Birdman

Episode 137: Birdman (2014)

Theme: Man Movies Month
Hosts: Oz & Curtis

This week, Oz drags Curtis into the existential, jazz-drummed, ego-drenched chaos of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — a film that plays like Babel × Batman Returns × the Charlie Work episode of It’s Always Sunny × Hitchcock’s The Birds × a yard of rope all performed in one long, uninterrupted nervous breakdown. It’s backstage meltdowns, rooftop confessions, floating dads in tighty-whities, and Michael Keaton fist-fighting Edward Norton in a tanning bed like two raccoons scrapping in an alley. The guys break down the hallucinations, the method acting disasters, the tight-shot cinematography, the pretentious genius, the accidental viral fame, and why this movie is either brilliant… or aggressively “film student.” They also discuss vacations, The Simpsons at Universal, jellyfish suicide attempts, and why Deb would have turned this movie off in seven minutes flat.

Final Verdict:

Oz — 3 Stars
Curtis — 79 Offscreen Jazz Drummers

Next week: Man Movies Month continues with The Third Man (1949) — postwar intrigue, zither music, shadowy alleyways, and Orson Welles showing up halfway through and still stealing the whole movie.