Tim Burton’s Batman Films Review

This is Kevin Conway, and I am the goddamn Batman.

Hello. Gotham corner store? Yes, we seem to be

down to our last diet cook. A gentleman is on

his way to pick some up. Just look for a black

car. No, this black car will be rather difficult

to miss. And by the way, the gentleman is usually

in quite a rush. Just for the day There is nothing

wrong with your podcast player do not attempt

to adjust the volume Hello and welcome back to

our studio. You are now inside studio 2009 I'm

of course TF2 on mic joining me is Steve Megatron.

Hello. How are you? Good. How are you? I am well,

this is episode 14 of studio 2009 I can't believe

we've made 14 episodes so far. Whoo And last

week and this is not a normal thing folks. It's

just how it had to happen last week. We actually

had our first special guest star that is not

a podcast approach episode, because Steve is

more Trek than Wars. So thank you to Birdman

for starting off the 12 months of Star Wars here

in Scythia 2009 with me. And now this week we're

going to talk about Burton's Batman. Now, if

you're a long time GCRN listener, you'll know

that we have covered Batman, we have covered

Star Wars in the past, but that's in the past.

And those audio recordings probably sound like

crap now. And they're way too long. Well, yes,

that too. So my thought was, OK, let's go by

not necessarily a director spotlight, but let's

go by director. Let's talk about the Burton films.

And then at a later point, somewhere down the

line here inside Studio 2009, we're going to

talk about the Schumacher films. So he wants

me to die. Oh, please. Knock it off. Anyway.

So, yes, Burton's Batman is what this episode

is called. I have just watched both Batman 89

and Batman Returns today as of this recording.

I have not seen either one of these films in

a long, long time, but To get some just -the

-facts out of the way in case you didn't know,

which I don't know why you wouldn't, Batman...

Vicky Vail. Bruce Wayne. And what do you do for

a living? Lieutenant, is there a six -foot bat

in Gotham City? Nice outfit. You look fine. I

didn't ask. I have given a name to my pain. What

are you? I'm Batman. How does he get those wonderful

toys? My life is really... Batman 89 obviously

directed by Tim Burton produced by John Peters

and Peter Goober G -U -B -E -R at first I thought

it said Gruber I'm like wait a minute wrong person

wrong franchise it is obviously based off of

it I find this interesting how they classify

this based on characters appearing in magazines

published by DC Comics Magazines published by

DC Comics. Interesting, because they used to

be called magazines. Starring Jack Nicholson,

Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wall, Pat

Hingle, Billy Dee Williams. Hey, what's Lando

doing in here? Oh right, he's playing a DA. Michael

Goff and Jack Palance. The music was done by

Danny Elfman. The release date was June 19th,

1989 in... Westwood, California and then world

or in the United States June 23rd 1989 126 minutes

for Batman and It supposedly had a budget of

35 million with a box office of four hundred

eleven point six million So it more than made

its way back. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, and That's

just the facts. Just the facts will be better

or worse depending on the film. We have three

categories that we're gonna analyze these films

with and as I said starting out with Batman our

history with the film now the topics here are

as follows did you watch the film in theaters

when was the last time you saw the film what

did you remember most about this film before

catching up with it recently and what level of

a fan were you heading into prep work for this

recording I'll let you answer the first question

first did you watch oh wait you couldn't watch

this in theaters you were three years old at

the time yes i was three young whippersnapper

get off my lawn i did not watch this in theaters

i was nine at the time and what i remember is

catching it when it hit uh vhs at the time i

think in i want to say by christmas of 1990 because

i have a vivid memory of sitting in both JC Penney

and Sears, their entertainment section at the

time, and watching this on their TV at JC Penney

and Sears while my mom was shopping. I remember

being at Sears more than I remember being at

JC Penney because Sears at the time... back then

was, you know, they had everything but they also

had a really cool electronics section and they

had TVs and this that and the other thing and

VCRs and Betamax and whatever. I remember just

sitting there glued to the TV and eventually

I would have it on VHS myself at some point or

another and I did watch it at home but I just

have that vivid memory of Christmas 1990 watching

this thing on VHS in a Sears store while my mother

shopped. As far as the last time I saw this film,

it was probably a decade ago at this point, whenever

we did Movie Week in Review episode 25, I believe,

or whenever we did the original Batman coverage

back in our old movie podcast, Movie Week in

Review. That was probably the last time I saw

it as well. Yeah. And what I remember most about

this film is a lot of things, actually. I remember

not only the Prince soundtrack because Prince

was all over the music in this. I remember the

Jenny Elfman score. I remember Michael Keaton

as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. I remember Jack

Nicholson having basically head credit. So the

Joker got credit over Batman in this, which is

fine. I mean, Jack, you think Jack Nicholson

and you think Michael Keaton. I think the only

other thing without actually looking anything

up of Michael Keaton's at the time was I maybe

saw a film probably after this that he was in,

but I know he was in a bunch of other things

in the 80s. Other things are the Batmobile. Oh,

no one can ever forget the Batmobile, especially

if you're a nine -year -old watching this movie.

