It is a great movie, although it gets a little silly at times, like with the Joker's henchmen all wearing matching jackets with his face on it and the dancing through the art museum scene. The jackets I guess is a nod towards the 60s Batman where all the villains henchmen usually just wore tshirts with their names on it. Also a little bit of a plot hole at the end where all the henchmen magically appear at the top of the bell tower to fight Batman. It's also different from other versions with no one really knowing who Bruce Wayne is. You'd think the richest guy in town would be more well known and that the murder of his parents would be common knowledge.

Nicholson plays Joker as the perfect mix between funny and evil. Always love when he is complaining about Batman taking his balloons. "My balloons" "He stole my balloons!!"

The two Tim Burton Batmans are still my favorite.

I freaking HATED this movie. I was so excited to see it and saw it opening night. I thought I was gonna get Batman Begins but I got Edward Scissorhands in a bat suit. The only movie prior that I was more disappointed in was Superman 3.

That started my long hate affair with Tim Burton.

Bruce Almighty said:

---

The two Tim Burton Batmans are still my favorite.

---

The first was fantastic. It was the movie I'd been waiting for going on a decade when I first read that there would be a Batman movie. Despite all the folks clamoring for an unserious Batman like the TV show, with some even wanting Adam West to reprise the role, I knew they had nailed it when I saw the first footage from the movie some 6 months before it came out.

Batman wasn't perfect - the art hall sequence was goofy, but it really captured the look and feel of Batman as told in the graphic novel(s) that really inspired this iteration of Batman.

Batman Returns. Ughh. I really was enjoying the hell out of it. Truly, I was. I learned more about the Penguin than I'd ever known in the opening sequence. Catwoman was smoking hot, and still the best Catwoman ever put on screen. It also had that great line from Christopher Walken - if she tries to blackmail me, I'll drop her out a higher window. But the a bunch of actual penguins waddle out of their cave with little rockets strapped to their backs. I get they were remotely fired, but uggh. I checked out mentally at that point.

The next two from Joel Schumacher were so bad, literally, among the worst pieces of refuge I've ever seen, that in 2005 when Batman Begins came out, I almost didn't bother. I saw it on the last night it played in one of the Katy area theaters.

G.I.Bro said:

---

Did anyone else have the Batman cereal that came with a bust of Batman that was a piggybank?

---

Yep.

When did the Lake Theater finally close down? I am pretty sure the last movie I saw there was a Young Guns flick, the first one probably, in August 1988. My mom re-married the next year and moved to Angleton, so I lost track of Lake Jackson for a while.

It is certainly in the top 5, along with a couple of other 4th movies - Jaws the Revenge and Superman IV the Quest for Peace

maroon barchetta said:

---

My cousin was so stoked for that second movie. He got us tickets to go see it at the Lake Theater.

It was alright up until the penguins with frickin' rockets strapped to their backs. It's probably what inspired "sharks with frickin' laser beams strapped to their heads".

And yet it's still eleventy times better than the Catwoman movie with Halle Berry. How anyone can get the opportunity to put prime Halle Berry into a Catwoman suit for a whole movie and screw it up, with prime Sharon Stone as the villain no less, it just boggles the mind.

---

I took one look at the trailer for Catwoman and knew it would be a steaming pile. Still have never seen it.

Comic book movies have been so hit or miss over the years. The first Superman and Batman movies were great, but the sequels were progressively worse. Superman II remains entertaining enough but it did not withstand the test of time. The first 2 Spider-Man movies were good but the third made me want to rip out my eyes. I skipped all of the X-Men movies over comic book movie fatigue brought on by Batman and Robin. Almost missed Batman Begins for the same reason, even though it was almost a decade later. Would have skipped those Spider-Man movies as well as the Eric Bana Hulk had it not been for my son, who desperately wanted to see those.

I also skipped Iron Man. Big mistake as it turned out. The decade of the MCU was truly a spectacle, but even they have proven susceptible to comic book movie fatigue and flat-out suckage with recent movies.

The soundtrack is pure garbage
Embarrassing bad

Iron Man was my favorite comic book as a kid so I couldn't wait for that movie to come out.

I don't remember when it stopped showing movies.

It was a live music place for awhile. And later a dance club or something?

it was released on my brother's 13th birthday, and we went to see it for his birthday. I think it was the only movie we talked about for the next year.

I remember hearing that too. Dude is a genius.

AustinAg2K said:

---

I remember seeing this opening night. It was the first time I remember a crowd at a movie theater cheering like it was a sporting event. Even though I was just a kid, I still picked up on there being a lot concern about Keaton being Batman. However, I think everyone immediately bought in when he dropped the, "I'm Batman" line. Every one was cheering, but nothing like when we first saw the Batmobile. The place went absolutely nuts. At end, everyone gave it a standing ovation... Well, I say everyone, but I mean everyone except my parents. They thought it was too dark. The only thing they know of Batman is from the 1960s TV show. To them, Batman is supposed to be this super campy dude who throws out puns and dances. Their heads would explode if they saw the last movie.

