Birdman Review

If you liked the Copacabana shot in Goodfellas, you’ll love this…

 

A hot topic in entertainment news and a big player in the Oscar nominations,  Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is a masterpiece – harnessing stellar performances, beautiful design and inch-perfect cinematography for the most engaging cinematic experience of the year (so far).

The film ‘follows’ Riggan Thompson as he seeks to leave behind his career as blockbuster superhero Birdman, and prepares to open his theatre adaptation of Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. With opening night approaching, the narrative follows the story in a single take – employing some subtle cuts here and there but otherwise keeping the audience moving from scene to scene without break, in the style of Russian Ark.

This particular set-up lends the film a ‘real-time’ edge, although the film covers several days worth of story it feels as if you are engaging with a stage play that moves seamlessly from scene to scene. Michael Keaton puts in a fantastic performance as the mentally questionable Thompson, showcasing great chemistry with the rest of the case – particularly in his moments opposite Edward Norton.

The unflinching nature of the single take allows us to enter Thompson’s own psychosis, and to hear the voice of Birdman who taunts him – ‘You used to be a movie star, remember?’. The film speaks specifically to the divide between stage and screen actors, and the long-standing Hollywood tension between meaningful projects and meaningless crowd-pleasers. The film offers a brief action sequence, as Birdman looks out from the screen and comments on the audience- ‘Look at these people, starry-eyed’. ‘They love this shit’ he remarks, as a helicopter is taken down overhead.

The decision to include this sequence in what is otherwise a characteristically ‘arthouse’ film is an interesting one – it speaks specifically to the destructive and high concept Hollywood blockbusters, the superhero flicks that inundate the box office summer after summer in recent years. The film makes specific reference to Iron Man, Spiderman and various other recent super-films, at one point Riggan scoffs at Robert Downey Jr’s Avengers success.

The film centres around the theatre, and the camera glides around every nook and cranny from the stage to the dressing rooms and all the corridors inbetween. We see several versions of scenes from the play as they are rehearsed, adapted and interrupted. Raymond Carver fans will enjoy various homages to his work, least of all glimpsing the fictional adaptation as the actors prepare.

Birdman is a must-see, an intricate and bold combination of theatre and cinema with heaps of dark comedy and a compelling story. With exceptional performances from the whole cast, a foot-tapping drum score from Antionio Sanchez and a fresh approach to the mainstream movie business – I couldn’t possibly reccomend it enough.

Comic Book Films v Cinematic Innovation

This Article Available on Pie Magazine Here

Earlier this month, Pie’s Sam Bradley wrote an article that got me thinking. The article, titled A Lost Franchise: Are Comic Book Films Threatening Innovation?, looked at the success of comic book films in contemporary Hollywood and discussed whether or not the undeniable uprising of the superhero genre posed a threat to creativity an ingenuity in movie making. Do check it out, it’s a great article, and Sam makes a tonne of good points, but I’m here to say I disagree, and I don’t comic book films are not threatening movie innovation.

For starters, to suggest that movie innovation is on the decline seems unfair in the same year that we got a feature-length film ‘built’ around a toy franchise with The LEGO Movie, a high-octane blockbuster reinterpretation of Mary Shelley with I, Frankenstein, a Bible-themed epic from the guy who made Requiem for a Dream and a directorial debut from Wally Pfister – the incredible cinematographer behind The Dark Knight with Transendence.

The industry is as diverse as ever, if not more than ever in an age of seemingly limitless technology. The advancements in cinematic technology are admittedly highly compatible with the comic book genre, however Baz Luhrmann managed to make a dazzling SFX-heavy adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby that did pretty well…

Plus, I, Frankenstein had a source text from the early 1800’s. Comic books are far from the only source texts in film today. I’m not worried about old mythologies either, Maleficent, out right now, can trace it’s origins back to ‘Little Briar Rose’ by the Brothers Grimm.

I personally have never heard anybody say the comic book movie success is down to studios listening to the people, and I think realistically we all know that comic movies are successful because the 1989 Batman was revolutionary, because Batman Begins undid the damage of Batman and Robin, and then thanks to The Dark Knight and Marvel’s 80-phase plan for cinematic domination they’ve been a staple part of the year’s releases ever since.

So, while it may be the golden age for comic book films, Hollywood is far from suffering from a lack of innovation.

 

[Cache] The Dark Knight Rises Review

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 23/07/12 – This post is from the now extinct Film Pilgrim website.

Release Date – 20th July 2012
Country – USA
Certificate – PG-13
Runtime – 164 mins
Director – Christopher Nolan
Starring – Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine

The third and final instalment of Christopher Nolan’s incredible Batman reboot is a fast-paced, action-pumped masterclass in film-making. The level of secrecy surrounding the events the film have been infamous throughout the industry, with only a select few members of the cast having even read the whole script. And on reflection, whilst the trailers offer an insight into the film, there is so much more to The Dark Knight Rises than appears in all the multitudinous TV spots, trailers and promotional interviews. Die-hard fans of the original comics and graphic novels will note the film’s nods towards Knightfall and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns – although the film does not rely upon these sources and takes the Batman mythos to incredible new places that can only be attributed to Nolan and his team.

