As good as it gets...

Rating: 10/10 (30 October 2014)

I've thought about this film every day since i saw it last week. I don't see anything unless I've read enough to figure it is going to be worth my ticket price. So, I was pretty sure it was going to be good. It knocked me for a loop. Technically it is fantastic. The editor will win the Oscar, I'm betting. Many scenes appear to be one long take of five or ten minutes in a run. the edits but they are hidden, disguised and sublime. This gives the movie an energy that just pulsates.
the trailers and TV spots show us some super-hero stuff, explosions and such, but those elements take up maybe fifteen seconds of the movie itself and are used only for very specific emphasis (Keaton is imagining them)
every performance is award-caliber....not a stumble, not a miss. Keaton is stupendous. Norton is huge. Galifianakis can ACT. Emma Stone, exceptionally fine. Naomi Watts: best performance of her life. Andrea, Amy, Lindsay all at the very top of their game! even the background characters who appear on screen for a few seconds are perfect. like the stage-hand to gives Keaton a smoke and a light..he's just the right guy to do it.
this one is amazing and satisfying in every respect. i'd love to have Ebert with us to tell us what he thinks.