3. Birdman
What's it about? Michael Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, former Hollywood star renowned for playing superhero Birdman who decides he wants to establish himself as a serious actor by staging a Broadway adaptation of Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. As opening night approaches, the tormenting voice of Birdman sends him spiralling towards a suicidal breakdown. What makes it groundbreaking? Movies shot to appear as if they're done in a single take aren't new - Alfred Hitchcock used this technique for his movie Rope, while Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark delivered a 90 minute tracking shot of grand virtuosity. Yet while Birdman might not have actually been filmed in a single take, its great achievement is to simulate the technique with such visual flair and invention that it emerges one of the most virtuosic cinematic experiences in many years.