Everybody’s a critic these days at the movies. Or, at least, everybody’s a critic hater. For some reason, three of the top movies released in the last couple of months have prominent and pretty unflattering roles for critics — New York Times critics in particular. Did the Old Grey Lady do something to tick off Hollywood?
1. “Nightcrawler” (all week, Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema, Sundance) — Every generation gets the Rupert Pupkin it deserves, and ours apparently is Jake Gyllenhaal as a twisted freelance photographer whose thirst for grotesque crime scene photos takes him into some very dark places. No way he doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for this.
“Birdman” is now playing at Sundance Cinemas. R, 1:59, three and a half stars out of four.
What is “Birdman”? A Hollywood in-joke, an existential drama, a backstage face, a magical realist drama, and a work of technical virtuosity so dazzling that it can only mean to to dazzle. This is a nutty, chewy, wildly ambitious film that leaps tall buildings in a single take.
Madison Movie 