Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton

The Movie:
Michael Keaton plays a washed up actor, who once played an iconic superhero, battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself in the days leading up to the opening of a Broadway play.



Review:
Finally a movie I feel deserves four Oscar wins, not to mention best picture. Every Oscar season I tend to spend a lot of time catching up on past nominees and winners, the last best picture winner I approved of was A Beautiful Mind - that was an incredible film. That is until I saw Birdman, knowing nothing about who directed, wrote or produced this film I went into it for it's excellent cast line up - after all, there's very few movies Michael Keaton stars in that I dislike.

Speaking of Keaton, before deciding to watch this movie I actually started to think this was a biography on his life. Substitute Birdman for Batman, which happened to be his best work in my humble opinion, and looking into his filmography it comes to little surprise that he's taken on some awful roles in the last decade or two. I'm not sure if he's ever considered being in a Broadway play, but he definitely appears to be a bit washed up as an actor, as he gets older, just like his character: Riggan Thomson. Many big name celebrities are like that, they work up to one big break then fall back. For instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Terminator movies, and Sylvester Stallone and the Rocky franchise. They all want to return to stardom so bad that they take on any random role that seems profitable, in the end they tend to fail to upkeep what once was.

This movie also Zach Galifianakis who should really stick with comedies, his serious dramatic roles simply don't work in anything. The gorgeous Emma Stone, whose last big hit was Zombieland. And speaking of washed up actors, let's look at Edward Norton, this guy was great in Fight Club, but his role in this movie just made me want to punch him in the face. It's incredible how he can portray enough negativity on an otherwise great film.

This film, at it's attempt to be artsy, won't attract everyone, especially casual movie goers who are only interested in Blockbuster films. It almost didn't attract me but I'm not your ordinary movie fan.

** Won four Oscars for 2014: Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography

Rating: 8/10

Note: I feel I could talk more about this movie but without spoiling it for those who haven't watched it I've decided to further any discussion to the comments below, leave a comment and I'll love to discuss this movie with you guys one-on-one.