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The Batmans

MrHendo

By MrHendo
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MrHendo

MrHendo

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After watching (and loving) The Batman recently, I went down a rabbit hole and have been buying all the live action films on Apple.

 

I’ve seen them all before but maybe once when they came out.

 

First up was Burton’s first.

A good start and noticeably darker than the TV show, which was the only real comparison at the time.

Nicholson’s Joker is probably the stand out. The film generally stands up pretty well, though there was one scene with a very obvious model of the Bat Wing that looked a bit iffy.

Me and the partner also couldn’t help notice how only Alfred and Wayne were in the house. That poor bastard has to do everything! They even alluded at one point that the Batmobile must’ve been made by them two as they didn’t want to take it to someone else for repairs. Not to mention all the housework for one old man in a mansion.

 

Batman Returns is quite a bit darker in theme. Completely ridiculous and not even trying to be down to Earth (like the cats bringing Selina Kyle back to life by licking her) but the Penguin is probably the main story here. A very dark and grim tale being told, very different to all the other on screen Penguins, right down to him having flippers. Devito is perfect.

 

I jumped forward to the Nolan films.

It goes without saying that Ledger’s Joker is the best performance, still.

Very different in feel to any other Batman on screen, much more realistic and very little in the way of campy fun.

They seemed more like Nolan pitching for a Bond or Jason Bourne film.

 

Last night we watched Batman Forever and Jesus himself wept.

It looks like a Burton film, but they added wacky sound effects that would fit right in on the old TV show.

Tommy Lee Jones is chewing all of the scenery in good style. Jim Carrey is just being Jim Carrey and this was peak irritating Carrey before he started trying to actually act.

Nicole Kidman is basically just playing “thirsty woman” through the whole thing, nothing to her character of note besides that.

Val Kilmer is truly awful. The models are awful. There’s at least two camera movements that I can only assume were done by the tea boy as they’re very close to the professionalism of a Birdemic. One shot is a terrible back of Wayne’s head, for no good reason.

According to Wikipedia, the film’s cinematography got nominated for an Oscar, which is baffling.

 

Tonight we finish up with Batman & Robin and I can’t wait!

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

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35 minutes ago, MrHendo said:

Val Kilmer is truly awful.

 

As much as I find Red Letter Media quite grating, they did have what I feel is an accurate observation on Val Kilmer, which is basically he either absolutely goes for it or does not give a fuck and phone's it in. 

For every Willow, you get something like this film :lol:

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Bluejam

Bluejam

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22 minutes ago, Mogster said:

I've still never seen Batman & Robin, despite owning it on blu-ray for several years. :ph34r:

I went through a phase of thinking it wasn’t actually that bad. My kids seem to enjoy it when they watched it and I just felt it was in line with the tv series.

 

Oh how i laugh now 

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Iain

Iain

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1 hour ago, Chindie said:

Batman credit card.

 

Never leave the cave without it.

 

So many bad things happen in Batman and Robin but this bit always sticks with me.

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MrHendo

MrHendo

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1 hour ago, krenzler said:

At least it's got Arnie chewing up the screen. 

I remember quite a few years ago, walked into the living room where my housemate was watching it on TV, howling with laughter. 
I heard a couple of terrible puns in quick succession and just turned round and went to bed.

 

These days I embrace bad films as long as they’re entertaining.

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Festoon

Festoon

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3 hours ago, MrHendo said:

 

Tommy Lee Jones is chewing all of the scenery in good style. Jim Carrey is just being Jim Carrey and this was peak irritating Carrey before he started trying to actually act.

 

 

It was in the making of this film that Lee Jones famously told Jim Carrey "I cannot sanction your buffoonery"

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Stig

Stig

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4 hours ago, Kevvy Metal said:

No love for Batman '66?
It can hold it's own. 

Amazingly stupid. 

 

Was about to say. You need to get that watched too. It's got its own charm about it.

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Bucky

Bucky

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I think Nicole Kidman's first words in Batman Forever are "hot entrance" to which my mate said, quick as a whip "I bet she has".  A high watermark for a teenage Brummie.

 

In related news, another of my friends somehow got a job doing test screenings/audience research (he's in TV now).  At one point in a test screening for "Batman and Robin" one of the audience shouted out "death to Joel Schumacher!".  It wasn't even the end of the film.

 

It still cracks me up thinking about how much it cracked my mate and his colleagues up at the time.

 

As a piece of criticism, "death to Joel Schumacher!" Is the briefest and most damning review I can ever think of, especially as this was from an audience member who was actually being paid to watch the movie in the first place.  LOL.

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MrHendo

MrHendo

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My stream on Batman & Robin died right near the end. To be honest I’m not sure I’ll go back and watch the rest.

 

I thought Forever was bad, but that was entertaining all the way through. Utterly ridiculous, but the main problem was it seemed poorly made and the whole reason for the film existing couldn’t actually display any kind of emotion other than maybe boredom.

 

The sequel, though, is unspeakably boring, which is a far worse crime.

It looks superb, compared to the previous one, minus some ropey CG.

Clooney seems a little embarrassed but is actually displaying emotions. Uma Thurman does a great job hamming it up, Arnie is Arnie. 
The set ups are still ridiculous and it at least has a story this time, other than “baddies want to kill the goodies”, but it’s all so dull. The motorbike race scene was the most tedious race scene I’ve ever seen.

 

Also, ice blades.

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Alex W.

Alex W.

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11 hours ago, monkeydog said:

 

Act three of The Dark Knight Rises owes the '66 film a lot. 


I still can’t tell whether that was deliberate. My face through the entire finale first time:

 

D8A95007-4634-44FB-98A8-249CDA3AF1AD.jpeg.574348ad32839ee0e4d01fb5015bf3d8.jpeg

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