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Yeah, noticed that too, and even if I haven't watched all of them, or maybe agree with all of them, I quite liked seeing the film get attention.

It's also been ages since I last watched NC. This "FanScription" IMO destroys what BR is supposed to be, completely destroys it, plus it has too many characters (and they say BR had too many characters). But, it's well made and fun enough (the Penguin impressions could be better, though).

The moment he "cuts" from the Penguin's farewell to a hospital with too many characters, too much dialogue (instead of the snowy alleyway like in the film), I knew he doesn't get it, and he doesn't have to.

Was there ever any doubt?

Haven't watched James' video. He's a fan of B'89, I know, but he's never been a big fan of BR, I gather. Didn't watch it because I didn't want to hear something I might not want to hear, opinions differ, and thus somehow spoil the love I have for his AVGN and Film Retrospective work (which are still brilliant, after all these years, perfect binge watch for dark nights).

I can't think of another movie that captures the spirit of Christmas cold, depression, disintegration, like this. In the form of an operatic, fancy, visually brilliant fairy tale, instead of a gritty drama. Burton mentions fairy tales a lot in various old interviews - this alongside Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas are his own. To me these are a sort of unofficial "Dark Christmas" trilogy.

It's also the epitomy of mixing darkness with humour - Burton has said something like this in an interview I read many years ago (paraphrasing) "when things get dangerously dark, laugh". The movie has a lot of campy moments, the scenes where The Penguin and Catwoman interact are like a visually updated tribute to the 60s series, the action scenes of Batman vs the Circus are almost slapstick, penguins with rockets seems ridiculous, there's cheesiness throughout, but the movie always has a tortured heart (the music during the night patrol outside Hall of Records), especially when it reaches its climax in the aptly named Arctic World.

The situations and actions are totally fantastical, the characters and their emotions, they ring true.

This year, on Christmas Eve, I emptied a Gordon's watching it. Amazing film. It snowed and rained, a lot. But like a review said, it's a film one doesn't want to endorse as much as protect.

This song could be in the movie's OST. Batman Returns, among other things, is also like vintage Cure, in movie form.

It's been a while since I last watched or thought about Total Recall, thanks for this in-depth analysis. A true classic and my second favourite by Verhoeven after RoboCop, revisiting it is enjoyable.

Also, among other interesting things to read in this thread, great to see some love towards Conan, Silver Nemesis. The 1982 movie (and its score!) is a true classic in the fantasy genre, and I totally agree he should have picked Conan the King. There's so much they could have done with it.

In recent times there's been quite a few successful productions in a fantasy and/or pseudo-historical setting, it's too bad one of the original and the best characters is still dormant after that 2011 crash. As you say, Arnold himself returning to the role as part of his comeback, would have been perfect.

Oh, and Azrael...this signature of yours is awesome.

With Affleck and now Pattinson, the franchise has accumulated an impressive back catalogue of actors now. I'm ambivalent about Clooney, but generally, they haven't really put a foot wrong with any of the lead actors.

Thanks, Dark Knight! Glad you like this collage. Thought about including Clooney, couldn't fit him anywhere.

Azrael's always been good at creating manips and digital art. Adding Clooney to that banner would have offset its symmetry, so I think he made the right decision in leaving him out.

Thanks for your words, Silver Nemesis! You said it better than I could, another face (Clooney) would break the symmetry, and a certain "mood" I wanted.

The catalyst for me becoming interested in the films was the Star Wars video game for the NES. Nowadays everyone dumps on that game and says it's terrible, but as a kid I loved it.

It's not THAT bad, it's the slippery controls (spikes!) and the sometimes insane difficulty that makes it not very fun to play (without the convenience of save states). The Game Gear version was expanded, including an opening level playing as Leia and more Tatooine action.

For me my first real exposure to SW has to be Return of the Jedi for SNES. When I first heard the title music (which I later found was titled Approaching The Death Star), I was fan for life. Played that game to death, never beat the final level on a real console - only years later with save states. The console Star Wars games were hard. Real hard.

Among others, I just loved this, can't wait to see how it actually looks in the film. It's a bit like the plan of a circular temple.

Other than the fantastic art by Jason Fabok and the nods to the Burton films, one of the reasons I enjoyed this is that it has a sort of classic Batman feel, like comics from the 90s/early 00s, none of the "new" things introduced later. It could (almost) be a stand-alone three-part story from Shadow of the Bat or Legends of the Dark Knight.

Nosferatu?

Or perhaps Kurt Barlow from Salem's Lot?

Yeah, likely. But his design is maybe inspired by Graf Orlok, right?

Incidentally, I like your new avatar, Azrael. Very seasonal.

Thanks! One of the all time favourite Tim Burton films, and one of the first that come up this time of the year.

This is brilliant!

It's makes me want to play Justice League: Task Force on a SNES emulator.

Yeah, I have to agree with this... A tear was shed by the kid who used to play these carts (they also used some Batman Forever, The Adventures of Batman & Robin and Death and Return of Superman in there). But JL:TF... just isn't very good, either on SNES or MD.