List Item: Watch all Best Picture Winners (to date)
Progress: 75/88
Title: Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Year: 2014
Haul: 4 awards in total
Okay, so I actually saw this a month before the Academy Awards and, after a lot of procrastinating, I have finally gotten around to my own two cents about it… with a lot of movies having been seen in between so of course my brain is a little rusty.
Firstly, whilst I said a while ago that, “I’d love a film like Birdman to gain the title…” if I am being honest it is not the result I would have really wanted. In many ways, I am glad that a film like this did win. I mean, it does not feel like a typical Oscar film and that is one of the reasons that I loved it. This is definitely due to the mostly non-American crew as this felt more European than American.
I mean, I can see how this could have won. The incredible cinematography that went into making the whole film look like it had been shot in one take? Breathtaking. You also have amazing performances from Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Ed Norton to contend with. The intelligent way that the film deals with various aspects of mortality and the importance we attach to actors and critics.
Thing is, of the Best Picture films that I saw I would rank it third behind The Grand Budapest Hotel and Boyhood. I mean I can see why this would get the award over a more obviously comedic film but why not Boyhood? If you can not win for a film that was shot over 12 years, deals with philosophical questions of growing up and scores 100 on Metacritic then… what can you do.
Before I Kick 