Taking home four Oscars out of its nine nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Cinematography, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman was the big winner at this year’s Academy Awards. Premiering last August at the Venice Film Festival (where it left with trio of minor awards), cinematography has long been the awards season lock for the film (winning Lubezki a BAFTA), and it’s picked up a pair of Golden Globes (Screenplay and Actor) and a host of critic’s choice awards. Box office has also been profitable, opening last October in limited release before expanding nationwide Mid-November to successful box office results—its Best Picture win will most likely edge it over or close to the one hundred million mark.
Not only is Birdman (or The Virtue of Ignorance) arguably the best film of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s impressive filmography (from a list that includes Amores Perros,...
Not only is Birdman (or The Virtue of Ignorance) arguably the best film of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s impressive filmography (from a list that includes Amores Perros,...
- 2/24/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone’s heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.
- 2/23/2015
- by Sasha Stone
- AwardsDaily.com
While Michael Keaton has earned heaps of praise and an Academy Award nomination for his darkly dramatic turn in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, we will never forget that most of the star's career has been dedicated to work in comedy. Fortunately, he hasn't left these skills behind, and they suited him quite well last night while appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, specifically performing scenes from Birdman as written by children. It's pretty clear than the children writing these little skits really stayed focused on the superhero movie angle that the Birdman title suggests - but did you really expect them to write a scene featuring an actor turned director preparing for a stage production of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love? That being said, each of these little skits is funny for its own particular reasons. It's very easy to...
- 2/4/2015
- cinemablend.com
To celebrate the recent release of Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) we're giving one lucky reader the chance to win a poster signed by Birdman himself, Michael Keaton. One of this year's awards contenders, Birdman is a black comedy that tells the story of actor Riggan Thomson (Keaton) - famous for portraying an iconic superhero - as he struggles to mount an off-Broadway production of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. In the days leading up to opening night, Riggan battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career and himself. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
- 1/18/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Michael Keaton and Alejandro Inarritu deliver excellent work with Birdman. But then so does the lesser-known Chris Haarhoff...
“A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.”
Whatever you think of Alejandro G Iñárritu’s Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance), it's destined to be one of the year's most talked things. Arriving in UK cinemas on New Year's day, it could have played merry hell with most critics' end-of-year lists if it had been released even a few hours earlier, but it's bound to linger in the memory for the next 12 months.
In the film, Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a washed-up movie star who has privately and publicly disintegrated since his infamous turn in the Birdman trilogy. Now, he's trying to be a triple threat, by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
“A thing is a thing, not what is said of that thing.”
Whatever you think of Alejandro G Iñárritu’s Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance), it's destined to be one of the year's most talked things. Arriving in UK cinemas on New Year's day, it could have played merry hell with most critics' end-of-year lists if it had been released even a few hours earlier, but it's bound to linger in the memory for the next 12 months.
In the film, Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is a washed-up movie star who has privately and publicly disintegrated since his infamous turn in the Birdman trilogy. Now, he's trying to be a triple threat, by writing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
- 1/5/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
"I too am not a bit tamed—I too am untranslatable; I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." —Walt Whitman Michael Keaton isn't mid-sneeze in the photo above from Birdman. Actually, he's executing the fierce war cry of Birdman, the iconic movie superhero who his character, Riggan Thomson, was famous for—before walking away from the role after Birdman III 20 years ago. In the new film, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Riggan has bet everything he has on adapting, directing, and starring in a Broadway play based on Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
- 11/6/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
There is a scene near the end of Birdman’s second act where Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton) delivers a brutal tirade against the idea of theater criticism. He talks about how safe the life of a critic is and how audacious it is of them to judge the work of actors. This puts me in a bit of a precarious place as a critic because these are words coming out of a strong character in a brilliantly executed film and they’re basically calling me an asshole if I have a problem with any of the performances in this film. Fortunately I have hardly any complaints about Birdman, acting or otherwise, and I can continue my life as a critic free from fear of the ire of Michael Keaton.
Birdman is about, nominally at least, the attempted adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Riggan Thompson,...
Birdman is about, nominally at least, the attempted adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Riggan Thompson,...
- 10/22/2014
- by Arthur Tebbel
- Comicmix.com
Departure Day: When it comes to TV, is closure important?
