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[daviyoung]

when Ed Norton's boner went from funny to rape is one of the most shockingly manipulative scenes I've ever seen, just unbelievably well made

and it's like the entire movie, it constantly plays with your expectations and revels in just ripping the rug from under you

unfortunately it's a strategy looking for a purpose and it makes the film look like a series of gimmicks

 

[Messofanego]

The It's Always Sunny episode "Charlie Work" (S10E04) that did this whole jazzy one-take thing was a lot more enjoyable.

 

[FreshCakes]

Way better than The Revenant

 

[Langdon Alger]

Baller movie.

 

[wetwired]

 

[KayMote]

The first time I watched Birdman in theatres I kind of liked the energetic and claustrophobic rides through those narrow corridors and Edward Norton's performance blew me away, but I still remember being disappointed, since it was surrounded by the Oscar hype and I didn't see anything special in it.

A year after that I gave it another try and honestly, I really didn't like it at all. Particulary al those parts that try to comment on the current film industry felt so obvious and heavy-handed, all the talk about going viral makes it feel already dated and beneath all that I'm not even sure Inarritu actually was brave enough to put in a true statement regarding true art. Furthermore the second watching made it really obvious how exhausted Keaton feels in his performance and although it kind of fits his character it feels like he has actual problems following through Inarritus dance and choreography - being played to the wall by Norton doesn't help his case.

Let's dive into more obvious subjective parts: I HATE the ending. It was just being put there for the sake of being ambiguous, but for me it didn't fit tonally into this movie and I never really had the urge to discuss it or to draw any conclusions from it, because it felt so irrelevant. My last very subjective problem with the movie: It tried so hard to be funny and witty, but at that it completely lost me. I just didn't laugh.
It's not a terrible movie and from a technical point of view it felt refreshing, but it just didn't make a lasting impression.

 

[Naked Snake]

Weird thread bump. Also first page (100ppp) is a graveyard on Banned posters, yeesh.

I watched Birdman recently, not knowing anything about it. I wasn't into it in the first third of the movie, but then I got hooked and was blown away by the end.

 

[thecouncil]

Didn't realize this was a bumped thread until the post about this and Boyhood "taking award season".

It even took me a while then because it's early and I thought maybe I was in hell.

Anyway, it was a lame movie. I didn't like it. Way too frantic.

 

[hendersonhank]

I agree completely with OP, it was a decent movie but definitely not best of the year by any stretch.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

good movie and really enjoyed it

 

[shawnbuddy]

I thought it was great. Has a lot to say to and about creative people. I've felt that desire the that main character feels to make something better, to make something more.

 

[Sora the Cat]

One of the best movies I've seen, the acting and camera work is just incredible.

 

[kavanf1]

I always find Innaritu's films to be technically incredible and filled with great performances, but also somehow clinical and detached which means they never seem to evoke any depth of feeling in me. Like they're made to be appreciated for what they do, instead of being made to make you feel something.

 

[Gaaraz]

I always find Innaritu's films to be technically incredible and filled with great performances, but also somehow clinical and detached which means they never seem to evoke any depth of feeling in me. Like they're made to be appreciated for what they do, instead of being made to make you feel.

Agreed, I very much got this vibe from Birdman. I've been really looking forward to watching The Revenant, but just saw that it's a film by Innaritu too. Urgh.

 

[lightskintwin]

I always find Innaritu's films to be technically incredible and filled with great performances, but also somehow clinical and detached which means they never seem to evoke any depth of feeling in me. Like they're made to be appreciated for what they do, instead of being made to make you feel something.

I actually think that's a pretty accurate summary of his films. As a I said before, Birdman is an actor's circle jerk and it should be no surprise why it won an Oscar for Best Picture amidst an academy filled with mostly actors.

 

[GrantDaNasty]

For real though, I ended up really liking it when I watched both that and Whiplash on a flight to the States when I visited in 2015.

I might be misunderstanding, or should re-watch, but it almost seemed like the story of a guy who wanted more. Almost like how Alec Guinness is largely recognized as Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Original Trilogy, but he honestly hated hearing that people only recognized him from that (people assume he hated Star Wars, which he didn't, just didn't appreciate that it overshadowed his other work), and not from the legion of films he had done as a classically trained actor.

I feel like Breaking Bad touches on a similar note - Ambition. The desire for more, and not being content, no matter what stage you're at.

 

[PalaceBrother]

For real though, I ended up really liking it when I watched both that and Whiplash on a flight to the States when I visited in 2015.

I thought this thread was about someone being disappointed that he won't pay Weezy.

 

[boneyjangles]

It was a 10/10 for me, along with Whiplash that year.

 

[Hari Seldon]

It was a 10/10 for me, along with Whiplash that year.

