The Dark Knight Trilogy Smashes Ticket Sales Record for AMC Theatres’ Marathon-Style Events
More Than 60,000 Advance Tickets Sold to The Dark Knight Trilogy at AMC Locations; Seats Still Remain, but are Going Fast at AMC Locations Nationwide
KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With a few days left before the midnight premiere of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, guests of AMC Theatres® have already made The Dark Knight Trilogy the most successful marathon-style event in company history. Thus far, AMC has sold more than 60,000 advance tickets, with nearly half purchasing a ticket to see all three films – BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, at one of the 76 participating IMAX® Digital Theatres.
The Dark Knight Trilogy begins at 6 p.m. July 19, and features BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT and the midnight premiere of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES at 12:01 a.m. July 20. The event is just $25, and just $40 to see all three films in IMAX Digital.
With the more than 60,000 advance tickets sold, The Dark Knight Trilogy has already doubled AMC’s previous marathon-event record of more than 30,000 tickets to The Ultimate Marvel Marathon in May.
In response to guest demand, AMC continues to add showtimes for both the Trilogy and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES midnight premiere, including a handful of 3:45-4 a.m. showtimes of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in IMAX. Ticket sales for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES midnight premiere are being led at AMC Lincoln Square 13 in New York, AMC Metreon 16 in San Francisco and AMC Universal Citywalk 19 in Los Angeles. All three locations feature THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in the IMAX 15/70 Film format.
“We’re pulling out all of the stops to account for the demand we’re seeing for both The Dark Knight Trilogy, as well as the midnight premiere of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES,” said Robert J. Lenihan, president of AMC Film Programming. “While we always welcome a big walk-up crowd, we also strongly encourage fans to purchase their tickets in advance and secure their seat for this record-setting event.”
“AMC has been a great partner as we prepare for the opening of The Dark Knight Rises,” said Dan Fellman, president, Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. “They have shattered every advance sale record while adding screens to accommodate the early demand for tickets. On behalf of WB and our film makers, we appreciate their hard work and commitment to excellence, as they present our films in the best possible environment.”
The Dark Knight Trilogy begins July 19 at 6 p.m. and will feature the following films in order:
BATMAN BEGINS
THE DARK KNIGHT
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES [at 12:01 a.m. July 20]
Fans seeing The Dark Knight Trilogy will receive a collectable lanyard and a commemorative trilogy poster while supplies last. AMC Stubs members who purchase a ticket to the trilogy prior to July 19 will receive $5 Bonus Bucks on their AMC Stubs account, valid the day of the event.
The lists of the 76 theatres participating in The Dark Knight Trilogy in IMAX, as well as the theatres running only the 12:01 a.m. showing of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in IMAX – both 15/70 film and digital - are available at www.amctheatres.com/darkknightimax. All IMAX seating is limited and first-come, first-serve.
Tickets for The Dark Knight Trilogy and the midnight premiere of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in traditional format are available at amctheatres.com/darkknight. To learn more about AMC Stubs, visit amcstubs.com.
About AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres delivers distinctive and affordable movie-going experiences in 346 theatres with 5,034 screens across the United States and Canada. AMC has propelled industry innovation and continues today by delivering premium sight and sound, enhanced food and beverage, and diverse content. AMCTheatres.com.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Review: Halle Berry a Mess in the Hot Mess that is "Catwoman"
Catwoman (2004)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality
DIRECTOR: Pitof
WRITERS: John Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers; from a story by Theresa Rebeck, Michael Ferris and John Brancato (based upon characters created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCERS: Denise Di Novi and Edward L. McDonnell
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Thierry Arbogast (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Sylvie Landra
COMPOSER: Klaus Badelt
SUPERHERO/CRIME with elements of action
Starring: Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, Alex Borstein, and Michael Massee
The subject of this movie review is Catwoman, the 2004 American superhero film starring Halle Berry. Berry stars as a character inspired by Catwoman, the DC Comics thief, anti-hero, and sometimes love interest of Batman. Upon its initial release, Catwoman was poorly received by critics and fans of the character, but some of those fans hated the film before it was released because a stunningly gorgeous woman of color, Halle Berry, was playing a character depicted as white in the comic books.
Patience Philips (Halle Berry) works for the behemoth cosmetics company Hedare Beauty. It’s a thankless job, and instead of pursuing a career as an artist, she designs cosmetic advertisements that her tyrannical boss, George Hedare (Lambert Wilson), hates. The woman who won’t stand up for herself eventually experiences a fateful turn of events. She overhears that Hedare’s soon-to-be-launched new anti-aging cream, Beau-line, is dangerous to users and is murdered to keep that fact secret.
