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Very good article here, from last year, but the points still remain.

The author thinks Batman Returns is possibly the best Batman film of all.

http://www.originalsharpsays.com/2008/05/batman-returns-is-number-1-comica.html

[BAT TO THE FUTURE]

After fans spoke out against the realistic take of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Christian Bale will reprise his role in Christopher Nolan's:

BAT TO THE FUTURE

A bulldozer is infront of the Batmobile.

Batman and Vicki Vale get out of the bulletproof and practically indestructible Batmobile for no good reason.

They then run down some random alley putting themselves and nearby civilians in danger.

Surely there is a navigation system in the car so he could sit and wait protected in the car's armor, then when the bulldozer is gone just continue on his way.

There was a side street right there, so why not turn that way?

Why not throw the car into reverse?

Why not turn on the armor and stay in the car?

I find the scene pointless. There's no logic to it - and it reeks of an excuse for an obligatory fight scene.

Both Nolan films open differently.

Batman Begins features a brown colored skyline, with swarming bats flying across the screen creating the Batman logo.

The Dark Knight features the Batman logo expanding toward the viewer through blue flames.

My vote goes to The Dark Knight. The silence is effective, with only the opening strains of 'Why So Serious?' being heard. I think it looks cooler as well.

What do you think?

I don't know where to put this, so...

I love this image that's recently been uploaded to the site.

It's my avatar, but bigger!

http://www.batmanmovieonline.com/gallery.php?showpicture=2837

Isn't that just an awesome shot?

MICHAEL KEATON thrilled a young BATMAN fan with a visit to the set of his new film after spotting the kid sporting a homemade superhero costume.

Keaton took over directorial duties on the set of The Merry Gentleman when filmmaker Ron Lazzeretti's appendix burst and had to give up the project.

The actor thrilled cast and crew with his personable nature - and showed it extended to fans too.

Co-star Tom Bastounes explains, "One day we were filming in a park and there was little boy there and he had a makeshift Batman outfit on. It wasn't like a store-bought one. He made it at home.

"He had the pointy ears and the mask and he had a Batman symbol on his chest. Michael noticed him from across the street and walked over.

"Of course the mum noticed him right away and made a big fuss. The kid was about four or five. Michael signed the kid's cape and signed something for the mum. Then he brought them both to the set and they watched some of the shoot. He's very sweet that way.

"He's very generous with his time but you still have these pinch me moments, where you suddenly realise, 'Hey, I'm working with Batman.'"

Keaton played the Caped Crusader in Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns films.

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/keaton-still-bats-for-batman-fans_1105010

The topic title says it all.

List your top 5 'less liked' scenes or moments from Batman (1989) and Batman Returns.

The Joker?s flesh tone skin is widely known to be make-up, used to make himself appear semi-normal.

In certain scenes, Joker?s hair is dark brown. Again, done to appear normal, I presume.

But how did he achieve this? Hair dye?

Are we meant to believe he washes out this dye and the natural green hair returns?

What?s the explanation?

My vote goes to the African thug.

It was so rewarding following that tiring fight. Out of nowhere Batman's legs wrap around his head, smash his head on the bell, then throw him down the shaft.

Let's see who Batman Movie Online members think is the best Burton villain - Nicholson's Joker or DeVito's Penguin.

I enjoyed Nicholson's performance a great deal, but it's got to be DeVito for me. He became the Penguin, the mannerisms, the lot. Burton and co. took a weak villain and turned him into a serious threat, with a great new backstory.

What about you?

To commemorate Heath Ledger's birthday, here's a poll asking a simple but difficult question.

Which is the best Joker scene?

This list is off the top off my head, so inform me if I've left anything out.

Alright, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here, but hopefully it'll provoke some discussion.

What is you favorite last shot from the two Burton Batman films?

Both feature the camera rising upward above skyscrapers.

We have the heroic shot of Batman standing on top of the building, looking out across the city with the bat-signal switched on.

We have the shot of Gotham City taken from a height, to which Catwoman rised from to look at the bat-signal being activated. (Funniliy, there's no building or balcony for her to stand, so she essentially is flying)

Both are similar, but which do you prefer?

