What to Watch on TV this Weekend: Chloe's Guide

Sept. 2–4, 2016

Here are a few suggestions for what to watch on the upcoming Labor Day weekend weekend.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

Friday, Sept. 2 - More Max - 1:55 p.m.

Alejandro González Iñárritu — the three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Babel (2006) and The Revenant (2015) — brought the self-referential Birdman to the big screen with overwhelming success. The film went on to secure the Academy Award for Best Picture as well as Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography as well as Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture at the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards and Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Keaton and Best Screenplay at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards. The intrinsic nature of cinema glistens in this 119-minute production; equal parts comedy and drama make this film the masterpiece that it is, employing a continuous-action technique that binds the viewer to the soul of its story.

Michael Keaton stars as our protagonist, Riggan, a washed-up superhero actor whose reputation for playing the titular character in a trilogy of big-budget, blockbuster movies during the 90s. This, in fact, seems to Batman fans a meta hark back to Keaton's role as the Gotham vigilante (Batman, Batman Returns). The narrative follows Riggan through the rehearsal, preview and opening night of his play that is loosely based on Raymond Carver's short story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," and the critical, mocking inner-voice of Birdman that plagues Riggan throughout the film. Birdman also stars Edward Norton, Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Amy Ryan (The Office) and Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion), each of whose characters help to bring to light the different parts of the complex and troubled sum that is Riggan Thomson.

Lost in Translation (2003)

Saturday, Sept. 3 - TMC - 12:30 p.m.

I have admired Sofia Coppola's work since watching Marie Antoinette (2006) as part of my junior-year history course. Lost in Translation illustrates two strains of significance; its American protagonists, played by Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray, are Americans that find themselves temporarily living in Tokyo. Murray plays Bob Harris, an aging movie star filming an advertisement for Suntory whisky. Johansson stars as Charlotte, whose surname isn't given, is a young college graduate, left in her hotel room by her husband, a celebrity photographer. Charlotte's path crosses with that of Bob through happenstance, an intimate friendship soon quietly blossoming between them, a tender melancholy beneath the beauty. This will be what makes Lost in Translation worth watching. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Bill Murray and Best Director for Coppola.

The Shining (1980)

Sunday, Sept. 4 - Sundance - 9 p.m.

I set a goal for myself in 2015; I was going to watch all of Stanley Kubrick's films released from 1968 to 1999, this decision having followed a discussion on Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, starring Malcolm McDowell. I then made my way through Eyes Wide Shut and 2001: A Space Odyssey before settling down with the psychological horror film, The Shining. The Shining delves into such themes as the supernatural, isolation, family and the nature of reality. Jack Torrance arrives at the remote Overlook Hotel, situated in the mountains, with his wife (Shelley Duvall) and young son (Danny Lloyd). Viewers soon learn that the hotel was built on the site of a Native American burial ground, and the Torrance family is snowed in for the winter. The 146-minute film navigates through a dizzily eerie narrative that will continue to shock, thrill and captivate until the final moments of its production.

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