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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

JCC BATMAN 89: Celebrating 30 years

Discussion in 'Community' started by DarthMane2, Jun 27, 2014.

  1. DarthMane2

    DarthMane2 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2003
    BM89 is in my top 5 movies of all time. Not because there aren't movies better than it, but because it's one of the films I will actually watch over and over. Hey, if you think The Dark Knight is the best Batman film, I can't disagree(Personally DKR is my favorite of the Nohlan movies). Still, there's still something simple and fun about 89 that makes it special.

    I was 3 when it came out, so I didn't get to watch it until it was on VHS. However I was old enough to remember seeing this....

    [​IMG]

    ..EVERYWHERE....and I mean...EVERYWHERE...

    To me it's a great movie. Burton brings to it a style and tone that really fit the character of that particular time. Keaton rocks the @#$^, Jack rocks the #$^&. So many visualy Awesome scenes. I really like the one where the Batmobile is driving down the road in that creepy ass forest. It's critical failing is that the film is not about Batman. Burton does try to through it some of the ideas of the character though. Things like Joker and Batman being two sides of the same coin and Batman being a facist. It's stuff you really got to look for though. I also like that Batman is BATMAN starting out. The origin is done in minor flashback. And the score, Awesome. The score also scared the hell out of me as a kid. I would watch the film in the dark, and the opening credits where they camera pans through the symbol, creeped me out. Especially when the music it's high mark.

    Lets also not forget that this movie is a prime candidate for being in the Library of Congress someday. Why? One, obviously, being the craze is started that year. Secondly it's the template for how "THAT" kind of movie was made for years to come. To a certain extent Raimi's Spider-Man uses the same formula. Thirdly, I didn't even know this until I was listeing to some guys on a pod cast talk about it, but at one point VHS tapes cost about 60 to 80 dollars to buy. Back then the Video store was where you rented your film, and watched it. Why would you want to watch the same film over and over, anyway? Warner Bro. went all in on the VHS and put a 19.99 price on it, and people went #$^&ing NUTS. It was also the film that showed how big a movie based off a comic book character could be.

    The VHS is special to me, not just because of it being where I first watched the film, but becaus of these two vids before the movie....


    Love that diet coke commerical. Love it. When that dude died a couple years ago, I bet you I got on youtube and watched that coke commerical 100 times.

    So there you go, 25 years of BATMAN 89.

    What do you remember of the craze that surrounded that time? Did you like the film or hate? Let us now below.
     
  2. Eeth-my-Koth

    Eeth-my-Koth Jedi Grand Master star 9

    Registered:
    May 25, 2001
    Summer of 89 was pretty fun. Graduated middle school and was getting ready for high school. Like you said, that logo was EVERYWHERE! The movie was epic at the time. Over the years I don't feel like it held up well. But I still enjoy watching it.
     
  3. DarthTunick

    DarthTunick SFTC VII + Deadpool BOFF star 10 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2000
    I've never seen the entire film... that needs to be corrected at some point, especially since it's one of Nicholson's most iconic roles.
     
  4. VadersLaMent

    VadersLaMent Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Apr 3, 2002
    I loved it when it first came out. The last time I watched it many years ago I could not sit through it. It doesn't hold up.
     
  5. JoinTheSchwarz

    JoinTheSchwarz Former Head Admin star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2002
    Thanks for making me feel old.
     
  6. DarthMane2

    DarthMane2 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2003
    I think it holds up pretty well. I guess for being that it has the timeless quality to it, which is probably a result of how there's both a 50's era feel and modern feel to the sets and what not in the film.
     
  7. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Wasn't born yet! Ha ha lol. It was a good movie from what I remember of it. Need to watch it again soon.
     
  8. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I graduated from high school in 1989. My tiny hometown had just opened a nice new theater; pretty sure Batman was the first film I saw there. I saw the film on opening night with a boyfriend, and holy hell, the crowd. I'm not sure I've seen a movie that crowded. It took us an hour to get out of the parking lot afterwards, I really had to pee and he kept saying, "This is worse than the Van Halen concert."

    As far as the movie--Michael Keaton was great, especially that scene when he's mouthing "I'm Batman" several times--that one stands out for some reason. And Jack Nicholson's Joker was as good or better than Heath Ledger's. And yes, the Batmobile through the forest scene.

    My favorite Batman film is still Batman Begins, and I was not crazy about the Burton sequels, but the 89 film definitely stands on its own.
     
    Rew likes this.
  9. Ender Sai

    Ender Sai Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2001
    Yeah, as everyone has said, this was a cultural phenomenon. I was 10 when this came out, and I remember that all my friends and I had Batman T-Shirts, Batman hats, Batman toys etc. It was the last time a real moment like that happened, I think, excepting maybe the leadup to Episode 1.

    I'm still not sure what the hell was going on with the bat-symbol in this film. More Tim Burton narcissism, no doubt.

    I have to agree with the sentiment that this film hasn't really stood the test of time. It hasn't. But it should be recalled in the context of 1989, rather than how it compares to the Nolan films.
     
    Darth_Invidious likes this.
  10. Saintheart

    Saintheart Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2000
    I dug the soundtrack, myself. One of the few times Prince's music fit anything.
     
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  11. KissMeImARebel

    KissMeImARebel Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2003
    Keaton is still the best onscreen Bruce Wayne. (Unless you want to count DCAU Batman).
     