If you happen to follow a decent number of TV critics on Twitter, you may have noticed a minor eruption of late. A schism has emerged, prompted by accounts like The Cancellation Bear, which concerns itself solely with the topic of whether or not series are likely to survive based on current ratings patterns. That may sound perfectly innocent on its own, but quite a few admirers have expressed the notion that they refuse to dive into a series if they get the sense that it will come to a premature end, thereby robbing them of closure. This idea has, naturally, left many critics incensed: isn’t TV a medium founded on chaos, on the thrill of working within limitations and at the whims of fickle audiences? Moreover, isn’t it silly to always want tidy resolution in the context...
If you happen to follow a decent number of TV critics on Twitter, you may have noticed a minor eruption of late. A schism has emerged, prompted by accounts like The Cancellation Bear, which concerns itself solely with the topic of whether or not series are likely to survive based on current ratings patterns. That may sound perfectly innocent on its own, but quite a few admirers have expressed the notion that they refuse to dive into a series if they get the sense that it will come to a premature end, thereby robbing them of closure. This idea has, naturally, left many critics incensed: isn’t TV a medium founded on chaos, on the thrill of working within limitations and at the whims of fickle audiences? Moreover, isn’t it silly to always want tidy resolution in the context...
- 10/18/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
USA, 2014
The cast and crew, fly high in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), directed by visionary Alejandro González Iñárritu. Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor who never bounced back from his peak stardom days as part of a 1990s superhero franchise, and who is desperate to gain back some spark for his faded career. Riggan attempts to jolt himself back into the limelight through the triple threat of writing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Much of the film’s content can be compared to Keaton’s own career and his peaking success in the late 80s/early 90s with Tim Burton’s Batman films, and although...
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
USA, 2014
The cast and crew, fly high in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), directed by visionary Alejandro González Iñárritu. Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor who never bounced back from his peak stardom days as part of a 1990s superhero franchise, and who is desperate to gain back some spark for his faded career. Riggan attempts to jolt himself back into the limelight through the triple threat of writing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Much of the film’s content can be compared to Keaton’s own career and his peaking success in the late 80s/early 90s with Tim Burton’s Batman films, and although...
- 10/17/2014
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
Starting with "Amores Perros," it has been obvious that Alejandro González Iñárritu is fascinated by the darkest corners of the human heart. It is easy to imagine that is the sum total of his gift as an artist is inflicting misery on these people he creates, but that's a misreading of his work. Yes, "21 Grams" and "Babel" and "Biutiful" are movies in which misery is as omnipresent as oxygen, but there is also proof that he believes in redemption and mercy and moments of grace, or at least the struggle towards those things. He has never found the balance between the light and the dark with quite the same skill as he does in his new film "Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)," and the result is one of the most thrilling pieces of film craft that I've seen so far this year. Iñárritu worked with co-writers Nicolas Giacobone,...
- 10/16/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Exclusive: When Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu stumbles into a suite in the Park Hyatt with his co-writers Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Nicolas Giacobone and Armando Bo, each feels the influence of last night’s party after their film closed the New York Film Festival. A little hung over and more than a little giddy at the rousing response given their frenzied film that was backed by New Regency and will be released Friday by Fox Searchlight, they swap stories of a wild night that included card tricks by street magician David Blaine that left them dumbstruck. Mostly, they are relieved to have pulled off a major parlor trick with Birdman, a satire that in equal measure skewers Hollywood’s superhero fixation, artistic insecurity, and even holier-than-thou critics who kill Broadway shows.
They did it with a movie that plays more like Black Swan than any recent Oscar buzzworthy black comedy to come along since.
They did it with a movie that plays more like Black Swan than any recent Oscar buzzworthy black comedy to come along since.
- 10/15/2014
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams, Babel) films the teeming backstage showbiz drama Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) in what’s made to look like a single take, transcending time and sometimes space, soaring off into fantasy while essentially remaining—thanks to the illusion of fluidity—grounded in the here and now. The movie centers on the fevered exertions of Riggan Thomson, a fading movie star played by Michael Keaton (he made his fortune, like Keaton, in the role of a superhero), to prove himself on Broadway in a self-penned, self-directed adaptation of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.” The camera hurtles after Riggan from his dressing room to the stage (often he’s chased by his harried producer, played by Zach Galifianakis) and back to his dressing room, with glimpses on the way of, among others, a whiny actress (Naomi Watts), her...
