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I'm amazed no one commented on this photo.

This has to be one of the BEST convention pics with fans in costume I have seen. And it's not only about how screen-perfect Batnar looks in his suit, but also the contrast with the bigger guy on the left dressed as a grey Bat, and how attitude comes over size anyday!

Bring more of them 

Don't know about you, I'm fairly excited about this R.E. Howard adaptation. The feedback this movie got the last few months has been positive, and the trailer looks promising.

Trailer:

Yes, OSTs have been discussed several times, but they are always fun.. Any favourites of yours? It can be anything from film scores to themes to clever use of songs in scenes or trailers.

Some of mine:
Tim Burton/ Danny Elfman collaborations
Sergio Leone/ Ennio Morricone
Several works by Hans Zimmer
The Last of the Mohicans (Trevor Jones)
..
oh, and Batman, the reason I started to take note of movie music in the first place 

[Magazine Scans Index]

Redundant Thread - Click for Magazine Scans Index

This is some scans I did quite recently from some old magazine pages I kept since I was a kid. Now, obviously, most of you won't find a use for them since they are not in English, but I just wanted to post them here.

Three PDF files:

BAT KLIK.pdf with one big article titled "Batman or Batmad" as well as a translated reprint of the first ever Joker story from Batman # 001

BAT CINEMA.pdf with articles/reviews from the Greek CINEMA magazine on Batman Returns and Forever, as well as a Two-Face cover

BAT GAMES.pdf with game reviews (and a 4-page feature on Batman & Robin for PSX, from the British TOTAL PLAYSTATION magazine, back from the late 90s).

MEDIAFIRE DOWNLOAD LINK

SAMPLES:

[Spawn]

What do you think are the best and the worst released in that period? As far as we remember there was a lot of cheese released in those days, with some films like Spawn being particularly bad, while others being entertainingly corny (like Street Fighter - yeah it's a VG movie, but one could classify it as "comic book" the same way Darkman or Underworld are more or less comic book films).

I still like The Shadow with Alec Baldwin (and its magnificent score, Batman-homage by Jerry Goldsmith), and I enjoyed the Darkman sequels with Arnold Vosloo.

Apart from the well known PSX title, there was also a cartridge for Tiger's ill-fated Game Boy clone, Game.com. "Enjoy"  the video

Video from Emulator. Inside the museum at around the 5 minute mark a bleep version of the Batman theme is audible, and the backgrounds at 5:30 include, yeah, a Tiger tank. At the end of the vid there's a Bane and Poison Ivy fight.

Video from an actual console with some commentary

[http://www.wrongsideoftheart.com/]

I hope this fits in the "movies" forum. I happened upon this site that offers hi-res .jpg files of posters and promo stills from many sci-fi, horror, cult (like Evil Dead, Hammer's Dracula etc.) movies from the 60s, 80s etc. Fans of such movies might enjoy the wealth of material offered there.

http://www.wrongsideoftheart.com/

P.S. There's some strange stuff if you look for "Batman"...

I talk about this book:



http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Unauthorized-Vigilantes-Jokers-Heroes/dp/1933771305

It's basically a collection of essays that examine aspects of Batman through the strictly personal perspectives/opinions of the various contributors, and though one can disagree with some things being said inside its pages (there's some Batman Returns bashing that sounds like praise to me), it's quite an enjoyable read. Worth picking up for those that may have missed it.

I don't know who made this and it's been around for more than a year, but to me it's one of the most beautiful DK posters and worth seeing.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/06/01/cool-stuff-fan-created-dark-knight-insert-poster/

I hope you don't mind me posting this here, this is from the book Film Music from the Pocket Essentials series. I thought it was an interesting and fun read.


[?]The real superstar of working relationships that originated in the mid-80?s was that of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. Pee Wee?s Big Adventure (1985) was a dizzying splash of colour and style with a musical accompaniment that?s part Georges Delerue, part Nino Rota, part Bernard Herrmann, but as we?d soon discover, all Elfman. ?I used to see him in clubs when I wasn?t even in the film industry, ? remembers the director. ?They (Elfman?s band Oingo Boingo) were very theatrical and fun , and they had a subtext under them being sort of narrative. Not like film music exactly, but there was something in them that seemed very filmic. So when I had the opportunity to make a movie there was no question that it would be great to ask him.

He?d been successful in a band, but when we went to the film we were both starting out at the same time. It felt very contemporary to have somebody who was like me in the sense that we knew what we were doing but we didn?t know what we were doing. It was new and we were stupid and arrogant to think that we could do it. It was funny to see him in clubs and then dealing with a big orchestra for the first time. ? Pee Wee?s influence on comedy scoring was instantaneous, and is still felt today. Distancing themselves completely they returned with the supernaturally screwball Beetlejuice (1988), where Elfman mixed Harry Belafon te into his offbeat take on the afterlife. Then everything changed with Batman (1989).

