Birdman (2014)

It's quirky as hell, but the phenomenal acting performances keep it afloat.

We are first introduced to washed up actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) sitting cross-legged in midair in his tighty-whities. The voice of Birdman - the action hero he is famous for playing - is taunting him, the voice seemingly coming from a movie poster. No, it doesn't make sense but this unnatural power his former alter ego holds over him is a recurring theme throughout Riggan's story arc. Riggan has decided to try and reinvent his career by adapting, directing, and starring in Raymond Carver's play "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." Replace Riggan with Michael and Birdman with Batman and you have the fictionalized version of Michael Keaton's story. I kept thinking to myself, "you know, this movie is a little weird... but good for Michael Keaton!"

We're thinking the same thing about Riggan's character. It seems the gods are against him and the play hits several bumps on its way to production. Mid rehearsal the main actor is hit on the head and hospitalized leaving Riggan without a lead. Another cast member Lesley (Naomi Watts) suggests famous method actor Mike Shiner (Edward Norton). When Shiner joins the cast, it appears he is just as difficult to get along with as Norton himself. He has undeniable acting pizazz when he feels like it, but can be quite the downer when he doesn't. This provides for many entertaining scenes between Mike and Riggan while we reach the heart of Mike's character in his exchanges with Riggan's daughter Sam (Emma Stone) who has been recently released from rehab. In fact, these simple conversations and truth or dare games are more touching than anything else we feel from the other characters. These were the scenes where I actually felt connected to what was happening on the screen. Sadly, there wasn't quite enough Norton and Stone to go around and I don't know if I ever fully invested myself into the plot on the emotional level I wanted to.

I really want to like this movie. But I'll be honest, I feel like I must be missing something major because there are so many little pieces to this work that I love. I mean, you've got great supporting performances from Zach Galifanakis, Andrea Riseborough, and Amy Ryan, you've got a talented director Alejandro González Iñárritu to brew up a perfect mixture of comedy, and tragedy (a lighter side compared to his "Biutiful" or "Babel"), and you get to see Michael Keaton walk around in his underwear. So maybe I just don't get it the way I'm supposed to?

Where "Birdman" did manage to sweep me away was with its mesmerizing camerawork. I haven't seen anything like that since Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope"(which was filmed in ten 10-minute long takes). I felt like the voyeur spying on these actors' lives and following them around while they take care of their business. Though the tracking camera felt intrusive and somewhat pervading, it was a fun and different experience to feel like I was actually there.

This, however, was the only thing special thing about "Birdman." As much as I can appreciate its quirks and its phenomenal acting, there is still something that falls short for me to consider it more than an overhyped and overpraised art film. 6/10

Oblivion (2013)

The year is 2077. It's very interesting to me how these dystopian post-apocalyptic films want us to feel uncomfortable by always choosing a year that's not so far in the future. Why not 2248? Why not 2301? No, filmmakers want us to connect. They want us to feel ownership of our mother earth. 2077, this is us and our children we're talking about, here. We're nervous and uncomfortable because the 2077 Earth is much different than the earth we all know and love. It's an earth that's covered more with radioactive waste than it is people after a bunch of alien scavengers attacked it and strip it of its resources. 

Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) (why is EVERYONE named Jack?) is one of the last remaining people around. He chills in his little floating house in the sky with his working partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) while he repairs drones (little robot dudes) and gathers more resources from the planet. He is part of a massive operation to help prepare the way for the rest of Earth's population to make it to Titan, one of Saturn's moons. His memory has been wiped of the tragic war, and he's got questions with no answers. He doesn't go prying too far, though, until he finds a crashed spaceship with human survivors and he realizes that nothing can be taken at face value.

Oblivion is a fun film. It is a visual, sensational treat. I watched this cold turkey and please, if you're into sci-fi stuff, and if you've never heard of this before like I hadn't, then don't read this and go watch that instead. It's a good film experience. Then come back and we can talk about it some more. And if you've never seen Blade Runner, 2001: a Space Odyssey, I Am Legend, Prometheus, Wall-E, Minority Report, District 9 or especially Moon (I could keep going), then you'll probably leave thinking this is the greatest sci-fi film ever made. But... really, you should probably watch those first.

That being said, there will be spoilers.

So yeah, it's fun. But I found myself wondering the whole time whether all of this was going to come together or if any of it was going to make any sense and if I was ever going to care about any of it making sense. It's all surface. It's all superficial.

Let's talk about the plot: it's a good idea. It's a really good idea that Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy) is executing for a great sci-fi film however let's be real, it's 2001 and we all KNEW the second there was an alien or robot or drone or whatever it's called we all knew that it was Hal 9000, red light and everything. Of course the aliens were the enemy! All of this Jack memory loss bull was a red herring that anyone with half a lick of sci-fi knowledge could pick out. All of the big reveals, all of the twists were predictable as anything. Yes, the alien is the enemy. Yes, Jack isn't who he thinks he is and there's a much bigger thing going down here. Yes, the Russian is his wife. I mean, he finds this random chick who's been asleep for 60 years, obviously she's important to the story I mean he was DREAMING about her. We're supposed to be surprised she's his wife? 

My other big complaint has to do with character. Granted, it's probably part of the plot and Jack's character concept that we don't relate to him or feel any connection to him at all. He's, like, a clone and stuff. (Though if you watch Moon, it doesn't HAVE to be that way. Kids, just watch Moon, it's way better). But all of the characters were wooden. They could have all been clones, it was really hard to tell the difference. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters at all. The golden opportunity for contrast and emotional involvement is wasted when we are introduced to a bunch of human survivors on Earth. I think of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) and the masterful contraposition illustrated when we go to the big bad real world. It's in those transitional moments that we feel connected to the characters and understand where the plot is headed. In Oblivion, even when they were being killed by drones, I felt nothing. I didn't connect with Morgan Freeman, I didn't even connect with the wife with Julia (Olga Kurylenko) or whatever her name is. I mean, Jack's a clone, but Julia's human! You'd think that she'd have some sort of emotional response, something to SAY at least when she finally sees her husband after 60 years in cyber sleep.

However, the visuals are absolutely breath taking. I was taken in and completely captivated by the beauty - I feel like everything was made by Apple. The camerawork, lighting, and first 12 minutes of the film were completely incredible, and those were all big pluses. Also, M83's music was pretty sweet. Claudio Miranda won the Academy Award for cinematography for Life of Pi (2012) and it's clear that he's the man who takes our breath away. I just wish there was some heart below the beautiful surface that we could connect with and wish to come back for more. But when all acting is wooden, and when there are way too many plot holes, and when it rips off some of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time, I must say my patience was tried. And for reals, the movie is too long! 4/10