Visually and aurally the film operates on a whole new level of epic, even when compared to the stunning boldness of the cinematography in The Dark Knight. Nolan’s preferential treatment of practical over special effects has been slated by some critics, but lends the film a sense of reality that in no way diminishes the scale of what is being shown, whether it’s hoardes of rioters in central Gotham or a sea of twinkling red and blue lights from an armada of Gotham City Police Department vehicles. Overall, the mise-en-scene seems generally brighter than Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and director of photography Wally Pfister’s cinematography fills the screen and commands awe from the audience, be it explosions and gunfights or sweeping shots of empty wastelands. Composer Hans Zimmer lends his talent to Nolan’s Batman franchise for a third time, and his scores echo and reinforce some of the motifs of the trilogy as well as some actively excellent new tracks. Particularly with an IMAX screen to emphasise the visual splendour of the film, the coupling of Pfister and Zimmer ensures an experience that will leave no hair un-raised.

As with it’s two predecessors, political power dynamics and the protection of the body politic are central themes toThe Dark Knight Rises and while Bane’s takeover of Gotham has echoes of the recent Occupy protests, but there’s nothing in the film that could really be said to have a definitive real-world political agenda. There are also some strong emotional themes – not quite as distressing as some of the moments in The Dark Knight, like Rachel and Harvey’s “goodbye” – but still definitely enough to drag tears out of the stoniest of eyes. At one point, even Bane’s eyes appear misty – although by that time he has taken a few punches to the gut. There’s some great fight sequences in this film, with several fighting styles demonstrated skilfully by the cast – from the sleek and silent to the enraged and brutal, there’s something for everyone in terms of the neck-breaking, jaw-snapping, bone-bashing goodness us Batman fans so crave.

Tom Hardy dominates the screen as arch-villain Bane, portraying the ideal balance between raw phyiscal strength and brooding super-intelligence. After the first trailer’s release there was speculation as to whether or not audiences would be able to understand Bane through the audio effects on his voice, but this was addressed and his speech is perfectly clear. Anne Hathaway gives a sensual performance as Catwoman, and the film avoids the unbearable cat-related puns you might expect from the Catwomen of the past. In fact, Nolan’s Catwoman treads an interesting line between highly-skilled cat burglar and morally-aware citizen. Gary Oldman’s Jim Gordon is a warm combination of wit, emotion and heroism that marks the evolution of his character from the Jim Gordon we met in Batman Begins. Michael Caine continues to astound tearful audiences with some gentle-but-firm tugging of heartstrings as Alfred, and Morgan Freeman continues to please spectators as the witty but ethical Lucius Fox.

Christian Bale portrays a Bruce Wayne with far more depth than the previous films, and the film focuses on the secret identity of Batman and who Bruce Wayne really is. Towards the middle section of the film there are no appearances on the part of Batman for a while and we follow Bale as Wayne instead, which could disappoint some fans. but if you love the mythology and Nolan’s grand action sequences you won’t be disappointed. Plus, this makes the reappearance of Bale in the Bat-suit even more stirring. Whilst Heath Ledger’s stunning performance as The Joker is an undoubtedly tough act to follow The Dark Knight Rises is an equal match for it’s predecessor and is an excellent high note on which Christopher Nolan and his stunning Batman adaptation can exit proudly.

The film ends with an incredibly moving sequence that somehow manages to have a quiet beauty and a monumental sense of scale and awe about it simultaneously, working in tandem to produce gasps, goosebumps and grins throughout the audience, as well as some tears. The Dark Knight Rises is a truly incredible finale for one of the greatest cinematic journeys of this millennium, and simply cannot be missed.

EDIT: Some dreadful events have taken place in the time between this review being written and it being published. Whilst there’s more than enough coverage of the story online and in the media, I wish to briefly say (and I feel that I speak for everyone at The Film Pilgrim) that our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with everyone affected by the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. – Alex

Snyder’s Superman 75th Anniversary Animated Short

Director of Man of Steel Zack Snyder has been working with DC Animation legend Bruce Timm on a 2 minute short that condenses 75 years of Superman mythology into an animated highlights package. Starting from Superman’s iconic first appearance in Action Comics #1 and ending with Henry Cavill’s latest portrayal, the short makes references to iconic story arcs from the comics, big-screen interpretations from Reeves to Reeve, as well as the TV show Smallville and the comic series that followed it. The short also combines the two most iconic Superman scores – John William’s from 1978 and Hans Zimmer’s from 2013. Superman Returns and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman didn’t make the cut, but characters from The Animated Series and the DC Animated movies did.

Watch the short online in full here:

http://vimeo.com/76907078