EARLY ACCESS: Batman

Would be a fun one for her to watch

WEEZER MANN

..and Yvonne Craig aka 1966 Batgirl RIP!

AmyGENX

BATMAN (1966). RIP Adam West.

Brent Fugett

The Christopher Nolan/Bale versions are by far my favorite. They take time to tell the story and, while still clearly fictional, the way the story unfolds really helps the willing suspension of disbelief. And I couldn't agree more, Heath Ledger's take on the joker can't be missed.

Tyler Foster

Also, whenever she gets to Top Secret!, Gough has a little part in that too.

Paul Johnson

Also would like to give a shout out to the great character actor Michael Gough(1916-2011) who played Alfred the butler in all 4 films of the Burton/Schumacher series(He and Pat Hingle who played Commissioner Gordon were the only 2 actors to appear in all 4)...if you love 50's and 60's genre/"B" movies you remember his artfully, wonderfully over the top villainous turns in "Konga"( a silly giant ape flick that Gough almost single handedly makes compelling), "Black Zoo", the Hammer films version of "Phantom of the Opera" and especially "Horrors of the Black Museum"...he was basically a British analogue of Vincent Price...Tim Burton was obviously a fan as he cast him in 3 other films: "Sleepy Hollow", "Alice in Wonderland" and "Corpse Bride"

Manuel Johnen

"Pacific Heights" is a great thriller and Keaton is terrific in it.

Paul Johnson

PACIFIC HEIGHTS!!!(ducks) :)

Manuel Johnen

I'm just watching the reaction now, and that thing is still hideous to look at...

Fatty Boombatty

I liked BirdMan for being semi autobiographical in that he is a washed up actor who used to be Batman. People don’t care about the theater with all the superhero/ super franchises rolling in. You have to shoot your own nose off to get noticed. Parts of it are like a fever dream. Most of it is one-take set to jazz drums

Manuel Johnen

If you want to see old Michael Keaton be FUNNY, watch "The Other Guys"... :P

Manuel Johnen

Neither does Tim Burton...

Manuel Johnen

If I remember correctly, "Rambo III" was the most expensive movie ever made for a month or so the year before with 50 or 60 million (something like that)... so I don't know where you get that world record from... Also, yeah, there was no CGI back then (as if good CGI was cheap today, but nevermind), they had to build the sets... and they ALL look awful and are photographed in the most unflattering way possible. Just look at the scenes with the news anchors, those are really not a far step away from the cockpits in "Plan 9 from Outer Space"... :/

TheNeonRabbit

I don't care about comic books

Eric Janssen

It cost $40 MILLION!!--which was a world record in 1989--because CGI didn't exist, stars still got seven-digit salaries instead of eight (and actually believed they'd get a profit percentage), and most of Gotham City had to be built for real on a big, big soundstage. Movie budgets didn't balloon past $150M until Waterworld, and then after $200M until Titanic, both because of never-ending on-set disasters, also on big, big for-real soundstages.

Eric Janssen

Actually, after Michael Keaton's buyer-regrets about playing Batman (and a possible twelve-step in the 90's?), after thirty years of only playing dark, oily psychotic creeps, it would be a "real switch" to watch young 80's Michael Keaton be FUNNY, in Mr. Mom, Gung Ho or Night Shift. And, that's "funny", as opposed to his foul-mouthed ranting nut in Beetlejuice.

Eric Janssen

No, in 1989, Frank Miller's "Dark Knight" comic books were revolutionary, in taking the campy 60's TV version we all took for granted by that point and taking the character back to his dark-detective origins, which was a big thing at the time, and the movie was intentionally the first "adaptation" of that angle. (And took a lot of adults by surprise, since 60's pop-culture giggling was a big thing in the 80's.) If it seems "campy" today compared to the dreary dark-DC-fanboy dirges of Zack Snyder and Chris Nolan, that's because Tim Burton's so struck with his own cuteness, he can't be serious even when he's TRYING to be. And seriously, kids: “He can’t move his head because of the costume!…It’s PARODY!” Seriously??

Brent Fugett

I think your review is spot on. I enjoyed this flic when it came out but compared to Marvel it *is* really cheesey and cartoony so not my favorite. I'm a much bigger fan of Batman Begins and Dark Knight Rises for DC, also Wonder Woman (2017). For Marvel you should kick into Thor, Captain America, and Avengers. I think you'll be hooked at that point on MCU. Great review as usual!