Yeah, that's just completely unforgettable. What

about you? Well, I mean I remember Quite a bit

about the movie considering every time I watch

something. I have a hard time forgetting it Especially

when I've seen it a million times Or what seems

that way anyway, but no, I mean I I'd like some

Keaton playing Batman and Bruce Wayne. I'd like

to the batmobile I liked The suit even though

all he could do was pivot at the waist I remember

how awkward it was to see him try and turn his

head for a situation and you just see his whole

body like stiffly like turn which is a departure

from what they do now with posable head. But

I mean there was that and then I knew Keaton

from a lot of his comedies funny enough. Some

of them being Johnny Dangerously and Man there

was just there was so many other movies that

I'd seen him in but like Beetlejuice Yeah I Mean

there were other Comedies that he was in I just

I don't remember them off top of my head, but

those two like kind of stood out for me But I

always liked him as an actor. So it was kind

of I didn't have this whole, you know, thought

process of it has to be Keaton or it has to be,

you know, this type of Batman. Cause at the time

when I saw it, for one, yeah, there was no other

other than Adam West. And that was a totally

different take. And Nicholson was just creepy.

Okay. So you want to know what's funny about

this as I'm rewatching this today for this recording.

And I'm sure other people, other podcasters have

said this, and I think I've heard several of

them say this. I, on this specific watch through

for this podcast, since this is a new discussion

for us here inside this show, because this show

is a new show on the GCRN. I wanted to pay attention

to things and bring up things that I had never

noticed before. And with Nicholson as the Joker.

I see so much of Cesar Romero in him from 66.

Just little things. It's the little like - Well,

it's the ways that he would kind of like hold

himself or like lean forward and put his hands

together as he's like cackling and doing the

jumping around stuff. Right. Or the facial expressions.

There were several times I'm like, ghosts of

Cesar Romero. Great Cesar Romero's ghost. Oh

my God. you know kind of thing and the one there

was one time i think it was when he was trying

to pull up the joker close to the end of the

film there was one time where michael keaton

at as batman in the suit where his face looked

so much like adam west i'm hoping i can go back

and get a screen cap of this to show everybody

in the post but it's one of those things where

i'm like holy shades of Adam West like it was

just so like and I hadn't noticed it before and

a lot of things in this movie that stuck out

to me were things that have always stuck out

but There's a lot of things that I completely

forgotten about this movie like the fact that

you have You know Lando Calrissian. I mean I

didn't forget the fact I mean I knew Billy Dee

Williams was Harvey Dent, but it was like oh

It was a weird take. It wasn't even a weird take.

It was just Harvey Dent DA There wasn't any twist

there wasn't any oh my god He's going to eventually

become two -faced or anything like that and it's

funny. I actually did some math on this I was

curious to know how old Billy Dee was at the

time that this film came out in 89 he would have

been 52 years old He's 84 now. I'm like, holy

crap And it's just so it's just It has I'm sure

it has its problems and has its critiques But

I literally was transported back to 1990 when

I was watching this as a ten -year -old Watching

this today and I was looking out for various

things There's a us in the scene where Batman

crashes into the the door it's in the beginning

of the film where He throws something like after

he and Vicky leave for the first time He throws

something in there afterwards and I'm like, oh,

I never noticed that before It was just the little

little things and yes I do remember seeing Beetlejuice

as a kid because the Beetlejuice came out in

88 and I probably saw that around 89 or so um

the dream team was always a fun one we might

have to watch that someday that that would be

a good discussion i think but i mean all of these

actors in this i mean i mean nicholson how can

you go wrong with jack nicholson as the joker

he's had a storied career before this film and

even after it yeah just crazy crazy stuff what

level of a fan were we heading into the prep

work for this movie i've always been a batman

fan ever since i was a kid even before the movie

came out. Heading into the prep work, I've been

a Batman fan ever since kind of thing. I've done

eight years of The Pull Bag, and we've done loads

and loads of Batman comic reviews over there.

We've done Batman Top Ten type stuff over there.

