Pop Nothings for the 13th {slight revise thirteen days later}: Upon The Batman Up On The Silver Screen

burton batman movies popped up on my netflix: hey raymond watch these. haven't seen them since they debuted in theaters. so i tuned in. pretty much as i recall. they both feel more Golden Age than anything. Batman even kills. beginning of first one is almost unwatchable, then it turns into a maybe-entertaining-enough gangster cartoon with (a?) little relation to best iterations of batman, joker, et al. really, there's no comic book precedent for these characterizations of either Bruce Wayne or the Joker. sequel is so much better, has more heart, even though it infamously didn't belong on Happy Meals. Happy Meals don't belong on Earth. settings seem so insular, so few people in Gotham, but feels like a lot more caring or depth went in to it, and the characters, and performances. still never been a wholly great Batman movie, maybe impossible. only a handful of the comics are wholly great.

a stunning still from Batman Returns.
A shame we never got the Burton/Pfeiffer Catwoman movie.

Batman Returns may remain the best Batman movie. it certainly was when it came out. But, of course, Heath Ledger's performance in Dark Knight Returns is so extraordinary it may elevate that flick to top of list. and that flick has some commendable complexity. the two most worth returning to are the two in which the titular character returns in the title. 

Selina's looking right at ya in this frame

for further reading, just came across this, summing up the demise of Burton Bats- http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/batman/239632/why-tim-burtons-batman-3-never-happened

11/13/2014 {barely polished 11/26/2014}