- 10/14/2014
- by David Edelstein
- Vulture
After a brief, sci-fi-style opening of a comet hurtling through the atmosphere, Birdman begins with a through-the-door view of Michael Keaton, seen from the back sitting cross-legged in a shabby Broadway dressing room, wearing nothing but white briefs and perched midair several feet above the furniture. He rotates to set his feet on the floor and with pointed finger sends a vase gliding across a table. The unbroken sequence tells us two things with economy and grace: That the camera will be our guide through Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s backstage tale, and that the story itself won’t be bound by realism. It will instead unfold with the unsettled and unsettling restlessness of a troubled soul in search of a resting place.
Our uneasy pilgrim is Riggan Thomson, an action-movie star whose sell-by date has long since passed. As fully embodied by Keaton, his once virile visage now seems dessicated...
Our uneasy pilgrim is Riggan Thomson, an action-movie star whose sell-by date has long since passed. As fully embodied by Keaton, his once virile visage now seems dessicated...
- 10/14/2014
- by Jeremy Gerard
- Deadline
Bullets Over Broadway: Inarritu’s Vibrant, Exuberant Portrait Of Celebrity, Relevance, and Creative Passion
Not only is Birdman (or The Virtue of Ignorance) arguably the best film of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s impressive filmography (from a list that includes Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Biutiful), it’s one of the most invigorating and passionately rendered films you could hope to see in this or any other year.
Exploding with a vibrant, restless energy, it’s one of those films able to manage the tricky balancing act of melding a real life persona with an allegorical dress. At its base level concerning a has-been Hollywood icon desperately trying to get out of the mainstream rut he sank into years before with a creative comeback to showcase his talents, the parallels between Michael Keaton’s career as Batman and another faded star with an avian-suited superhero background are, obviously, readily discernable, lending...
Not only is Birdman (or The Virtue of Ignorance) arguably the best film of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s impressive filmography (from a list that includes Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Biutiful), it’s one of the most invigorating and passionately rendered films you could hope to see in this or any other year.
Exploding with a vibrant, restless energy, it’s one of those films able to manage the tricky balancing act of melding a real life persona with an allegorical dress. At its base level concerning a has-been Hollywood icon desperately trying to get out of the mainstream rut he sank into years before with a creative comeback to showcase his talents, the parallels between Michael Keaton’s career as Batman and another faded star with an avian-suited superhero background are, obviously, readily discernable, lending...
- 10/13/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Birdman
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
USA, 2014
His use of natural lighting, the gorgeous compositions he creates often on the fly, those long takes. This is what we talk about when we talk about Emmanuel Lubezki, the Mexican cinematographer responsible for such arresting imagery in the films of Terrence Malick (The New World, The Tree of Life, To the Wonder), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y tu mamá también, Gravity), the Brothers Coen (Burn After Reading), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Anna”, a short in the anthology To Each His Own Cinema). He is the only cinematographer in recent memory, possibly next to Roger Deakins, that pushes the form to its limits and has name recognition for such. The naturalistic beauty of The Tree of Life was nothing compared to the – wait for it – physics-defying work in Gravity. And here he is again,...
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
USA, 2014
His use of natural lighting, the gorgeous compositions he creates often on the fly, those long takes. This is what we talk about when we talk about Emmanuel Lubezki, the Mexican cinematographer responsible for such arresting imagery in the films of Terrence Malick (The New World, The Tree of Life, To the Wonder), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y tu mamá también, Gravity), the Brothers Coen (Burn After Reading), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Anna”, a short in the anthology To Each His Own Cinema). He is the only cinematographer in recent memory, possibly next to Roger Deakins, that pushes the form to its limits and has name recognition for such. The naturalistic beauty of The Tree of Life was nothing compared to the – wait for it – physics-defying work in Gravity. And here he is again,...
