I can imagine Burton having a field day with the ''big top'' sequences. And with making Two-Face be a true 'grotesque'. On paper at least, it still feels like it carries those parts of the earlier, Tim Burton conceived version of the movie. It's really only in the way it was executed on screen which sees Schumacher make his mark. Some of the ideas in the story itself, at least to me, still feel like Tim Burton had some basis in them. We know for a fact that the scenes of Robin stealing the Batmobile was actually in the early drafts of one of the Burton movies, although I forget now if it was from the first or the second one. Lots of the other scenes do still feel like that too. So at least in conception it still carries over some remnants of Burton's movies. Batman & Robin was Schumacher's work from the ground up. For better or worse.
FWIW, Highlander: Endgame is actually a pretty good followup to Highlander: The Series (as it takes place in the continuity of that series), though it has some stylistic directorial choices which now feel very dated and of their time. Highlander 2 has (rightly) been ignored by every subsequent iteration of the franchise.
I know 42nd Street was famous for its grindhouse theaters. The real question is what compelled you to go see Howling 3? Then again, I saw Highlander II, III AND Endgame in the theater.
For all that people complain about it, Highlander 2 made more money at the box office than any other feature film in the franchise. Endgame is the only one I saw in a cinema, on opening night.
^^ Easy to look back on something like this petition and laugh, but I was one of those aghast at the thought of a stand up comedian (because that is still how I thought of him) playing Batman. One of the things that bothered me most about it was the thought that they were going to continue the buffoonish persona created by the TV show. What a pleasant surprise Keaton and the movie turned out to be. And boy, did I learn a lesson about jumping to conclusions about casting news.
I've always believed that comic actors make the best dramatic actors. BTW, I wonder how many of those on that petition had ketchup with their feet and crow for breakfast?
I can testify that fandom reacted with utter dread and hostility when Keaton was first announced as Batman. "Mr. Mom" playing Batman, in a movie directed by the guy who did Pee-Wee's Big Adventure? Fandom took this as "proof" that the movie was going to be another campy comedy spoof like the Adam West series. I remember attending a convention panel shortly after Keaton's casting was announced. Talk about a hostile audience! I thought the poor Warner Bros. publicity guy was going to be tarred and feathered. People were convinced the movie was going to be an epic bomb. Rolling Stone even ran an article on the controversy.
The thing that made Keaton so good, in my view, is the same reason why Christopher Reeve was so good as Superman: you get the feeling the actors have given a lot of thought to how they're going to play both the superhero *and* the 'secret identity'. In Reeves case both Superman and Clark feel like different people despite obviously being the same man; and in Keaton's case I thought he made absolutely the right choice by not playing Bruce Wayne as a ''millionaire playboy'' like we would expect, but instead choosing to internalize his performance and thereby make Bruce as much of a unsociable weirdo as his Batman persona is, but just in a slightly different way. In some ways, it's Keaton's performance as Bruce Wayne which shines even more than his performance as Batman does. And part of the impact of the performance is that he plays 'against type', not choosing to play Bruce as some over-the-top comedic playboy figure, but as a reclusive introvert with a deadpan sense of humor.
I had no doubts whatsoever about Keaton's ability to pull off the role. In fact, I was certain of his contrast with Nicholson's Joker. It was an awesome matchup. As was Bale vs Ledger later in TDK.
The other thing that I think made it work, was just how unexpected and surprisingly fun it was to watch this kinda goofy comedic actor suddenly playing a dark and badass superhero and kicking all kinds of ass (and doing it all believably). That was an element that I really missed in the Nolan movies, since you pretty much expected an actor like Christian Bale to pull off a role like this. Which is why watching him play either Bruce or Batman was never half as much fun in my opinion as watching Keaton do it.
Sorry to ressurect this thread--but as I only recently saw this kickstarter film on the tube, I would like to comment on just how this might have worked. If I had a chance at the film, I would have had Cage in the background. Superman would have been played by the most ripped bodybuilder I could find. Suit would be body paint. The movie starts with a hand grasping a crystal from the fortess however In terms of giving superman's cloak some volume--you might try something like this: http://www.3ders.org/articles/20160...oo-pla-pellets-and-giant-baam-3d-printer.html Just soften a bit. Superman and other characters are in the background. You see Cage commenting on what it is like living in a city with its own god. Superman is seen to rescue a lot of Lexcorps men from oil rigs and such. Cage doesn't like this much. He and Kevin Smith are room-mates. Superman dies fighting a (now CGI) Doomsday. Cage visits the tomb, and is drawn in. The world needs a Superman. The Voice of Chris and George seem to speak to him, as does the voice of Daly, and Danny Dark. Cage becomes Superman. We see a little of the Greatest American hero humor. Cage fights Brainiac and wins. At the close of the film, we see Kevin hand Cage a crystal. It had been "stolen" from the Fortress. Cages memory was restored. Kevin says to Cage--in a very meta moment--"you were always Superman." The bodybuilder at the beginning was just a robot. The fortress guardian knew Cage would die if he fought Doomsday, so the robot was sacrificed. People recognize Cage as Clark Kent as last, not just a blog host. The uniform chages one ast time--and now we see Cavil fly off. For a long time Kevin seems to morph into Jor El, and disappears. Meanwhile, at Lexcorp, the damaged superman robot is given the brain of Lexcrpt astronaut Henshaw. The cyborg Superman is born.