Most Anticipated Movies of 2012

[Avaitor]

I also feel like mentioning that I've never seen a Catwoman I've liked on screen.

Really? I thought Pfeiffer was brilliant. DeVito's Penguin was also magnificent. Batman Returns is such an underrated film.

Honestly, I haven't seen either of Burton's films in so long, but I remember not being impressed with Pfeiffer. I'm going to have to watch them both again soon though.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Burton's Batman films are those ones that most people liked before Nolan rebooted the film series with his Batman movies, after which everyone acted like Burton's films suck.

Well, to be fair, most people never cared all that much for Returns, but I consider it to be a guilty pleasure. Its certainly a very flawed film, but I still can't help but like its style and I actually agree with Foggle in liking Catwoman in that film, but in my case it was for the more campy portrayal of the character, and I just have to admit that I like camp value in a comic book film.

If I had to directly compare them, I would say that Nolan's Batman films are better movies on the whole (though I find Batman Begins to be pretty overrated). The Dark Knight was a great film, and aside from the fact that Batman himself actually sucked thanks to a horrible performance by Christian Bale (and I usually tend to like Christian Bale's performances for the most part), the film was as close to perfect as a Batman film could get. I know it sounds weird saying that when the actual Batman in the film was no good, but much like Foggle, I honestly find Batman more interesting for the villains and side characters than just Batman himself, and I actually find that it works better when Batman is seen less but his presence is still felt throughout the film. To me, that works well with the theme of the character.

Now, even though I think Nolan's films are better, I have to be honest and say that I find Burton's Batman films to just be flat-out more likable. There's just a tiny bit of a pretentious attitude about Nolan's films that kind of rubs me the wrong way. I mean, don't get me wrong, he clearly shows a lot of respect to the character and the comics, but there's also a sense I get with his films that make them feel like they go up their own ass at some points (mostly whenever he has a single character go off on a meaningless monologue to explain stuff that quite frankly doesn't need to be said out loud with words).

Also, I can't help but appreciate Burton's Batman films more for how much effort was put into them. The whole set design, costumes, and musical scores REALLY fit a comic book look. As far as I'm concerned, the Gotham City in Burton's films IS Gotham City. The Gotham City in Nolan's films is just Chicago. Burton's films have a lot of cheesy and campy moments, but its all in good fun and it still feels like a proper Batman film to me, but just a different interpretation of the character, and isn't that what adaptations are all about, anyways? They are about interpretations of something from another medium of entertainment, and I personally like to see different interpretations of the same characters and stories relating to them. To me, Burton's Batman films are better at feeling like a comic book in motion, whereas Nolan's honestly work better as films but don't feel much at all like a comic book movie, which for many people is a good thing and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make for a better told story in movie form, but at the same time its not without its own set of flaws as well.

I know it kind of sounds like I'm being too harsh on Nolan and too easy on Burton, but I acknowledge that The Dark Knight is better than Burton's Batman movies. I just have to make it clear that I get pissed with how people act like Nolan is the most perfect director and nothing he does is wrong. That is to say, people think Nolan's films are flawless, and nothing could be further from the truth. The Dark Knight is a superb film, and easily one of the best comic book movies that I have ever seen, and it'd easily be among my top 100 or even 50 films of all time, but it also has a ton of its own flaws, and I just wanted to point out that they ARE there.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Oh yeah, and as for the TDKR trailer, I know it sucks, but so did the trailers for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Both of those trailers made the movies look like incredibly bland and boring films (and I guess in the case of Batman Begins it wasn't entirely off in that matter, but the film was still definitely far better than the trailer). So, I'm not really surprised that TDKR trailer didn't impress me, because neither did any of the others. That said, I still don't have high expectations for this film because I don't quite think that anything Nolan tries will top The Dark Knight primarily because there is just nothing he can do that can top Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker in that movie, and to be quite honest, that performance alone has more to do with why The Dark Knight was such a great film than Nolan's actual directing did, IMO. I still think it'll at least be decent, though, if I keep my expectations in check. Really, I'm expecting something more on the level of Batman Begins. A decent comic book movie, but nothing too memorable.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I actually really like the original Burton Batman film. But I've never been big on Returns.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Always enjoyed Returns more than the original, mostly because it felt more like something Tim Burton digged his hands in.

[Foggle]

Well, to be fair, most people never cared all that much for Returns, but I consider it to be a guilty pleasure. Its certainly a very flawed film, but I still can't help but like its style and I actually agree with Foggle in liking Catwoman in that film, but in my case it was for the more campy portrayal of the character, and I just have to admit that I like camp value in a comic book film.

That's why I loved Burton's Batman films. They feel like the Adam West show filtered through the super grim 80's comics. In essence, they're great dark comedies, especially Returns. The performances by Nicholson, DeVito, and Pfeiffer are absolutely hilarious, yet still extremely well done.

[Lord Dalek]

The reason I have hope for TDKR is I do not believe that Christopher Nolan has either the talent or skill to produce a film as spectacularly bad as Batman Forever or Batman & Robin. That takes special effort.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, I don't think anyone is expecting the film to be downright bad, especially not as bad as those 2 films. I think a lot of people were just underwhelmed by the trailers for this movie so far, rather than completely turned off by them.

[Avaitor]

20% for Dark Shadows.

Damn. I wasn't interested in it at all, but I wasn't expecting it to be that bad.

[Foggle]

Wow. The trailer was bad, but not that bad.

[Avaitor]

I mean, that's still not Jack and Jill-level awfulness, but jeez. Burton has really been off in the past few years, especially the last couple.

Alice might just be the worst movie I've ever seen, along with Jesus Christ Superstar, and considering how bad this and Frankenweenie look (although to be fair, the original short wasn't that good to begin with), and he's really turning to shit.

[Spark Of Spirit]

And I thought when I cringed in the theater at the previews I was just being biased.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I begin to wonder whether Tim Burton genuinely believes he's making a good film, or this is his idea of screwing with us. Or it could be just foreplay with Helena. "Oh, the only thing that gets me in the mood is making crappy movies with my gurl..."

[Spark Of Spirit]

Alice was worse than Rocky Horror? Wow, that's crazy.

[Avaitor]

Do you mean worse than Shock Treatment? Now THAT's a terrible movie.

Although I'm in the minority of people that doesn't get the appeal of Rocky Horror myself. But Burton's Alice is on a whole other level.