Tim Burton's Batman - nearly 20 years old!!

J

Jaye J

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Joker to Bruce Wayne "You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

Batman to Joker "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?"

They said it to each other, therefore he quickly put two and two together. I never considered this to be something which would cause confusion.
 
I actually think he assumes that he must have done it when Batman was younger cos of his age.

It's not like the joker goes round wacking pensioners.
 
holy flown time batman!!!

The film does look dated i have to admit (and er rather substandard next to TDK) but wow

I saw this 20 years ago? :eek:
 
Having watched this on my PVR today I have to say that the music to Burton's Batman is superb, but the film now seems like mere over the top pantomime.

It's sad, because I loved it originally, but compared to Batman Begins, it really is rather childish. :( It does have some nice comic touches though.
 
I still think Burton's Batman is the best one of the lot, and I doubt that will ever change.

Seriously, who could ever forget Danny Elfman's brilliant score? It's second only to John Williams' Superman.

The same goes for Jack as The Joker, although I thought Heath was great in the role also as the darker incarnation, I still prefer the version Jack portrayed and brought to the screen. His balance of humour and sadistic insanity was spot on. The scene where Vicky Vale throws water in his face, and he reacts "I'm melting, oh god!" really hams it up, and then looks round and utters "Boo!" laughs, Batman falls through the roof is cinema gold. To be honest I don't think I would have even raised an eyebrow if the Joker wasn't in The Dark Knight. I thought Batman Begins was mediocre, and incredibly boring at times. I've already made my feelings towarRAB Bale's portrayal of Batman perfectly clear in the past.

As for Burton's film appearing dated, that was mostly intentional even back in 1989.

In regarRAB to the sound design, Tim Burton has said on record that he purposely made the gunshots/other sound effects in this film sound dated, merely as a form of paying homage. There are a lot of homages in the film. Don't tell me you didn't get the Batwing being in front of the moon was paying both homage to E.T. and giving the audience a Bat-Signal acknowledgment at the same time? Burton is more important to the Batman universe than a certain degree of people give him credit for. Also you remember the Adam West Batman? And that little 1978 flick I mentioned earlier called Superman, remember that one? What about thouse classic mafia movies of the 1930s? Such as Scarface.

All you have to do is back track to a film like RoboCop made in 1987, with vastly superior sound effects. All the proof you need that Burton intentionally made the sound effects sound vintage.
 
Totally agree. Time has not been kind to this. I used to love it as a teen when it first came out, but now I'm a bit older I think it very silly indeed. Don't care for Nicholson's Joker one bit. I remember people at the time saying things like "it's the part he was born to play". I think if he'd been younger, maybe, but as an older bloke it just comes across as you say, like panto.

'Twas indeed a very timely rebooting from Mr Nolan.
 
The thing is, you are comparing it to films that really are not comic book movies at all. The Dark Knight has more in common with films like Heat.

Burton's Batman is a comic book film, along with its "pantomime" approach, to borrow worRAB from you, and that's why I love it. I never liked this uber realistic approach Nolan took. I'm perfectly within my rights not too.
 
Burton, and Nolan. Thanks to them for their Batman films :)

His Nightmare Before Christmas is having its 15th!! Anniversary this year!! Wow, time... perfect film.
 
Oh, Heat. What a tediously boring film. With a cast like that, and looking at the poster, you'd have thought it was going to be a classic. It was more boring than The Piano.
 
don't get me wrong I'm watching it on film4 now - I love the film

Danny Elfman's score is beautiful - as is most of his compositions (big fan)

It looks dates not as much the style (the way it's designed, costumes have a US 30's feel to it to me) but more how it looks on my TV - only cos it's 20 years old.

Do you know what I mean?

Although to be fair when, Batman was first seen on the roof, the costume looks pretty bad in comparison to Nolan's version - but that is probably down to material advancements as much as anything - and at least it doesn't have nipples :D
 
I've seen the film in HD and it looks great, doesn't look twenty years old. I am highly anticipating getting my hanRAB on the Blu-ray disc released in December.


I prefer the classic 89' suit to the new design in Nolan's films, but that wasn't bad either.

As for thouse dreaded Bat nipples that came later? Death to Joel Schumacher! :p
 
I disagree, as I'm sure many will. Heat is a great film. You are certainly not doing your credibility any favours there.

Revelian, you were surprised when Stallone gave Rocky V a 0 rating, remember?

I remember a time I thought The Godfather was tedious, and boring. Now I think it's a grand achievement in cinema, along with it's sequel.
 
Me included. It's the way it is though at the end of the day.

I feel the exact same way about Aliens. If only Cameron had seen the potential of Super 35 before he finally mustered up the courage to shoot with the format for The Abyss onwarRAB.

I always find it frustrating when moving from Alien to Aliens. I'm sure the grain problems with the latter will be properly rectified with a HD restoration in the near future, but it's still always going to be a 1.85:1 shot film when all is said and done. A great sequel to a cinematic masterpiece none the less.
 
Scary stuff! I can just about remember it being in the cinema at the time - way too young to get in to see it though! Burton's film is legendary, not in the least because reciting a few lines from it in school got me into huge trouble with this ridiculously extreme right-wing Christian teacher I had at the time, who went around accusing my mother of being a Satanist.

I love Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker - hysterical at times and quite eerie as well - I always think the "I'm glad your dead" followed by manic laughs moment after the boardroom meeting with Grissom's goons when poor old Rotelli gets electrocuted is quite chilling. Nicholson's Joker has to be my all-time favourite villain - full of memorable quotes. In many ways, I think he was a natural choice for the role.

Keaton and Basinger had great chemistry in my opinion and of course, Prince's contribution to the soundtrack... well, as a lifelong Prince fan, that just adRAB to the appeal.

I don't think I could criticise the film on any level. The plot was great, it certainly pays a great homage to the DC Batman and in some ways the 1960s TV series in my opinion with the exaggerated sound effects and almost camp charm of The Joker.
 
I think batman has had so many incarnations in comic book form that it's hard to actually say that.

I love the Miller take on it - as such Batman begins is pretty much comic book for me.

Begins is pretty similar to Batman Year One in style... and story (well the start anyway)
 
I'm not a comic book reader comedyfish.

I'm just going by my preferences in what I expect, or prefer from a film adapted from such material.
 
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