- 10/12/2014
- by Kyle Turner
- SoundOnSight
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman has plenty of gimmicks to drive it – there’s Michael Keaton playing the eponymous cinematic superhero (Keaton played Batman, you know), an energetic shooting style meant to approximate a continuous shot and that whole play-within-a-play thing (for Birdman, it’s a play-within-a-movie, but you get the point) – but despite a bevy of clever tricks, Birdman succeeds simply because of it has the basics down pat. Everything else is just icing (feathers?). Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson, a faded and fallen movie star who never quite bounced back from the superhero franchise from which Iñárritu’s feature derives its name – the film’s full title is actually Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which is a mouthful, but which makes perfect sense by the film’s end – and who is desperate to recapture some former (or, really, some fresh) glory. Riggan has launched an ambitious project to get back into the limelight...
- 10/10/2014
- by Kate Erbland
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
It’s tempting to assume that the character Michael Keaton plays in Birdman is a thinly fictionalized version of himself. He plays Riggan Thomson, a veteran actor who became a superstar when he donned a cape and cowl to become the winged creature of the film’s title. He fought bad guys and saved the world…until he grew tired of being a cog in the Hollywood blockbuster machine and walked away from it all. Sound familiar? Keaton, of course, helped create the modern-day superhero genre 25 years ago when he starred as the original Dark Knight in Tim Burton’s Batman (and then its sequel,...
- 10/8/2014
- by EW staff
- EW.com - PopWatch
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman is emerging as one of this year’s most eagerly-anticipated releases. With Michael Keaton in the titular role as ex-superhero actor Riggan Thomas, it piles on the quirk in a meta-riff on the actor’s own success during the eighties. We’ve still a little time to wait until the movie reaches theatres, but there’s already a feeling amongst critics that Keaton is a strong contender for the Best Actor Oscar.
The clip picks up on Riggan as he’s in the midst of a press conference. Determined to put his trilogy of Birdman flicks behind him, the actor is keen to establish himself as a serious thespian. On the cusp of his great Broadway opening – in an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – he fields a series of crackers questions from the media. The scene unfolds in one uninterrupted take,...
The clip picks up on Riggan as he’s in the midst of a press conference. Determined to put his trilogy of Birdman flicks behind him, the actor is keen to establish himself as a serious thespian. On the cusp of his great Broadway opening – in an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – he fields a series of crackers questions from the media. The scene unfolds in one uninterrupted take,...
- 10/2/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
True confession time: you can keep your gravelly-voiced Christian Bales and your nipple-suited George Clooneys – my favorite Batman will always be Michael Keaton. In fact, Keaton raises the bar in just about every good, bad, or indifferent role he’s ever played. In his latest film Birdman, from director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, it looks like Keaton might finally be getting his critical due.
Birdman tells the story of a former movie superhero star Riggan Thompson who gets a chance to stage his comeback via Broadway in an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Family, friends, and ego get in the way as opening night approaches, and Thompson finds himself faced with personal and professional challenges. In addition to Keaton, the film stars Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts – so if Keaton’s name was not enough to get you into the theater,...
Birdman tells the story of a former movie superhero star Riggan Thompson who gets a chance to stage his comeback via Broadway in an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. Family, friends, and ego get in the way as opening night approaches, and Thompson finds himself faced with personal and professional challenges. In addition to Keaton, the film stars Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts – so if Keaton’s name was not enough to get you into the theater,...
- 9/26/2014
- by Lauren Humphries-Brooks
- We Got This Covered
One of the most anticipated films of the year is undoubtedly Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman. It's had rapturous receptions from Venice and Telluride, not least on this very site. Fortunately, there's now another excellent poster to further whet your appetite.It's just the latest in some seriously great images released by Iñárritu, but this is the first poster to give us a good look at all the main players. Michael Keaton is, of course, front and centre. He plays an over-the-hill actor, Riggan Thompson, who is attempting a comeback with a new stage production of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.Naomi Watts, Andrea Risborough and Edward Norton (in his underpants) are his fellow actors in the venture, while Emma Stone plays Thompson's daughter and Zach Galifianakis is his very concerned producer.The film will close the New York Film Festival on October...
- 9/26/2014
- EmpireOnline
Emma Stone stresses the relevance of social media in today’s age of celebrity whilst lecturing Michael Keaton, as seen in the newly released clip from Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s “Birdman.” The black comedy debuted to critical acclaim at the Venice Film Festival last month and stars Keaton in the title role of Riggan Thomson, a washed-up actor who rose to fame by playing the iconic superhero known as Birdman. Now, in the midst of a potential comeback with his forthcoming Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,” Riggan finds himself unable to shake off [...]
