Birdman' soars to Oscar heights on best picture win

The dark comedy "Birdman" held up a mirror to Hollywood and its struggling actors and received in return the film industry's highest recognition on Feb. 22, the Academy Award for best picture.
   
Director Alejandro G. Inarritu's story of a washed-up, former superhero actor attempting an improbable comeback on Broadway won four Oscars, including best director, the second consecutive win in that category for a Mexican filmmaker.
   
Inarritu thanked the star-studded audience for seeing his "crazy film."
   
The reward for the satire hews to an Academy tradition of awarding films that honor the entertainment industry, such as "Argo" and "The Artist" in recent years.
   
Eddie Redmayne won best actor with his painstaking portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything", robbing "Birdman" lead and former superhero actor Michael Keaton of a big comeback moment.
   
Each of the eight best picture nominees went home with at least one award, but it was a disappointing night for "Boyhood," Richard Linklater's unprecedented endeavor to depict the simple story of a boy growing up over 12 years, all with the same actors. It won one Oscar for its six nods.
   
Wes Anderson's colorful caper, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" proved popular among the 6,100 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who vote for the Oscars, winning four awards on its nine nominations.
   
"Whiplash," the independent film about an aspiring jazz drummer and his tough mentor from young director Damien Chazelle, won three Oscars.
   
It was a night in which the controversy over the lack of diversity among this year's nominees was front and center. First-time host Neil Patrick Harris opened the...