'Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology' - High-Def Digest Review

[Attebery]

Peter has reviewed 'Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology.' He says this is really a mixed bag of movies. This Blu-ray set is much more consistent, with pretty great video and audio and plenty of supplements. Fans will want to make the upgrade, others should take a look.

Full review here:
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/1380...anthology.html

[HD 335]

Batman & Robin film rating 0.5 stars

[Attebery]

I haven't seen Batman and Robin in 12 years and I still have vivid memories of the unbridled awfulness!

[Onslaught X]

I feel like Batman (1989)'s rating is too low, but it was a good review.

I'm completely biased though because Michael Keaton is the man.

[Onslaught X]

Originally Posted by Attebery

I haven't seen Batman and Robin in 12 years and I still have vivid memories of the unbridled awfulness!

It was the worst birthday I ever had...

[Attebery]

Worst birthday because of the movie?

You know, I loved the original Batman. I saw it so many times as a kid that even when I watched it again 19 years later, I still knew every line of dialogue. Only surprising thing, and I've posted this before, is just how badly that movie has aged. Crazy how bad the matte paintings of Gotham and the feel of all the sets seemed so many years later. I love Jack, but man, his Joker has definitely been left in the dust now.

[cooltobeyou]

I think the score for all four movies is too low. Of course Batman and Batman Returns are the best movies in this "anthology", but I feel like Batman Forever gets shit on way too much. Sure, its a much different style from the first two films, as its very campy, but that doesn't stop it from being an entertaining movie. I actually enjoy the style of Batman Forever, as well as the performances of Nicole Kidman and Val Kilmer, so I'm looking forward to watching it for the first time in a few years.

If I were to put individual scores on the four films, it would probably be:

Batman 4/5
Batman Returns 3.5/5
Batman Forever 3.5/5
Batman and Robin 1.5/5

[Onslaught X]

Originally Posted by Attebery

Worst birthday because of the movie?

You know, I loved the original Batman. I saw it so many times as a kid that even when I watched it again 19 years later, I still knew every line of dialogue. Only surprising thing, and I've posted this before, is just how badly that movie has aged. Crazy how bad the matte paintings of Gotham and the feel of all the sets seemed so many years later. I love Jack, but man, his Joker has definitely been left in the dust now.

I love the dialogue still. It ages badly, but I still feel this connection to Batman 89. I can't force myself to hate it.

And yeah, I saw Batman and Robin on my birthday. I was like, "Lost World? Or Batman and Robin? I heard Lost World was bad..."

Too bad I didn't hear Batman and Robin was worse.

[Arkadin]

OMG!!
the reviewer says these Warner releases have great PQ.
what will the Warner haters do?

[Lone_Gunmen]

Haha i bought my Batman/comic fanboy friend Batman and Robin on DVD recently for his 21st birthday, just to annoy him hehe.

Hahaha i thought it at least had the "haha this is so shit, yet funny" factor to it, but i'm not buying it on Blu Ray lol


Might just pick up the first 2 on Blu Ray though

[noblekreed]

"Young readers" need to be reminded that there was a movie called "Batman" made in 1989? Really, Peter Brackle? I'm pretty sure the only readers that would be young enough to not remember that film are too young to care about high definition content.

I read almost every review this site posts, and every single time I do, I hope and pray this will be the one review that takes out the inane "The Movie Itself." If I want an actual movie review, I will go to the myriad of choices that are written by actual writers, who actually know film, and who actually understand the history of cinema.

I trust Peter Brackle when it comes to video and audio. Heck, I trust Peter Brackle more than my own eyes and ears. That's why I read these reviews. Yet, every time I read this hack talk about why he likes movies, I pray that a better site will one day be created that either hires better reviewers or takes the pen away when they start thinking they are A.O. Scott. Stick to the stuff you know, Mr. Brackle.

[Arkadin]

but do you trust him enough to get his name right?

[Motorheadache]

Originally Posted by Attebery

You know, I loved the original Batman. I saw it so many times as a kid that even when I watched it again 19 years later, I still knew every line of dialogue. Only surprising thing, and I've posted this before, is just how badly that movie has aged. Crazy how bad the matte paintings of Gotham and the feel of all the sets seemed so many years later. I love Jack, but man, his Joker has definitely been left in the dust now.

I agree, for the most part. Before Batman Begins came out, I held up Batman '89 pretty highly, but I think at least part of it was because of how terrible the Schumacher films were. The last time I watched the Burton flicks (post Batman Begins) the weaknesses in the movies were much more apparent. I'm almost afraid to watch it again now, post-Dark Knight.

But yeah, I still think Keaton gave the best actual Batman performance out of any of the actors. He had the better look and dark voice for the character (I'm just talking actually as the Batman in the suit- Christian Bale I feel does the best job all around balancing between Batman and the different sides of Bruce Wayne, but his Bat-Rasp... ugh).

[vikingfan]

Originally Posted by Arkadin

OMG!!
the reviewer says these Warner releases have great PQ.
what will the Warner haters do?

Well if any of them are on BD25's, there's two "g" men around here that will have a shit fit.

[squall4008]

Originally Posted by noblekreed

"Young readers" need to be reminded that there was a movie called "Batman" made in 1989? Really, Peter Brackle? I'm pretty sure the only readers that would be young enough to not remember that film are too young to care about high definition content.

I read almost every review this site posts, and every single time I do, I hope and pray this will be the one review that takes out the inane "The Movie Itself." If I want an actual movie review, I will go to the myriad of choices that are written by actual writers, who actually know film, and who actually understand the history of cinema.

I trust Peter Brackle when it comes to video and audio. Heck, I trust Peter Brackle more than my own eyes and ears. That's why I read these reviews. Yet, every time I read this hack talk about why he likes movies, I pray that a better site will one day be created that either hires better reviewers or takes the pen away when they start thinking they are A.O. Scott. Stick to the stuff you know, Mr. Brackle.

i was born in 1990(thats right, the film is older than me) but i own almost 100 BDs and a bamfin TV that is perfect for my dorm, and i bought all of it. I trust Peter Bracke's reviews and i find i agree with him a lot, its really not too hard to get enough knowledge of film to write reviews, and this is coming from a film major. I especially liked Bracke's Batman Returns portion were he brought in Freud/id, very Metz-esque(do you know who that is?) I would actually like to see the Movie itself portion expanded so the reviewers could expound more upon what they think of the film, most of the reviews here are pretty short. Plus, Peter actually is very interested in film history, he has contributed to commentaries and written books, granted i believe all of them pertain to Friday the 13th, im sure its not the only film hes an expert on though.

Peter, you get far too much shit on these boards bro.

but, if i have one bad thing to say about Peter(and its not really a bad thing) its that i think he does his star ratings a bit differently than i would. I think he sees 2.5 stars as average therefore making 3 good etc, me, especially being in school, i see 50% as a total failure i would consider 3.5 stars average, 3 meh, 2 bad, and anything under horrendous. I think the way i see it is the way a lot of people see it, i guarantee you we will see a ton of people thinking he hates Batman 89 because he gave it a 3.5, even though i think that means he likes it quite a bit.