The marketing machine set in motion for the Caped Crusader's adventure was at an unprecedented level. It included Warner Brothers securing Prince, one of Warner Music?s biggest selling artists, to write several songs. His album was labelled ?Original Soundtrack?; it preceded the release of the film, and sent one of many songs not actually in the movie (?Batdance?) to Number 1. Film studio /record label handshakes inspired by the success of this has led to the current state of affairs, where the word soundtrack means any of a number of things to the pub lic. What hasn?t helped is the scenario Elfman faced, whereby his score album was suppressed until a month after the film opened so as not to interfere with Prince?s sales. He faced it again the following year on Dick Tracy, and has done several times since, as have all too many of his fellow composers. The great shame of this is that his gothic masterpiece sold in lesser numbers and contributed to being passed over for Oscar consideration.

Burton and Elfman learned their lesson in corporate commercialism, and played a hand outside of the industry game with their next project. It is with Edward Scissorhands (1990) that we now turn to the 90s? [?]

Right now I write some things that were written many times, but can't help it.

I don't know if it is my personal knack for the fantastical as well as the "truth", in the form of allegory and symbols, a good piece of sci-fi or fantasy (literature or film) can hold (who said that "artists use lies to tell the truth", heard in V for Vendetta?), or my usual boredom with straight action films set in the "real (movie) world". We know that what we see on-screen can't happen anyway, what the movie "wants to say" is what matters more.

I also don't know if it my detachment from what happens in the online "Batman scene" so I get a bit "surprised" when I see some stuff: to put it plainly, it has been a long-long time since I checked BOF, SHH or other outlets, and have been a regular at BOF only in the early 00s. "Batman", the old films or the new, takes up a very limited space in my mind anymore, despite my great love for the character.

I just do NOT see the point with this obsession with "realistic" (or hyper-realistic, or pseudo-realistic, whatever) Batman, started by the Nolan films, as much as I loved both of them. I hope I don't beat a dead horse, I just write this after reading some talk about possible successors to Nolan after he calls it quits, and Michael Mann was the first mentioned (yeah, as if he'd do Batman, he's 65 old), as well as very vocal opinions about how the series should remain "grounded in reality" (grounded - the right word).

I think seeing only one side is pretty close-minded. I mean, look at the James Bond films. The series has gone forever (no pun intended), there are great entries as well as embarassing ones, ranging from villains that want to wipe out the earth to Bond fighting against drug-dealers.

I don't talk about the different interpretations in general, but about why this can't happen in the movies? Everything can happen in the movies as long as there are capable directors and writers involved, and I think they could pull off less "grounded" Batman installments in the future after Nolan is done, that don't necessarily clash with the tone established in BB, TDK (or the future "BB3"). All they need is to hire the right director(s) and writer(s) that know and love the character and want to make good films.

And there is already talk about the "Nolanization" of almost every villain in the Batman roster. I mean, yeah, we saw this take and Nolan has an open arc to close so BB3 must be "true" to both BB and TDK, but, as childish as it may sound, a little fantasy never hurt anyone.

My point after this long text featuring multiple grammatical and spelling mistakes is the obvious:

The success and critical acclaim shows that this "realistic" version has a lot going for it and is indeed more relevant with the times, but it should not remain the ONLY one accepted film version for future Batman installments. And, of course, not a factor to devalue B89, which was an incredibly powerful and pitch-black mainstream blockbuster, by the standards of the time it came out.

Anyway, just an opinion.

[Punisher: War Zone]

I just recently watched on DVD last year's Punisher: War Zone, mainly because I really like Ray Stevenson (IMO he steals the show as Titus Pullo in HBO's "Rome"). Anyway, I think there are some similarities between Batman and Punisher when it comes to the portrayal of the villain Jigsaw (Dominic West, the traitor guy from "300").

The first time we see the villain, who is a mob guy, he admires his looks in a mirror. His woman approaches, says something related, and he insults her. His general attitude is pretty flamboyant and arrogant, like Jack Napier.

The "transformation" happens in a some sort of dark-lit "factory" with steel ramps etc. and the hero is directly involved. The only difference is the material used (chemicals vs. broken glass) and the fact that in the first case Batman tried to save him, while the Punisher gleefully pushes the button that activates the machinery.

The first time we see the villain after the "accident" he has a covered face and he talks with his plastic surgeon. We see him from the back. We don't see his face when he looks himself with a small handheld mirror.

At some point he says "Billy is Dead. From now on, you can call me Jigsaw"

He's not a moody, grim villain - his case is more of the "villain is having a swell time anc tries to chew the scenery" variety and jokes around a bit while killing stuff.

Obviously it's not a very good movie, but it was pretty fun as a comic-bookish shoot'em up with Midway-like violence, and I really think these moments were inspired (copied?) from B A T M A N.

[CONTENTS, INTRODUCTION]

Instead of starting a new thread, an old one was edited to avoid bumping. The original post was titled "Batman Forever Concept Art" and it was about the Batman Forever book, so it was fitting to replace it with an actual scan of the entire book (added 2016/03/30).

A scan of the UK edition by Mandarin.

Official blurb:

"It's a brand new day for the Dark Knight in the lastest epic blockbuster, Batman Forever!