Yeah Birdman was the best movie I saw last year for sure. Plus it brought Keaten back into the spot light and I love him. The dude got his start on MISTER RODGERS.

 

[ronaldthump]

Birdman was an incredible movie. Just layered and wonderfully put together. Fuck everyone was good in this. Emma Stone was on fire.

 

[Ivan 3414]

I only got 20 minutes in, and it's so rare that we give up on a movie or TV show, but both found it to be pretty unwatchable.

So... can someone who has seen it please fill me in on this deep, underlying message? Should we give it another go?

Pretty sure he was being facetious, champ

 

[nachum00]

I don't know what you're talking about OP. Birdman and Whiplash were the best movies of 2014.

 

[hampig]

If Birdman holds any sort of a candle to Whiplash then I'll need to see it. Whiplash and La La Land are two of my favorite movies of the last 10 years.

 

[nitewulf]

It's been a while since I watched it, but yes, Birdman and Whiplash for me were the two best of that year. I LOVED how mature and adult birdman was, the relationships between all the major characters. It's not meant for a younger, inexperienced audience. A certain type of relationship experience is required to enjoy this movie IMO, you need to have gone through some shit.

 

[rekameohs]

If Birdman holds any sort of a candle to Whiplash then I'll need to see it. Whiplash and La La Land are two of my favorite movies of the last 10 years.

For what it's worth, Birdman was my favorite of 2014 and La La Land was my favorite of 2016 (I'll also throw in that I didn't care for The Revenant). Birdman's definitely a bizarre movie though, emblematic of its main character.

 

[afternoon delight]

Birdman is an instant classic in the "loathsome performance of life" genre.

 

[Ridley327]

Agreed, I very much got this vibe from Birdman. I've been really looking forward to watching The Revenant, but just saw that it's a film by Innaritu too. Urgh.

It's a fine survival tale, but it has the frequent problem of trying to search for a finer point to make, which results in what could have been a fine 90-100 minute film that's stretched to a really trying 2.5 hours, and a lot of that time is filled with a lot of repetitive shots of nature. FWIW, I really did not like Birdman, but I was pretty cool with The Revenant, even if I felt it could have been better.

 

[nachum00]

For what it's worth, Birdman was my favorite of 2014 and La La Land was my favorite of 2016 (I'll also throw in that I didn't care for The Revenant). Birdman's definitely a bizarre movie though, emblematic of its main character.

I didn't like The Revenant at all. Was a really disappointing follow-up to Birdman.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Overall the film was not bad nor good it was just an alright film that is getting too much praise from the media.

Films about show business always get disproportional praise from critics.

 

[Mass_Pincup]

I was completely bored with Birdman. Whiplash, Boyhood and to a lesser extend The Grand Budapest Hotel and Her were way better movies from that year in my opinion.

 

[thehypocrite]

Whiplash was better.

 

[Gaaraz]

I thought Her was decent enough, but Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel are two of only a handful of films I've made it ~20 minutes into before giving up recently. Hoping I don't have the same problem with Whiplash.

 

[afternoon delight]

I thought Her was decent enough, but Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel are two of only a handful of films I've made it ~20 minutes into before giving up recently. Hoping I don't have the same problem with Whiplash.

You might not be able to make it, there's just a bunch of people talking about stuff in the first twenty one minutes.

 

[nachum00]

I thought Her was decent enough, but Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel are two of only a handful of films I've made it ~20 minutes into before giving up recently. Hoping I don't have the same problem with Whiplash.

Sorry. Despite the misleading title there's no car crashes or explosions, at least not in the first 20 minutes. So don't bother.

 

[Gaaraz]

God damn my awful attention span.

To be fair, I don't think it's just that - one of my favourite ever TV shows is The Wire and that was a super slow burner at times.

It's more I just really disliked the tone of both movies, I can't describe it, I just found them both cringe-worthy and unwatchable, even though Norton is one of my favourite actors. I don't think I'd experience that with Whiplash though.

 

[Always-honest]

What about the camera work? Didn't do anything for you?

edit: wow, time warp.

I thought Her was decent enough, but Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel are two of only a handful of films I've made it ~20 minutes into before giving up recently. Hoping I don't have the same problem with Whiplash.

Stop watching movies.
Grand Budapest Hotel is a fucking masterpiece.

Whiplash is cool. A bit overhyped here on GAF but i can understand because it has that really american Rocky-like story build to it.

 

[nachum00]

God damn my awful attention span.

To be fair, I don't think it's just that - one of my favourite ever TV shows is The Wire and that was a super slow burner at times.

It's more I just really disliked the tone of both movies, I can't describe it, I just found them both cringe-worthy and unwatchable, even though Norton is one of my favourite actors. I don't think I'd experience that with Whiplash though.

