tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post1125888139774506427..comments2023-12-30T23:07:52.065-08:00Comments on CANNON: Batman Begins vs. BatmanCannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12886860130286869992noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post-26254282487943844382023-10-08T17:34:26.914-07:002023-10-08T17:34:26.914-07:00Batman Begins is boring as hell. None of it has an...Batman Begins is boring as hell. None of it has anything to do with Batman from the comics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post-49505881840078711592015-04-15T10:38:33.484-07:002015-04-15T10:38:33.484-07:00While I do enjoy Nolan's Batman films they do ...While I do enjoy Nolan's Batman films they do pale in comparison to what Burton was allowed to get away with... I mean, if you think about it - he did some pretty audacious stuff with the first BATMAN film considering how much the studio was probably breathing down his neck. Just the risky casting of Michael Keaton alone is pretty impressive. I remember the hoopla when he was announced and then how the haters were forced to eat it when Keaton hit it out of the park. For me, the defining scene for his performance is when he tries to tell Vicki that he's Batman. How Keaton plays it - hesitantly, fumbling to find the words - is a mini-master class in acting. I love it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08164105442273577128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post-31896378183087573552014-10-29T09:04:37.946-07:002014-10-29T09:04:37.946-07:00"I like my movies wet and warm... wait that c..."I like my movies wet and warm... wait that came out sounding a bit odd."<br /><br />Oh, embrace it, Roman. Embrace it. <br /><br />I'm not a Nolan fan either, but he's one of those whose films I make an effort to see theatrically (as I will next week with <b>Interstellar</b>) so I can continuingly understand what it is about them that I don't care for. That might sound bias or like some preconceived negative, but it is to a degree actually out of respect for the director's work: I'd rather give my fullest attention to what I don't like about his films, and why, instead of just smugly dismissing them without even making an effort to see them as intended. <br /><br />And good shout-out for <b>The Animated Series</b>. I was weaned on that show as a kid during its inaugural run. I even sat in an empty theater for <b>Mask of the Phantasm</b> ...and loved it. Anyways, thanks for the drop.Cannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12886860130286869992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post-42570393958220680432014-10-29T08:13:37.367-07:002014-10-29T08:13:37.367-07:00I gotta agree with you on this one Cannon. You are...I gotta agree with you on this one Cannon. You are one of the few folks I've run into that actually doesn't think Nolan's Batman trilogy is the greatest slice of superhero fiction to hit the screens.<br /><br />I think you and John hit the nail on the head. Nolan's films are technically well made, but they are dull, lifeless and in some cases boring. "Dark Knight" is the best of the three, but to be honest Ledger made it more interesting. And I usually like Bale, and his performance isn't bad. There seems to be potential there, but Nolan kept it from really delving deeper. <br /><br />I'm not a huge Nolan fan anyway. I find most of his movies too cold and dry. I like my movies wet and warm... wait that came out sounding a bit odd. <br /><br />And finally Keaton really worked for me as Wayne and Batman. I think his approach was a perfect fit for his film. But yeah, The Animated Series just about trumps them all. :)<br /><br />Great to have you back.Roman J. Martelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09545497713474664555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post-23889575303905888762014-10-28T09:15:33.520-07:002014-10-28T09:15:33.520-07:00Thanks for reading it.
Again, I've nothing cy...Thanks for reading it.<br /><br />Again, I've nothing cynical to say about Nolan's take. He gave us a Batman we'd never before seen. Good for him, sincerely. It's just that his sensibilities are not my sensibilities. <br /><br />And, yeah, "whimsy" and "perversion" are what I more memorably took away from Burton's run. Or just imagination, period. I can't say I dig <b>Batman Returns</b> quite as much as the original. It's a bit too stop-and-go-stop-and-go in pacing and too far down the rabbit hole of Burton's patented macabre. It lacks the rawness of the first film, tonally/aesthetically trading in hazy darkness for inky blacks. <br /><br />The 'zoinkers!' fetishes in <b>Batman</b> are kept in check by a certain, contemporary, unassuming normalcy of daytime scenes along with Bruce and Vicki's interludes, whereas the sequel seems to overwhelm Keaton with all manner of bizarreness to a degree that leaves him in a constant state of blank-faced bewilderment. Yet such is also the film's charming audacity ...Gotham under siege by an army of penguins mounted with rocket-launchers, for fuck's sake. You get you dollar's worth. <br /><br />Thanks again for the comments. Cannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12886860130286869992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4709821965033515301.post-36772909847899811352014-10-28T05:47:59.970-07:002014-10-28T05:47:59.970-07:00Hi Cannon,
Wonderful article, and I agree with yo...Hi Cannon,<br /><br />Wonderful article, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. The purpose of the Nolan trilogy is to make us believe, on a concrete level, that Batman could exist in this world; in our world. Everything is therefore presented as gritty and realistic, and, from a creative standpoint, dumbed-down so that there is no symbolic resonance. There is no sense of whimsy, fantasy, or real dark psychology, which you find in the very production design of Burton's film. In Burton's film, Batman and Joker are connected to their strange world, and born of that strange world (which looks like German Expressionism gone wild...). By placing Batman so squarely in our "reality," the Nolan films rob the character of some of his magic and wonder, and, yes, perversion. I know that people love the Nolan films, but I prefer Burton's two goes at the franchise. Thank you for writing this!!John Kenneth Muirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.com