You and I did a whole Legends of the Dark Knight

podcast where we covered BTAS and Batman Beyond.

You know, so I I'd always been a fan and the

funny thing is when this movie came out I told

my mom I want a real Batman suit I think it was

for like 1991 Halloween maybe or it might have

been even for 1990 before the thing came out

of VHS I just remember seeing the suit or something

and I'm like, ooh, I want that my mom Sent away

for a an iron -on Remember kids, iron -ons are

these things your parents used to be able to

just iron on your shirt to make a black shirt,

a Batman shirt. So I had a black sweatshirt.

She had the Batman iron -on. She ironed that

on. She actually made me Batman gloves and a

cowl and cape because she used to sew, my mom

used to sew all the time. So she went out and

got the material and made this for me and I was

Batman one year for Halloween. So that's how

much of a fan. I was and still am. Yeah. I mean,

I was a pretty big fan actually growing up because

some of my first comics, some of my first toys,

I had a lot of the 89 film toys. I had comics

that kind of related to that with the Nightfall

and everything else. I had a huge interest in

it. Plus, I loved the BTAS series, Justice League,

Batman Beyond, a variety of series like that.

it wasn't that big of a deal to me to want to

do this. Plus the fact that I've always been

a fan of Michael Keaton's. So pretty much like

anything he's in, I'll pretty much watch it.

And these like Johnny Dangerously and other films

he's done like Multiplicity and some things from

the 80s and 90s, it kind of helped me watch this

anyway. I think I saw this when I was five. Oh,

cool. The one thing I will say about the Burton

films, though, is I would not show them to children

today. More so Batman Returns than Batman, but

we'll get to Batman Returns in a little bit.

Yeah, well, when we get to that, I've got a story.

Oh, boy. I took a couple of notes getting into

like the film breakdown of it all. It's always

fun to see where they end up putting the Shakespeare

bust in whatever Batman thing they're doing,

because obviously the Shakespeare bust is a reference

to the Batpoles from 66. It is on Grissom's desk

or whatever it's behind him when he sits down

to make the call to Eckhart to set up Jack. So

I noticed that there. In this re -watching this

time, I noticed a lot of lines that I've never

noticed before. When Vicky is obsessed with Bruce

and she's talking to Knox. He she walks away

and he says forget about Bruce Wayne. I'm on

to Batman. I never noticed that line before.

Not saying it wasn't ever there because obviously

it was, but you know, what are some highlights

and lowlights of the film for you? Highlights?

Well, I love where Bruce. is in his house and

Joker has made his way within and decides he's

going to try and kill him. And Bruce is like,

you want to get nuts? Let's get nuts. Oh, that's

what he was at Vicky's. Yeah. Yeah. Well, either

way, like I, that's one of my favorite, one of

my favorite scenes because it's only something

that I feel like Keaton could pull off. Let's

get nuts. Absolutely. Out of all the Batmans

we've had over the years, I think Keaton's is

the only one that could pull off that kind of

a crazed version of him. I loved that aspect.

Plus, we got to see this big computer for the

Batcave and we got to see him methodically sitting

there planning things out, being more of a detective,

not just a guy beating the crap out of people.

And so I feel like that that, I mean, plus it

inspired the animated series. So there's a lot

of highlights with this, the theme song by Danny

Elfman, the renditions we got, the colors, the

fact that, you know, Tim Burton brought this

to life and made it into something. The fact

that because of these two films, There's the

likelihood it's still in the rumor stage, but

it's still the likelihood that This Batman will

be reprising in the current DC you Yeah, and

and that is a huge highlight now the lowlights.

I didn't care for the Prince songs. I didn't

care for Some of the Some of the henchmen aspects

some of the hoaxiness with it I didn't care for

the the twisting at the waist for him to look

around but In a grand scheme of things, I enjoyed

the majority of it and I liked that we got the

batwing. We got Joker shooting it out of the

sky. Yeah, that's a big gun there, Joker. Yeah.

I think he's compensating for something. Yeah,

always. And then in his death scene, I didn't

feel like was... I mean, I understood it, but

I was kind of like, oh. Yeah, his death scene

was way more traumatic than I remember it being.

I remember it being just like, you know, as a,

as a 10 year old watching this, I'm like, Oh,

Roadrunner, you know, Wile E. Coyote Splat. Obviously

that's not what it is, but you know, for me highlights.