Mysterious forces then resurrect Patience with the heightened strength and agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat. Suddenly, Patience is Catwoman, a sexy and seductive creature of the night, straddling that proverbial line between good girl and bad ho. Tom Lone (Benjamin Bratt), a tall, dark, and handsome cop, is on the trail of the Catwoman, and he’s also hot for Patience. Get a clue, flat foot! Catwoman ain’t the criminal. She’s after the real dark force behind Hedare, and it just might be George Hedare’s icy, supermodel wife, Laurel (Sharon Stone).
Directed by Pitof, Catwoman is a thorough mess. The film starts out flat, but with some hope, and only gets worse. Frighteningly dull and irritating clunky, the film is one of the worst movies of the year. And I am disappointed to say that because I’d been hot to see this since I first heard that Ms. Berry had been cast to play Catwoman. The film’s biggest problem may be that it focuses too much on the Patience Philips/Catwoman character, who isn’t very interesting or appealing. The focus on the lead player is a single-minded vision of disaster, because if the other characters had been fully developed, they could have been a diversion from a less interesting lead. As it is, the supporting characters only range from vaguely interesting to cardboard cutouts.
The poorly conceived special effects, the (lack of) directing, the flat acting, the hideous music, the too-fake-looking CGI fight scenes, and Halle Berry’s totally unsexy demeanor make this a dud. Stay home on this one, folks.
3 of 10
D+
NOTES:
2005 Razzie Awards: 4 wins: “Worst Actress” (Halle Berry), “Worst Director” (Pitof), “Worst Picture” ((Warner Bros.), and “Worst Screenplay” (Theresa Rebeck, John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers); 3 nominations: “Worst Screen Couple” (Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone and Halle Berry & EITHER Benjamin Bratt OR Sharon Stone), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Lambert Wilson), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Sharon Stone)
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Review: "Batman and Mr. Freeze: SubZero" is a Truly Good Batman Movie
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998) – straight-to-video
Running time: 70 minutes (1 hour, 10 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Boyd Kirkland
WRITERS: Randy Rogel and Boyd Kirkland (based upon characters appearing in DC Comics and Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCERS: Randy Rogel and Boyd Kirkland
EDITOR: Al Breitenbach
ANIMATION/ACTION/DRAMA/FANTASY with elements of sci-fi
Starring: (voices) Kevin Conroy, Michael Ansara, Loren Lester, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., George Dzundza, Robert Costanzo, Bob Hastings, Mary Kay Bergman, and Marilu Henner
Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero is a 1998 direct-to-video animated film that is based on the critically acclaimed Batman animated television series, Batman: The Animated Series. This film serves as sequel to the episode “Deep Freeze” (Episode #84) and the 1993 Batman animated feature film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.
I can only guess that Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero was meant to be some kind of animated tie-in to the 1997 critical disaster and fan and box office disappointment, Batman and Robin. However, where the latter failed, the former proved to be the better version of Batman and “his family” taking on a super criminals.
Directly released for home video in 1998, this Annie Award winner for “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Video Production,” finds Victor Fries a.k.a Mr. Freeze (Michael Ansara) desperate to discover an organ donor to save his wife’s life. Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirl (Mary Kay Bergman in a high quality voiceover performance) fits the rare blood type needed, so Mr. Freeze and an unscrupulous doctor kidnap her. It’s up to Batman and Robin (Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester) to discover who kidnapped Barbara, why, and where have they taken her, because time is running out.
SubZero, of course, falls in with the popular 90’s animated version of Batman, the popular cartoon TV show, “Batman: The Animated Series” (which actually changed names twice) and its theatrical spin-off, Batman: The Mask of the Phantasm. Like the series and movie, the show has a retro 1940’s and art deco sense to its art direction, with a touch of “the world of tomorrow.” The drama, action, and voice acting is better than the drama, action, and acting in the Batman live action series that began in 1989 and ended in 1997. It’s appropriate for kids and will be a treat for adults who don’t mind watching quality animation that isn’t comedy based. Michael Ansara’s voice performance as Mr. Freeze is particularly distinctive and noteworthy.
7 of 10
A-
April 4, 2005
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Review: "Batman and Robin" or Badman and Rotten
Batman and Robin (1997)
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hours, 5 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for strong stylized action and some innuendos
DIRECTOR: Joel Schumacher
WRITER: Akiva Goldsman (based upon the Batman character created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCER: Peter Macgregor-Scott
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stephen Goldblatt (D.o.P.)
