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I'm just a bit younger but I definitely remember that time. I for sure was batman one halloween. One of the first Christmas gifts I remember getting was this Wayne Manor/Batcave set that came with a Michael Keaton Batman haha. What really hooked me was the Animated Series though. Been a fan ever since and it's one of those things I am just an outright nerd about.Originally Posted by elevenism
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That spoiler is actually somewhat major as it confirms much of the speculation around the movie
I was nobody. Nothing.
JESUS FVCK, someone please lay the fucking goddamn spoiler on me.
Is it a new joker? Is it a joker who was inspired by Joaquin's joker?
But, yeah, someone PM me. I don't do Twitter or Instagram. Rather, I watch YouTube and talk to you guys.
Exit: I do also use the Facebooks on occasion, but not often
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I had assumed someone pm'd you.
Spoiler: the article says that the riddler kills an escalating series of politicians who turn out to be connected and a part of "another association" which to me heavily implies that they are from the court of owls
I was nobody. Nothing.
To me, (3/1/80) and my brother who came from the fall of 81, well, THAT was the greatest fucking movie of all time, when it came out.
It was unbelievable. The first time I saw it, I sort of processed it as just a collection of scenes. And THEN, they took the unprecedented step of releasing it on VHS REALLY fast.
I still know the WORDS to that movie. "king of the wicker people," for instance. Or "You wanna get nuts?!"
"you ever dance with the devil in the pale moon LIGHT? I always ask that of all my prey."
I think that was probably like, IT. That was IT.
On par was Jurassic Park, and The Crow, and Terminator 2 (which was one of the first R rated films I saw: my mom went to see it, and then came and got me, and had a talk with me about the nuke scene, and then she saw it again with me.
I'm a film geek, now. Also, i know that Nolan's films are better in many ways.
But still... That was THe THANG.
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nah.
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Agreed.
Nolan did a lot of things right with those movies but also many things wrong. Mostly in regards to nonsense plot points, and shoddy editing.
The fact that he brought Batman back from the void of Schulmacher and Heath's performance earned his trilogy more goodwill than it deserves.
Throbbing Member
It's crazy how much of an impact movies can make when you're that young. For me, I was only 2 when it came out. Batman Returns was the first one I really remember and to this day I still rank it over 1989, though it's close. Returns was just a bit darker and a bit more Tim Burton imo.
As for Nolan vs Burton I think it's apples to oranges. Both do things the other doesn't do and I think acting like either was ever perfect is probably wrong. The Burton movies bridged the gap between the comical Adam West version and what we now have today. But they also have the whole Batman can't even turn his head in his cowl goofy quality to them. And as much as I love Jack's Joker, that prosthetics makeup smile is hard to look at today. It doesn't move naturally, would have been so much better to just paint the face and let him act. Nolan's on the other hand rarely felt like Gotham the way Burton's movies did. And Gotham itself needs to be a character. Both Nolan and Burton seemed to make the villains more interesting than batman himself. I get it, he's got good villains but I hope the new movie explores his psyche a bit better.
All that said, The Animated Series will always be the definitive batman to me. It got the character in a way the live action movies sometimes didn't. Go watch "Perchance to Dream" followed by "Appointment in Crime Alley." That's Batman.
Last edited by burnmotherfucker!; 01-24-2022 at 03:02 PM.
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I actually have those comics but I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. Now I wonder if I should before the movie comes out or if knowing what's in your spoiler is enough.
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My impression is that the finer details and broader beats of that story won't be present, just the concept. That arc doesn't utilize any other characters like penguin, riddler etc. And itself features an obnoxious, lore breaking twist that kind of ruins the end for me. I don't think they'd include it in a movie but they might or at least parts of it
FATUM NOS IUNGET
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Review embargo lifted today. Most common complaint I've seen is that it is too long and could've been trimmed a bit. But other than that the reviews seem to be pretty universally positive. I've got tickets for Wednesday and I'm counting down the hours.
24.24.2.2866
Have also heard that the film's score is pretty weak, which after only hearing the theme song I wouldn't be surprised to arrive at that conclusion. The title theme is rather one note and does not have the heroic depth of something like a Danny Elfman theme, maybe they'll build up to that and figure that out in any potential sequels. Since this is a starting point and I get that this is a darker and very different Batman film, you're prob not going to hear anything bombastic but like I could have totally envisioned a Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross style score for this and have come away with something pretty bad ass. Especially for a film that has such strong evocation to something David Fincher has done in the past.
