Birdman (2014) starring Michael Keaton

You did explain yourself a bit more, but the "dollars = awards" comment remains, and it continues to be somewhat perplexing, as I think it does imply that successful movies have already gotten enough and awards should be for non-commercial movies.

I'm also tired after being in meetings all day so maybe I shouldn't continue to try to interpret comments right now!

 

They don't have to be "serious" or "meaningful", I was happy that Birdman won and it's technically a comedy, I would also have been content with The Grand Budapest Hotel winning, it was also a comedy. Going back in time I would have been happy for a movie like Raiders Of The Lost Ark to have won Best Picture.

Don't assume I'm some stuck-up fuddy duddy just because I don't think the Marvel movies have achieved best picture level quality as of yet.

 

Meanimg what?

 

Saw in theater and liked it, but figured I'd want to get the bluray for revisitation. The only thing I really knew about the film was that it was Keaton's comeback movie, employed a "single take" method, and used jazz drums soundtrack and that I had some recordings that the drummer plays on. It was actually the drums only thing that had me the most curious about "Birdman", I had'nt known of a film to take that approach. It works well and helps give the movie an improvisational feel. I think there's going to be lots of polarization about Birdman. It will stir up plenty of fires in cyberspace.

 

If we put that sentence back into its original paragraph where we found it, now with part of the text italicized, does that help?

"The argument that the awards should be more populist is likewise silly. We have awards for that already. They're called dollar bills. Now if a popular film is particularly great, I have no problem with it showing up as a nominee, but trying to add more popular fare just to be more inclusive is crazy. Big money already recognizes those."

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Most actors make good $$ on TV these days.guven the right project on cable Keaton could do very will there.

 

Keaton is in the upcoming indie film "Spotlight" alongside Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams. He will also be in the upcoming "Kong: Skull Island" tentpole from Legendary (as will J.K. Simmons).

 

I need to pay closer attention to things. Until the Oscars I wanted to see this movie because I thought it was a remake of The Birdman Of Alcatraz

 

In films and music there often is a chasm between critical opinion and popular taste. As far as the Oscars I felt that in recent years they were sometimes too "PC" or "diversity" conscious... this Birdman selection meets no such qualifiers and so represents something of a departure....at the end of the day I don't see how you wrangle out of picking Birdman.

 

Birdman is one of those films which must be seen on a home theater (or the real theater I guess) in order to be fully appreciated as the soundtrack is so integral. The '.1' channel gets a real workout!

 

I thought the drum soundtrack was pretty much borrowed from Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson paved the way with films like "Magnolia" and "Punch-Drunk Love," of letting a relentless and frequently overpowering soundtrack assault you like a non-stop car alarm to keep the viewer on edge. I felt the same way about the jazz drumtrack. It's a style that more directors seem to be using (and some not so well: see the complaints about Christopher Nolan's "Interstellar.")

 

I haven't seen any of those 3 on my home theater yet. Will check them out. Thanks!

 

I see the drum soundtrack entirely different. It's jazz. The improvisational nature of the music fits the improvisational nature of the film. It's symbiotic. I don't think overpowering has anything to do with it.

 

Watched it this morning. Keaton was terrific. As a whole, however, the film was a little too self-aware for my taste.

It's something the Oscar crowd tends to gravitate toward (same with Wes Anderson), but I had difficulty not thinking that the filmmakers were often saying "Look how clever we are!"

I enjoyed Keaton's performance, but the rest of the film left me somewhat cold.

 

Watched Birdman today. Did the writers get an extra $10K for every F-bomb they dropped in the movie. Geez. I got it early that all these folks were self-absorbed, pathetic people, but really are the writers so lacking in English Language skills that they could not have allowed the actors some other way to express their depravity? The performances by everyone were top notch, but they sure deserved a better written script than this.

The drum score sound track was very interesting and very well played. The darkness of this movie would not really lend itself to a full blown symphonic sound track. Maybe a really good foley person with broken glass and train wrecks.

 

Actors , especially during rehearsals , swear a lot. So that actually makes a lot of sense.

 

People swear a lot, it's not Leave It To Beaver out here.

 

Did you have to say beaver?

 

The same kind of thing happened with me. I think the film is well-acted and brilliantly directed, but it's not a movie that got close to my heart.

 

I stopped watching after about 45 minutes. Wasnt getting it at all. Ill give it another shot maybe.

 

I didn't fuq$'in notice

 

So mature.

 

----------------------
And so their command of the English Language is challenged as well.

 

It's worth watching to the end. I appreciated the film as a whole a lot more after seeing the last 15 minutes.

Still it's not close to being one of the best films ever to me.
Perhaps all the Hollywood name dropping and inside jokes pushed it over the edge to fly away with the Oscar win.

 

Yeah, idk, may be the over the top "lets try and show the way it really is behind stage theatre" coupled with the fast talking east coast lightening barrage/attack.

In some movies that works for me stylistically. Some of the period movies, for instance. But in this one it just seemed for show. Also, Im not sure Im a very big fan of this type of movie. "Behind the theatre scenes" movies, that is. Early prototypes (though classics, I realize, in their own right) such as "Victor/Victoria" and "All That Jazz" and even theatrically themed movies such as "The Birdcage" never quite appealed to me. Something pretentious and arduously self concious about these type movies to me. "Black Swan" was another I didnt care for. Just makes me want to slap some of these people. But that would be dramatic.

I confess that some of my distaste may come from being behind the scenes of theatre myself (though on a much smaller scale). These folks have nothing on the strangeness of opera performers.

But, stubbornly, Ill watch it again. If for no other reason I do think it has layers. And it is in some ways psychologically appealing to me.

As far as it being the best movie of the year or whatever; considering what Hollywood usually has to offer, that may have some weight .