Just saw “Birdman”. In some ways it was the best movie I’ve seen, yet, this year, in other ways it was kind of silly. You have to give it extra points, however, for taking chances and not being an “easy” film—two people walked out during the showing.
The cinematography was excellent, though it was not a “cinematic” film. It was a “talky”, dialogue-driven, actor-friendly film. The dialogue rang true- if a character said something in a sappy, “Hallmark” sort a way- he was called on it by the other character. This could have been played out as more realistic drama type film (like Nebraska, perhaps), but it wasn’t. It was not so much realistic, as sur-realistic- as if it were a collaboration between Graham Chapman, David Lynch and Eugene O’neill.
It was a very tightly worked out film- in fact, it played out like clockwork- to the point that there was nothing really surprising about the “twists and turns”- or even the ending.
All-in-all, however, it was an entertaining film with pockets of greatness- but (in my opinion) a bit less than the sum of its parts.