I'm not the biggest Prince fan in the world,

but at the same time, I don't dislike the guy's

stuff. And I thought it was ingenious where they

put the songs in the movie to the beats of the

fit. Like, I mean, party man in the scene where

he's in the museum and wrecking all the paintings

and whatever else. And like, I like how they

used it in the film kind of thing. Same thing

with, uh, with trust. Like. Joker's whole thing

at the, at the, at his 200th birthday thing is

like, who do you trust? Who do you trust? And

you know, it's kind of ironic that they use that.

Um, the lowlights for me, I wish Vicky was in

something else. Like I know Vicky was created

for this film, but I wish we had, like back then

I wish we had seen her in say the animated series

or. other DCAU stuff or in other animated film

stuff from the DC animated universe stuff that

they've been doing for years now. She was okay,

but she was never ever going to be a consistent

character past this film. And the other thing

that I really on this rewatching that I didn't

really like was the whole misdirection with the

parents deaths, because you essentially see it

twice. The beginning one where it's Jimmy the

little kid and Harold and like that's basically

to set up the plot of, oh, Joker killed his parents.

And then you actually get to see it again. where

it's actually Thomas, Martha, and Bruce. That

always confused me as a kid. It was like, okay,

we saw this scene in the first part of the movie,

why are we seeing it now? This has to be one

of the most quotable Batman films ever. Oh yeah,

and it was fun. Yes, so many quotes. Steve, you're

my number one guy, kind of thing. A giant bat,

man, I'm telling you, a giant bat. What are you?

I'm Batman. And he still uses that quote today.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Was it last, 2020 or 2019?

I think it was 2020 that there was a video floating

around and I'll find it and link it in the show

stood up there and then at the end he's like...

I bet. Yeah. And he does it still like in just

about everything that he shows up on. Yep. Do

you have a favorite special effect from this

film? I mean, I don't really think so. It was

pretty much I don't know if I would call any

of it really special effects. Well, they're all

practical, but I mean. Yeah. Well, I'm saying

like I wouldn't call it like when I think of

special effects nowadays, I kind of think of

They had to use some kind of a CGI aspect or

something to make it look extra, you know sleek

and shiny, but I Mean, I guess I would consider

some of the technology. Mm -hmm more than anything

else, but Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I would

per se say that it's special effects is Something

in here for me the biggest one Even though it

was also a practical effect and I love practical

effects. Don't get me wrong I don't always need

to see CGI and whatever else But it was the Batmobile's

shields. I loved that. Yeah, I Freaking loved

that. I thought that yeah, I guess that counts

as a special effect. Yes. Oh It was so good.

I loved it so much and it was so funny because

I again distinctly remember Going after the Batmobile

that year for Christmas, even though the movie

was still in theaters Christmas of 89 when that

Batmobile came out And I was kind of let down

because the how they did the shields on the original

toy It was just a black plastic overlay where

you just set it on top of the car Well, I mean

what were they supposed to do you wouldn't button

but obviously Although you know the returns version

of the toy split apart into three components.

Yep. Yep. Which always one side the spring never

wanted to stay. Nope. All right. So how the film

held up. Did the film... So these are the questions

that we'll be asking each other and other potential

guests in the future, as well as you heard last

week with Mike de Bermandade and myself. Did

the film keep your interest throughout? Are you

itching to watch the next film now? Would you

recommend this film to people? Overall grade

GCR and Universal Writing System. All right,

so I'll let you go first. Did the film keep your

interest throughout this time around? I would

say so. I mean, I enjoyed the pacing. I enjoyed

that it wasn't... I mean, you look at a lot of

modern superhero films, they're way too long.

I'm not saying that to be like a curmudgeon on

the old stuff, but I feel like there's a point

where they just throw a lot of extra in that

could be cut. This had just the perfect amount

of everything. you had a little bit of Bruce

Wayne, you had a little bit of Batman, you had

a little bit of Joker, you had a little bit of

pre -Joker, you had a little bit of the dancing

between the two of them and him selling his beauty

products and the smiling fish type thing. You

got a little bit of the taste of everything and

I feel like it still holds up relatively well.

It looks dated in cinematography. Compared to

everything that's out now where there's some

of it they try and have it somewhat stemmed in

realism But it's not full of like all of that

crazy special effects to just kind of simulate

a bunch of crap for the sake of having it So,

I don't know. I feel like it held up pretty well.

Yeah, I This film because I haven't watched it

in years I've had it on Couple years ago. I grabbed

the four pack thing on voodoo. So that's where

where I have the film and I hadn't seen it. Like

I said in a decade or so and I was like, oh,

okay, cool the only parts that really kind of

Didn't keep my interest was Joker's obsession

with Vicky at times and what he did to Alicia

and that kind of thing. But overall, I was glued

to my TV watching this. I could not like, I might've

paused to take a screen cap or something, or

I might've paused to take a bathroom break or

something. But like overall, I loved watching

this movie. As far as itching to watch the next

film. Not really for me. I was never, and we'll

get into that discussion when we go to Batman

Returns here in a little bit, but I was never

a fan of it. It's my least favorite of the four.

