Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is thoroughly engaging and highly entertaining for all its 119 minutes in length.  Is it a film?  Yes, I guess so – technically.  But film would be too narrow a categorization for the creative work that is Birdman.  There is so much in and to Birdman I will simply claim it is everything including the kitchen sink.  Especially the kitchen sink.

Iñárritu’s (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful) previous directing and writing efforts have yielded some wonderful, if not magnificent films – all to this point in time rather dark and thought provoking.  Birdman is different in that it includes bright and dark.  The two work well together.

Birdman is about [pick a hopeful topic] that appears to disintegrate through the sobering aspects of cynicism and on occasion reality – only to be overcome and in some cases completely thwarted by the strength of human spirit. I am not kidding.  The screenplay by Iñárritu and Nicolás Giacobone covers so many topics and themes I am hard pressed think of one that is missing.  And astonishingly, despite the apparent complexity I doubt you will get lost.

The usual Achilles heel for a script/screenplay full of varied and complex themes is a weakness in some other major aspect of the film (i.e., direction, casting, acting, staging, editing, cinematography, music/sound).  There are none I can think of with Birdman.  The ensemble cast proves to be stellar.  Michael Keaton’s performance and the irony of his casting in the lead role is uncanny.  However the exact same thing can be said for Edward Norton.  It truly feels as if these two could have been cast in these roles because the Hollywood machine leads us to believe they may very well live the part on a day-in-day-out basis.

Zach Galifianakis (Due Date, The Hangover, Dinner for Schmucks), Amy Ryan (Capote, War of the Worlds, Gone Baby Gone) and Lindsay Duncan (Under the Tuscan Sun) play smaller roles (from a screen time perspective) that prove to be crucial to the enjoyment of Birdman.

If viewed on paper the music selection and score by Antonio Sanchez would appear to be an incongruent mess (e.g., Jazz, Opera, Pop, College Football Band Parade, Science Fiction Thriller).  It works!

And then there is the cinematography. Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, Children of Men, Ali, The Bird Cage, Little Princess) has done it again. Lubezki has conceived/executed a point-of-view continuos sequence style that practically inserts you into the situation.  The “what feels like a” extended single take approach was utilized by Lubezki in the opening 18 minutes of Gravity and for the 17 minute military assault in Children of Men.  What is different with Birdman? This is Broadway and includes scenes from back-stage intimacy to, mind-over-matter movement, to what has to be the ultimate battle in Birdman IV.  Hey, you might get whiplash, but gosh the visuals are fascinating and fun.  Besides doesn’t everyone in America have healthcare coverage?

In the end analysis, Birdman contains something – executed expertly – for every movie fan.  At least that is my thinking.  Perhaps you will argue that is the unexpected virtue of ignorance.

Keanu Reeves is John Wick.

John Wick, the action thriller starring Keanu Reeves is all about choreography.  And the choreography of the action scenes is so outstanding that John Wick could challenge Michael Powell and  Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes as the finest film ever made about ballet.

The back-story, I would use plot-line – however that would be generous – is about an ex-hitman who loses everything he loves in retirement and has to exact revenge.  With John Wick the plot – good, bad, or non-existent – does not matter.  It is all about the action scenes that fill up almost all of the 101 minutes of the feature.

Noted Hollywood Stunt Guru’s David Leitch (Fight Club, 300, the Bourne movies) and Chad Stahelski ( Iron Man movies, Matrix movies) team up to direct John Wick and have gone Old School.  Old School in that the action sequences do not use today’s style of speed-up and inter-cutting to supposedly enhance the action.

What you are going to get with John Wick is the finest the American Ballet Company can offer while at the same time 1o Russian Thugs go down hard. My guess is that when ole’ Vlad Putin screens John Wick he will be worried about the sequel.