Not to be pedantic, but most of the time - although this hasn't been consistent - Metropolis and Gotham City are generally depicted as being across the bay from each other, with Metropolis being in Delaware and Gotham City in New Jersey.
Favourite live-action Batman movie
- Thread starter Sparkle Fabulosa
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Not to be pedantic, but most of the time - although this hasn't been consistent - Metropolis and Gotham City are generally depicted as being across the bay from each other, with Metropolis being in Delaware and Gotham City in New Jersey.
Any animated movie recommendations? I’ve already seen Assault On Arkham, The Killing Joke, and Batman and Harley Quinn.
Mask of the Phantasm.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker is pretty good, but as the title implies, it requires you to be familiar with the Batman Beyond spin-off. I thought The Dark Knight Returns two-parter was pretty good also. Batman Ninja is kinda fun, but it's sorta style-over-substance.
The short film Working Through Pain in the collection Batman: Gotham Night is a fracking masterpiece. The other films in that collection are worth watching too, but nothing I've ever seen so perfectly captures the psychology of Batman.
My favorite live action movie would probably still be Batman Begins, but it hasn't aged well for me. That's probably because I first say it when our current trend towards dark and gritty realism was first becoming a thing and it was a fresh take on the character at the time. Now that this particular style has been sort of played out, I don't quite find it as interesting. I still think the Tumbler is the most original and realistic Batmobile, though.
The short film Working Through Pain in the collection Batman: Gotham Night is a fracking masterpiece. The other films in that collection are worth watching too, but nothing I've ever seen so perfectly captures the psychology of Batman.
My favorite live action movie would probably still be Batman Begins, but it hasn't aged well for me. That's probably because I first say it when our current trend towards dark and gritty realism was first becoming a thing and it was a fresh take on the character at the time. Now that this particular style has been sort of played out, I don't quite find it as interesting. I still think the Tumbler is the most original and realistic Batmobile, though.
The Dark Knight Returns is pretty good. Be sure to seek out the deluxe edition if you do go to see it. It's the combined whole of parts one and two. It's my favorite animated Batman film.
As for my favorite live action Batman film, it's Batman 89 hands down.
Of the four in the poll, the best is the first Burton film.
There are fantastic elements in the 1989 film: visually, stylistically, story-wise, and casting-wise. My favorite scenes are easily when Batman is driving Vicki Vale to the Batcave for the first time, and then Batman reveals the Joker's cosmetics plot. For me, that's the core of the film where it's firing on all cylinders. The entire opening act at the chemical plant is also good. Keaton was an off-beat choice for Wayne, but I think he basically works for the whole film.
However, the film has major problems. I think Nicholson was badly miscast, and I pretty much hate every Joker scene. It's been years since I've watched it all the way through, but I remember thinking that it dragged on way too long, and I seriously hated the ending. Making Napier the man who killed Bruce's parents was a lot of bad things, misguided being one of them; when that was revealed, I started hating the movie and never really got over it.
Of the other three, I'd say Forever is the best, though it mostly blows. At least it's kinda fun. Returns was horrible the only time I saw it, and once was enough. B&R, well, what the fuck were they thinking?
I like all three films of the Nolan trilogy, but all three are best not scrutinized. They work best as experiences.
BvS was a godawful suck-bomb, but at least JL only sucked.
Mask of the Phantasm remains on my to-watch list.
I was underwhelmed by the two-part adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns. Really, reading the comic remains much more fun, and I'm among those who thinks it's a masterpiece.
edit - Oh, yeah the 1966 version. Yeah, it's at least number two in comparison with the four in the poll. It's a fun film, but it's also over-the-top absurd. As a kid, I found the dehydrated henchmen who infiltrate the Batcave to be incredibly creepy. The film's biggest shortcoming is that it lacks Newmar.
There are fantastic elements in the 1989 film: visually, stylistically, story-wise, and casting-wise. My favorite scenes are easily when Batman is driving Vicki Vale to the Batcave for the first time, and then Batman reveals the Joker's cosmetics plot. For me, that's the core of the film where it's firing on all cylinders. The entire opening act at the chemical plant is also good. Keaton was an off-beat choice for Wayne, but I think he basically works for the whole film.