But were you itching to watch the next one after

this? I was only for the fact that it has Keaton.

I wasn't because it was just a downright creepy

movie. in more ways than one. Oh, yes. Absolutely.

Would you recommend this to people in general?

Not kids or anything like that, but just would

you recommend people watch this movie? The first

one? Yes. Because ultimately it set the tone

for everything that's come since. Right. Yeah,

I would recommend this to anybody and just, you

know, check it out and see if you, you know,

especially if someone wants to get into Batman.

I would say check this out. I'm sure there's

plenty of other things I can have them check

out before this, but on a film level, on a specifically

strictly movie level, I would have them watch

this and then have them explore other things.

And finally, our GCRN universal rating scale.

We had, we go zero to five with half points as

well. What would you give this one zero to five?

I'd probably give it a four. Okay. I've been

doing this with some podcasts because I actually

realized we still have these listings on the

website. For those that don't know, on our rating

scale, a 4 .0 is really good. The overall quality

is very high and surely to be positive, a positive

experience for all those that partake. The issues

that are there are impossible to ignore, but

not predominant enough to have a large impact

on your experience. Returning to it in the future

may allow you to forgive certain problems, but

may also lead to discovery of new ones. And that's

interesting. because I noticed that, like I said,

I was noticing a lot more things that I had never

noticed before with this. I'm also going to give

this a four. I really dug it. I thought it was

fun. I thought it was interesting. It's a great

take on Batman. I wish it explored Batman and

Bruce a little bit more, but I understand in

the time constraints and whatever, you really

couldn't do that. So there is that. We are gonna

take a quick break and then we're gonna come

back and talk about Batman Returns after this.

Ah, brave new world that has such patsas in it.

You know kids, a lot has changed while your old

uncle Joker's been away. New Gotham. New rules,

even a new Batman. It isn't 65 years in the future,

but Legends of the Dark Knight has gone beyond.

Batman Beyond, that is. Ah, the new boy. Ears

are too long and I missed the cape. But not too

shabby. Not too shabby at all. Join Steve and

Mike as they delve into the remaining episodes

of the podcast, where they'll cover Batman Beyond.

products, games, and more. Check it out only

on GeekCastRadio .com. From the rooftops of Gotham,

the perfect enemy comes to life. I am Catwoman.

Hear me roar. Yeah. who can save this city is

a creature of the night. Hey, Stud. I thought

we had something together. We do. While she craves

a romance, she can sink her claws into... You're

a cat now too, girl. He plots a foul reign of

destruction. My dear penguins! Thanks to Batman,

the time has come to punish all! Alright folks,

we are back and it's time to talk about Batman

Returns, obviously directed by Tim Burton. It

was produced by Tim Burton and Denise D 'Novi,

screenplay by Daniel Walters, story by Daniel

Walters and Sam Ham, based on characters appearing

in magazines published by DC Comics. This time

around the cast is as follows, Michael Keaton,

Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher

Walken, Michael Goff, Pat Hingle, and Michael

Murphy. Music by Danny Elfman. Release date was

June 19th, 1992. 126 minutes for a runtime. 65

to 80 million budget. 282 .8 million for a box

office, supposedly. Now here's the interesting

thing with this one. I actually saw this in theaters.

I was 12. And I just want to get this out of

the way right now, folks. So there's no other

arguments. I don't want to go any further with

it. I just want to have it right here in this

section of the podcast. Yes, I understand. This

movie takes place at Christmas time. They even

mentioned trees. Hell, it takes place at two

different Christmas times, 33 years ago and 33

years later. I get it. It's a film that takes

place at Christmas time. Why in the hell anyone

would want to watch this movie as a Christmas

movie is beyond me. As I watched this through,

I'm like, oh my God, this is the worst. Just

for what happens in the movie, this is the worst

Christmas type film ever. Oh, I agree. It's morbid.

