Dena covers her favorite Batman movie, which is also one of her favorite Christmas movies ... and Tim Burton movies. Dena just really really likes this one!
@@Cyborcat Watching TAS as a child, I always thought he was meant to be black. Just light-skinned, different from the shade used for Lucius Fox and the other black characters.
How cool is Christopher Walken? When I was in 4th grade my teacher was a stand in for one of his movies, "Sarah, Plain & Tall". She asked him to come visit our class one day and he did. When asked "What's Batman like?" he was totally cool and said: "He's very quiet, kind of a recluse, but a nice guy. It's a shame we didn't get along because I was really wanting to go driving around with him in the Batmobile." For a 9 year old, that was fuckin' awesome. He was so cool to treat Batman as real to a bunch of kids that thought he was instead of saying something like: "Aw, come on kid, that's just a guy in a suit".
Fun Facts: The character of Roland Dagget from the Animated Series was originally going to be Max Schreck. And his son was played by Leatherface. Well. A Leatherface, anyway.
Yay! After so many internet reviewers trashed Batman Returns, finally a positive review! It's one of my favorite childhood films. I remember being scared by some of the Penguin scenes, but I really liked Catwoman and how gothic Gotham was.
I agree that it shows how unpredictably violent the Joker can be, but I do think the part where he shoots Bob is also goddamn hilarious. The actor who plays Walkens' son was also Zangief in the Street Fighter movie and Butterfinger in Hudson Hawk. Awesome video, by the way. Can't wait for part 2.
I like the attention to details in this movie. For example the neon sign in Selina Kyle's room initially reads "Hello there" but after the "accident", when she comes back to her flat and destroys some of the lamps it reads "Hell here"
Congrats on 7000 subs, Dena! I'd actually never seen the Burton Batman, until you mentioned that you'd be covering it in December. I like them! My heart will always be with Nolans version just because of how clean the trilogy ended up being but Burton's films definitely had a lot of promise to close on a high note. If I have to fill the events after Returns with head canon just to get a satisfying ending that's fine.
Fun fact: Aside for Sean Young, Michelle Pfeiffer was originally gonna play Vicki Vale in Batman 89, but Michael Keaton wasn't too fond of that, to the point he threatened to walk off set. Funny how he and Michelle Pfeiffer were together in Batman Returns.
Yay, finally someone else who likes Jack Nicholson's Joker best. Also, I have to agree with you on the subject of Kim Basinger. She really is the weakest actress in this great film. In this movie at least, she's blandness incarnate. To me, this becomes especially apparent in the museum scene, where she hits some sort of blandness singularity while interacting with the Joker.
Well, she is a little shocked that someone literally cleared out (killed) everyone in the museum just to talk to her about taking pictures of his work.
The scene when the Penguin goes to the cemetery.. Penguin drops his umbrella and slow steps toward his parents. Watch that scene carefully, he grazes a grave marker, and actually MOVES the tombstone? How'd none of the editors notice that? These things are ridiculously heavy
Silent Hill, Batman, Legacy of Kain, and golden Axe. You have some of the best tastes in artistically and imaginative films/video games of all time in my opinion. Golden Axe was an awesome game for my brother and I with the most stunning visuals and hauntingly beautiful soundtracks of it's time. Silent Hill was my Resident Evil growing up in the 90's with great mystery that kept me asking more questions. I can't even begin to tell you how Raziels dialogue when I first played Soul Reaver got me hooked for the long haul to the Legacy of Kain games. Lastly The Tim Burton Batman films were my introduction to the Dark Knight of gotham that and Batman The Animated Series. whew that was a lot to write but what I am saying in short is I love that through Nostalgia Critic I am glad my RU-vid account recommended your channel because you are awesome!
17:45 " the cats just wake her up" , you forgot that shot of one kitty really just EATING her fingers... That shot really bothered and stayed with me lol. Love this movie, thanks for the awesome review!
What an awesome surprise this was to see among new videos. :D Been waiting for so long to see you review this movie that I almost thought I was kidding myself when I saw it. XD Really love you going so much into detail about it, and explaining stuff properly. You're not being lazy or sloppy with anything, and I really do admire and respect that a lot. And, I can't hate Batman Returns. I love it SO much. It was my introduction to Batman as a kid. I would never hesitate to address it's problems and flaws, but I just can't be bothered by any of that while watching it. Especially not with the amazing opening and all the beautifully dramatic scenes complimented SO well thanks to Danny Elfman's music.
+kurvos yah, I mean, this movie is clearly meant to be a bit cartoonish and not meant to be taken 100% seriously. So I just can't really be bothered to care about the flaws that much. Like you said, I notice them and occasionally scratch my head over it, but it doesn't hurt the overall experience.
