In retrospect, Batman(1989) is really baadd

[RAMA]

I didn't think it lived up to the hype in 1989 either, but I thought it was the only truly good Batman of the Burton era. Looking at it now on TV for the first time in ages, it has bad dialogue, mediocre production design, sub par FX (noticeable green/blue screen errors) poor acting, and the worst Bruce Wayne/Batman ever. Compare it to the Batman Begins movie...that WAS ABOUT BATMAN! This is about Jack Nicholson chewing the scenery. What a miserable film. I'm even sad I own it on DVD (but didn't watch it when I bought it--now that was a sign).

Edit: OK the music is pretty good...

RAMA

 

[Manticore]

I didn't think it lived up to the hype in 1989 either, but I thought it was the only truly good Batman of the Burton era. Looking at it now on TV for the first time in ages, it has bad dialogue, mediocre production design, sub par FX (noticeable green/blue screen errors) poor acting, and the worst Bruce Wayne/Batman ever. Compare it to the Batman Begins movie...that WAS ABOUT BATMAN! This is about Jack Nicholson chewing the scenery. What a miserable film. I'm even sad I own it on DVD (but didn't watch it when I bought it--now that was a sign).

RAMA

I loved it when I was 10 or 11, but I watched it 5 or so years ago, and I agree; it hasn't held up at all.

 

[RAMA]

I didn't think it lived up to the hype in 1989 either, but I thought it was the only truly good Batman of the Burton era. Looking at it now on TV for the first time in ages, it has bad dialogue, mediocre production design, sub par FX (noticeable green/blue screen errors) poor acting, and the worst Bruce Wayne/Batman ever. Compare it to the Batman Begins movie...that WAS ABOUT BATMAN! This is about Jack Nicholson chewing the scenery. What a miserable film. I'm even sad I own it on DVD (but didn't watch it when I bought it--now that was a sign).

RAMA

I loved it when I was 10 or 11, but I watched it 5 or so years ago, and I agree; it hasn't held up at all.

I was 19 when it came out, and to this day it was the longest line I have ever seen for ANY movie ever, and it was the 10 o'clock showing!! It was almost a riot.

RAMA

 

[Greg Cox]

Gotta disagree here. This is my favorite Batman movie. Gorgeous visuals, atmosphere, music.

I admire the new films, too, but they're almost a little too "realistic." To my mind, there's nothing in them to match, say, that great shot of the Joker's bleached hand rising from the green toxic waste, or the Batmobile racing through a shadowy forest with autumn leaves blowing in its wake.

That's pure pulp poetry!

 

[RodrigoBrowncoat]

Blasphemy!

I LOVE this movie... and Batman Returns... sigh

 

[Trekker4747]

I've watched it (fairly) recently and, yeah, it doesn't hold up well but I think it's mostly tarnished by the descent Burton has made in the intervening time and the superior Batman Begins and The Dark Knight but, still, I think it's decent movie.

The only thing I don't like is that I never could buy Keaton as Batman, even as a kid I was like: Huh???? and Jack Nicholson's Joker is a lit over the top. But it's got a nice, gothic, style to it that fits well with the Batman feel and is something I think The Dark Knight lacked (Begins seemed to, mostly, get the Gothic/comic-booky look of Gotham.)

And, come on, the '89 Batmobile is just wicked.

Batman Returns is... well it's sort-of junk. I didn't like the look of Catwoman she was-made up too much like she was in fetish-wear instead of in a "cat suit" and, ugh, The Penguin. Ugh. Ruined the Penguin period as some incarnations since have tried to take that "deformed mutant" approach. I've been saying for years now that The Penguin would be a perfect fit for the new franchise of movies which has taken on a very "realistic" approach and the "mob element" has been pretty strong in it. The Penguin is supposed to be nothing more than an odd-shaped, dapper, big time mobster. Get James Gandolfini to play him and you're all set.

 

[Warped9]

I still don't mind it. The camp aspect is more obvious now then when in '89, but it was such a departure from what came before. I think it was as much as a step up over what had come before as Batman Begins[/BI] and The Dark Knight are over the Batman films of the '90's films.

 

[Amaris]

Gotta disagree here. This is my favorite Batman movie. Gorgeous visuals, atmosphere, music.

I admire the new films, too, but they're almost a little too "realistic." To my mind, there's nothing in them to match, say, that great shot of the Joker's bleached hand rising from the green toxic waste, or the Batmobile racing through a shadowy forest with autumn leaves blowing in its wake.

That's pure pulp poetry!

Add in the music, and you've got great atmosphere, too. I love the '89 Batman, and think Keaton did a great job with the role. Of course, it goes without saying that Jack Nicholson was pure gold, comedic or otherwise.

 

[Greg Cox]

I was 19 when it came out, and to this day it was the longest line I have ever seen for ANY movie ever, and it was the 10 o'clock showing!! It was almost a riot.

RAMA

Alas, my brother actually got married that weekend. (Yeah, I know, talk about thoughtless.) I remember waiting impatiently for all the rehearsals and vows and receptions to be over with so that I could finally sneak away to see the movie with some friends . . .

 

[Myasishchev]

Batman's pretty good. For my part, it's leaps and bounds ahead of Batman Begins, which is the second worst Batman film, which, as you can clearly imagine, is the equivalent of being the worst film if it were any other franchise.