Facing Batman in this all-new adventure are a pair of fiendish villains - Two Face, former Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent now disfigured and fueled by vengence, and the dastardly and devious cane-wielding Riddler, known before as super-nerd Edward Nygma.

But help is near as a new partner joins Batman in his fight for Gotham City - Robin, a daredevil crime fighter whose alter ego is young circus acrobat Dick Grayson.

In this offical publication, Michael Singer goes behind the scenes to give the inside story of how this blockbuster movie was made. Interviews with director Joel Schumacher (The Client and Falling Down); stars Val Kilmer (Tombstone) as Batman, Academy Award-winner Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive) as Two-Face, Jim Carrey (The Mask) as the Riddler, Nicole Kidman (Malice) as Dr. Chase Meridan, and Chris O'Donnell (Scent of a Woman) as Robin; and more than 40 key prodection personnel are complemented by a suberb array of fascinating pictorial material and action-packed stills from the movie."



CONTENTS, INTRODUCTION (pp. 1-7)
Contents, Introduction by Bob Kane

A NEW DAY FOR THE DARK KNIGHT (pp. 8-13)

PRE-PRODUCTION: The Team Assembles (pp. 14-21)

THE CAST: What's New In Gotham (pp. 22-43)

PRODUCTION TEAM (pp. 44-53)

MAKE-UP & STUNTS (pp. 54-57)

PRODUCTION DESIGN (pp. 58-71)

COSTUME DESIGN (pp. 72-79)

SPECIAL EFFECTS: An Interview with John Dykstra (pp. 80-87)

VEHICLES, GADGETS AND ARSENALS (pp. 88-95)





CREDITS (p. 96)

I recently saw a panel in DC#850 depicting all four on-screen Batmobiles (Anton Furst's, the Batman Begins one and the two animated cars), something that was obviously a nod to Batman's various incarnations.

Since my comic book knowledge is a bit limited, does anybody know of other (and maybe older) references to elements from the Burton movies in comics?

I don't visit any comic book forums like the SHH boards etc., and I was wondering, what's your opinion about the Watchmen Motion Comic? Personally, I liked it quite a bit, I'd even like to see something like the Killing Joke presented this way, only with different actors and not the narrator doing all the voices (including the female ones! ouch). Nothing special, but interesting, and it could have a better soundtrack.

Of course, Moore's name was nowhere to be seen in the credits 

I was reading an old article and came upon this

Back in the late 1980s, Tim Burton took Moore to lunch to pick his brains about making the first Batman movie. Moore's advice was "get Gotham City right".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2002/feb/02/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.books

Is this true?

Starting today (22/2) and for the following 5 weeks, a newspaper will give away the 3 Batman movies (okay, I mean FIVE).

The editions they give are nothing remarkable, just the regular DVDs Warner put out in 1997 (?), today B A T M A N was the one  with the production notes. They give Returns in one week. I like the slim DVD case that comes with it, as well as the fact that they finally promote the movies in this, popular in my country, way.

What I loved is the extensive article they did last week on all the films as well as the character himself, with a pro-Burton and pro-Nolan stance (yeah, there are journalists who like BOTH VERSIONS)

Yeah, the final poster of the film is the best they could use to promote the movie and is emblematic, but IMO many of the rejected/alternate posters of the film are interesting in their own way, my favorite being the last.



Does anyone have any hi-res versions that could be good for printing?

[Batman]

Consider this.

Burton did two Batman movies, with the sequel accepted as being equal, for some, even better. Due to studio interference a different director came in and the movies went to hell, the trilogy never came full circle.

Raimi did the same with Spider-Man, a great first film, a second one which was hailed as even better than the first and then, due to studio interference, a very messed up third movie with too much going on that is generally accepted as an uneven (at best) movie. The trilogy came full circle, but with a limp and some cringe-inducing moments.

The same could be said about Singer's X-Men, similar to Spider-Man's case but with a different director for the third, "limp", one.

The Terminator might not seem a very good example because of the 12-year gap and Cameron's total lack of involvement, but it's still a case of an (arguably) better second film, and a downgrading for the third one.

Godfather 3? Alien 3? Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? All had sequels equal or even better, and a limp third film.

Yeah, these thoughts are not real arguments and every case is a different one, but it's as if the third movie is destined to "suck" in some way, or be uneven, at best.

Do you think that Nolan can "pull an Indy"? Indy and the Last Crusade is the only great third film in a series I remember right now, but it came after a messed-up second film it could only improve upon by going back to basics, not to mention it had Sean Connery in it.

Let's not even start with fourth movies

Hey, I know it sounds childish, but (for those that haven't touched them) the LEGO video games are not as childish as they sound. They offer what a video game should offer: a few minutes of fun without the player being engaged in storylines or long hours of gameplay, their light tone and easy gameplay make them excellent for kids as well as adults with a job that still enjoy an simple electronic diversion, and are excellent two-player games.

Here's the IGN review. Like Lego Indy and Lego SW, the game has real Batman music as the soundtrack, despite the fact that it's based on the Batman concept and not on the movies or animations.