Cyborcat I mean, even though I'm a big fan of the post-crisis Batman comics, I'm fine with this being it's own thing and having so much fun with it. As opposed to Nolan's trilogy, which just feels like it tries too hard to be nothing like Batman is supposed to be yet tries to adapt post-crisis comics... and fails miserably at it. XP ... there I go again, going into a rant about Nolan's Batman movies. XD
Don't know if you actually got the answer already, but the guy who plays Christopher Walken's son is Andrew Bryniarski. He is more known for playing Zangief from "Street Fighter" and Leatherface in the Michael Bay remakes of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
A lot of people mistake the animated series version of Harvey Dent as being black, which is cool (and also happens to Lex Luthor LMAO) but apparently Bruce Timm was trying to go for a more swarthy Sicilian look and even wanted a prominent Italian actor like Al Pacino to voice him.
+ToruKun1 Yeah in the commentary he said they're both supposed to be Italian/Sicilian, but TBH I always sort of thought Lex was African American in the cartoon growing up. I never really thought Harvey Dent looked black though, his nose is too much of a Roman nose.
+Nightman221k Other than the dark skin, it was mainly the pronounced lips that threw me--male characters in that show didn't tend to have that, as I recall.
@@Cyborcat same with me. The combination of the lips and hair made me think black man. Plus coming off of Billy Dee Williams as Dent I thought that was what they were going for as well.
The Burton Batman films are my faves too and for live action Jack was my favourite Joker too (nice to see someone else think that too) - and also yes do a Legacy of Kain video! One of the best original stories in games ever lol
You know after re-watching the first film... I kinda love it much more every time. It's full of small details I just love, some good thematic elements are set up and most of what people say against it is either in the range of "well batman is more violent than in the comic" (and while some people would reply that in the earlier days he would totally kill, I'm simply in the camp of "it's an adaptation, it's based on the comics but it's a different take that should be taken as a work of it's own, it's okay for it to create a different character"). As for the prince music, well... I guess I did not grew up in the late 80s (like at all), but I barely noticed it when I first watched it. The only time I did was in the Museum Scene, which, to me, was a good fit with the comedic tone of the moment. I guess on rewatch I kinda noticed it's quite present during the parade scene, but I wouldn't say it makes the movie "dated". It's how pop music sounded at the time, it's okay and it really never throw me off the film.
Burton's Batman is a psycho who doesn't mind killing random mooks without guilt. As I recall, he even smirks as he just plain blows a bad guy up in this film.
I like this I like it so much and I like how they bring iconic characters like Jack Nicholson and Danny Divito it’s great I came for those 2 and I am glad you kind of reviewed Jack Nicholson a little
Being a student in cinema, I have a teacher in the language of cinema who's a really big fan of tim burton and this movie. Both he and I regards it as one of his best: it not only really capture perfectly his recurring themes, making this film totally his own, but when you start to analyse it there's all kind of great stuff. Like how Max Schreck and his building interior has some desing choice to be reminicent of vampires, specifically nosferatu. It symbolise really well how the man is literally sucking away from the city. Also, the shot of his building in interior is meant to be reminiscent of a similar building in fritz lang's metropolis, more specifically a building representing the power of the city. This could show that Schreck is really the one who control the city behind the scene. (also, cute that metropolis is a false distopy based on lies and hypocrisy. Actually, it's quite funny to see how Gotham basically looks like a perverted, rotten version of that city, almost like it decayed over time.) What's even better with the metropolis reference, I think the ball scene might be meant to show how disconnected the high sphere of this society is from the life of the ordinary citizen, which tie in pretty well with the hypocrisy thing i was talking about. Oh, and how the penguin is basically manipulated by Schreck for his own interests... It's also very notable how Tim Burton really wanted to make you beleive in theses costumed characters, namely Selina and Bruce, and really worked on making you understand thy they would chose to build and alternate persona. And if I ma add a personal taste, I like that this film and it's predecessor don't take themselves too seriously. I understand why Christopher Nolan has chosen to do his trilogy the way he did, but the fact that Burton kept a sense of grotesque in this film really makes it stands out in the batman franchise with it's weird and unique designs and it's frequent touches of dark humour.
"how the man is literally sucking away from the city" Oh wow, I never thought to go that deep with his name--I'm just like "Tim Burton likes classic horror movies". Good observations.
@@Cyborcat Sorry about the spelling and distraction mistakes in my message, though (just noticed them) ^^" Since English is not my main language, it takes me some time to write my sentences and I might decide to completely change it mid writing, and while I think cleaned-up everything, some "artifacts" (if you can call it that) remains ^^"
Fun fact or 2 about Andrew Bryniarski aka Chip Shreck. He was Zangief in Street Fighter and Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)/TCM: The Beginning.