EDITORS: Mark Stevens and Dennis Virkler
COMPOSER: Elliot Goldenthal
SUPERHERO/ACTION/ADVENTURE/FAMILY
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, John Glover, Elle Macpherson, Vivica A. Fox, Coolio, Nicky Katt, and Jeep Swenson
Until there is a fourth sequel, the third sequel to the 1989 box office smash Batman, Batman and Robin will be considered the film that killed the modern Batman film franchise. It’s not as if there is nothing redeemable about this film in particular because it has some good story elements. Batman and Robin is awful simply because it is over-produced. It is as ostentatious as a lavishly decorated and spectacularly colorful Mardi Gras or drag ball.
Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O’Donnell) face the combined forces of Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman). Complicating matters is a rivalry that has grown between the Dynamic Duo. Robin/Dick Grayson wants to do his own thing, and although he understands his young friend’s quest for independence, Batman/Bruce Wayne thinks the young man has a lot to learn, and that he, Bruce, is the teacher, and that the boy should listen. Poison Ivy picks up on this and plays the partners against one another. More trouble arrives in the form of Wayne Manor butler Alfred Pennyworth’s (Michael Gough) niece Barbara Wilson (Alicia Silverstone) who eventually becomes Batgirl.
Everything is overdone in this movie except for the script and the acting, both of which seem neglected. The art direction is as over-the-top sweet as high fructose corn syrup, and the costumes are high camp. Clowns wouldn’t want them, and trick-or-treaters wouldn’t be caught dead in them. The script is poor when it comes to internal logic and consistency. For example, how does Poison Ivy create that ridiculously fancy lair of hers? Where does it come from, and what’s the point of it? It’s just another over-dressed set. I could suspend disbelief if that, along with so much else, just didn’t seem…well, stupid, dumb, and tactless.
The acting is also over the top and bad. At times, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to revert to the skill (or lack thereof) he showed in his early films. George Clooney, though earnest, is very weak as both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Batman needs to carry the movie, but Clooney struggles with poor material, and that’s made worse by the fact that he doesn’t have a grasp of what he’s supposed to do. It’s like the whole time he was running around the movie wondering just what the hell a “Batman” was. Also, it is high time to drop the use of sexual innuendo is Batman films. It’s not funny, and the dialogue is so hackneyed that these “naughty bits” fall flat when delivered by actors who are already being way too campy. I’m not saying that Batman needs to be so dark and serious, but nor should it be played as a bad joke.
However, there are good elements in the story: Mr. Freeze’s quest to save his wife, Poison Ivy’s machinations against Freeze and the Dynamic Duo, Alfred’s illness, Batman dealing with Robin’s growing pains, and the emphasis on family in the story. But it’s all tossed aside in favor of throwing tons of garish crap against the wall in hopes that something will stick; in the end, almost nothing does. The movie is almost a total failure from top to bottom, and it’s frustrating because it could have been something good. Director Joel Schumacher is not without some directorial skill and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman is one of Hollywood’s top scribes.
What we get in this movie is an overblown and wild spectacle made by people who cynically believed that enough people would pay to see this movie no matter how abysmal it was because they just have to see the next installment in the Batman franchise. And that worked to an extent, but many of their ticket buyers left as unsatisfied customers. If Warner Bros. wants to make shit, it’s no skin of my nose. There are always other action movies, always another action blast out, even if it’s from Warner’s own stable.
2 of 10
D
NOTES:
1998 Razzie Awards: 1 win: “Worst Supporting Actress” (Alicia Silverstone); 10 nominations: “Worst Picture” (Peter Macgregor-Scott), “Worst Director” (Joel Schumacher), “Worst Original Song” (Billy Corgan for the song "The End is The Beginning is The End"), “Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property,” “Worst Remake or Sequel,” “Worst Screen Couple” (George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell), “Worst Screenplay” (Akiva Goldsman), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Chris O'Donnell), “Worst Supporting Actor” (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and “Worst Supporting Actress” (Uma Thurman)
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Monday, July 16, 2012
Review: Visually Splendid "Batman Returns" is not Wholly Splendid
Batman Returns (1992)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Daniel Waters; from a story by Sam Hamm and Daniel Waters (based upon the Batman characters created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCERS: Denise Di Novi and Burton
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Stefan Czapsky
EDITORS: Bob Badami and Chris Lebenzon
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award nominee
SUPERHERO/CRIME/ROMANCE with elements of action
Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy, Pat Hingle, Vincent Schiavelli, Paul Reubens, and Diane Salinger
The subject of this movie review is Batman Returns, a 1992 superhero film directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne. It is a sequel to the 1989 film, Batman, which was also directed by Burton.
