Posts tagged Damian Young
Birdman “Unusual and Boring”
Nov 12th
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
BIRDMAN has the full, awkward title of BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE), which sums up the whole movie.
It is long, it is unnecessary, it is complicated, and in the end it is obtuse and doesn’t mean anything.
Michael Keaton stars as Riggan Thomson, an actor who is trying to rejuvenate his career by mounting and starring in a play on Broadway after he used to be somebody in the movies.
You see, some 20 years ago Riggan starred in three popular movies as a comic-book superhero known as Birdman, but after those successful movies playing the superhero, Riggan said no to making BIRDMAN 4.
Remind you of anyone?
Yes, Keaton himself starred as Batman in the 1989 BATMAN and the 1992 BATMAN RETURNS movies, but not in the third Batman movie in the series, although I am not sure why, but there was controversy about his starring in even the first one, with some critics complaining that his chin was too “weak” to be Batman, who wears a mask, remember?
At any rate, a voice in Riggan’s head says, “We had it all; we gave it away.”
Later in the movie, that voice in Riggan’s head becomes significant.
So, Riggan has written an adaptation of a short story called “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love,” he is directing the play and also starring in it, and the action in the movie takes place mostly in the theater where the play is going to be produced.
The camera work is made to look as if the whole movie was shot in one continuous take, but the long shots sometimes end in a different location and at a different time in the story, which is another example of unnecessary and complicated, right?
The story takes place before the previews of the production, and also appearing are Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Zach Galifianakis, and Naomi Watts, but when scenes turn surrealistic, such as when Riggan floats and flies above the streets of New York City, you might wonder what is going on and why are you there watching this confusing piece of whatever you want to call it.
We see rehearsals for the play, and the acting is terrible.
BIRDMAN goes on way too long, and it is too unusual and boring for my taste.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Birdman – Movie Trailer
Nov 8th
Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance is a black comedy that tells the story of an actor (Michael Keaton) – famous for portraying an iconic superhero – as he struggles to mount a Broadway play. In the days leading up to opening night, he battles his ego and attempts to recover his family, his career, and himself.
“Delivery Man” a Sweet and Touching Comedy
Nov 30th
“Sweet and Touching Comedy”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Delivery Man stars Vince Vaughn in a remake of a French-Canadian movie about a man with enough problems to begin with who finds himself in a situation that allows him to create even more problems.
Vaughn plays David Wozniak who works for his father’s business in New York City driving a truck and delivering meat.
However, that is not all that makes him a delivery man.
You see, 20 years ago David earned a lot of money by donating sperm as a regular visitor at a fertility clinic.
And yet David is a terrible investor, and he now owes $80,000 which he borrowed from the Mob.
When David’s girlfriend, Emma, tells him that she is pregnant, David takes the news well and tells her, “This could be the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me.”
However, Emma has doubts about whether David will make a good father, and she says that she will declare him “the father on probation.”
Meanwhile, David learns that the fertility clinic where he would “wrestle the dragon alone,” as he puts it, made a mistake and gave all the women in its clientele David’s sperm.
David had used the name “Starbuck” for all his donations, which amounted to 692 times, 533 children resulted, and 142 of those children have filed a lawsuit in order to learn Starbuck’s true identity.
David’s best friend, Brett, who has four children of his own, also happens to be a lawyer, and when David goes to Brett for help, Brett says that the dream of every lawyer is to argue a case of this significance.
Brett obtains the profiles of all the children involved in the lawsuit, turns them over to David in an envelope, but tells David not to open the envelope.
Well, you can guess what happens, can’t you? David opens up one profile, just one, and then he tracks down this son of his and is so impressed with who he is and what he turned out to be that David decides to convince Emma that he deserves to be her child’s father.
And opening up one profile to learn about one of his biological children is just like eating one potato chip. It can’t be done and doesn’t end there.
Delivery Man is a comedy that is sweet and touching and funny.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