However, the film has major problems. I think Nicholson was badly miscast, and I pretty much hate every Joker scene. It's been years since I've watched it all the way through, but I remember thinking that it dragged on way too long, and I seriously hated the ending. Making Napier the man who killed Bruce's parents was a lot of bad things, misguided being one of them; when that was revealed, I started hating the movie and never really got over it.
Of the other three, I'd say Forever is the best, though it mostly blows. At least it's kinda fun. Returns was horrible the only time I saw it, and once was enough. B&R, well, what the fuck were they thinking?
I like all three films of the Nolan trilogy, but all three are best not scrutinized. They work best as experiences.
BvS was a godawful suck-bomb, but at least JL only sucked.
Mask of the Phantasm remains on my to-watch list.
I was underwhelmed by the two-part adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns. Really, reading the comic remains much more fun, and I'm among those who thinks it's a masterpiece.
edit - Oh, yeah the 1966 version. Yeah, it's at least number two in comparison with the four in the poll. It's a fun film, but it's also over-the-top absurd. As a kid, I found the dehydrated henchmen who infiltrate the Batcave to be incredibly creepy. The film's biggest shortcoming is that it lacks Newmar.
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If ya really look into it, Metropolis is supposed to be New York while Gotham is Chicago, two metropolitan cities almost a thousand miles apart. If Superman could just hop across the bay, there would be no need for Batman or the Bat Signal, ever, in Gotham. Ya shouldn't be able to see the Bat Signal from the top of LexCorp. I can see the need for Wayne Enterprises to have a branch location in Metropolis, but Bruce Wayne shouldn't be able to drive there from Gotham in a sporty little SUV in the time it took for Superman to battle General Zod in Man of Steel.
So much wrong with the DCEU films...
No, Gotham is inspired by New York. It isn't supposed to be it. In fact New York City ALSO exists in the DC universe. And Metropolis isn't even inspired by Chicago. It's also inspired by New York, just like Gotham, though the guy who created it chose to use the skyline of Toronto because he grew up there.
And all three of those cities are very often portrayed as all existing together in the northeastern US, generally in the area of the New York/New Jersey/Delaware/Pennsylvania region, though they have also been portrayed as being farther apart sometimes.
Aside from SMALLVILLE, in which Metropolis is in Kansas somewhere, only a short drive from Smallville.
And Kansas strangely looks like Canada . . .
It's not a "strange reason"; it's the fact that the OP hasn't seen those films and only included the Batman films that he/she has seen.
Batman: Under the Red Hood is one of my favorite movies of the DC Animated line. Also, while not quite the same because Batman shares top billing, the two Superman/Batman Animated Movies are really good (even if Public Enemies' art style is an aquired taste).
Meh, not worth arguing about, though I do wish I still had a book that I got as a kid, a complete (up to then) history of DC, where it had excerpts of the Bruce Wayne / Clark Kent rivalry for Lois Lane's affection included, and talked about how rarely they would see each other because one would always have to travel to the other's city. Not just a day trip or a commuter ferry across a bay.
For those four, my ranking would actually be correlative to the chronology of release. I like all but B&R, which I found unwatchable after several attempts over the past few years. But I do appreciate the bonus featurettes on that B&R BluRay.
One of those guys is Superman. Distance is not really an issue for him.
One of those guys is Superman. Distance is not really an issue for him.
I completely agree.
Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman is the definitive version for me. Great performances from Christopher Walken and Danny De Vito as a truly twisted version of the Penguin. Only criticism is there's not enough for Batman to do.
From Ye Olde Silver Age.
Gotham and Metropolis are across the bay from each other.
As to which cities Gotham and Metropolis are supposed to represent. I was always under the impression Gotham was modeled after Boston and Metropolis modeled after NYC. This with NYC and Boston being real cities in the DCU.
Superman trying to keep a secret identity of a guy who can't run at super speeds or up, up & away to get anywhere. And living on a newspaper reporter's salary, a percentage of which is going to his mother. MARTHA!!!
In the original Superman movies, and I believe in the various TV incarnations aside from Smallville; Metropolis is always a stand in for New York City.
The 1989 "Batman" movies also placed Gotham as a darker, grittier, New York City; although Chris Nolan's choice to place Gotham as Chicago was allegedly inspired by some of the earlier comics.
Vancouver
*ducks*
And there are mountains.