The post Watch: Emma Stone Lectures Michael Keaton in New Clip From ‘Birdman’ appeared first on Up and Comers.
The post Watch: Emma Stone Lectures Michael Keaton in New Clip From ‘Birdman’ appeared first on Up and Comers.
- 9/22/2014
- by Alfonso Espina
- UpandComers
Birdman
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
USA, 2014
Birdman is director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s mad masterpiece about one man’s search for relevance and validation. It’s a striking and welcome return to form for Michael Keaton, who has long been absent from the spotlight, bar occasional supporting roles in the likes of The Other Guys and the RoboCop remake. The surprisingly meta world of Birdman is more along the lines of a Charlie Kaufman concoction than something Iñárritu would normally attempt. His crushingly sad takes on existence in Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful have inventive plot devices about intersecting lives, but Birdman is wholly about the grand hallucinatory ego of one man and the stories that happen to briefly touch him. Both Keaton and Iñárritu provide us with ample reasons to admire the off-the-wall, swirling existential crisis that is Birdman.
Written by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu
USA, 2014
Birdman is director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s mad masterpiece about one man’s search for relevance and validation. It’s a striking and welcome return to form for Michael Keaton, who has long been absent from the spotlight, bar occasional supporting roles in the likes of The Other Guys and the RoboCop remake. The surprisingly meta world of Birdman is more along the lines of a Charlie Kaufman concoction than something Iñárritu would normally attempt. His crushingly sad takes on existence in Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful have inventive plot devices about intersecting lives, but Birdman is wholly about the grand hallucinatory ego of one man and the stories that happen to briefly touch him. Both Keaton and Iñárritu provide us with ample reasons to admire the off-the-wall, swirling existential crisis that is Birdman.
- 9/13/2014
- by Lane Scarberry
- SoundOnSight
“I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone’s heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.
- 8/31/2014
- by Sasha Stone
- AwardsDaily.com
Venetian perennial Alejandro Inarritu opens this year’s Venice Film Festival with the exhilarating Birdman, a self-referential, biting comedy that channels something of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off but this time it’s for the Twitter generation.
The setting is a Broadway theatre, and our hero (or should I say superhero?) is aging Hollywood star Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), he of the Birdman superhero trilogy, last seen spreading his wings in the early 1990s. Now Thomson has decided to bring his stage adaptation of a Raymond Carver story to the stage, writing, directing and starring in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Has he undertaken too great a task? Is he just another Hollywood has-been using the New York theatre scene to boost his ego and show of his acting chops? The evil Times critic appears to think so and she is determined that he fail. She is played by Lindsay Duncan,...
The setting is a Broadway theatre, and our hero (or should I say superhero?) is aging Hollywood star Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), he of the Birdman superhero trilogy, last seen spreading his wings in the early 1990s. Now Thomson has decided to bring his stage adaptation of a Raymond Carver story to the stage, writing, directing and starring in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Has he undertaken too great a task? Is he just another Hollywood has-been using the New York theatre scene to boost his ego and show of his acting chops? The evil Times critic appears to think so and she is determined that he fail. She is played by Lindsay Duncan,...
- 8/27/2014
- by Jo-Ann Titmarsh
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Michael Keaton’s character in raved-about Venice Film Festival opener and Competition entry Birdman and the actor himself share a common thread — they both gained enormous fame playing superheroes in the ’90s. In the film, Keaton’s Riggan Thompson is unable to escape his winged, spandex-clad alter ego who haunts, taunts and goads him incessantly. Keaton and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu both feel everybody has their own sort of Birdman, but for Keaton it’s not the caped crusader he played in Tim Burton’s Batman movies. They had a “giant effect” on his career especially as his international profile skyrocketed, but the character isn’t a sort of negative presence. A first question about Batman came up early in a press conference for Birdman in Venice today and Keaton said, “I just came back from Africa and I fucking love elephants, so I’m Ok with the elephant in the room…...
- 8/27/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Venice has done it again. Last year, Gravity blasted the lid off the festival as the opener and today Birdman, a film that’s got a fair bit in common with that one, bowed to one of the best receptions I have ever experienced on the Lido. (It’s even trending at No. 4 on Italian Twitter.) Applause, laughter and strong emotion emanated from attendees in the refurbed Sala Darsena this morning during the first press screening. Making my way out afterwards, I heard “bellissimo” uttered at least a dozen times.
