3. Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Alejandro González Iñárritu picked up his first nomination for Best Picture at the Academy Awards with Babel, losing out to Martin Scorsese's The Departed. He finally won the award earlier this year for the infinitely superior film Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance). A deftly observed, frequently hilarious film about the vagaries of mainstream fame, artistic integrity and the whims of the social media landscape, Birdman is also a visual triumph, grandly passing itself off as a single shot movie in which the camera glides effortlessly between the various players and the theatre stages and late night bars they inhabit. As if its aesthetic structure and sly parody of stardom wasn't enough, it also features some of the finest performances in recent years; Michael Keaton's Oscar-winning turn as the former superhero star trying to prove his artistic credentials is matched by fine supporting actors including Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts.