Birdman
 

Other than Michael Keaton's acting, does anyone else think that Birdman was a strange and weird movie that was way over-rated? I am baffled at how they determined this as best picture. I guess Hollywood and the movie critics are too sophisticated for us regular movie goers. On a scale of 1-10, I gave Birdman a 1, and that's only for Keaton's acting. (And yes, I did understand the movie, just did not like it.)

We are about to watch the movie tonight. We are looking forward to it. Seeing that you rated it a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst movie ever made leads me to believe your view somewhat conflicts with the 10 the Academy Awards gave it. It is possible your view is extreme. I will check back here with the opinions of our group of four, my wife and me, and my son and his wife, after our viewing.

Birdman
 

I wouldn't give it a 1, but I wouldn't give it a 10 either. I thought the Academy rating it so high was a bit because it was so much about their own industry. A bit self-gratifying if you ask me.

I'd give it about a 6, maybe a 7.

For the last few years my wife and I have AVOIDED the pictures that are highly rated and ones that receive many Academy awards due to the fact when we used to go see these Highly awarded movies they typically STUNK! I have often wondered what planet the people that choose these winning flicks come from! However, I was intrigued by this Birdman movie since Michael Keaton has been out of sight for so many years and enjoyed his work in years past. If we go to see it soon I as well will post our thoughts on the flick!

Watched this movie last night on Pay-Per-View and have to agree with the OP--some great acting but certainly not an academy award winning best picture of the year. I would also rate it 1 on a scale of 1-10.

Session Timeout - Academy Awards® Database - AMPAS

Some of the best pictures chosen by Academy members are extremely entertaining and are quite deep in terms of literary like merit. Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Unforgiven, even Rocky.

I have not seen Birdman yet but it probably has layers to it. I mean that it is attractive to different groups of audiences due to how they respond to it like great works of art.

We watched it last night and sorry, but I would have to give it a 1 too. It was all I could do just to watch it all.

We watched the movie last night and the OP's rating of 1 doesn't look so extreme now. My wife rated it a 1 as well. My son said he wouldn't rate it, but had he read a description of the movie he would not have watched it. My daughter-in-law didn't watch it as she had an active three year old to care for, and I gave it a 6. The movie certainly had artistic merits, but it was more of a Hollywood King Lear than a Death of a Salesman.

Birdman a 10
 

We watched Birdman the other night and it was our favorite movie of the year! We loved it!

It does sound like a movie that would appeal to me. Of the movies I have seen in 2014, I liked Guardians of the Galaxy the most. But Birdman looks like something I would like just because of my own experiences.

Layers? Possibly so. But if we pay money to go see a movie we expect to be entertained and not leave confused while leaving the theatre, or worse have to leave because the story line is so excruciating that it hurts to keep watching! We are probably just Simple people!

They just did not want American Sniper to win. Perhaps Birdman may appeal to some but clearly Sniper appealed to many more.

Villagerjack, I agree with you. My husband and I watched "Boyhood" on PPV because we had heard so many good things about it. In the middle of the film I left the room to fold clothes from the dryer. I was that interested! I'm grateful for the "Birdman" reviews. We'll wait for Netflix for this one.

Hollywood has an agenda, and it's not the agenda of the audience of American Sniper--people who blame the terrorists instead of our military for the evil and butchery spreading and already here.

Spot on. Well said.