Seat68 Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Seeing differing views on birdman, wildly differing too, from best film you will see this year to the worst. Anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted January 7, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted January 7, 2015 Going to see it this week - really, really excited as it looks right up my street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Seeing differing views on birdman, wildly differing too, from best film you will see this year to the worst. Anyone? I hope to see it this weekend. I usually go with the Guardian Review, and they seem to like it: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/04/birdman-alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu-review-michael-keaton Sometimes a film’s success very much depends on having the right actor in the lead, especially if the film is essentially about that actor. You can’t imagine Being John Malkovich working if Spike Jonze hadn’t persuaded Mr M to take the bait; yes, there are other elegantly eccentric leading men, but Being Jeremy Irons? Being Julian Sands? Hardly the same. Similarly, backstage comedy Birdman – about a faded Hollywood actor once famous for a superhero role – touches a nerve partly because it stars Michael Keaton, whose career declined steadily after Batman Returns (1992). Of course, director Alejandro González Iñárritu might have considered Keaton’s successor in the Batcape, Val Kilmer, but you can’t imagine him being nearly as good; as for the next incumbent of Wayne Manor, George Clooney, playing a shop-soiled also-ran, I somehow doubt we’d have bought that. The first thing you applaud about Birdman is Keaton’s audacity in accepting the role of neurotic Tinseltown veteran Riggan Thomson – and Iñárritu’s chutzpah in offering it to him. The payoff is a considerable comeback for both men. The actor will be unavoidable during the awards season, while the Mexican virtuoso director of Amores Perros fame stages a triumphant return to form after his lugubriously self-important woes-of-the-world drama Biutiful. Birdman, cumbersomely subtitled “Or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance”, is set, and substantially filmed, in and around New York’s St James theatre, where Thomson is attempting to relaunch his career with an earnest stage adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. His co-star is Mike (Edward Norton), a strutting Broadway luminary who soon starts challenging him for control of the show. Also involved are Thomson’s damaged, resentful daughter Sam (Emma Stone); the play’s two female leads (Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough); and its harassed producer (a surprisingly muted Zach Galifianakis). And hovering on the sidelines, or at the back of Thomson’s psyche, is his action-movie alter ego Birdman, at first only as a snarling, basso off-screen voice, but later to manifest in his full winged and masked glory. Scripted by Iñárritu with Alexander Dinelaris Jr and Biutiful collaborators Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo, Birdman is impartial towards its satirical targets. On one hand it twits the vanities of Hollywood types. Thomson is a deluded bundle of anxieties, bitter about his decline and other actors’ greater success in superhero suits. On the other hand, theatre folk don’t emerge looking any nobler: Mike makes a big song and dance about “wrestling with complex human emotions”, but he’s clearly more interested in wrestling with Thomson’s daughter. Sophisticated and hugely entertaining as the film is, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s also something of a novelty act. Birdman feigns to be shot, apart from brief bookends, in a single elaborate tracking shot, in the manner of Hitchcock’s Rope. The camera – mesmerisingly piloted by Emmanuel Lubezki, the master cinematographer of Gravity – slinks along corridors, up and down staircases, bounds into the sky and in one priceless sequence follows a near-naked Thomson through the crowds of Times Square. It makes for stunning, breathless circus – but I must confess, the first time I saw Birdman, I was entirely distracted by the camera choreography. Advertisement On a second viewing, script and performances came into their own. Some characterisations are a little schematic, some underwritten: Riseborough and Watts don’t get a great deal to work with. Other roles come to life thanks to actors going at them with vim or, in the case of Lindsay Duncan as a murderously ungenerous critic, with glacial poise. A flamboyantly obnoxious Norton shows hitherto unsuspected evidence of comic brio, while a superb Amy Ryan contributes a controlled bass note of sanity as Thomson’s ex. The great revelation is Emma Stone, her Sam a potent fusion of cynicism and bruised candour, finished off with that extraordinary smoky voice. As for Keaton, investing Thomson with his own weathered vulnerability, he recoups considerable personal grandeur from the collapse of his character. There’s real poignancy and panache here, suggesting expressive resources that Keaton’s career has rarely given him the chance to mine. The film fairly barrels along, fuelled by Antonio Sanchez’s furious jazz drum score. But ultimately, Birdman is a hard movie to embrace unconditionally – it feels too knowing, too immaculately timed a display of mastery to really breathe. Even so, there’s plenty to enjoy and more still to admire. Birdman has wings, for certain, even if you find the feathers sticking in your throat now and then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walesavfc Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Watched Poker Night the other day, is a bit like saw meets reservoir dogs, good movie 7/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I'm really looking forward to 'Birdman'. I heard it's all one shot (or looks like it, at least). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikantcpell Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Anthony Andrews was one of my favorite actors 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meath_Villan Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Not a good day for the film industry today... Foxcatcher, Birdman, Imitiation Game and Big Eyes all found its way onto the internet. Oscar season is great If yify doesn't have it, I'm not downloading it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCDAN Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Just finished watching The Guest. Hard to know what to make of it at the moment, thought the first hour was brilliant and it was slightly let down by a misjudged ending. Had a retro feel about it with a decent score. Performances were good, its my first Encounter with Dan Stevens and I thought he was good. Special mention for Maika Monroe who is a proper little hottie. 7/10 for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Night of the Demon is a good film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Seeing differing views on birdman, wildly differing too, from best film you will see this year to the worst. Anyone? It's a bit of a beard-strokers film which might be loved by critics while the general public are less keen. Hectic at times with fast, shouty dialogue. Parts reminded me of Charlie Kaufman. The surround sound was excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted January 7, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) Seeing differing views on birdman, wildly differing too, from best film you will see this year to the worst. Anyone? Watched it tonight. Hmmm...it's a very interesting movie. From a directorial viewpoint it's a technical masterpiece and has a unique rhythm which switches effortlessly between in your face and claustrophobic single shots to a more relaxed note during some of the more intimate two handers. The only issue with that is it can become quite jarring particularly early on in the movie. The acting is absolutely top notch, and Keaton deserves the plaudits he's getting, he did very well at conveying the inner turmoil of the main character as fractured and conflicted yet funny and ultimately sympathetic. Emma Stone deserves a nod for making the most of a small amount of screen time with an excellent performance. With Ed Norton it's more of a case of art imitating life as he plays a 'difficult to handle' actor, so no great stretches there although he's also very good. As for the story, I found parts of it involving and other sections where it meanders less so. It's a film I admired, and yet I can't imagine every wanting to watch it again which may sound odd, but that's what I came away from the experience feeling. I think it's fair to say that it's going to be very divisive and I would also imagine that a few people will simply dismiss it at pretentious drivel, which is a shame as that's something it certainly isn't. Edited January 9, 2015 by Designer1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meath_Villan Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Annabel totes shit ...Hollywood churning out grade a shite at the minute Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Not a good day for the film industry today... Foxcatcher, Birdman, Imitiation Game and Big Eyes all found its way onto the internet. Oscar season is great If yify doesn't have it, I'm not downloading it Good quality? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 (edited) So I finally caught up with the world and watched the official 'VT greatest film of all time' award winner 'Guardians of the Galaxy. Not the best film of all time, but a lot of fun and great visually. A bit more childish than I thought I must say though. Edited January 8, 2015 by Wainy316 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Still haven't seen it. No intention of doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 All screeners, Foxcatcher, not for me pointless movie. 'You ungrateful ape' was the best bit. American Sniper, Good film however could of ended in a better way. Mrs watched Into the woods earlier, done my nut in with James Corden singing for half the movie. Unbroken and birdman tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8pints Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 I thought this was the official 'VT greatest film of all time' award winner anyway? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted January 8, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted January 8, 2015 If it's not then it **** well should be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 American Sniper, Good film however could of ended in a better way.I imagine that's more the fault of the truth, isn't it?I watched it, too, and thought it was a decent enough film (I thought it was a step up from Cooper). Reading about Chris Kyle's story afterwards made me wonder, though, especially watching the film in the shadow of yesterday's events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Apparently people are getting death threats and all sorts for criticising American Sniper. Chris Kyle is a heroic figure in the eyes of evangelical 'merica, it seems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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