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I dunno about that.  Moronic print journalists still use BIFF, POW, KERR-PLUNK in, like, 99% of their reviews of anything Batman-related.  I guess they think they're being clever or something.  Twenty years ago, they might have been but now they just look like idiots.  And unoriginal idiots at that.

B89 is darker in terms of visuals and atmosphere, BR is darker in terms of character and theme.

1.  BR
2.  B89
3.  BB
4.  BF
5.  B&R

I'd agree with the BB ranking.  It's not a playful romp but it doesn't the same kind of bleakness that oozed from Burton's films (that's not a criticism or a praise of BB, just an opinon).

Nor was I, my friend.

I can't be held responsible for other peoples incoherent opinions.

Your are on the money about preference, one ultimitley has to take sides if you will, but your comments about Nolan "desconstructing" Burton, as well as being "diametrically" opposed to him are interesting.  Could you please explain further?

I'm saying that Nolan and Burton's interpretations of the character are so different that the way one of them approaches the material will likely be different from the other.  Burton is more fantasy-oriented, obviously, while Nolan shoots for a gritty realism.  Correspondingly, one will work better for the viewer as a result than the other.

My remark was about the two of them being opposites and as such only someone with few standards or else very little knowledge of cinema will 100% love both.  Eventually preference has to creep in.  This isn't saying one has to hate one and love the other, but this smarmy cliche some people use that "they're both equal to me" is either the worst kind of pretentiousness in the best case or an outright lie in the worst.

I simply cannot accept it.

Good, don't ever change!

I couldn't.  Even if I wanted to.

Sorry, I meant "ones-self". i didn't mean to infer you, colorsblend  - just incase you though i was

I knew what you meant.  And it's not pigeon-holing oneself.  This isn't politics.  Attitudes and tastes can change over time.  I wasn't really nuts about Burton's films until about 2004 or so.  It was around then that I started to analyze them a little and BR emerged as the clear champ.  Going to see BB (it's numerous cinematic warts and weaknesses aside) was simply not as invigorating as Burton's other wordly Gotham City, teeming with crazed clowns and catwomen.  The psychology in Burton's universe just works better for me.

Incidentally...

I don't see the attraction in pigeon-hole-ing yourself when it comes to Batman.  darn it, i'm watching adam west this week!

I think West is one of the greatest Batmen in live action.  Often times he's third on my list of best Batmen ever (behind Keaton and Conroy, in that order).

I guess when it all comes down to it thats true you can like any or every batman movie but everyone has there one movie that they pefer above all others for me its 89 but i still love returns and begins and theres nothing to say that i can't but for some people there fav is anything from begins to B&R or even the adam wst movie but thats there opinion and im cool with that

It is not now and never has been about the validity of other peoples opinions.  While I sincerely doubt I'd be able to relate to someone who prefers Nolan over Burton, I accept that some people do.  What I cannot, will not and will never accept is that someone thinks of those films as precise equals.  They're so different from one another that individual preference eventually has to creep in.  One will eventually be seen as superior to the other.  To suggest that they're exact equals when they're absolute opposites is an insult to everyone's intelligence and taste.

I don't think it's so much about merit as preference.  One clicks with you moreso than the other.  Even I get the occasional itch to watch certain scenes from BF but my preference for BR above the other Batman movies stands.

Incidentally, when it comes to opinions, I've never been thought of as a humble person.

My problem with the "why must we pick favorites?" is (1) it falsely suggests one version cannot be superior the other and (2) all versions are of equal artistic input.

Such is not the case.

If you're a Batman fan and sincerely have no preference in, say, BR vs. BB, you need to see a shrink.  One will work better for you as a Batman tale than the other.  To say that they're both completely neck-and-neck 100% equal in your eyes is an insult to everyone's intelligence.  The things that work for you in Burton's films are probably systemically deconstructed in Nolan's.  And vice versa.

If you like hamburgers, it's not at all out of line to think you have a preference in Whoppers vs. Big Macs.  Or Smallville vs. Singerman Peeps Superman Returns for Superman fans.

When two products present the same basic thing in such diametrically opposite ways, it's only natural to prefer one over the other.  You can hate both but I find it difficult to believe that a fan would hold both in equal esteem.  It's symptomatic of (A) an outright lie or (B) a weak-willed fan who has no intellectual facilities to objectively compare the two to each other.

Pretty much it's that simple.

Val Kilmer brought basically nothing new to the role.  Keaton brought a certain psychotic sensibility to the part, Clooney made Batman a smirking tool but Kilmer basically just showed up and collected a paycheck.  He was just blank, which is odd considering Kilmer's roles up to then were typically pretty nuanced and layered.

I remember how interested everyone was.  That's what really caught me.  I was (and remain) a Superman fan and back in those days I cared nothing about Batman but this freaking movie was on EVERYBODY'S radar.

I saw the B89 poster after seeing some movie or another and it remains a pivotal moment in my life.  Obviously the poster is just a close up of the symbol.  Nothing special... yet I couldn't stop staring at it.

Seeing the trailer (if that's what you want to call it) on TV pretty much solidified everything.  Whatever this Batdude was supposed to be about, I was gonna watch that movie for myself just to put an end to all this craziness.

The bat symbol was everywhere but Batman himself (perhaps characteristically) wasn't.  His likeness didn't seem to pop up on too much of the pre-release marketing stuff that I can remember.  That only intensified my desire to see this movie and figure out why everyone was so buzzed about it.

June 23rd!  I went into the B89 screening by no means an expert on the character.  I walked out a Batman-obsessed geek and it's been downhill ever since...

To this day, I believe B89's marketing campaign is the slickest we've ever seen.