Yeah, it's. I don't see how people are willing

to watch this movie during Christmas time. I

don't understand that at all. Um, so, uh, you

know, we're not always going to have two films

in the same podcast folks. So we are going through

the same format that we did with 89. Uh, yeah,

I saw this in theaters with a, at the time I

was at what they called a respite home. It was

kind of like a foster home, but it was for like,

if, if you were being too out of control and

your parents just needed a rest for you, you

know, arrest from you kind of thing, or you needed

some sort of behavioral modification thing. That's

what it was at the time. But when I was at that

home one of the one of the rewards we got if

as long as we behaved ourselves was that they

would take us to Batman returns and I had always

wanted to go with my mom and I'm like, oh I shouldn't

go because I want to go and they're like Well,

we're going like okay fine. Sorry mom can't help

you kind of thing and I saw this in theaters.

I was 12 years old and I do not remember a damn

thing about seeing this in theaters at all. Did

you watch this in theaters? No, I saw it during

a thunderstorm on cable. So I was trying to think

how old I was at this time. I think six. Yep.

Yeah, six. It scared the other living crap out

of me. The portrayal of Penguin just grossed

me out, creeped me out. To this day, I have a

hard time watching this film. It's one that I

avoid like the plague, not only because Christopher

Walken's role is kind of just creepy as Penguin's

handler, but then Penguin is just... disgusting.

And I was expecting to see like, you know, something

along the lines of what we got in the animated

series or something along the lines of what we

got in the the 66 show and we get this, whatever

this is, and then we get this weird version of

Catwoman as well. And I just, yeah, I just I

couldn't wrap my head around this film. It was

just creepy as all get up. Yeah, I completely

agree with you. And the last time I saw it once

again was probably when we were doing M Wire

over a decade ago now kind of thing. So I had

like, I will not out of the four films, this

is the one I've seen the least. I just It is

what it is. I want to take a look at Because

we highlighted Michael Keaton's filmography earlier.

I want to highlight Danny DeVito's a little bit

here because I mean The first thing I saw him

in probably was Wait what oh he was in the video

for it I guess Probably Hmm, ooh My little pony

the movie what's he doing in there? Yeah, first

thing I ever saw from Danny DeVito was a film

from 1987 Called throw mama from the train. It

was him and Billy Crystal. I absolutely loved

that Or the roses other people's money obviously

leading up to this Batman returns and then after

that I mean the man has you know between look

who's talking now and renaissance man and last

action hero um junior with schwarzenegger get

shorty matilda space jam mars attacks he's in

so many cool interesting films that i've enjoyed

over my lifetime he was um Phil from Hercules

in the Hercules film Just a fun fun Character

obviously he was on taxi. I remember watching

taxi as a kid and I know taxi is way too old

for you because You weren't even born when that

show aired But yeah, I mean the guy has done

some really really cool things in his career.

Well, and what's funny is So, him and Michael

Keaton and Tim Burton worked together again on

Dumbo. Yep. Yep, yep, yep. So, would you say

that about a decade ago was the last time you

saw Batman Returns? Oh, for sure. I avoid this

movie like the plague. Surprisingly, I don't

remember much about this movie other than the

Catwoman scenes with Hello There, Hell Here,

her and Penguin doing their little dance at the

beginning when she's on the bed and she swallows

his bird after a while and whatever. But what

I didn't remember about this movie was all of

the cool Batmobile scenes. Like everybody praises

89 for the Batmobile stuff and as rightfully

as they took this one to another level and they

had Penguin remote controlling the mobile. Yeah

It was so fun and so funny and so interesting.

I thought it was so cool That's the coolest thing

about this movie that I'll say is what happened

with the Batmobile What I also noticed this time

around and watching this is how much Alfred's

role actually was doing stuff to help Bruce as

Batman. I forgot Alfred was down in the cave

doing stuff. Well, and the funny thing is these

Tim Burton movies are what influenced how the

animated series played out and the other two

were not. Yep. Well, because again, when we get

to Schumacher's Batman, the other two were, okay,

we need to make this more comic booky. We need

to, you know, whatever. And I do not blame and

we'll talk about that way down the line. Whenever

we get to that episode of the podcast, I don't

blame Schumacher for anything. It's Warner Brothers.

Yeah, it's it's Warner Brothers. It's the same

problem that we have today. Yeah, true. They

can't get out of their own way enough to make

a good movie. So film breakdown, notes for me

on this one, highlights and lowlights for me

of the film. What I noticed watching this is

how much the plot shifts. And it shifts really,

really fast at times. I'm like, oh, hey, we're

now going to have a bunch of Catwoman scenes.