When The Penguin (Danny DeVito) rises from the sewers of Gotham City, Batman (Michael Keaton) must battle him and as nefarious cohorts, the conniving industrialist Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) and the feminist empowered Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer), as they help Penguin run a very popular candidate in the Gotham mayoral race.
Unlike his first Batman film, Tim Burton had more control over Batman Returns, and it’s quite obvious. Stylistically, Batman Returns is closer to Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands than Batman is, which was Burton’s first film after Beetlejuice. However, Batman Returns has more rank humor than the original, and the sexual innuendo ranges from juvenile to forced. Batman was sly and occasionally witty; it was dark but not morbid as Returns is.
Still, the combination of Burton and screenwriter Daniel Waters (a writer with a darkly humorous and imaginative sense) create a Batman film like no other. This one is a dark fairytale immersed in issues of identity, empowerment, abandonment, class privilege, social and gender discrimination, and sexual politics. The story has a lot of nice ideas, maybe too many. It flits from one to the other, leaving one half developed or dismissed, only to be cobbled up later and still make little sense. It’s as if Batman Returns needed a rewrite or received too many in an attempt to make it less complicated and more like the summer blockbuster geared towards selling merchandise that it was supposed to be.
I like it more now than I did when I first saw it in 1992, when I thought it was an over produced mess; now I think it’s over produced and a bit messy. The production designs of Bo Welch (Beetlejuice), art decoration by Rick Heinrichs, and set decoration by Cheryl Carasik look beautiful and exquisite, everything from the abandoned zoo to Gotham’s many store fronts, each one of them decorated for the Christmas season. The cinematography by Stefan Czapsky (He would later shoot Burton’s masterpiece Ed Wood) is drenched in gorgeous blues, luminous white light, and slinky shadows that cover the town like sensuous drapery. Batman Returns looks like a children’s storybook painted by a master.
But in the end, Batman Returns is clunky in spirit and execution. It doesn’t flow or have a rhythm, and the acting is also too hit or miss. That goes for everyone, especially the villains. Burton publicly acknowledged not really caring for the Batman character, and it shows. For much of his film, the hero is an afterthought or merely window dressing, only there because the studio demands it. How else can you sell Batcrap if Batman’s not in the movie. Oh, well. I’ll look at this as a beautiful misfire and a brilliant mistake. I’ll watch it again, if only to pine away at what could have been.
5 of 10
B-
NOTES:
1993 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Michael L. Fink, Craig Barron, John Bruno, and Dennis Skotak) and “Best Makeup” (Ve Neill, Ronnie Specter, and Stan Winston)
1993 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Make Up Artist” (Ve Neill and Stan Winston) and “Best Special Effects” (Michael L. Fink, John Bruno, Craig Barronm, and Dennis Skotak)
1993 Razzie Awards: 1 nomination: “Worst Supporting Actor” (Danny DeVito)
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Review: "A Night at the Roxbury" is Sometimes Funny (Happy B'day, Will Ferrell)
TRASH IN MY EYE No. 154 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux
A Night at the Roxbury (1998)
Running time: 98 minutes (1 hour, 38 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sex related humor, language and some drug content
DIRECTOR: John Fortenberry
WRITERS: Steven Koren and Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan
PRODUCERS: Amy Heckerling and Lorne Michaels
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Francis Kenny
EDITOR: Jay Kamen
COMPOSER: David Kitay
COMEDY
Starring: Chris Kattan, Will Ferrell, Dan Hedaya, Molly Shannon, Richard Grieco, Loni Anderson, Lochlyn Munro, Michael Clarke Duncan, Dwayne Hickman, Meredith Scott Lynn, Colin Quinn, Elisa Donovan, Gigi Rice, Jennifer Coolidge, and (uncredited) Chazz Palminteri
The subject of this movie review is A Night at the Roxbury, a 1998 American comedy film starring Chris Kattan and Will Ferrell. The film is based on the long-running “Saturday Night Live” skit called “The Roxbury Guys,” which also featured Kattan and Ferrell. Amy Heckerling, the director of such films as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Look Who’s Talking, and Clueless, is one of the film’s producers, and she also apparently directed some of this film.
