Birdman

"It's very rare you find a film unlike any you've ever seen before, but Birdman, co-written and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Biutiful, Babel) more than fits the bill. You could describe it as Magnolia crossed with Black Swan. Or Rope meets The Player. Or Sunset Boulevard via Crank. You could call it anything, in fact, and you'd barely get close. If you like the sound of just one of these mangled correlatives, stop reading now. To be surprised at the cinema is the rarest of treats."

"A triumph on every creative level, from casting to execution."

"Frenetic, splenetic and dizzyingly inventive."

"A funny, frenetic, buoyant and rambunctiously showboating entertainment in which Mr. Iñárritu himself rises high and then higher still."

"At certain moments, watching it felt like inhaling laughing gas mixed with helium."

"Iñárritu is a pretentious fraud, but it’s taken some time to understand the precise nature of his fraudulence."

"Flies very, very high."