Hey there, pretty birdie!

Whenever people mention Batman I get very nostalgic. My mind goes back to a simpler time when things really packed a punch. You know, KABOOM! KAZAM! OOOOF! POW! And that sort of thing written on the screen. It was fabulous! That was my Batman for many years. Mostly due to reruns on TV every Sunday afternoon. Watching that is the only continueous thing I can remember my brother and I doing together. Well except for fighting obviously.

Well I thought I'd be clever and list all the Batman movies through the years but as I'm too lazy to list them all you can find them here. Just scroll down to the "partial matches".

Did you know there are 8 actual Batman movies?

In recent years however these are the most popular titles according to IMDB.com one of the best and biggest (bigger is better, you know it!) movie databases online.

1. Batman (1989)


2. Batman Returns (1992)
   
3. Batman Forever (1995)
   
4. Batman & Robin (1997)
   
5. Batman Begins (2005)
   
6. The Dark Knight (2008)

I think people tend to forget Batman Forever when they talk about Batman. The reason I'm mentioning this is that I've heard no mention of it at all. Like it never was. I think a lot of people prefer it that way though. It's just so frustrating because I like Batman & Robin and that's the only one people remember to say bad stuff about. Which isn't fair. Batman Forever was awful. The only thing Batman & Robin is guilty of is camping it up a bit, injecting a little humour and making the universe a bit more cartoonish. Away went the really haunting dark universe in favour of something else. Something that was still dark but injected with actual colours. Not just monochrome.
In case you are wondering which movie was which, I'll give you a brief introduction to the top 6 Batman movies.

To a lot of people Batman didn't start until the release of Batman (1989) starring Jack Nicholson as the Joker, Michael Keaton as Batman, Kim Basinger as Vicky Vale (a more useless actress is hard to find).
Personally I can't remember much of it as it's been quite a while since I last saw it. People will remember this as the Tim Burton movie.

The bat logo was used everywhere after that. I remember my brother had a poster of just the symbol. I never understood why. In fact I didn't watch this one until 1995 along with the next one in the series.





Batman Returns from 1992 was one of my favorites. I found Danny DeVito as the Penguin absolutely disgusting but Michelle Pfeiffer was there as Catwoman and she became an instant favorite of mine. Christopher Walken was also in this one. The movie also saw the return of Michael Keaton as Batman and director Tim Burton was back at the wheel.

This one was about The Penguin trying to take over Gotham City and while Batman was trying to do something about that, Catwoman was up to her own tricks, and she didn't just purr and play with yarn.






When Batman Forever premiered in 1995 it was with a new cast. Val Kilmer took over as Batman, Chris O'Donnell was introduced as Robin (or Batboy heh), Jim Carrey as The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones as the Two-Face and the horrid Nicole Kidman.

In this one Batman and his sidekick, the circus acrobat Robin battle Two-Face and The Riddler. As far as I remember it was camped up a bit. I can't remember much of this (except it was utter shite) but I suppose it was pretty over the top as that's what Jim Carrey does, and in that outfit. There was little else to do I'm sure.

How people don't mention that THIS is the worst Batman movie is beyond me.




Batman & Robin from 1997 is my favorite Batman movie. Not due to huge big Hollywood names such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell (he was something back then), Uma Thurman or Alicia Silverstone (hot off the movie Clueless) or Joel Schumacker directing it.

Well almost anyway. I always had a thing for George Clooney (because YUM!) and one of my two favorite Batman characters Poison Ivy was in it. Uma Thurdan did a bang up job with it too. It was camp and cheese lines (and dodgy acting as always from the Governator and Silverstone hadn't shaken Cher off her yet) but the story wasn't any worse or better than the previous. Much can (and have) been said about about the Batmobile and the Batsuits but I liked them. The nipple bit was hilarious.






Then it took 8 years for another blockbuster Batman movie to premiere. In 2005 Batman Begins premiered to rave reviews. A darker, more tormented Batman. Definately a Batman not suited for kids. I suppose either George Clooney didn't want to do it or he was looking too old and refined to be the new Batman, so they opted for Christian Bale. The rest of the cast included Sir Michael Caine as Alfred (he is always fantastic and this was no different), Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes (I suppose her husband pulled a string or two at Warner Bros because bleugh), Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy and many many more.





This was the story oh how Bruce Wayne became destined to be Batman.





I remember going to see this with colleagues who were all up in arms about how fantastic it was. I didn't so much find it fantastic as I did a bit dark and depressing yet not particularly bad. I suppose if you go back in my blog to that time I may have said nicer things but looking back now the shine has worn off.



I wouldn't know what the new one, The Dark Knight (in a cinema now near you) is about. All I really know about it is the cast, that Heath Ledger died, a stuntman died on set and the CGI looks grossly overdone. Oh, and on that poster Batman looks a little constipated. That or he's concentrating very hard on not pooping his pants.

Batman is still Christian Bale, Alfred is still Sir Michael Caine and Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are both back for another movie. Heath Ledger surely won't be back in the next one which is a shame. Supposedly he's brilliant.

Let me just mention here what I think about all that Heath Ledger is the best actor ever hype. I know this is a cold and heartless thing to say but I don't buy it. He may be brilliant in this role but no matter how great an actor he is. The reason he is hyped so much and people talk about Oscars and whatnot is because sadly he's dead. And it's just a little ick. When he was brilliant in Brokeback Mountain there was a buzz sure. However it was never this over the top. There I said it. Moving on.

Surely there will be yet another dark, dreary and probably slightly depressing Batman movie in the future for Christian Bale. That is unless they decide to cut forward 40 years and show him in a wheelchair in the Arkham Asylum. Enjoy your Batman movies no matter what people say about them. Afterall it doesn't matter if other people hate it, as long as you enjoy it.