Birdman (2014) starring Michael Keaton

I'm trying to watch this. It's actually a struggle for me to stay focused on it I guess as posting this while it is playing would attest.

 

I doubt you watch many movies. If an f-bomb here and there stands out, then I can probably find a few dozen films per year that would drive you into a full-blown, off the rails rant.

For the record, I literally didn't take note of excessive expletives.

 

Yeah, when I think back on "Birdman", I don't remember profanity at all. I'm sure it's there, but it's not anything noteworthy, IMO.

Not sure why it's being made out to be outrageous or over the top...

 

Having been friends with (and worked with) stage actors, the film often felt like an uncomfortable (yet engrossing and entertaining) look behind the scenes of a stage play. I know people like this and combined with the roaming camera, it truly felt like voyeurism. Extremely well made and acted.

 

people curse...I have no problem with it.

 

That's what the MPAA ratings are for. Birdman is rated R, with further descriptors, one of which is "language throughout". Birdman has F#*$ 90 times versus 298 for "Goodfellas"- I still like both films. Viewers aversive to profanity, nudity or other potentially offensive content should read the MPAA rating and descriptors if such things are likely to detract from their viewing experience. I think Birdman is a well written and directed film that includes profanity in the writing.

 

Goodfellas... great F'n movie!

 

Maybe well acted, but I found the long non-stop scenes somewhat tiresome and distracting after awhile, and felt it to be somewhat of a gimmick. This was a movie I was really looking forward to seeing and yet walked out of about halfway through it. The soundtrack was by far the best thing about it. Really disappointing considering how much I like Michael Keaton.

 

Me too. I can appreciate the great acting and the "artiness" of the movie, but beyond that I didn't find it an enjoyable experience .

I kind of felt the movie went up it's own a** as I was watching . Self congratulatory 'inside" show biz hipness.

 

One of the best films I've seen in the last 20 years and I regret missing it in the theater. The long takes worked for me because they kept the physical and psychological action 'in the moment'. And the camera isn't just careening around - extremely well directed, fluidly moving from one relevant composition to the next. I also was impressed by how those actors immediately went from personal exchanges to walking onstage and inhabiting a role that was informed by that personal exchange - that stunning scene in particular when Riggan and his girlfriend are coming to terms with their relationship and she then almost casually but confidently saunters on stage and the camera brings us along into a different world that's somehow anchored in what just transpired.

I recognize the movie isn't for everyone, but I felt I saw something: ambitious, substantial, literate, technically ingenious and narratively surprising without being arbitrarily 'weird', humane, and had insights into the creative process, sympathetic without cutting the actors too much slack. Looking forward to watching again.

 

also the movie doesn't feel like it's been processed/reviewed/analyzed and then tweaked by 50 focus groups before going ahead with the project

 

I wanted to believe he had powers...

 

I did not feel that...just a behind the scenes madness and I mean madness...I really love Michael Keaton!

 

yes in real life and in movies ppl swear...why would that bother anyone? O' I know...the sensitivity brainwashing by the PC Police...absolutely sickening.

 

...wonder what Orson or Hitchcock would think?

 

Well, I mentioned the great acting, and that was headed by Michael Keaton. I thought he was great.
The movie made me feel uncomfortable though in a way. Michael's character was basically dealing with constant misery as were a few of the others.

So, as I mentioned, I can appreciate the movies artistry, while also realizing that watching the movie wasn't really an enjoyable experience.

 

I finally saw "Birdman" last night. What a ride! And I can't begin to imagine how hard these long takes must have been for everyone involved (not just the actors).

Great movie.

 

The obsession with swear words in the US seems to predate the PC movements by many decades. Not sure where you see a connection.

"PC" as a term seems to be so randomly applied to anything annoyingly controlling nowadays, that I feel it has long lost any meaning or context.

 

"PC" seems to be applied to anything that shows any form of sensitivity toward other people. If you try to be conscious of how others feel, you're PC!

 

Bulls**t!

 

Yup, what you said. I only saw half. Asked a friend who saw the whole thing if the tone or the story changed fearing I may have quit watching too soon. Nope. Just not my cuppa...,.

 

Yes, sensitivity, over-sensitivity or any kind of levelling down. It all gets labeled PC nowadays, even if it is in favour of majority groups who never have suffered from discrimination of any kind.

In the "One Direction" thread someone defended today's youth's right to their own musical culture and icons, without being attacked by older generations for it. Another member called that "towing the politically correct option". How has that anything to do with the idea of Political Correctness?

But we digress...

 

Except that it's extremely critical of the "Hollywood" mentality and goes to great lengths to show how the insecurities of the characters manifest themselves in destructive ways. That is hardly self-congratulatory. Unless you mean that it seems to savor its own theatricality. But, you know, that's theatre.

 

It's self congratulatory , but in an extremely critical way. "We" are tortured artists trying to overcome all our woes and personal hells to deliver a performance. In that sense it sort of celebrated the show biz naval gazing of the characters.

I probably should have used the term self referencing rather than self congratulatory , but I'm not a movie critic crafting a review, I just jotted down my quick thoughts regarding the movie.
Great acting, but not really pleasant to watch because at a certain point everyone seemed so self involved to me that I didn't really care what happened to them.

 

That's not what I took away at all. The self-absorption has consequences, destroys relationships, and "putting on a show" is just a smokescreen for not having to face reality. Maybe the wisest character in the movie is the daughter, who is right where she needs to be in her development. Everyone else is sort of stalled in one way or another.