3.19 - BIRDMAN (2014) & Renown

Our last Iñárritu film is 2014’s BIRDMAN, OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (don’t worry: that’s the last time we’ll use the subtitle). We offer fairly similar reviews, before talking about style over substance and the director’s views on the superhero genre — and we end with some concluding thoughts on Iñárritu’s oeuvre.

Next Week
Our next mini-season is all about Spike Lee — we start with his 1986 breakout SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, available here.

This Week’s Media
ANTFARM DICKHOLE (2011): Bill Zebub, Mike Nastri, Jessica Mazo
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY (2017–): Akiva Goldsman, Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones
MCMAFIA (2018–): James Watkins, James Norton, David Strathairn

Recommendations
ROUNDERS (1998): John Dahl, Matt Damon, Edward Norton
THE REVENANT (2015): Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy
THE TREE OF LIFE (2011): Terrence Malick, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn
VICTORIA (2015): Sebastian Schipper, Laia Costa, Frederick Lau

Footnotes There’s an intro to the basics of magic(/al) realism here. Here’s our standard link to something on the subject of Chekov’s Gun, a concept that gets another airing this week. There are some interesting thoughts on social media notoriety here and here. Finally, the IMDB page for Emmanuel Lubezki is worth a read, if only to marvel at the extent of his body of work, particularly as cinematographer