Eric Janssen

And while I normally don't like the new Millennially-evolved habit of "Gah, why are these scenes so LONG? Opening credits used to be, like, THREE WHOLE MINUTES, start the thing, already!": As to “Why is this parade scene going on so long?—I guess Warner wanted to promote the Prince songs?”…Yes. Thirty years, and we still don’t know why. (Apart from the fact that Prince was currently the biggest thing on Warner's record label.) Although, as “Sean of the Dead” pointed out, Prince’s Batman soundtrack LP is useful for throwing at zombies.

Brandie Woodward

Yes, more Michael Keaton movies. Then a real switch would be to watch Pacific Heights. Total turn from what Michael Keaton was known for.

Manuel Johnen

And from me, it gets the award for best fart direction...

Eric Janssen

@Tyler - Also, between Edward and the “Frankenweenie” remake, those are the last two movies where Tim Burton was either the first pick as director or doing the project he set out to do. Most of the 90’s/00’s (Alice, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes), he was usually a quick studio replacement when they lost their first director and couldn’t figure out what ELSE to do with it. 😆

Eric Janssen

The “makeup Joker” was basically a product of Chris Nolan in the wildly self-conscious and pretentious Dark Knight, who didn’t like comic-book gadgets when Warner forced him to do a Batman Begins follow up, and wanted everything to be “real”. Sort of like when women watch a comic-book movie: “Oh, NOBODY could survive a fall into acid, that’s just stupid...” 😛

Birdie Num Num

It won the Academy Award for best art direction. Pretty much everyone at the time thought it looked great.

TheNeonRabbit

Different Jokers have different backstories. The Batman TV series in the 1960s was deliberately campy, goofy, silly, purely played for humor, fun but ridiculous. This Tim Burton reboot and the subsequent sequels were a BIT more dark but essentially still parodies of themselves, done mostly for comedic effect. Things like the exaggerated body movements because he couldn't turn his head were intentional. Made you laugh, made me laugh, was SUPPOSED to make you laugh, partly in homage to the TV series. It wasn't until director Christopher Nolan rebooted the franchise in 2005 that Batman was given a darker, more serious and ominous vibe, still a bit silly because.. well... it's still a guy dressed up like a giant bat but they kind of get more serious as the movies progress from then. I sincerely hope you'll be working your way up to the "Dark Knight" trilogy of movies with Christian Bale: "Batman Begins" 2005 "The Dark Knight" 2008 "The Dark Knight Rises" 2012 Even for people who don't really care much for Batman movies, Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker in "The Dark Knight" is something that really shouldn't be missed, absolutely brilliant. That's the one thing pretty much everyone who's seen it agrees on.

Elliot Nesterman

The first of the modern Batman costumes where he could move his head is in the Christopher Nolan movies. Gotham is an old nickname for New York. Regarding Batman's origin and Bruce Wayne's wealth, when this film came out the vast majority of viewers were familiar with Batman, the Joker, et al. from the comic books and the 60s TV series, so not too much back story was needed. In the comic books Joker did get his face from falling in a vat of toxic chemicals. The "makeup Joker" is a variation by later screenwriters.

Elliot Nesterman

A friend of mine seeing "Superman" first run, at the first closeup of Chris Reeve called out, "The only blue eyes!"

Manuel Johnen

"Edward Sick-Whorehands"...?

Manuel Johnen

"Batman" still looks like total garbage... literally like it cost 2,50$ to make. Where did the budget go? (Well, mostly to Jack Nicholson, I know. And Burton smuggled what was left of the money off the set by hiding it in his hairdo... :P).

Bill Staley

I agree MCU is better at making movies. Also the reboot version Batman Begins is a better version especially getting into Batmans origin.

Paul Johnson

"Ed Wood' is also a very fun Burton flick but I guess it helps to have a basic knowledge of the title character and the time period and film industry he operated in...Ashleigh watched "Plan 9" so she should be good to go

Laura Neary Smith

Yes! I'm honestly not a huge Burton fan in general (especially of his more recent films), but a handful of his early work was excellent and Edward Scissorhands among the best, if not THE best, IMO.

Elliot Nesterman

Burton's intent has never been to make his films look like the real world. He is an artist and fantasist first. Also, in 1989 computer graphics were still so expensive that filming everything green screen, as is done now, was not any cheaper than building actual sets.

