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The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition and it’s pleasing to say that for a film which relishes on its visuals and colour, all in abundance, this disc delivers the goods perfectly. It was a treat at the cinema, and is the same again on Blu-ray. I’m watching on a Panasonic 50″ Plasma TV.
The sound is in DTS HD 5.1 and is mostly a dialogue- and drum-beat-led piece. It’s not a SFX extravaganza, but the beat keeps time and so do you.
The extras are as follows and they’re all in HD. They’re all worth a watch, but there’s not exactly loads of them:
- Birdman: All Access (33:28): The extra goes into great detail about what anyone who’s seen Birdman will know – that this film was a huge team effort, and that when you’re filming a scene lasting several minutes, or sometimes longer, and also with the camera swinging around, just the slightest mis-step from one person – cast or crew – could bring the whole thing crashing down. Thankfully, everyone was perfect.
This is split into five chapters, the last of which is saved for drummer Antonio Sanchez who tells how he thought the director was joking at first, wanting an entire movie scored only by drum solos, and when he realised it was true, he then planned how to go about it.
- Conversation with Michael Keaton and Alejandro G Iñárritu (14:03): Chat between the main star and director, alongside clips of the film and behind-the-scenes clips. They also go into additional detail about the complex nature of how the film was made.
- Gallery: Chivo’s on-set photography: 40 images.
- Audio descriptive track: Does what it says on the tin.
There are subtitles and languages in a fair few apiece, all listed at the bottom of the review. Oddly, the box erroneously states English-only. This will put some people off if they don’t know, 20th Century Fox.
Chapters are plentiful, which is a rarity these days, as there are 28 across the 119-minute running time. Whoever was in charge of that here should do them for ALL Blu-rays and DVDs!
The menu mixes clips from the film with the drumbeat-packed incidental music.
Birdman is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, and you can also buy the soundtrack CD. Also, click on the packshot for the full-size image.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 8 4 |
| OVERALL | 7.5 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 119 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Cat.no.: 6226707001
Year: 2014
Released: May 4th 2015
Chapters: 28
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, DTS 5.1 (all non-English languages), Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian
Subtitles: English, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish, Chinese (Zho – two of these, for some reason), Estonian, Hindi, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malaysian, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian and Vietnamese.
Format: 1.85:1
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Alejandro G Iñárritu
Producers: Alejandro G Iñárritu, John Lesher, Arnon Milchan and James W Skotchdopole
Screenplay: Alejandro G Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
Music: Antonio Sanchez
Cast:
Riggan Thompson: Michael Keaton
Sam: Emma Stone
Mike Shiner: Edward Norton
Jake: Zach Galifianakis
Lesley: Naomi Watts
Laura: Andrea Riseborough
Sylvia: Amy Ryan
Daniel (Stagehand): Jamahl Garrison-Lowe
Ralph: Jeremy Shamos
Costume Assistant: Katherine O’Sullivan
Gabriel: Damian Young
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.