You folks would have seen this, but here it is anyway.

This is not the original Batman89 trailer (of course), it's just edited to match TDK version.

This proves without doubt that Nolan copied shots from Burton, or was influenced by them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCOl9v0b0zM

This is a thread to imagine the events we don't see in the films.

Here's one to start, Batman escaping The Penguin's lair.

Catwoman has fried Max with her taser, and she?s nowhere to be found. She?s probably dead. The Penguin has risen from the toxic water, only to drop dead. Batman stands alone, mask off, watching this all unfold. Now?.

What happens next? How does Batman escape?

The Joker stands still with his arms outstretched, and the Batwing swoops down and shoots some of Joker's men with the gatling guns. Perfect aim. Batman then reaches for an aiming device, a red circle appears centered on The Joker, and he unloads with gatling guns and missiles. He misses, explosions on each side of The Joker.

Now?..

Did Batman intentionally miss to intimidate The Joker from standing down, or did he try and kill him but his aiming equipment was faulty?

Also, have it in your mind that he did manage to shoot Joker's goons with the machine guns quite fine without the aiming device.

What do you think happened?

I?ve been looking on Ebay at Batman Returns gear. I?ve stumbled along some of the Batman Returns coloring in and sticker books. The drawings they do show on there are phenomenal. I love them. I remember seeing these drawings in stores as a child.

Does anyone have any, and if so, could you post in the images? We must see to it that these drawings are uploaded on the image databases on here. This stuff is pure gold.

[Let us heap praise on this magnificent vehicle!]

I love the Tumbler, but to me, the Burton Batmobile is the best in the classic sense. It?s surely the most iconic. Not only is it a work of art, it?s packed with gadgets.

It includes:

Hydraulic telescoping ramp
Titanium re-enforced grapnels
Two browning machine guns
Spherical bombs
Side tripping planks
Bat discs
Shield cacoon
Remote control
Rear rocket afterburner
One way tinted plexiglass and variable polarisation
Bulletproof windshield and body
Bat-missile

Features as revealed in the Ultimate Guide to The Dark Knight:

Auto re-inflating tyres
Drag chute for emergency braking
Driver ejector seat
Autopilot and radar sensors for blind driving
Thermal imaging
GPS navigation
Police band shortwave
Computer linked to bat cave mainframes
Directional-mic surveillance controls
Rear view VDU

Let us heap praise on this magnificent vehicle!

Do you folks have any graphic novels?

If so, name them.

This is my collection so far:

The Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Haunted Knight
Arkham Asylum
The Killing Joke
Batman Cataclysm
Batman No Mans Land 1- 5
Batman Knightfall 1-3
Batman Hush 1-2
Batman Black and White 1-3
Batman Bruce Wayne Murderer?
Batman Bruce Wayne ? Fugitive 1-3
Batman Hong Kong
Batman War on Crime
Batman The Man Who Laughs
Batman and the Monster Men
Batman Venom
Batman Year 100
The Forensic Files of Batman

I finally saw Quantum of Solace, and here's my review:
___________________________________________

Under two hours long, Quantum of Solace is shortest and most intense Bond film ever made. The film picks up an hour after Casino Royale, in another bruising thriller that leaves you feeling both drained and exhilarated.

Betrayed by Vesper in Casino Royale, Bond battles his urge to make this mission personal. But ultimately, Bond?s revenge is a dish best served with six ice cold martinis. Quantum of Solace gets straight to the point and makes not apologies for it. With no flashback or overt recap to get you up to speed from the previous film, edgy close ups of Daniel Craig give way to an impressive high speed chase around a rocky and dusty Italian coastal road. Bullets fly, glass splinters, cars crunch. Cars are sent soaring into the rocky abyss, twisted into smashed debris. Bond swerves his battle scarred Aston Martin DBS around oncoming vans and lorries, blasting his pursuers with machine gun fire.

There are several things to be learned from this pre title sequence. The first is that this is going to be a stripped down Bond, comprised of chases and shootouts with the occasional timeout for a beating.

