Review of Birdman, Directed by Alejandro Inarritu Oscars are useful as cultural barometers. They say much about what we think is excellent–and, thus, about ourselves. While the Academy was crowning Alejandro Inarritu’s Birdman Best Picture of 2014, I was watching the film itself, suspecting it was about to win the laurels, wondering what its canonization said of its votaries. Birdman is a clever parable. It stars Michael Keaton as a washed-up old actor named Riggan who once played a famous… Read more