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I was pretty indifferent to this film until the reviews started coming in, now I really want to see this. Batman Returns is still my favorite Batman movie.
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German reviews are also quite buzzing, only complaints being the length and Pattinson as a good actor yet not really fitting the role after Bale's acting as Bruce Wayne and Affleck's physicality as the Dark Knight. I guess I will enjoy it either way and I'm really looking forward to Saturday's screening.
Only By Night
There was a review I saw on Rotten Tomatoes that said "Apparently, Gotham doesn't believe in lightbulbs." not verbatim, but close enough. Hope this isnt one of those "I can't see what is going on." movies. Still damn excited!
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I enjoy long movies, so I'm cool with the long runtime. I also like when Gotham is rich and detailed enough to almost be a character in itself, and Reeves looks like he's did a solid job there. Excited to see this on Friday.
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The biggest problem I have with long films on principle is it hurts its re-watch value for me. It takes a lot out of me to sit down and watch a 3 hour movie, no matter how great it is. I LOVED Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, but I've only watched it once since the theater because of how long it is. Haven't rewatched The Irishman since it first came out.
Behold the morning star
I think I just witnessed the greatest Batman movie on screen. Wow
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Holy shit - that was great. The pacing, music, cinematography, the Batman as a detective focus, Riddler … I enjoyed it all. Like I’m gonna be thinking about this movie for days.
The only thing I thought was unnecessary was the Spoiler: Joker tease at the end . Hopefully that’s all it is, a nod … don’t think really think there’s a need for it in this series.
Last edited by thefragile_jake; 03-01-2022 at 11:49 PM.
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I saw this last night. I think Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are better than The Batman (with Dark Knight being in another league altogether, I'd say The Batman is almost on par with Batman Begins). That's not too say that The Batman was bad, no, it was a good movie, could had been better, maybe with stronger editing, like 20 minutes less (some scenes with Catwoman were unnecessary I think). For the record, I do like long films and don't have a problem with watching 3+ hr films, but here I don't think the runtime is justified.
Spoiler:
-I thought Pattinson's Batman was too emo, I liked Bale's Batman better, it was more nuanced, and he managed to do the two character's better. Pattinson Batman is darker/grittier/more jaded and better than Bale's, but overall Bale did a more balanced portray of the two characters. Pattinson felt like he was sad all the time, to the point where it felt a bit much/over the top.
-The soundtrack of Giacchino is not as strong as Zimmer's, in the Dark Knight the soundtrack felt like another actor in the film, it added more tension to the whole thing (see the opening scene with the Joker heist). Here, the soundtrack is just there, it doesn't have the same bite. Although Giacchino's main Batman theme is great!
-Catwoman was ok, but not great. The acting from Zoe Kravitz could had been better.
-I think the movie lacked tension, specially in the third act/climax of the film. Sure, there were some scenes with the Riddler where I was scared shitless (and I hadn't felt like this in a Batman movie before, except for the Joker film), but these tense moments with the Riddler were sparse. More Riddler in the movie would had made a better film. Paul Dano nailed the Riddler.
-And speaking of this...I think the movie had one too many villains, they should had cut either Falcone or the Penguin (the two actors did a fine job, but I think having too many villains detracted from the film's focus).
-I liked that the movie didn't do a whole lot of exposition on Batman's origins, it skipped that and made for a stronger film. Glad to see no Bruce's parents death scene again! And then again, the movie did set up who this Batman is with the scene at the beginning, the thugs in the subway.
-As a native Spanish speaker, I thought El Rata Alada riddle was too funny, and not in a good way. I thought it was very stupid use of Spanish and took me out of the film a bit.
-I liked that this Batman was not perfect (the scars on his back, the shotgun hit he took in the climax, the explosion in the funeral).
-There was some excellent lighting choices in the film, the scene with the thugs at the beginning, when Batman raids the club and the lights go out, and Batman guiding the people out of that stadium at the end.
-The other part I didn't like, and this a trend I've also seen with other movies (Don't Look Up comes to mind), is all the Insta stories/Streaming of the Riddler. I understand that he used social media to gather a following but the presentation was so jarring/in contrast with the tone of the movie. And I felt like how he gained a following was not that well explained, the movie could had used more scenes developing this plot point.
