With streaming a dear do and nearly everything I want to watch on NOW, which we don't have or needing to be rented on Prime or Netflix, despite paying for them already, I've bought my first DVDs in years.
Second hand in a charity shop, £2 for a boxed set of the initial four Batman films 1989 to 1997. Basically, Keaton to Clooney.
Having watched the Bale era trilogy, Nolans Dark Knight saga, last month, I've gone back to the beginning,nowhere the bat first flew again on the big screen.
Tim Burton's late-1980's Batman was an important moment for me, a knight of passage. I was 28, a young Dad, in very reflective mood and all the childhood nostalgia I held was welling up inside me and seeking some outlet.
Batman provided it.
This one film gave a name to my new obsession:
toys!
The shops were full of Keaton's gadgets and gizmos. The plastic batarang, the grapple hook, the batmobile. It was the Sixtie's Adam West all over again, only better!
I wuz amazed and slowly began to remember all the toys I'd had as a kid. It was a revelation and the springboard to a lifetime of collecting, selling, reading about and ultimately blogging madly over ..., toys!
I re-watched Batman last night.
Me, Michael, Jack and Kim.
It's simply divine film-making, Burton's gothic milestone, which will never be beaten.
So, as the leaves fly as the Batcar zooms by, next up is .... Returns!
Did you like the 1989 Batman movie?
Sorry, but for me Batman will always be Adam West, both in the TV series and the 1966 movie. I see that Batman set has a 15 Certificate in Britain, meaning no one under 15 is allowed to watch them. In NZ those four films are all PG or M, meaning all are unrestricted. The BBFC is very strict.
ReplyDeleteYes, Batman is a taste thing for sure Paul. Everyone will have a favourite Batman. The censorship is interesting, since there were tons of toys released for Tim Burtons two films. This blog is a result of those toys!
DeleteI'm with Mr Adams here - having been immersed in the campy '66 TV series, all of the new versions seemed too dark and serious to me. Which is probably what the comic book is supposed to be, but as I never read that, the Fox series set the standard. SFZ
DeleteHa ha, yep, Adam West was brilliant I agree. I loved Cesar Romero's joker a lot, in fact all the villains are totally memorable. That theme tune too. Yep, a milestone I agree SF and Paul. I l
DeleteI just love Burton's Batman 1989 a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that Kilmers first film is a Tim Burton too. I didn't know that. Something was lost somehow.
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