Elliot Nesterman

Edward Scissorhands (1990). A beautifully filmed, funny and sad fable. One of Johnny Depp's best performances, and one of the last film appearances of the wonderful Vincent Price. It has a great cast, including, again, Winona Ryder.

Elliot Nesterman

Double features were quite the usual thing, back when movie goers expected value for money. Not only would there be a main movie and a b

Manuel Johnen

Still one of the cheapest looking, expensive movies I've ever seen...

Keith Boyd

You should also check another movie that Tim Burton, the director of this fim did called Edward Siccorhands with a young Johnny Depp.

Tyler Foster

One particularly interesting thing is that I believe that Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands are the only two times Tim Burton directed movies that were not based on some sort of existing source material (including people's lives, in at least two instances). Book, television show, comic, play, or another movie.

Fatty Boombatty

One interesting thing about Beetlejuice was, it wasn’t based on anything! No comic book, no regular book, no older movie or tv show. You don’t see too many of those these days. Everything is a re-make/ re-boot/ retelling/ spin-off of something. My friend who loves Beetlejuice said- it was straight off “the dome” to the movie screen!

Fatty Boombatty

Ashleigh reacted to Beetlejuice already, but didn’t like it (to my surprise). Maybe she could give it another chance getting to know more Michael Keaton movies better. Plus it’s all good Tim Burton world

Michael Waldrep

The first Batman is good cheesy fun. It's a totally different type of movie than the Marvel movies.

T.J. Gengler

That just begs the question, could Christopher Reeve 'get it'? If he couldn't then who the hell could?!

WEEZER MANN

Michael Keaton was also Beatlejuice in the other Tim Burton Movie Beatlejuice.... Check out Michael Keaton in the movie Mister Mom...Also a great film to react to.

Richard Meyer

I never noticed before that he couldn’t turn his head. That was hilarious!

Jennifer M

I always enjoyed this movie but watching this has made me realize how much more I like the second one. Looking forward to seeing how many stars that one gets!

Jill Peterson

microfiche. Super useful. Still around in big libraries.

Jill Peterson

The machine to look at old newspaper articles is a microfiche reader. (microfiche: a flat piece of film containing microphotographs of the pages of a newspaper, catalog, or other document.) They are pretty cool. Many larger libraries in bigger cities still have them.

Thomas Ivie

Ashleigh definitely needs to give it a listen. Such a funky good song!

Thomas Ivie

I vividly remember when this came out. We went to see Ghostbusters II at the theater, and then went to the midnight showing of Batman immediately afterward. That was my first time seeing a double feature at the movies. Then that summer I got to meet Adam West (the original Batman) at the World of Wheels in Atlanta. They also had on display the Batmobile from this movie. It was so cool in real life. For Halloween 1989 I went as the Joker. I even had green spray in my hair. It was a huge movie to me that year. Michael Keaton is still my favorite Batman, even though the Christopher Nolan films are also very good.

Freddy Spence

DC keeps going simply because we live in the matrix! There is no reality, we’re just all being tortured by someone else’s perception of reality, because everyone knows between DC & Marvel...DC Sucks!!! Happy Birthday to me btw 🎂

Gemma Clement

Love Tim Burtons Batman(s) so happy you are into this series. But... Michael Keaton CAN get it! 💛😘😂 xx

Paul Johnson

"This town needs an enema!" :)

Paul Johnson

Great reaction...Liked the 1st 2 Burton Batmans(men?) which includes "Batman Returns" which features Danny Devito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfieffer as Catwoman...the franchise turned to shit when Joel Schumacher took over as director "Batman Forever" with Val Kilmer as Bruce/Batman which is just plain bad and "Batman and Robin" with George Clooney as B/B which is next level atrocious...

Jason Nunez

If you want to see a campy Batman movie I’d suggest the 1966 Adam West Batman movie. It’s Campy fun.

Fatty Boombatty

They changed directors too. I recently heard that Joel Schumacher is a gay man. And his Batman movies were like franchise suicide (especially Batman & Robin). I enjoy the Kevin Smith commentary videos for these old Batman movies on YouTube. He could have been nicer to Tim Burton. We have him to thank for getting the ball rolling— darker, gritty, focusing more on the villains.

Brandie Woodward

Michael Keaton is the best Batman. You will have to see Superman with Christopher Reeve from 1978.

