BIRDMAN OR THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE
HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET
If you haven’t seen this 2014 movie yet, please, please do so now. Michael Keaton stars as a former cinematic superhero star, hoping to make his comeback by starring in a Broadway play. Director Alejandro Inarritu filmed this uniquely paced film with an approach – more of a metaphor than a gimmick, and employed superbly throughout – that gives it the impression of being filmed in one continuous take. And even though the pieces of the film actually are lengthy chunks slyly spliced together, they’re still intense enough to give the entire movie a sort of live theater feeling – and the performances by Keaton, Edward Norton and Emma Strone, in particular, are bold, undiluted, and often unexpectedly funny.