Originality, Finally, and Birdman gets Low Reviews? Come on?!

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2015)

Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a solid, unique movie & to see ratings as low as 1 & 2 is just crazy to me. I know the big budget, CGI, "Re-imagining," remake crap & sequels, superhero flicks (Gambit; really?) & lame board game movies seem to be what everyone wants, but when something awesome comes out, such as Birdman, Whiplash, or Boyhood, who were all competing for Oscars, (Birdman won for Best Original Screenplay & Best Movie) people say it was a "waste of their time" & "they didn't get it." Really?
It's a satire of what happens behind the scenes of a Broadway play. Edward Norton, for example, plays an exaggerated character to his real-life persona as a difficult-to-work with actor. In real life, Norton won't sign on to a movie unless he has script approval & can make rewrites. The first scene in Birdman when he & Michael Keaton's character, Riggan Thomson meet, Mike Shiner (played by Norton) gives Riggan tips, cuts lines, etc., which is true to Norton in the real world. With the satirical production of the play, there's the back story of Riggan's family life. His daughter Sam, played to excellence by Emma Stone; a reformed drug addict, now his assistant, & his ex-wife Sylvia, played by Amy Ryan. There's also his past as superhero/alter-ego Birdman; a movie dynasty that made him millions, popular, but considerably unhappy. He hears a voice in his head from the start of the movie telling him he shouldn't even be in the theater, he should still be doing Birdman. And he's floating.
What's so great about this movie is the "what the f*!?" factor" Riggan can move things with his mind & float, but in a major scene where it looks like he's apparently flying over the city, a taxi stops when Riggan does at the theater & yells at him for cab fare. So, can Riggan make things happen with his mind? It's the wondrous & fantastical side plus the editing & cast that make this movie so incredible. Naomi Watts is truly at her best working with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu again. She worked with him in 21 Grams, as well, & he won an Oscar for that movie. Zach Galifianakis is awesome, as usual, as Jake, Riggan's lawyer. There are only 16 cuts in the whole movie. Iñárritu wanted to do Birdman in ONE take, but 16 cuts in 119 minutes is an amazing feat. Because of this, nothing was left on the editing floor & Galifianakis's lines, if he messed up at all, were funny enough to leave in & be used because some scenes were too long to start over.
It's a damn good movie. It's worth the watch. The ending will make you go, "oh my hell!" & then you'll be uplifted. Movies don't have to tie up in pretty little bows at the end. Does life do that crap? No. Why should movies? Birdman is entertaining, it's Michael frigin' Keaton in a starring role, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts making out with Andrea Riseborough,, Zach Galifianakis being super dominating, & you get to see Edward Norton's ass. What else do you want or need?