Fatty Boombatty

What is that? Is that like a computer??? Ashleigh, that is a microfilm scanner/ amplifying/ viewing machine. They have them at libraries to look at old newspapers that have been archived. Because newspapers take up a lot of space and rot over time. Now we just use the internet to find out things in movies. I call them “internet revelations” when they learn about occult/ magic stuff in a horror movie (instead of going to a library). That’s kind of stupid because true information on demons and stuff isn’t just floating around online! I’m a demon-hunting ghostbuster... I just Google search everything for research 🥸

Fatty Boombatty

Batman! Batman... somebody tell me what kind of world we live in today? where a man DRESSED UP AS A BAT gets all my press!

Rebecca Monk

Looking forward to this one!!!

James Falato

Jack Nicholson was well reimbursed for his long, intense make-up sessions as the Joker... He received a large percentage of the gross monies from both the movie and also all merchandise, so he made over $60 million...

SCSponge

"Jack Nicholson can get it" reminds me of this clip of Robin Williams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxyGRZsPjgQ

A later Batman movie you will see how got paired with Robin But watch the 1966 Batman movie that is based on the TV series.

Tyler Foster

DC keeps going because there are separate iterations of the characters that aren't connected to one another. (I'll leave out a bunch of specifics, like cast members and whatnot, to preserve any surprises.) There are four movies in this "era" of Batman: Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997). After that, the very popular Christopher Nolan era started, with Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The most recent era is arguably the most convoluted, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and then Justice League (2017)/Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), which are connected to Man of Steel (2013), Suicide Squad (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), Aquaman (2018), Shazam! (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Wonder Woman 1984 (2020), and the upcoming films The Suicide Squad, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, and an untitled Flash movie. Next year, The Batman will also kick off a new era of the character with the role being taken over by someone else. There were also a couple of versions before this one: the 1966 Batman TV show (which has a very different, goofy tone than the rest of the Batman stuff), and a bunch of 1940s serials, as well as the very fun LEGO Batman Movie. And this isn't even getting into all of the Batman TV shows and DTV movies! I don't imagine people will make you watch most of these...but there's certainly no shortage of Batman content available for anyone who loves the character.

Tyler Foster

There were live-action Batman serials in the 1940s, so even the Adam West Batman isn't the first film/TV Batman!

Eric Greenwood

i have a soft spot for Cesar Romero.. (and the film the man who laughs who the creator of joker used)

Eric Greenwood

you know you are old when someone thinks the 1989 batman was the original and not the adam west series and film

Ian Jones

“Do we ever find out how he becomes Batman?” You’re going to regret asking that down the line.

Alexander Fish

Pretty sure this was the only time that the deaths of the parents were tied to the Joker, that's one liberty taken over the comics. Bruce uses the bat as a symbol of fear that he instills in criminals. You need to watch the 1978 Superman now, it is much more Marvelesque in its presentation.

Laura Neary Smith

I have fond memories of seeing this film with my family at the drive-in theater. Loved the music and Michael Keaton (who was also Beetlejuice) is still my fave Batman. It's just too bad he didn't get a better costume.

Lynnetta

I had to immediately follow up the reaction viewing with a listen to Prince's "Batdance." I remember waiting with my tape recorder for the local radio station to play Batdance so I could record it.

Bill Bevins

Jack Nicholson is still my favorite Joker performance. Heath Ledger was great but Nicholson is so campy. He made this movie great. I have the DVD and will do the watch along later today.

Tyler Foster

Also, maybe you cut it out, but I was wondering if you'd recognize Billy Dee Williams, aka Lando Calrissian as Harvey Dent.

C. A.

I saw this opening night back in 1989. While we were all outside waiting for the next showing, a car full of other teenagers who had just seen the movie drove past us and yelled out, “The Joker killed his parents!” The line I was in responded with an onslaught of “Asshole!!!” Haha. Looking back it was funny.

Tyler Foster

The "not-a-computer" is called a microfiche ("micro-feech") machine. The papers are printed on tiny rolls of film and you view them using the machine, which is like a projector, basically. Saves space compared to keeping hundreds of newspapers. Also, they did fix Batman's neck problem in Batman Returns at Michael Keaton's insistence.

ingibingi2000

DC doesn't really have an ongoing continuity like the mcu, honestly the mcu is pretty unique in that regard. This is just a batman movie that got some sequels but then they change actors and directors in the third one

Eventually you're going to have to watch young Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider (along with Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda).

Tim Phistry

Yay another pick from Chis... at least it is from the 1980's :-)

T.J. Gengler

This is much more of a Tim Burton movie than a Batman movie, and I'm OK with that.