The only problem with the Penguin in this movie is his hands, that's what people hate. Penguin was always deformed because of his long beak-like nose, but his hands were always normal. The Animated Series took inspiration from this movie for the original design of the Penguin, but changed it to his golden age appearance after they rebranded the show. This version is also missing his signature class and clear mind he was famous for.
I very much like this movie, but it'd probably only be third on my list of Batman films. I've always preferred the original 1989 film, as that was the one that really got the mix between light and dark that Batman needs. If you're wondering, my list is: 1. Batman 2. Batman Begins 3. Batman Returns 4. The Dark Knight 5. The Dark Knight Rises 6. Batman Forever 7. Batman & Robin
Alright! This one's my favorite Batman film too. Maybe favorite Tim Burton? Haven't seen enough of his work, but I do like Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd quite a bit.Anyway, favorite scene by far is when Shreck (Schrek? Shrek? Can't remember) pushes Selena Kyle through that window. Really didn't see it coming first time watching the film and even now it is just one of the most disturbing performances Christopher Walken has put on.
I'm with your Dena, I felt like Batman 1989 while dark, wasn't dark enough or complex enough. Just felt kind of goofy. Though I also feel Jack Nicholson wasn't that great of a Joker. Just couldn't take him seriously as a threat, in general or to batman.
Don't know if anyone has stated it in the comments yet but you missed one very subtle note in the part where Bruce is going over the newspaper articles that hints at foreshadowing. It mentioned something along the lines of that like, wherever the Circus went, young children went missing after the circus left town and that's why it went out of business. Think about what that means...
21:00 "I know probably a lot of Batman fans hate how they changed up Penguin for this movie and made him all deformed and gross, which I get but not having really read the comics myself I'm not too bothered by it." I always just assumed Tim Burton confused Penguin and Killer Croc. Croc's history in a circus and his deformities would have made him fit better in this film.
Hey, I thought this was a terrific review. Batman Returns is my all time favorite Batman movie! I absolutely love it. I also consider it to be my favorite superhero movie, out of all the ones I've seen up to this point... My feelings on the first Batman movie are very similar to your's. I think it's a great superhero movie, and a definite classic, but its just didn't satisfy me as much as "Returns" did. Tim Burton being allowed full control definitely helped the sequel in my opinion... I also didn't care for Kim Basinger's Vicki Vale at all. I was really annoyed by the fact that in her first few scenes, she acts like she's going to an interesting, strong character. But by the end, all she did was scream, stand on the side, scream, have Batman carry her around, scream, have the Joker drag her around, and fucking scream. She was more useless than a popped balloon... When Batman saves them both at the end with the grappling line, I was thinking, "Dude, you could do so much better. Just drop her!" Michelle Pfeiffer was so much better as Selina Kyle. The character was a hundred times more interesting. She starts out as weak and unable to stand up for herself, and by the end, becomes a terrifying badass... Some people are put off by just how unpleasant this movie can be at times, but I like dark unpleasant movies, so this movie is right up my alley... I'll continue my long comments on the Part 2 video...
I'm gonna guess the first gang was made up of clowns for one of 3 reasons. A). To fool the viewers into thinking the joker's in the movie. 2). To fool the gothamites into thinking the joker's alive or D). To reference the joker gang that forms every time the joker dies in...Anything batman.
11:50 given that the speech that selina forgot to give max was several pages long I think I would prefer his short, to the point speech, that other would probably be over half an hour long.
A couple of good Kim basinger movies might be the natural (for which she got a golden globe nomination) LA confidential (for which she won the Oscar for best supporting actress) and 9 1/2 weeks.
I Like this movie a lot more then most, but it still bothers me a little that all the henchmen are circus themed. I don't know that just seems like a gimmick the Joker would have, but ironically all his goons were just dudes in leather jackets that had Joker patches on them.
Hmmmm. I think the best Joker is Mark Hammill, and my favorite is Cesar Romero...but as for live-action, yeah, you're right. Nicholson is the best. But, the animated series didn't have Harvey Dent as black; it stuck with the comic version in which he is white. Billy Dee Williams would have been amazing, but the cartoon definitely didn't have him in mind.
+Awakeandalive1 And how dare you not appreciate the Prince music! Kidding, I'm a big fan of his, but I know exactly what you mean -- he was totally still relevant when "Batman" came out though. And thanks for pointing out the Capt. Hollister bit! I never noticed that!
Mmmmm....Danny DeVito as Penguin....He was in both Twins AND Junior with Arnold Schwarzenegger. ... Arnie was Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin....Illuminati confirmed or just bizarre coincidence??? YOU MAKE THE CALL.