Again, good film, I could see this again on the big screen, but I didn't feel emotionally drained at the end, the way I did when The Dark Knight's credits rolled. I swear that at the end of TDK I was not able to move from my seat, I just had to watch the credits and process what had just happened.
Last edited by cahernandez; 03-02-2022 at 05:24 PM.
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That didn't feel like 3 hours at all.
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I really like The Batman! I think it was quirkier and weirder than the sterile Nolan Batman movies. Robert Pattinson brings new life to Bruce Wayne, too often a blank slate, who in this movie is easy to buy as a deeply angsty person who won't let anyone in. Paul Dano brings to the table what you might expect if you know him, but Colin Farrell really, really steals the show.
The movie carries with it the usual Bat Republican Agenda, an early scene implies that Batman has been beating up graffiti artists at night, alleviating the anxieties of Fox-Brains everywhere. A major plot point revolves around social services being used as a racket for mob money. Unlike the MCU, in it's colorful and uppity Military Industrial Complex Circle jerk, this movie occasionally looks that in the mirror, albeit to little end.
Like the dark knight before it, this movie most suffers from what feels like a tacked on action-climax, that undermines the film-noir detective feel the movie earns well through most of it's duration. It's unfortunate, but not as egregiously shitty as the one in the Dark Knight. In fact the action scenes in this are all by and large much better than the Shakey cam of that trilogy.
All that said, as much I appreciate DC's unapologetic lean into its grimdark gothiness, and for all this movie carries some camp, I would love to see a wildly different direction for Batman, something that dives into the kooky and wackiness of a bunch of billionaires commiting high profile acts of terrorism in cosplay as a hobby. Give a cat girl Catwoman, put clayface on the big screen! Killer croc! Bring back poison ivy or scarecrow. Also this movie has *spoilers spoilers spoilers* and I think we are all just so goddamn tired of *spoilers spoilers spoilers* great casting aside.
Throbbing Member
Batman as an avatar for republican values is a poorly thought out sentiment. So is the whole billionaire who beats up poor people schtick. Batman has always been more about navigating an internal moral compass, sometimes with the law, sometimes against it. Not everything needs to be fucking political. Besides, he understands the harm gun violence can cause way too much to be a fucking republican. I've yet to see the new film though, so if he's cutting holes in maga hats to fit his ears through I'll retract this statement.
And just no thanks to the kooky stuff. Isn't that what the entirety of Marvel is? The Suicide Squad? Peacemaker? Doom Patrol? Shazam? Pretty much every goddamn comic property under the sun except batman/gotham? I mean DC is pretty much just becoming Marvel popcorn but with swear words. Let the rest of us have just one lol. There's kooky batman for you in the Harley Quinn show.
Last edited by burnmotherfucker!; 03-03-2022 at 05:07 AM.
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I'm pretty excited to see this thing but it's looking like I might have to wait a while. You are one of only a few people I've seen go as far to say its the best yet so that's interesting. Most people can't bring themselves to say its better than TDK it seems. Every scene with Ledger's Joker is perfection in that film but I've never thought it was as perfect as people make it out to be. But it is the benchmark for live action so far.
I've been listening to the score all week whenever I'm reading and, out of context, I've gotta say it's the best music since Danny Elfman and Shirley Walker's work for TAS. I didn't think Zimmer's was bad or anything but this just seems like it has so much more blood in it.
One thing that's got my hopes up for this to actually be good is that every negative review I've read has made me want to see it more. The things people seem to complain about are exactly what I want. People saying it's too dark and it's never daytime (he's a fucking bat for christ sakes of course it's night) and it's always raining? Yes please. Detective noir instead of cartoonish heroism? Yep, keep it coming. Long shots with little dialogue using the language of cinema? Right again. Internal monologues in voiceover with a 70's crime film vibe? Did they read my mind or something?
Sounds like the one area that is lacking compared to TDK is the plot itself isn't very deep. So I'm gonna use that to not get my expectations up any higher because nothing kills a movie like high expectations.
Last edited by burnmotherfucker!; 03-03-2022 at 05:10 AM.
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** Joel Schumacher joined the chat **
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That Batman is Diedrich Bader and it's a much straighter Batman than his Brave and the Bold Batman.
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I think asking him to literally wear an identifying label is to ridiculously high a threshold. I don't think it's poorly thought out and I don't think it requires much thinking.
And no I think those other movies are still very much in the edgy vein I'm thinking more along the lines of the 60s Batman.
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