At the conclusion of this furious sequence, we learn the sinister Mr. White has been in the boot Bond?s car, nursing his blown apart knee cap. After no dialogue for five minutes, Bond opens the boot, looks down and snaps deathlessly ?It?s time to get out.? Bond?s steely gaze is freeze framed, ending the sequence and opening the film on a high.

A bright retro opening title sequence bursts to life. A shimmering mirage unfolds with a silhouetted Craig standing in front of a glowing sun. In perfect timing, Bond fires his pistol in tandem with the peaking strains of Jack White and Alicia Key?s duet Another Way to Die. Bond stalks through an isolated desert landscape set against glorious orange and blue colour backdrops. I rank this effort highly, it?s all very polished and it will be the only time you will be able to catch your breath.

The way the tortured psyche of Bond is explored is not through lengthy dialogue sequences ? it?s through action. Frenetic and full of chase sequences, Quantum of Solace has a demented energy about it that never lets up, as if it?s taking this feverish tempo from Bond himself. The action sequences never make the cardinal sin of being too long or boring, which is why the film gets away with having so many of them, whilst still having plenty of juicy dialogue to bite into.

The action also has something to say about the ugliness of violence. Near the start of the film, Bond is chasing the traitorous Agent Mitchell on foot. Mitchell fires at Bond into a crowd, and a bystander goes down. On goes the chase, but we return to the wounded bystander who is probably about to die. A point is being made here about the consequences of such violence. That?s right, a Bond film with repercussions.

Quantum of Solace uses a whip crack editing style that gets the heart pumping and keeps you on your toes, making it impossible to zone out or you will miss something. Your entire body and soul is required to pay acute attention. It is presented more about Bond?s state of mind, creating an atmosphere. By implementing this editing style alone, Quantum of Solace is really designed to age well. At the time, people begrudged the initial Connery films for their ?lightning fast editing?, and look how well they have held up.

Instead of lazily relying on a shaky camera to impart excitement, montage is used. Shots are quick and artfully assembled. Example being the opening car chase, which gains all its energy through vigorous cutting. Director Marc Forster is willing to do the work of building a sequence. Quantum of Solace also looks beautiful. Forster has done some inspired work behind the camera, implementing arty camera angles we have never seen before in a Bond film.

Nursing a broken heart and coldly suppressed rage, Daniel Craig drives this film. He plays Bond with such intensity that he makes his first turn in the role seem lightweight. If Bond was a cold killer in Casino Royale, here he is a mountain of boiling rage. He is whacking enemy agents in short, sharp, bone cracking bursts of violence when he should be bringing them in for questioning. At one point he becomes so bloodthirsty, M places him on MI6?s capture or kill list. Even the CIA threatens to take him down.

He is high on action and low on tacky quips. David Arnold?s rousing and often hauntingly isolated score seems to be driving him on. Most importantly, Bond uses Vesper to justify his actions, until ultimately he realises that the dead do not care about vengeance. Craig also has the mannerisms down pat. After knocking out two MI6 guards in an elevator, there?s a little moment where he kicks a stray guard?s leg back into the elevator as the door closes. He then swaggers off to subtle Bond theme.

New characters are introduced in a rather eccentric way, showing up in a conversational scene as Bond arrives in South America without explaining who any of them are. Their identities and their connections are revealed over the course of the next hour, which helps create an environment where there are few obvious good guys or bad guys, which ultimately allows to fully explore the film's central theme of ?Who can one trust in this new world??

Dominic Greene, a ruthless businessman in league with the shadowy organisation Quantum, is the villain of the piece and is played with subdued reptilian menace by Mathieu Almaric. The main villains in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are just cogs in a larger wheel. They are quieter, sinister types under pressure and not in complete control. They are also relatively normal people, making it harder to distinguish them. Greene has restricted airtime, but that is logical as Quantum prefer to stick to the shadows.