Wait, Harvey Dent in the cartoon was meant to be black? I admit it's been years since I last saw the show, but I never noticed that. I guess the left side of his face draws the eye. Looking at the video you show of him, I guess it looks like he could either be black, white or mixed race.
Technically he was white, but he was drawn to be Italian... Funny thing though, the actor who played him looks like the Most Interesting Man in the World Ad guy.
According to most of the comments, apparently I was wrong. It was just one of those Mandela effects where I thought I remembered hearing it somewhere but it was all in my head.
It's my favourite Batman movie. I just love the atmosphere, the gothic look or setting, the villains and the awesome soundtrack by Danny Elfman. People say oh it's not Batman movie this time, it's more of Tim Burton movie, good. McDonalds getting pissed because they can't sell their happy meal toys, good. He's taking risks and making it dark. It gets a lot of hate which I'm confused. All three characters worked so well. Danny Elfman had to create themes for Catwoman & Penguin. They're memorable. It's easily one of his best scores, highly recommend especially the Birth of the Penguin and his death which I cant help but feel sad every time I watch that scene.Oh and f**k you Razzie for nominating Danny Devito. You guys are the same idiots who nominated Kubrick & Brian De Palma for worst directors. Including Ennio Morricone's score of the Thing. Batman's introduction is sweet and badass. So many memorable shots & scenes. Burton really took it as far as he could. Always take risks, forget about what McDonalds think, pussies. As Orson Welles once said to Ed Wood, "visions are worth fighting for".
Fun fact I discovered about bat man forever h.r.giger the creator of the xenomorph from alien designed a concept of the bat mobile and rather than base it of penises and such, he instead he based it on a pair of scissors so when you see it from above you would have seen how it resembles the scissors
Wait, was Two-Face meant to be black in the animated series? I didn't think he was. I never got that from the series. Not that it's a big deal if he is, but I never noticed it.
+professorBofFPU I don't have a source to back it up or anything, but he looked black to me (despite Richard Moll doing his voice). Considering that the Animated series borrowed a lot from the Tim Burton movies, I figured this was another case of it.
I hate to be a hook in your side but are you ever going to review Hell raiser III, l really want to know if you like it, without a doubt it opened the doors for everything wrong with the other movies, boring cenobites, chaotic evil pinhead, cenobites are unholy demons.
have you see hellboy or pan's labyrinth waht about Crimson Peak in hellboy 1 he plays Abe Sapien in hellboy 2 he plays Abe Sapien and the Angel of Death in pan's labyrinth he plays Fauno and the Pale Man and in Crimson Peak he plays all of the ghosts
+AshED65 Actually ... I end up mentioning this at the end of Part 2, but I haven't gotten around to seeing those. I randomly saw Dark Knight Rises and I generally liked it, but I prefer Tim Burton's vision.
Honestly, this movie makes me sad. There's a good film going on here . . . it's just a shame it feels the need to attach Batman to it, because the Batman elements are all the weakest parts of this movie. Take those out and you have a kind of Noire story about a man abused by society, who tries to fit back in with the help of a rich ass-hole, who ultimately betrays him, leading to him rejecting his humanity and dying tragically, which is a neat idea. But then you have Batman stuffed into it and it just drags it down. Also, Batman casually murdering people in this is . . . well, it's not the last time I would complain about someone not understanding how Batman works as a character, and certainly not the most egregious display, but still, come on Burton, try harder.
I can see why you can consider this to be your favourite. I personally have Mask of the Phantasm as my favourite, and I can understand why you consider it to be a part of the animated series, as the people who worked on Phantasm also worked on the animated series. But it's still my personal favourite comic book film, as well as my second favourite animated movie (Don Bluth's The Land Before Time is my personal favourite animated movie, in case you're wondering) and I would like to see you review more Batman movies in the future.
True story, when I worked at the Angelika Film Center, one day I met Danny Devito and his wife when Birdman was a few months away from premiere. They were pretty cool and when they went to their show I had a quick laugh that he spoke with me about how good Birdman looked since he was Penguin and it was Michael Keaton's big comeback film.
Personally this is my 2nd worse Batman movie (until Batman vs Superman comes out man does that look awful) the plot is a awful mess the characters are unlikable the tone goes from Mean & Dark to Goofy & Stupid & its kind of boring in a lot ways Batman & Robin is much worse but @lest its not boring
I don't hate Batman Returns. In fact, I wanted to love it, but the movie is disappointing, and it's a Tim Burton movie with Batman in it, instead of a Batman movie directed by Tim Burton. Plus, there's shit in this movie that don't make sense, and have no explanation whatsoever, like Penguin controlling the Batmobile, and Selina Kyle being resurrected by cats. 6.5/10 needs improvement.