Oh, hey, wait a minute. We're now going to have

a bunch of Penguin scenes. And this to me right

here. even though it was a fluid kind of thing

of how they eventually were going to team up

the two of them. It basically created the whole

one villain too many kind of thing. I blame Batman

Returns for Spider -Man 3. Because this is the

movie where it's like, oh, hey, well, we had

Joker in the last one. Too many villains. Now

we got to bring in the love interests kind of

thing with Selena and Bruce. And I like them

as love interests. I like her being who she is

and him being who he is, but they can also find

a common ground. I like that. I think Michael

Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer had great chemistry.

You know, even though he had to pull off his

rubber mask at the end to you know, whatever

I like her transformation. I don't like the supernatural

aspect of That was one thing that creeped me

out this whole movie Reminds me of shades of

2016 in California. Oh As soon as she died as

soon as Max Shrek killed her All these cats come

up to her, they're licking her, I actually saw

them biting her hand. And I'm like, oh my God.

So now she has cat powers. Apparently she has

nine lives. They took the cat thing way over

the top in this movie. And it's so subtle with

how over the top it is because, you know, she

comes in, does her sewing, gets her costume ready

and all that and everything else. She pours out

the milk and then all the, all the neighborhood,

she doesn't just have Miss Kitty anymore. It's

all the other cats that originally had say, I'm

like, oh my God, that's way too, that's 13 cats

too many. Um, Penguin is creepy as hell. I like

him trying to find his, his parents. And I kind

of felt a little sorry for him because they were

gone, but come to find out that all of these

names that he's. Compiling isn't him looking

for his parents. It's him looking for the firstborn

sons of Gotham so he can kill them all because

he was a firstborn son of Gotham that, you know,

got left for dead. It's a weird plot, man. It's

weird. It's twisted and it's whatever. Highlights

again for me are the Batmobile. I love the Batboat.

I love that they didn't use the Batwing a second

time, that they actually used the Batboat. I

thought that was super cool. Well, gotta sell

more toys. True, but still, you know, it is what

it is. What about highlights and lowlights for

you for Batman Returns? Well, highlights, like

you mentioned, is the Batmobile, all of the different

tricks that it got to do, the remote control

aspect, the bullet car pop apart. I mean, there

were those aspects and again, the bat boat. You

get to see penguins boat, which at a car show,

I actually saw the Batmobile and penguins. The

duck boat. I love the duck boat. I had pictures

with me in those. Oh, wow. For the life of me,

cannot find them now. I'm sure they're somewhere

but I remember sitting in them and just being

over the moon about it because what kid doesn't

want to sit in the Batmobile? I mean, Batman

got a new suit in this. He can turn his head

a little more. Yeah, he could turn his head a

little bit more. He got a new belt and a new

chest plate basically on his suit. I was not,

the lowlights for me would probably be the storyline

of where they went with Penguin and Catwoman

because it was just strange. Yeah. I mean, this

is a Tim Burton movie and Tim Burton does make

strange films, but this to me - Yeah, but I mean,

we even got that in one of the Schumacher ones.

I mean, technically both of them had that kind

of weird, I mean, I believed the first one with

Phil Kilmer more than I did the George Clooney

one, which was just weird as well. Well, we'll

get to that. But for a Tim Burton film, though,

I mean, this is out there. This is Tim Burton

meets Batman on acid, I think. I agree. Because

here's the thing, like all is I can think of

is every other Tim Burton movie I had seen. before

this, specifically Edward Scissorhands. That's

the only one I can actively think of that I think

is slightly stranger than this movie. Um, it

just, it's just one of those things, man, and

I'm glad he did the directing for this. You know,

I don't, you know, whatever. Again, he's, he's

doing Paid for higher work here, but it's one

of those things where it was a little bit too

much Tim Burton II I think on this on this one

No, I definitely agree with you yeah and the

pacing of the movie as I mentioned earlier It

seemed like we were going from plot to plot to

plot to plot to plot so fast and Then it would

slow down the plot for a while And I'm like,

okay, you're gonna focus on one part of this,

please. As I said earlier, I do like Michelle

Pfeiffer Catwoman. I do like her version of Selena.

It's not my number one favorite version, but

watching this this time around, I was like, ooh,

I can kind of see her and Michael Keaton doing

something as Batman and Catwoman in the future.

Anything else you want to bring up? Any favorite

character moments or favorite special effect

in this one that you saw that you want to talk

about? I mean, the best special effects were

with the Batmobile. Everything else was kind

of out there. Right. Yeah. Same thing with me.

Going to how the film held up, did it keep our

interest throughout? For me it did this time

even though I had problems with it. I was pausing

this more and Checking other parts of social

media more than I was when I watched 89 But I

still but by the time the third or fourth or

the final act kind of started going through I'm

like, okay, this is cool. I'll watch this. What

about you? I Decided mentally after seeing it

that this was not one I wanted to rewatch. So

I would give it probably like a 2 .5 to three.

