Grade: A
Birdman is the most unforgettable movie I’ve seen this year, and possibly the best. There will be naysayers who will ding it for being “pretentious” or “taking itself too seriously,” and I might agree with those criticisms if the film stooped to the usual cliches, but it exists in a realm of its own. I am at a loss to describe it, but it spoke to me on an emotional level, like music. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (21 Grams) and his terrific cast including Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, and a cast-against-type Zach Galifianakis all take us down a hypnotic rabbit hole through superpowers, washed up actors, egotistical actors, backstage “showmances,” and Broadway dressing rooms we can almost smell. We know this isn’t really the case, but most of the 2 hour running time is edited to look like one continuous shot. The one scene where I do remember seeing cuts was my least favorite. In the end, is everything resolved? No. Is everything explained? No. Did that matter to me? Not by a long shot. Birdman is a refreshing miracle; it steps outside of the box, and lives and breathes. Grade: A
Film Reviews by Mark 
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