"Birdman" - Michael Keaton and the Rhythm of Life

To many fans, Michael Keaton disappeared after wearing the cape in 1992's Batman Returns.  The everyman star of such '80s classics as Mr. Mom and Beetlejuice turned down superhero action roles after the two Tim Burton-directed Batman movies and never again achieved such popular exposure.  In reality, he consistently appeared in many dramatic and supporting roles of his own choosing throughout the last two decades.  He's now back front and center in Birdman - one of the year's most original and entertaining movies.

Mr. Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a middle-aged actor famous for playing the superhero Birdman 20 years ago.  Divorced, broke, and slightly crazy, Riggan is attempting a high profile comeback by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway play.  Exhausted and terrified, Riggan rehearses, but is continually distracted as he confronts his past and his own mortality.

He fights with his twenty-something daughter (Emma Stone) over his failures as a father, and how to be relevant in a 21st century social media obsessed world.  He argues with his best friend/lawyer/producer (Zach Galifanakis), who tries to keep the ship afloat as the play teeters on bankruptcy.  And Riggan literally brawls with his co-star (Edward Norton) who is a respected theater actor who tells Riggan the harsh truths about being a movie-star.  Riggan also suffers from superhero delusions as he argues with the voice of the Birdman in his head all while believing he can fly.

 Mr. Keaton at his best makes acting look easy.  Even in his old movies he appeared as if he wasn't acting but playing a version of himself.  All the great actors make the audience believe this, but the truth is we never really know the real person, but we as the audience think we know.  "Birdman" works so well because we really see Michael Keaton up on screen fighting for his career in 2014.  Although Mr. Keaton certainly drew upon his own experiences, his Riggan is a fictional character very different from the real person, profiled here in a recent New York Times story.

His best scenes are opposite the many fantastic actors sharing the screen.  Chief among them is Edward Norton (also a one-time superhero in 2008's "Incredible Hulk").  Their scenes together are acting magic, especially since they are actually talking about acting.  Like Mr. Keaton, Mr. Norton is an outstanding talent who has been relatively out of sight lately.  After bursting on the scene in the late '90s, he's carefully chosen several memorable supporting roles including the last two Wes Anderson movies.  Speaking many of the movie's best lines, Mr. Norton is "Birdman's" explosive catalyst, and his gestures are so expressive and moving that I would have sat through a whole movie based on his character. 

"Birdman" covers many topics, from celebrity culture, to Hollywood's superhero obsession, all the way to second chances and redemption.  It's a big canvas, and not all the themes are fully explored.  The trouble with Michael Keaton the actor being similar to Riggan Thomson the character is that audiences will confuse the two, and read more into Riggan than what's actually there.  As a result, Riggan's character is not fully fleshed out.  For example, his ex-wife says that she can't remember why they got divorced.  And the audience really won't know either until an event is described.  Otherwise we only see glimpses and hints at the true character.  The filmmakers may want us to believe that he's simply crazy, but then it's never explained why.  Because clearly he was sane for the first half of his life - what set him off?   I was left wanting more, but that's often the problem with really good movies.  Like amazing dessert we all want a little more.

"Birdman" is one of the most technically perfect movies of the year.  Everything from the music, editing, production design, and cinematography are exceptional.  The film is assembled to appear like everything happens in one long continuous take.  The camera follows Riggan backstage, down narrow hallways, and even onto the streets of New York City.  It's a bold framework that succeeds in making the audience see Riggan's fractured world through his own eyes.  The cinematographer was Emmanuel Lubezki, who just won an Academy Award last year for his groundbreaking work on "Gravity."  Once again he employs a seamless technique that makes the overall movie rise about the ordinary.

Credit for envisioning this world and sculpting it together is co-writer and director Alejandro González Iñárritu.  Birdman is his fifth feature film, after storming out of the gates with Amores Perros in 2000, yet faltering recently with 2010's Biutiful.  His new film is a deep philosophical work with multiple surrealist flourishes to make it funny, entertaining and one of the year's best.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" - Wes Anderson's Latest Masterpiece

Every Wes Anderson movie seems to exceed the previous one.  In terms of scope, ambition and style - each one adds to the whimsical genre that he has created for himself.  The newly released "Grand Budapest Hotel" continues that upward trend with a bold, fast-paced, hilarious, literary story featuring an endless parade of stars.

Following the success and ambitions of "Moonrise Kingdom," Mr. Anderson pushes his creative and cinematic limits with a highly imaginative comedy set in a fictional Eastern European country in 1932.  It's actually a story told in multiple flashbacks - a story within a story within a story within a story - thus making the audience both enthralled by, and dubious of, the storytellers' integrity.

The main plot focuses on Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) - the sophisticated, old-world concierge of the mountaintop resort.  Meticulous and proper, yet also profane and sneaky, Gustave's life mission is to maintain the highest standards of service and luxury for the grand hotel.  Even in 1932 he's a bit anachronistic.  Much like the movie's director, his perfectionist eye for detail is all about the personal, handmade touches of class that few people in the later generations notice or appreciate.

Gustave also has the habit of seducing older women.  MUCH older women who happen to be rich.  When Madame D. (Tilda Swinton) dies and leaves a priceless painting to Gustave, her family takes an elaborate revenge on the unsuspecting concierge.  What follows is an action-packed, genre-bending journey across the snowcapped chalets of prewar Europe, where we encounter the likes of Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, and Adrien Brody. 

This is Wes Anderson's most commercial movie to date, blending humor and thrills, while limiting the arthouse eccentricities.  It's a near perfect journey to an imaginative world, where both the narrators and audience recognize a bygone era.  Not just the opulence of European aristocracy, or the analog delights of handwritten notes, but also the beauty of original filmmaking.  Undoubtedly it's one of the more inventive and unpredictable movies we'll see this year.  It's not based on a comic book, or a remake, or a sequel.  But a good, old fashioned original story.

The one flaw is that with so many great character cameos, I wanted more.  Adrien Brody's sulking, menacing Dmitri could have been better utilized as a villain.  He only briefly appears, and is more of a caricature than a three-dimensional antagonist.  It's always great to see Owen Wilson, who practically steals the show in his brief 2 minutes of screen time, but again such a tease leaves the audience wanting more.  Clocking in at just over 90 minutes, I could have sat through a much longer version, and with these actors it would have been a pleasure.

Miniature set display from Arclight Theater, Hollywood.

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" is fun entertainment, but also nostalgic and melancholy.  I left the theater reflecting on the past.  Distant memories and details that we haphazardly choose to remember - and not just ones filtered through movies (although that happened too).  I realize it's only March, but I'm certain "The Grand Budapest Hotel" will be remembered  when the Oscar nominations are announced next year.