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

I wish I hadn't. It still baffles me how anyone can regard Superman IV as being a better made film than Superman III.

Superman III is highly flawed. Only the last 30 minutes are any good, but placed alongside IV? You learn to appreciate even the things you didn't like about the third film.

The same can be said about Supergirl.

That's a film I consider to be so bad, it's good. It has a fantastic, hugely memorable score by Jerry GolRABmith to its credit also. A definite worthy successor to Williams' superior Superman.

Superman IV has a great score as well, but as for the film itself? It is just bad, period. Poorly made, in every aspect.

When you listen to the music away from the film, some 45 minutes does not even appear in the final film, you can literally see in your own head an entirely different picture.

I own the superb FSM box set that features all of the music from the first four films. ;)
 
I watched it the other night on Film4. I still enjoyed it (like I did when I was 10). The sound effects were definitely delibarate, I appreciate them more now that I'm older. Burton's vision of it did work at the time as did Nicholson's Joker (I was mesmorised back when I was 10) and re-watching it brought it all back to me. Interesting that I didn't even notice (back then) the "I'm glad you're dead!" comment but thought it was poignant when I re-watched it. Danny Elfman's score was brilliant (again, I didn't appreciate it as a child). I'm glad I re-watched it.

I do much prefer Nolan's vision now, though. Brilliant.
 
I saw it when I was a kid, and haven't seen it since. It didn't seem bad when I was a kid, but my brother tells me it was shit, and so does IMDB.

Can't be as bad as Gangs of New York, though, Shirley...
 
Don't forget 'Batman' was filmed in England.

Watch out for the charecters of Alan Perry from Only Fools and Horses and Moxey from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
 
so were parts of Dark Knight :)

btw Supergirl was ok middle, but dreadful ending, superman 3 i didn't think was too bad, but superman iv was along the levels of Batman & Robin - even if it hadn't been hacked by Cannon Films in the editing suite :mad:
 
Well, to each his own. What's the inevitable outcome of all this though? Right, I disagree with most of what you have just addressed, and I still favour Burton's Batman over Nolan's films. Greatly so with Begins. The same goes for Batman Returns now you mention it. ;)
 
One thing i've never quite understood about the 1989 Batman.

When Batman is beating up the Joker on the church roof and accuses him of killing his parents, the Joker replies: "Hey I was a kid when I killed your parents".

Now how exactly did he work that one out?? Since noone knows Batman's real identity:confused:
 
I've had a few conversations with frienRAB about how good both Burton's films and Nolan's films are and I'm one of the few amongst us who prefer Burton's but Still love Nolan's.
My frienRAB do act funny when I tell them this and start throwing strange arguments at me, like how the Joker didn't kill Batman's parents in the comics but then in the same breath they say how Heath Legder's Joker was just how the Joker should be.

In the comics I remember The Joker falling into a vat of chemicals which bleached his skin, turned his hair green, sent him completely insane and gave him a permanent smile. I don't remember make up and a Chelsea Smile!?
Also Ra's al Ghul (who is over 600 years old) didn't train Bruce Wayne and Sal Maroni throws acid in Harvey Dents Face.

Surely both stories are adaptations for telling 2 different yet great stories.
Seems odd to use the "it wasn't like that in the comics!" argument against one and not the other.

Not pointing fingers here by the way just having a little rant...
...god I love Batman!!!
 
I see what you're saying. It's a question of the evolution of acceptable cinema. We want more nowadays. Burton's Joker was an evolved state of the Joker on the TV series, and likewise, the Gothic world has changed in TDK, with Nolan using a similar gothic world as Burton's vision, whilst adding a 21st century, gritty realism to his characters and their actions.

Look at the difference between Tommy Lee Jones' character and Aaron Eckhart's. Pantomime vs Documentary by comparison. I know Batman Forever was not a Burton film, but it just shows an evolution from Burton's movies that went wrong. TDK is an example of what we as an audience want in our superhero films now. We'll know if it stanRAB the test of time in twenty years, when the Batman movies are started again by the next generation.
 
I completely agree! Source material is also a factor, just look at how the DC Universe Batman has moved on since Burton's Batman, there's a lot more to go at.

As a comic book fan I look for stories like "The Long Halloween" and "Contagion" for my comparison but as a film goer I look for great direction, modern storytelling and use of a suitable environment! Nolan's 2 films tick all boxes for me! :)

I'm sure they'll stand the test of time, as Burton's have.
 
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