---

Damn, this was my exact experience with my parents. I was in Germany at the time and I saw it later than folks in the states, so less cheering, but I remember really enjoying it.

Sapper Redux said:

---

aTmAg said:

---

I freaking HATED this movie. I was so excited to see it and saw it opening night. I thought I was gonna get Batman Begins but I got Edward Scissorhands in a bat suit. The only movie prior that I was more disappointed in was Superman 3.

That started my long hate affair with Tim Burton.

---

I guess I need to revisit Superman 3 based on this recommendation.

---

Is that the one with the Aggie actor in it or is that 4?

maroon barchetta said:

---

Sapper Redux said:

---

aTmAg said:

---

I freaking HATED this movie. I was so excited to see it and saw it opening night. I thought I was gonna get Batman Begins but I got Edward Scissorhands in a bat suit. The only movie prior that I was more disappointed in was Superman 3.

That started my long hate affair with Tim Burton.

---

I guess I need to revisit Superman 3 based on this recommendation.

---

Is that the one with the Aggie actor in it or is that 4?

---

That was 4

No idea. Last time I drove past it, it was a restaurant.

Summer after sixth grade. I remember going to see this, the last crusade, and honey I shrunk the kids in a summer "enrichment" program. lol, awesome time

MookieBlaylock said:

---

The soundtrack is pure garbage
Embarrassing bad

---

It doesn't hold up but at the time, it was an absolute phenomenon.

Quote:

---

love this movie. It was one of the first VHSs I remember having as a kid

---

Same! Got it used from Blockbuster when they cleared the massive volume of new rental copies. Loved that movie as a comic book nerd kid.

G.I.Bro said:

---

I was in a mood so I watched Batman returns and Batman forever last night.

BR is a good movie, but while Batman was a Batman movie directed by Tim Burton, BR was a Tim Burton movie with Batman. It is a fun movie but not as rewatchable imo. I felt they could have done more with Shrek being the bad guy behind things. I enjoyed Danny Devito chewing scenery, but not as much as I did Nicholson. Michelle Pfeiffer is the OG taker her glasses off and she turns from unattractive nerd into sexpot.

BF is horrendous. I hadn't seen it in over 2 decades and I knew it was bad, but I thought if I went in knowing that I could still somewhat enjoy it. I did not. The dialog is atrocious. I don't understand why they had to have 2 over the top zany villians. Two face should have been the straight man to the riddler's idiocy. Jim Carrey was too Jim Carrey and TLJ was just heehawing all over the place. This was a movie for babies. Why was Nicole kidman so gd horny the whole time. How can you make a movie with a horny nicole kidman and have me say "holy **** dial that back"? I feel like there were elements of a good story in there. Delving into Batman/Bruce's psyche, interesting. The riddler sucking brain waves out of people, that's a cool idea but the execution was silly. Having 2 villains, one obsessed with Batman, the other Bruce, that could be something. I feel like they had a good story to work with but they let a bunch of kids going through puberty write the script. I was going to do a Batman and Robin rewatch but I can't after this. I'll never ever watch this movie again

---

Coincidently, I did a rewatch of all the 90s Batman films (and the 89) a few weeks ago. I hadn't seen any of them, except for the '89 Batman, since I saw them in theaters. I remember really liking Batman Returns and Batman Forever, and even as a kid (well, teenager) I thought Batman and Robin was pretty bad. Rewatching, I still liked Batman Returns, but not as much as I remember. Granted, I'm not a big Tim Burton fan, and your assessment of it being "a Tim Burton movie" is spot on. I still liked Michelle Pfeiffer, but I didn't particularly like Dany Devito. I also appreciated Keaton's Batman more. I always liked him, but now I think he might be the best Bruce Wayne. Keaton has played Wayne as a likable guy, but also, there are a couple of moments where he's a little crazy and you can see how he could get off on kicking dudes asses at night.

Rewatching Batman Forever, and it's not great. I feel like they cast mostly the right actors. I thought Val Kilmer was an ok Batman, but I really thought Jim Carey was great as the Riddler. It's obviously more campy than today's Batmans, but in the 90s, I don't think we were really ready for the Riddler to be a serial killer. Tommy Lee Jones was awful, though. That's probably the worst role of his career. He absolutely should be a serious villain to balance out Carey. I really think the biggest problem with the whole movie, though, is the director. On paper, Schumacher should have been great. He's made Flatliners and The Lost Boys. Both of those had the darker tone Batman needed. He also made 8MM later. He clearly didn't understand the material, though. My only thought is that his only knowledge of Batman was the 60s TV show, and he was trying to emulate that.

Back when I saw Batman and Robin as a kid, I remember thinking it was pretty bad, but I think I had friends who liked it. Rewatching, and it should certainly be in the conversation for worst movie ever. It seems like everyone involved was putting in minimal effort. It was a cash grab for everyone involved. I read a quote from Chris O'Donnell where he said it didn't feel like they were making a movie, it felt like they were making a toy commercial, which is spot on. It's a testament to George Clooney that he was able to still have a career after this movie.