Greene runs a shell corporation called Greene Planet. He is tasked by his organization with securing a piece of land in Bolivia that is rich in natural resources. They plan on controlling the water supply. Freshwater is going to become one of the most intensely sought after resources. We are over consuming at an alarming rate, and in a few years, the strains are going to start to show. It is actually really smart of Quantum to try and get in in advance, they would make a fortune. To that end, Greene plans to restore an exiled dictator, General Medrano, to power, and in return Medrano will hand over this plot of land to the organization.

Like Casino Royale, James Bond himself has a story arc; the character actually goes on an emotional journey and changes throughout the film. That is why the villain?s scheme is largely redundant.

The fate of Greene is splendid, with Bond seeking a more imaginative way of disposing of him than simply shooting him. It is nasty, cruel and exemplifying a rather fine joke.

Bond leaves Greene in the middle of the desert with a badly mangled foot. Pleading to Bond that he has told him everything he knows about Quantum, Bond sticks to his word and lets Greene go. Throwing Greene a can of motor oil, Bond sneers that he will last for roughly 20 miles before he considers drinking it. Bond drives off and leaves Greene in a thick cloud of dust. Later, it is revealed that Greene was found dead in the middle of the desert with two bullets in his head and a stomach full of motor oil. It is strongly implied that the shadowy organisation has disposed of their failed agent.

Quantum of Solace is the survival of the fittest, and does not relent until solace is achieved. The closing couple of scenes have a tranquillity denied to the rest of the film, which is clearly deliberate. Bond meets up with Vesper?s boyfriend in an apartment building, but does not kill him. The point is not for Bond to kill him, the point is for Bond to realize that killing him is not going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things. After killing off leads throughout rest of the film, Bond hands this man over to the authorities. Therefore he grew as a character.

Leaving the building and after talking to M outside, Bond walks off into the distance, accompanied by a magnificent evocative last shot of Vesper?s Algerian love knot in the cold snow. The burden in Bonds soul is lifted, his duty in sight and his Quantum of Solace gained.

Because this film is a direct continuation, the traditional gun barrel sequence again does not open the film. It closes it. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are two parts of the same story, framed by gun barrel logos. The first, seen in Casino Royale, is the rougher, unpolished one. The latter is more traditional, though still experimental in nature. Bond storms across the screen in a business suit and before you know it, he fires. The blue tinged gun barrel soon is drenched blood red, with the blood dropping at lightning speed. The red circle then shrinks to the corner of the screen and forms part of the letter ?Q? in the film?s title ?Quantum of Solace?, giving the end credits a title card. Blood then proceeds to gush outside of the Q and pour down the screen. Bond, in silhouette, is then seen to turn and walk out of shot stage left.

To those complaining about the lack of Bond theme, it is all over the place. The Bond theme is not violently pushed down our throats to announce when something cool is happening. The Bond theme is instead smartly used, sprinkled throughout the entire score and allowing the fantastic lead actor take the limelight that he thoroughly deserves. Not for the music to steal his thunder and drown out the ultra-cool aura that he radiates. What we received was just fine, never once did I not feel like I was watching a Bond film.

By radically reshuffling the series? traditional elements, the series has received a shot to the arm and it feels like anything could happen. If people want the same old, they have the previous 20 films. Usually the series is criticized for being formulaic and predictable, here fresh ideas and a new way of going about things thrive. I hope this stance continues with the remainder of Craig?s era.

Quantum of Solace proves that by removing and reshuffling traditional elements, the franchise is not ruined, nor is it any less of a Bond film. Though the truth is, Bond trademarks are not disappearing - they are just being remixed, rested, and played with. The things that make a James Bond movie are not the gun barrel, theme or main titles. That is all window dressing, one could make an entirely worthy Bond film without them. That said, I do not really want to see them go, quite the opposite. I am just saying that the argument that removing such things destroys the franchise does not hold water.

Quantum of Solace is definitely one of the better Bond films and it gives you whiplash just looking at it. Slick, gritty and with its own stylistic twist, Quantum of Solace is a leaner and meaner animal that shows the franchise well and truly has not run out of juice quite yet.


Score: 8/10

What are your thoughts on Jim Carrey's portrayal of The Riddler?