blank'/> Cinema Reviews: Bird Man - Best Picture, my arse...

Friday, June 19, 2015

Bird Man - Best Picture, my arse...

An overly pretentious, hipster/comic nerd pandering, supposed satire/self-adulation for the acting world piece of shit that is all sound, fury, cool and no substance.

The device of one continuous take is completely unnecessary. It may add to the stage performance quality of the acting and story by providing us with a sense of real time but otherwise there's no reason to frame the film like this. The sometimes live jazz music accompaniment is fitting for the tone and pacing of the film, but again otherwise unnecessary. It's experimentation for the sake of experimentation.

The performances are strong across the board, and the technical craft on display is impressive, but the essential message and world we're investing in is hollow, desperate and flaky...essentially the world of acting. I've lived it so I can say that.

"This place is horrible. It smells like balls" pretty much sums up the tone of the film and the way I felt about it. Does a film about a hack Action star; a self-absorbed ass with delusions of super powers, desperate to prove he's important to the exclusion of his ex-wife, daughter's and every one else's happiness, REALLY deserve "Best Picture"? In my opinion, no. This is Hollywood self-aggrandizing itself, a community terrified of it's own obsolescence in light of independent crowd-sourced film making, viewers increasingly watching films on portable devices (The opening song at the 2015 Oscars with Jack Black ranting about "screens from our jeans" confirms as much for me) and the diminishing returns for Hollywood due to piracy. It strikes me even the Hollywood acting community are worried they may not have an industry for much longer - how else to explain the ascension of this witless film about an actor fixated on his fading cultural relevance? These people seem desperate for ANYTHING that proves they're still important. Just like "Sunset Boulevard" (Another one about fading fame) Hollywood loves rewarding films ABOUT Hollywood.

For the record "Sunset Boulevard" is an arguably better film.

No comments:

Post a Comment