Ahead of the festival, chief Alberto Barbera told me the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed dark comedy was “inventive.” He wasn’t kidding. A scorching satire on celebrity mixed with existential musings on life, it’s being hailed as a technical tour de force and a potentially career-defining role for lead Michael Keaton as a former Hollywood star known primarily for his...
Ahead of the festival, chief Alberto Barbera told me the Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-directed dark comedy was “inventive.” He wasn’t kidding. A scorching satire on celebrity mixed with existential musings on life, it’s being hailed as a technical tour de force and a potentially career-defining role for lead Michael Keaton as a former Hollywood star known primarily for his...
- 8/27/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Venice - Truth or dare? This is a game played by two characters in magnificently acidic metatextual comedy "Birdman." It's also the film as a three-word question. Truth or dare? Real stage actor or star? You can have your artistic integrity, or you can have a hit. You can go Method, or you can really fly. You can be Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), or you can be Birdman (Riggan Thomson). Initially, "Birdman" poses as a trenchant critique of the seemingly endless parade of men in capes that is the summer blockbuster season (Michael Fassbender and Robert Downey Jr. are name-checked as fine actors currently otherwise occupied), but it's actually rather more nuanced than that. The values of the sober-minded art espoused by a poisonous critic (Lindsay Duncan) and the untrustworthy joys of escapist cinema are both probed and prodded in this film. It's impossible for a film featuring the nightmare...
- 8/27/2014
- by Catherine Bray
- Hitfix
Opening Night – World Premiere
Gone Girl
David Fincher, USA, 2014, Dcp, 150m
David Fincher’s film version of Gillian Flynn’s phenomenally successful best seller (adapted by the author) is one wild cinematic ride, a perfectly cast and intensely compressed portrait of a recession-era marriage contained within a devastating depiction of celebrity/media culture, shifting gears as smoothly as a Maserati 250F. Ben Affleck is Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) goes missing on the day of their fifth anniversary. Neil Patrick Harris is Amy’s old boyfriend Desi, Carrie Coon (who played Honey in Tracy Letts’s acclaimed production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) is Nick’s sister Margo, Kim Dickens (Treme, Friday Night Lights) is Detective Rhonda Boney, and Tyler Perry is Nick’s superstar lawyer Tanner Bolt. At once a grand panoramic vision of middle America, a uniquely disturbing exploration of the fault lines in a marriage,...
Gone Girl
David Fincher, USA, 2014, Dcp, 150m
David Fincher’s film version of Gillian Flynn’s phenomenally successful best seller (adapted by the author) is one wild cinematic ride, a perfectly cast and intensely compressed portrait of a recession-era marriage contained within a devastating depiction of celebrity/media culture, shifting gears as smoothly as a Maserati 250F. Ben Affleck is Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) goes missing on the day of their fifth anniversary. Neil Patrick Harris is Amy’s old boyfriend Desi, Carrie Coon (who played Honey in Tracy Letts’s acclaimed production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) is Nick’s sister Margo, Kim Dickens (Treme, Friday Night Lights) is Detective Rhonda Boney, and Tyler Perry is Nick’s superstar lawyer Tanner Bolt. At once a grand panoramic vision of middle America, a uniquely disturbing exploration of the fault lines in a marriage,...
- 8/20/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Alejandro González Iñárritu hasn't released a full-length film since 2010's "Biutiful," so there's been plenty of anticipation for this year's "Birdman"--especially after it didn't quite make it to Cannes this spring. Expect to see it at Telluride and/or Toronto. The inscrutable first trailer for the film showed Michael Keaton struggling as a jaded actor performing on Broadway long after the glory days of the superhero character he originated on film--and raised more questions than it answered. Why is Michael Keaton running around New York City in his underwear? And who the heck is Birdman, anyway? "We don’t want to give away too much," Keaton said of the first trailer. "This thing will keep unveiling itself." Turns out Keaton's character, Riggin Thomson, once played the superhero Birdman, a role that made him famous but which now haunts him as his nerves fray before the Broadway premiere of Raymond Carver...
