around to watching this film. I really liked it. Have always enjoyed Michael Keaton's work. I loved the look of the film, it was great to see the inside of a theater like that. There was a time there, that you really couldn't be sure when he was hallucinating and when he wasn't. Some might think he wasn't and he really could move objects and fly. Meh, I'm going for the realism and going to ignore or not look farther into the final scene.

Tomorrow I'll have a different opinion - yeah, he finally embraced his identify as birdman, while still denying birdman his next movie.

Ed Norton was great and usually he annoys me, all his emoting. The best part of this film, was the drums. It was like the sound of Riggan's brain turning over.

[Hazekiah]

Haha, the actor pushing for realism onstage finds ONE THING that's real onstage, the chicken in the fridge, and says WHAT to the actor who played Birdman?!?

Hahaha...LOVE IT.

XD