It may be better than Dark Knight. At the least, it's shorter.

 

[Trekker4747]

I was 19 when it came out,

Wow! Rama, don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know you were so, well, OLD.

I figured you were my age but I was 10 when Batman came out.

Go along with the previous post, here's how I would rate the movies.

The Dark Knight
Batman Begins
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns
Barman Forever
Batman and Robin

(Yeah, the original set of movies got progressively worse.)

 

[Sephiroth]

batman 89 shows what Burton can do when given limitations we get a somewhat entertaining Batman movie, Returns shows us why giving Burton total control with a license is a bad idea, we get a Tim Burton movie starring batman

 

[Myasishchev]

You say that like it's a bad thing. Every Tim Burton movie should star Batman.

 

[Greg Cox]

I was 19 when it came out,

Wow! Rama, don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know you were so, well, OLD.

I figured you were my age but I was 10 when Batman came out.

Dare I admit I was in my thirties?

I remember seeing the Adam West movie in the theaters when it first came out . . . .

 

[Trekker4747]

batman 89 shows what Burton can do when given limitations we get a somewhat entertaining Batman movie, Returns shows us why giving Burton total control with a license is a bad idea, we get a Tim Burton movie starring batman

Indeed. Give him total control over something and he goes home, smokes a bowl, pops some pills, and begins over-designing things into gothic nonsense.

I was 19 when it came out,

Wow! Rama, don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know you were so, well, OLD.

I figured you were my age but I was 10 when Batman came out.

Dare I admit I was in my thirties?

I remember seeing the Adam West movie in the theaters when it first came out . . . .

Eh, no problem with being old(er) than me, I just didn't know Rama was in his 40s.

As for the older 60s movies:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoUpF7rvfnk[/yt]

 

[Greg Cox]

I gotta admit: I'm curious to see what Burton does with DARK SHADOWS. (Speaking of my childhood obsessions.)

That seems like a good fit.

 

[od0_ital]

I watched the '89 movie just a year or so ago...and it still worked for me.

Of course, I was ten when it came out, and remember the hype, and my dad doin' his best to keep from buyin' into it, too. I couldn't even see it at the theater, even though it played at the local Cinemark from openin' weekend to just before the VHS came out for rental.

Y'all remember when kids were gettin' the Bat symbol shaved into the sides & back of their heads?

 

[RAMA]

Gotta disagree here. This is my favorite Batman movie. Gorgeous visuals, atmosphere, music.

I admire the new films, too, but they're almost a little too "realistic." To my mind, there's nothing in them to match, say, that great shot of the Joker's bleached hand rising from the green toxic waste, or the Batmobile racing through a shadowy forest with autumn leaves blowing in its wake.

That's pure pulp poetry!

Some good backgrounds and models, just not shot very well. Design work was nice, it just comes together badly and looks cheap. Studio lot sets don't do the movie justice at all and wastes the effort by Anton Furst. The "acid-waste" was cartoony. The models look fake, especially the bat plane.

Burton has made a few good movies, but he's no genius. Most of his movies fall flat, style over stubstance. His casting of movies is often terrible.

 

[Greg Cox]

Gotta disagree here. This is my favorite Batman movie. Gorgeous visuals, atmosphere, music.

I admire the new films, too, but they're almost a little too "realistic." To my mind, there's nothing in them to match, say, that great shot of the Joker's bleached hand rising from the green toxic waste, or the Batmobile racing through a shadowy forest with autumn leaves blowing in its wake.

That's pure pulp poetry!

Some good backgrounds and models, just not shot very well. Design work was nice, it just comes together badly and looks cheap. Studio lot sets don't do the movie justice at all and wastes the effort by Anton Furst. The "acid-waste" was cartoony. The models look fake, especially the bat plane.

But it wasn't meant to look real. I loved the fact that it looked like a color version of an old Universal monster flick. The electrical machinery in the chemical factory looked like something straight out of Karloff's FRANKENSTEIN--but with the added bonus of a 1930's pulp-style Batman.

And why shouldn't the toxic waste look cartoony? It's a comic book origin story.

It's funny. When the movie first opened, it saw it twice--with two very different groups of friends.

The first time was with a bunch of hardcore, comics-reading, convention-going scifi fans. We all loved it . . . and breathed a collective sigh of relief that it wasn't a campfest like the Adam West version.

The next time was with some co-workers from the office. They were disappointed. Why wasn't it as funny as the tv show? Where were the cartoon sound effects? They thought it should have been campier . . . .

How times change.

 

[RAMA]

I was 19 when it came out,

Wow! Rama, don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't know you were so, well, OLD.

I figured you were my age but I was 10 when Batman came out.

Go along with the previous post, here's how I would rate the movies.

The Dark Knight
Batman Begins
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns
Barman Forever
Batman and Robin

(Yeah, the original set of movies got progressively worse.)

Yeah, I'm 40. Its ok, most people in person think I'm 29!

I'd rate the Batman movie like this

1. Dark Knight(2008) But only with a slight edge over..

2. Batman Begins(2005) I actually like Begins a lot because Dark Knight takes so much out of you, its so tiring and visceral to watch. Begins is a little more entertaining for repeat viewings. It also may be the best SH origin story ever.

3. Batman(1989) But I'd give it a "D" grade.

None of the other films are really worth mentioning.

RAMA