- 6/20/2014
- by Jacob Combs
- Thompson on Hollywood
Hello again, dear readers. I hope you’re enjoying the summer movie season. This week takes a break from the big blockbusters, with the two major releases being Clint Eastwood’s musical Jersey Boys and the completely unnecessary comedy sequel Think Like a Man Too. And in the spirit of offbeat releases, this week’s slightly-delayed installment of Trailer Trashin’ features the upcoming comedy-drama Birdman.
Premise: Washed-up actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) – famous for playing the iconic superhero Birdman – struggles to mount a Broadway play, an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s 1981 short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.
My take: For people my age and younger, it’s getting hard to remember a time when superheroes haven’t been a huge part of movies.
Premise: Washed-up actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) – famous for playing the iconic superhero Birdman – struggles to mount a Broadway play, an adaptation of Raymond Carver’s 1981 short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.
My take: For people my age and younger, it’s getting hard to remember a time when superheroes haven’t been a huge part of movies.
- 6/20/2014
- by Timothy Monforton
- CinemaNerdz
If you’ve seen the gorgeous, brain-teasing trailer for Birdman, the upcoming dark comedy directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and starring Michael Keaton, you probably have a lot of questions. Who is Birdman? How did that flower vase move itself? Why is Michael Keaton walking through Times Square in his underwear? Why is he wrestling Edward Norton in his underwear? As far as Keaton is concerned, the more puzzles the better. “We don’t want to give away too much,” says the actor. “This thing will keep unveiling itself.”
To that end, EW has five exclusive images from the movie...
To that end, EW has five exclusive images from the movie...
- 6/19/2014
- by Adam Markovitz
- EW - Inside Movies
We are in the heart of superhero-movie season, so this might be the best-possible time for the first trailer for Alejandro González Iñárritu newest film, Birdman. Michael Keaton stars as a former movie star, known for playing a famous superhero, who tries to revive his career by mounting a play adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. The film co-stars Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, Amy Ryan, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough, and Naomi Watts. Birdman opens on October 17, perfectly timed for selfishly hip parents with kids who want to be superheroes for Halloween.
- 6/12/2014
- by Jesse David Fox
- Vulture
Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 1 Nov 2013 - 06:28
Next year’s full of potentially great films, so to help, here’s a list of 25 movies we're most looking forward to in 2014...
These lists of anticipated forthcoming movies have become an annual fixture by now, and as ever, our selection has been tricky to whittle down. In restricting our list to just 25, we've tried to create a mix of the high-profile and the less obvious. Movies such as Non-Stop, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Big Hero Six and Edge Of Tomorrow came close but didn't quite make the cut, even though they have much to offer for their own reasons.
Furthermore, given the number of films competing for space, we've left the latest chapters of The Hunger Games and The Hobbit off the list. We're keen to see both, but we're wary of taking up slots with movies...
Next year’s full of potentially great films, so to help, here’s a list of 25 movies we're most looking forward to in 2014...
These lists of anticipated forthcoming movies have become an annual fixture by now, and as ever, our selection has been tricky to whittle down. In restricting our list to just 25, we've tried to create a mix of the high-profile and the less obvious. Movies such as Non-Stop, Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Big Hero Six and Edge Of Tomorrow came close but didn't quite make the cut, even though they have much to offer for their own reasons.
Furthermore, given the number of films competing for space, we've left the latest chapters of The Hunger Games and The Hobbit off the list. We're keen to see both, but we're wary of taking up slots with movies...
- 10/31/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Stuck in Love
Directed by Josh Boone
Written by Josh Boone
USA, 2012
Life would be so much easier if it played out as it does in wish-fulfillment fantasies like Stuck in Love, but because life is difficult, it makes this film feel especially alien. This is a cookie-cutter world, where all the houses are expansive, open, clean, and have a hell of a view; where the only conflicts arise are those that get resolved without much in the way of obstacles; and where all of the participants are attractive and well-dressed enough that they may as well be modeling for the Sears catalog. Stuck in Love is, if nothing else, well-cast, but it’s so aggressively low-key that it never makes much of an impact.
Set mostly around the holidays, Stuck in Love stars Greg Kinnear as Bill Borgens, a well-respected novelist who’s won multiple prestigious awards, a descriptor...
