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08-05-2005, 11:16 AM
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#31 of 47 
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| . Production design is the end in and of itself and the narrative and characters are just the unfortunately neccessary coat hangers on which to display it. |
Heh, we watched Batman Returns in a film class I took in college during the week we were studying...production design. |
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08-05-2005, 01:35 PM
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#32 of 47
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I'm with Mark Walker: Returns is my favorite by a wide margin, and the only Batman film I own on video. The primary reason: Michelle Pfeiffer. Absolutely sensational in that part, in my opionion. If only they'd made the Catwoman movie back then...
Clearly Burton was more interested in the villains than in his hero, but that didn't really ruin the movie for me. Then again, I'm not a huge Batman or comic book fan, so perhaps I'm less demanding.
Since people seem to be weighing in on Begins, I will to. It's my second favorite, after Returns. I'm a big fan of Christian Bale and I admired Nolan's gritty take on the material. But I must confess I prefer my Batman stories just a bit more ... cartoony. At least in their look. But I hope the studio re-hires Bale for the next one, and I'm definitely interested in seeing Nolan's take on Joker, if he also sticks with the franchise.
--Jefferson Morris
"If fakes, they were masterpieces."
--The New York Times commenting on Willis O'Brien's dinosaurs in The Lost World (1925).
"From the two trailers I've seen, the movie looks like AIDS."
--Recent thread post on AICN
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08-05-2005, 02:38 PM
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#33 of 47
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Jason
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Quote:
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In this film it explores the duality of Bruce Wayne/BATMAN and why he does what he does. I think having the Chase Meridian character strenghtens the story as she is the catalyst for helping Bruce come to terms with the death of his parents and to question his motivations. It also did a good job of introducing Robin/Dick Grayson into the story and I loved Chris O'Donnell's take on Robin!!!
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Unfortunatly, Chase is such a cardboard character. She's just a device to move the plot forward, and as eye candy.
I actually do like parts of Batman Forever, and probably the one that works the most for me of the original run. (Batman Begins is better than all those, tho.)
Jason
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09-22-2005, 01:25 PM
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#34 of 47
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My favorite moment from BR was when the campaign help put the cigarette with holder in his mouth ("reclaim your birthright"). For that one second, I was hoping he would do the "Quack, Quack, Quack" a la Burgess Meredith's portrayal.  |
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09-22-2005, 06:16 PM
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#35 of 47
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Two words: Christopher Walken.
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09-23-2005, 12:06 PM
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#36 of 47
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I agree with many of the criticisms of this film (too many villains doing ultimately uninteresting things, a director better at production design than telling a story, the ridiculous "we can fuck with the Batmobile as easily as any piece of junk on the street" scene), etc. Pfieffer is gorgeous, but eye candy alone doesn't make a good movie.
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09-23-2005, 02:44 PM
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#37 of 47
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Interesting opinions. I guess I like the vibe of it. And it IS very Burton looking, kinda like a live action "Nightmare before Christmas" look with the snow and the darkness. I don't think it's perfect or anything but it is very watchable to me. And Michelle... hubba. I used to have a poster of her as catwoman. The first one was ok, didn't leave that much of an impression and the schumacher ones just didn't do it for me. I haven't seen "Begins" yet but a friend of mine, Catherine Porter is in it as the "Blonde Female reporter/Assasin". Sounds interesting! d
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09-23-2005, 07:41 PM
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#38 of 47
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I don't think I've seen Returns since it came out on video when I was much younger. Don't really remember what I thought about it, but I'm hoping that I'll love it when I buy the new DVDs and see it again. I've grown up to be a big Burton fan, so I think I should enjoy it. I much prefer the Burton type of black humor for Batman. Begins took itself seriously (and I loved it for it), but it had soooooo many cringe-inducing Hollywood one-liners, that it still ranks bellow Burton's original for me.
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09-23-2005, 08:17 PM
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#39 of 47
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Being a huge Tim Burton fan and a huge Batman fan how could I NOT love this film. What I liked most about it was its ability to showcase Bruce Wayne's utter loneliness. I'm very glad that I've got "Batman Begins" and its inevitable sequels to do Batman complete justice but I'm also grateful that I got to see Tim Burton's interpretation of the character. As much as people think otherwise, I think he captured the sadness and tragedy of Batman perfectly.
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09-24-2005, 04:41 AM
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#40 of 47
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David Williams
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As much as I would love to make Devito's Penguin disappear without a trace, there is much to laud about Returns. Pfeiffer's Catwoman is surreal, the way she creates two separate personas in milquetoast Selina & the seductive Cat.
But the movie is worth the price of admission if just for the scene at the masked ball where Bruce & Selina (maskless!) realize who the other person they are falling in love with truly is. That's a totally  moment and makes the SE a must-buy.
"Only two things are infinite––the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not so sure about the universe." ––Albert Einstein
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09-24-2005, 10:09 AM
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#41 of 47
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Batman was Tim Burton's attempt to make a mainstream film whereas Returns was pure Tim Burton. So I definitely like and respect Returns more than any of the other 4 Burton/Schumacher ones. I've said this on other boards and other threads, but I think of Returns as a fairy tale about misfits that happens to use the names of the Batman comic book characters rather than a movie adaptation of the comic book (an area where all the first 4 movies failed).
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10-28-2005, 08:16 PM
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#42 of 47
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My original opinion was that this was a decent movie but nearly unwatchable due to the Penguin's grotesqueness.
After buying the Anthology, my opinion has changed. I really enjoyed this movie even more than the first film. You can see Burton really developing his style with Edward Scissorhands and bringing it to this film. It's got a wonderful look and design to it and that aspect really improved upon the first film's. And though it's very dark, it's got a nice whimsical quality about it. The batsuit looks terrific (a bit stiff, but way better than the first one), Catwoman is great, and though the Penguin still seems to be vile and disgusting, I can accept it more.
Still, I don't agree with Burton/Keaton's views that Bruce is something of a recluse and an eccentric (spends all his time watching crappy TV and looking out the window for the Bat signal). They don't even mention Wayne Enterprise in the first two movies! You have to assume he inherited all his money from his doctor father.
Anyway, I posted here to ask a question about the ending.
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