Okay. Would you? All right. So since you jumped

to the ratings, uh, 2 .5 on the scale of GCR

and universal scale below average, the cons slightly

outweigh the pros while negatives aren't overbearing.

They are far too plentiful to make it worthy

of a recommend. There might be a certain redeeming

qualities that are worth your time. However,

in the end, the product leaves you wanting more.

Uh, I'm gonna give it a 3 .0. I... No, I'm not.

Yeah, I'm probably gonna give it a 2 .5 as well.

I just... I... Wanted this rewatch to be slightly

better Like I wanted the film to be slightly

better on this rewatch and I knew going into

it It was not going to be but I was trying my

best To hope that it would be Sadly, that's that's

not the case. Yeah, I just I couldn't do it It's

just I I tried and it's just I I don't blame

Tim Burton and Keaton for not wanting to come

back for a third. This is a film that I would

most definitely not recommend to people. I would

recommend Batman and Robin before I recommend

this. Is that the fourth movie? Yeah. Yeah. I

don't know if I'd go that far, but I would at

least recommend Batman forever over this. Oh,

absolutely. Cause at least then I get Jim Carrey.

Alrighty then. Or as some of the Star Wars memes

say, Alderani then. What a rush. What a rush.

That's right. Alright, we're gonna take a quick

break, you're gonna hear some other podcast ads

and things like that, and we're gonna come back

with final words and all that good stuff in closing

of this episode of Studio 2009 after this. Also,

don't miss our Director Retrospective Series,

where we review noted director's movies, film

by film. Bottom line is, if you love movies and

love podcasts, you need to experience the Cinema

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Skeletor, hurry! I am hurrying, I'm hurrying!

I know what we're doing today. Okay, Michael,

if we're going to tackle this podcast thing,

we've got to do something really special. It

has to be cool, daily, in audio form, and undetectable

by radar. Something that screams summer. I know,

let's do a Phineas and Ferb review podcast. We'll

call it the Podcast Organization Without a Colacronym,

or Pauka for short. What do you think? I think

if we're not careful, Candice is gonna bust us.

You can find Palka on the GeekCast, Radio Network,

iTunes, Blog Talk Radio, and all of the other

methods you find podcasts. Okay then, carry on.

I am shocked and dismayed. Well now you can't

be both. You be shocked, I'll be dismayed. Coming

in 2016, Steve Megachon and myself, TF2 and Mike

bring you a brand new TV review show. Welcome

to Podcaster Meets World. That's right, we're

launching a Boy and Girl Meets World review podcast

here on the GCRN. It'll take us 70 episodes of

the podcast to review all 158 episodes of Boy

Meets World. After that, we will tackle Girl

Meets World. You can find Podcaster Meets World

on GeekCastRadio .com and iTunes starting late

summer, early fall 2016. So come on and walk

through the world with us. All right. We are

back here inside studio 2009 and do you have

anything that you think was missed? Anything

that we didn't go in depth on it? Did we not

talk about the plot enough? I would like to think

that people know these movies like we do, like

the back of their hand. I mean, we're not actually

recording this show for people who have never

heard of Batman 89 and Batman Returns, but is

there anything you think that we missed? Well,

that we got to see Paul Reubens in both this

and Gotham. So he kind of had a return in the

fact that Cobblepot is his son. In both. Yeah,

that was really good. I forgot. Even watching

Returns now, when I watched it for this, I'm

like, that does not look like Pee Wee Herman

at all. No. But when he was on Gotham, I'm like,

oh yeah, that's definitely Pee Wee. The one thing

I want to bring up before I close out this episode

of 2009 is other things that Burton had directed

Edward Scissorhands was after this it was in

90 so I probably saw that around 91 I thought

it was before that obviously Ed Wood Sleepy Hollow,

Planet of the Apes from 2001 Big Fish, Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory Tim Burton definitely

has a style all his own and I Would say it's

an acquired taste but every actor actress director

depending on how you come away from watching

their content Everybody's an acquired taste Hell

even certain podcast hosts are an acquired taste.

I'm sure most people aren't listening to my voice

anymore You know because Whatever. Anyway, thank

you for joining us here inside the studio. If

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Megatron Phillips. You'll hear us back in the

studio soon. Hey, creep! Children are watching

this movie. Wait, so let me get this straight.

The Penguin gets penguins AND a clown army? And

the Joker gets... Bob? You... are my number one...

guy. That's fair.