Please explain how either of them are "cringe-worthy"

 

[big ander]

Two years later I can still say this is a mediocre movie. It is not "mature and adult," it's fraudulently meaningful, but at least the frenzy is a tiny bit fun. Unlike the other couple AGI films I've seen. Amores perros and 21 Grams are such unvariegated corny horseshit, dude is a sham.

The It's Always Sunny episode "Charlie Work" (S10E04) that did this whole jazzy one-take thing was a lot more enjoyable.

And what's crazy is that they didn't even reference Birdman intentionally

I thought Her was decent enough, but Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel are two of only a handful of films I've made it ~20 minutes into before giving up recently. Hoping I don't have the same problem with Whiplash.

You sound like you need to just watch a complete movie more often

 

[DoctorFling]

I appreciate it for being different but Birdman just didn't really work for me. Good performances but I came out of it feeling a bit empty.

 

[Ganzlinger]

Weird bump.

But I'll just add that Ed Norton was the best part of the movie.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

Still the greatest.

 

[Gaaraz]

Please explain how either of them are "cringe-worthy"

Just the feeling that it was trying way too hard. Maybe a lot of the jokes and references would hit harder for those in the movie industry, or people who are film buffs, but to me the entire film just had a really awkward feeling about it.

 

[MattKeil]

I always find Innaritu's films to be technically incredible and filled with great performances, but also somehow clinical and detached which means they never seem to evoke any depth of feeling in me. Like they're made to be appreciated for what they do, instead of being made to make you feel something.

I think this is more applicable to The Revenant than Birdman, but it does still apply. Over time I have come to have a pretty similar opinion of Innaritu's work.

 

[nomis]

I always find Innaritu's films to be technically incredible and filled with great performances, but also somehow clinical and detached which means they never seem to evoke any depth of feeling in me. Like they're made to be appreciated for what they do, instead of being made to make you feel something.

Movies "let you in" with the character of the camera in a particular scene befitting what is happening in that moment. In a movie like the Revenant, Inarritu gives the camera the exact same character in every scene.

 

[KahooTs]

Like Keaton's character is a great Birdman Inarritu shines doing straight forward action. Unlike Keaton's character Inarritu is rewarded for tiresome self indulgence. That's the meta-message I take from the film.

 

[Chumley]

Way better than The Revenant

Hard disagree

Loved Birdman but as amazing as it's cinematography was, it was merely practice for the flat out revolutionary shit Lubezki pulled off in The Revenant, and the film itself had an emotional honesty and simplicity to it that Birdman didn't have. Very different movies I guess but Rev is one of my top 10 of the last decade.

I always find Innaritu's films to be technically incredible and filled with great performances, but also somehow clinical and detached which means they never seem to evoke any depth of feeling in me. Like they're made to be appreciated for what they do, instead of being made to make you feel something.

21 Grams and The Revenant made me cry. Sometimes he absolutely nails genuine emotion, sometimes he totally misses the mark and it comes off as pretentious hokum (Babel, Biutiful).

 

[jonnyp]

Agree OP. Trailer made it look amazing, movie itself was really boring and nothing special.

 

[Inferno313]

Like the rest of Inariatu's work, it's a visual delight but a shell of a film. Inariatu is more interested in making directorial decisions that seem impressive and beautiful, even when they're in opposition to what the story actually needs. I have no problem calling him the Zack Snyder of the art house world.

 

[jroc74]

I was the exact opposite.

I had no intentions of seeing this movie, decided to watch it on a whim.

So glad I did.

 

[shawnbuddy]

For real though, I ended up really liking it when I watched both that and Whiplash on a flight to the States when I visited in 2015.

I might be misunderstanding, or should re-watch, but it almost seemed like the story of a guy who wanted more. Almost like how Alec Guinness is largely recognized as Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Original Trilogy, but he honestly hated hearing that people only recognized him from that (people assume he hated Star Wars, which he didn't, just didn't appreciate that it overshadowed his other work), and not from the legion of films he had done as a classically trained actor.

I feel like Breaking Bad touches on a similar note - Ambition. The desire for more, and not being content, no matter what stage you're at.

Yeah, I agree. The main character is struggling to rise above the phony fantasy of Hollywood and Birdman. He hates the actor he replaces and injures at the start because he doesn't bring authenticity to the role, he has a tumultuous relationship with an actor who seems to live for authenticity even when he's taking it to far and he finally creates a whole new level of reality in acting by losing his mind and shooting his nose off. It's not just that he gets a good review, it's that he's created something real enough to free him from Birdman. In the process he is reborn (new face) and can "fly" under his own creative power, in contrast to the earlier flying scene that seems to depend on Birdman.