Directed by Josh Boone
Written by Josh Boone
USA, 2012
Life would be so much easier if it played out as it does in wish-fulfillment fantasies like Stuck in Love, but because life is difficult, it makes this film feel especially alien. This is a cookie-cutter world, where all the houses are expansive, open, clean, and have a hell of a view; where the only conflicts arise are those that get resolved without much in the way of obstacles; and where all of the participants are attractive and well-dressed enough that they may as well be modeling for the Sears catalog. Stuck in Love is, if nothing else, well-cast, but it’s so aggressively low-key that it never makes much of an impact.
Set mostly around the holidays, Stuck in Love stars Greg Kinnear as Bill Borgens, a well-respected novelist who’s won multiple prestigious awards, a descriptor...
- 4/12/2013
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Juliana Sohn Nathan Englander
The writer Nathan Englander says when he wrote the title story to his new collection, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank,” he tapped an idea that’s been in his head for the past 20 years.
When they were kids, he and his sister played a game in which they pretended it was the Holocaust and they turned and looked at people in their lives and asked, if they were Christian, would they protect us?...
The writer Nathan Englander says when he wrote the title story to his new collection, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank,” he tapped an idea that’s been in his head for the past 20 years.
When they were kids, he and his sister played a game in which they pretended it was the Holocaust and they turned and looked at people in their lives and asked, if they were Christian, would they protect us?...
- 2/7/2012
- by Barbara Chai
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Will Ferrell plays it straight as a bitter alcoholic in Dan Rush's finely observed adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story
The novel long preceded the short story, and in his celebrated history of the short story Walter Allen calls Walter Scott's "The Two Drovers", written in the early 19th century, the first fully achieved example of the genre. It is a more difficult form to master, as well as being generally less lucrative; journalists who've made a name writing for newspapers seek publishers' contracts to write novels rather than try their hands at short stories.
Paradoxically, perhaps, short stories are better suited to the cinema than novels are, whether they conclude with O Henry-style twists in the tail or Chekhovian epiphanies to be absorbed. John Huston, who took on both The Bible and Moby-Dick in his prime, had his two greatest late successes with film versions of classic stories,...
The novel long preceded the short story, and in his celebrated history of the short story Walter Allen calls Walter Scott's "The Two Drovers", written in the early 19th century, the first fully achieved example of the genre. It is a more difficult form to master, as well as being generally less lucrative; journalists who've made a name writing for newspapers seek publishers' contracts to write novels rather than try their hands at short stories.
Paradoxically, perhaps, short stories are better suited to the cinema than novels are, whether they conclude with O Henry-style twists in the tail or Chekhovian epiphanies to be absorbed. John Huston, who took on both The Bible and Moby-Dick in his prime, had his two greatest late successes with film versions of classic stories,...
- 10/15/2011
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Cam Gigandet and Lily Collins talk about their upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and...
- 5/12/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Watch the latest movie clip titled “Rope Dart” from the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from...
- 4/25/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Yahoo! Movies got their hands on this killer new clip from the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and...
- 4/23/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Yahoo! Movies debuted this killer new movie trailer for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 4/12/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Check out a really cool international movie poster for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 4/5/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Here’s a brand new Russian movie poster for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 4/2/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Check out the latest international movie poster for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 3/7/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Sony Pictures just released this brand new movie poster for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam [...]...
- 3/6/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Sony Pictures released the official Super Bowl Xlv trailer for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam [...]...
- 2/7/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Sony Pictures released another trailer for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 1/14/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Apple Movies got their hands on this brand new theatrical movie trailer for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and movie trailers from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from [...]...
- 1/11/2011
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Check out another new international movie trailer for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and videos from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 9/21/2010
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Here’s a brand new international movie trailer for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and videos from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam Gigandet.
- 9/19/2010
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
Meet Blackhat and the Vampire Killer in two new posters for the upcoming film “Priest” by director Scott Stewart (What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Legion) and starring Cam Gigandet (Pandorum, Twilight, The Unborn), Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Lily Collins, Brad Dourif, Stephen Moyer, Christopher Plummer and Paul Bettany (Iron Man 2, Inkheart). Click Here for more photos, news and videos from Priest. Synopsis: A priest disobeys church law to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece. For more information about Priest, be sure to check out the official Sony Pictures Priest website at http://priest.spe.com/. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Priest” and Cam [...]...
- 9/16/2010
- by Brian Corder
- ShockYa
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