  12. Bacon164

    Bacon164 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2005
    i wasn't born
     
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  13. Sith_Sensei__Prime

    Sith_Sensei__Prime Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 22, 2000
    I was in my senior year of high school when this flick was released in theaters. I was so stoked for the film as it was a huge departure from the campy Adam West Batman. However, it was ironic that Mr. Mom would be playing the dark and brooding Bruce Wayne. We were finally going to get a serious and dark live action version of Batman.

    As mention above, it was a cultural phenomenon. I bought three new Batman t-shirts, a key chain and tons of magazines (as this predated the internet).

    I remember the crowd cheering in the theater before the start of the film "BATMAN! BATMAN! BATMAN!"
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  14. IBYM

    IBYM Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 17, 2014
    I must have seen it around 50 times over the years and I wasn't even born when it came out.

    This was by far the coolest scene.

     
  15. Moviefan2k4

    Moviefan2k4 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2009
    The film was released about 6 weeks before my 9th birthday, and what little I remember is seeing the TV spots and fast-food commercials for it. I don't recall seeing it in theaters, but I definitely wore out a VHS tape of it, and played the original Genesis game to death. The only comic book I'd read much of by that point was Superman, but I started reading some Batman comics after seeing the film. Overall, I think the movie still holds up very well, particularly due to Jack Nicholson's performance. Anyone with an interest in the making of that film should watch this video from producer Michael Uslan, who spent over a decade with the project after securing the rights from WB...

     
  16. Moviefan2k4

    Moviefan2k4 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2009
    Interestingly, Bob Kane disagreed. He loved Keaton as Batman, but cited Val Kilmer as his favorite version of Bruce Wayne.
     
  17. DarthMane2

    DarthMane2 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Where is that road? Where are those Trees?

    Yes, as I said above, an AWESOME scene. Beautifuly shot, with Elfman score adding so much to it.
     
  18. DarthMane2

    DarthMane2 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 20, 2003
    Even if I myself consider Keaton the best, I can see why Kane would say that.

    Kilmer is the only Batman that shows the emotion that deals with his parents getting killed and him dressing as a Bat. Not even Bale went there.
     
  19. KissMeImARebel

    KissMeImARebel Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2003
    Danny Elfman's score was iconic. ^:)^
     
  20. Penguinator

    Penguinator Former Mod star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005

    Interestingly, it was Bill Finger who gave us the Batman we know and love today. Bob Kane's Batman was a blond guy in a red jumpsuit with Da Vinci's glider strapped to his back. It was Finger who redesigned the costume and provided Batman's back story, and it was Finger who included (as a last-minute twist) Bruce Wayne being the Batman's alter-ego. Kane's contributions? The name "Batman" and the bat wing-like cape/glider. I'm not trying to knock what you're saying, but I am trying to point out that Bob Kane's opinion on "his" creation is worthless, seeing as how it was mostly Bill Finger's work.

    And, in a fun bit of meta-commentary, the cartoon of a literal bat man handed to Alexander Knox is signed by Bob Kane. Knox smiles, laughs, and mutters under his breath, "What a ****." Batman '89 has the only in-universe instance of someone accurately assessing Bob Kane, and it's awesome.

    Anyways, the movie itself - it's really not faithful to the character that was in the comics at the time, and Batman's pretty bloodthirsty (and also inept - literally the first thing he does in the movie is get shot. Well, okay, that's the second thing, the first thing he does is hold his cape up and slowly advance on the muggers, then he gets shot. He gets shot a lot in this movie.), but it's got the aesthetic down pat. I can keep watching this movie, time and time again, and I don't get bored. The story isn't that great, the acting is only great when Keaton is out of the Batsuit, and overall it's just untrue to the character, but still, I like it.

    Oddly enough, this is the movie that everyone cites as a "darker" Batman, and people express their hate/butthurt over the Kilmer and Clooney movies being campy and pine that they're not "like Batman '89." Except Batman '89 is literally just as campy as those movies, if not more so :p

    I think I first watched this when I was a child of four, which is...pretty much twenty years ago now. I thought it was so cool. It's still pretty cool, but it's not my favourite Batman movie.
     
  21. Healer_Leona

    Healer_Leona Squirrel Wrangler of Fun & Games star 9 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2000
    It was ok, but I couldn't stand Nicholson's Joker.
     
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  22. Chancellor_Ewok

    Chancellor_Ewok Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Nov 8, 2004
    Nicholson's Joker is just Jack Nicholson playing himself in clown make-up. IMHO Tim Burton's Batman has been permanently eclipsed by Christopher Nolan' The Dark Knight, which is not just a great comic book movie, but a great film, period. He took Batman and inserted him into a great crime saga.
     
  23. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    Wait til they get a load of me.
     
  24. Moviefan2k4

    Moviefan2k4 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 29, 2009
    I do think Bill Finger should be given equal credit with Kane for the character, just like Siegel and Shuster with Superman. Every time I see Bob's credit on a film, TV show, or comic book, I want to put Bill's name alongside his.

    I never met or knew Bob Kane, so I can't comment on that. He seemed okay in the few interview clips I've seen, though. Clearly, he loved the character, regardless of how much he was truly responsible on the creative side.

    I agree to a point. In my opinion, "Batman Returns" was far too dark, while "Batman & Robin" was 95% pure cheese. Only the original and "Batman Forever" had a respectable balance all around.

    Of the first four, "Forever" is my fave. Of the Nolan films, my pick is "Batman Begins".
     
  25. timmoishere

    timmoishere Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 2, 2007
    This movie would be one of my favorite of all the Batman flicks except for the one absolutely awful scene of the Joker and his thugs breaking into a museum and splashing paint everywhere, with one thug blasting his boombox. Ugh.