Doug (Chris Kattan) and Steve Butabi (Will Ferrell) are the Roxbury Guys, a long-running skit Kattan and Ferrell performed while they were “Saturday Night Live” cast members. The Butabi Brothers go club hopping, always trying to get in the hottest spot, the hottest spot being, The Roxbury. In A Night at the Roxbury, one of many films adapted from Saturday Night Live skits, the Butabi boys want to open their own club, one as hot as The Roxbury.
Of course, they face many obstacles. Their father Kamehl (Dan Hedaya) wants Steve to marry Emily Sanderson (Molly Shannon) so that he could merge his plastic plant business with Emily’s father’s lamp shop. Doug doesn’t like Emily, and Kamehl doesn’t think much of his son Doug’s intelligence. It doesn’t help that the boys live at home with their parents, so Kamehl is always in their business. They finally get a break when they meet The Roxbury’s owner, Mr. Zadir (Chazz Palminteri), who likes the boys and wants to go in business with them. Zadir’s assistant, Dooey (Colin Quinn) hates the Butabi boys and runs interference to keep them from having that meeting crucial with Mr. Zadir about opening a club. Meanwhile, Emily and Kamehl set a date for the wedding, and Doug severs his close relationship with his brother over the wedding. Will the Butabi Bros. get back together in time to open their dream club?
A Night at the Roxbury is only funny when Kattan and Ferrell are onscreen, and then it’s mostly for their silliness, not for their acting. The film just seems to meander through its plot, and one can’t help but get the feeling that this film is going nowhere, so the Butabi’s desperately need to be on the screen for this film to be tolerable. For all its dilly-dallying, the film suddenly drops its ending in your lap, but other than a few laughs, this is, at best, a temporary distraction. It is a testament to the leads’ styles, that they elicit laughs from mediocre material (material that is surprisingly mediocre when one considers that Clueless director Amy Heckerling and comedy superstar Jim Carrey made substantial uncredited contributions to this film), and their comedic gifts make A Night at the Roxbury worth watching.
5 of 10
C+
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Sunday, July 15, 2012
Review: 1989 "Batman" Movie Wanders Without a Plot
Batman (1989)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, from a story by Hamm (based upon BATMAN characters created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCERS: Jon Peters and Peter Guber
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Pratt
EDITOR: Ray Lovejoy
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award winner
SUPERHERO/ACTION/CRIME
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance, Jerry Hall, Tracey Walter, Lee Wallace, and William Hootkins
The subject of this movie review is Batman, the 1989 superhero movie directed by Tim Burton. It was the first film in the initial Batman film series, which ended with 1997’s Batman and Robin, before being rebooted with Batman Begins (2005).
Although Warner Bros. had a “Batman” movie in various stages of development for most of the 80’s, the 1989 box office smash Batman was not green lit for production until the film Beetlejuice became a hit. In 1985, Warner Bros. chose Tim Burton, the director of Beetlejuice, to helm the long planned Batman after his first theatrical feature, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, became a box office hit. However, when Beetlejuice’s also became a hit, that success that made Warner Bros. realize that Burton was definitely a director who could make box office hits, and being that Warner was putting so much money into Batman, they needed it to be a hit. Comic book fans raised (un)holy hell over the choice of Burton to direct and Burton’ selection of Michael Keaton to play Bruce Wayne/Batman. Warner Bros. toyed with and appeased their nerdy emotions by regularly releasing Batman movie trailers and other sneak peeks of the film. The choice of Jack Nicholson to play the Joker also got people excited (and quieted angry comic book nerds), and the film went on to be a huge hit.
Gotham City has been astir with rumors of a giant bat, called The Bat, by criminals who claimed that it attacked them; indeed, the mysterious figure is said to prey upon Gotham’s criminal underworld. This figure is actually a costumed hero who calls himself Batman (Michael Keaton), and he gradually comes out of the shadows to investigate the criminal operation of Gotham’s chief criminal, Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). During a police showdown with Grissom’s thugs, Batman causes the apparent accidental death of Grissom’s chief enforcer, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson). Napier, however, is not dead; nearly-drowned in strange chemicals and scarred by a bullet, he emerges from the shadows as the homicidal and clown-like, The Joker (Nicholson), and begins a murder spree against his rivals for control of the city’s criminal underworld. The Joker also initiates a crime spree on the city as Gotham prepares to celebrate its 200th birthday. Meanwhile, Batman’s secret identity, Bruce Wayne (Keaton), is trying to figure out a way to stop The Joker, while a lovely reporter, Vicky Vale (Kim Basinger), shows interest in both Wayne and Batman.
This movie is a large plot-less beast that meanders into its third act. The movie even starts off with a cacophony of countless actors mouthing awkward sounding dialogue. Keaton is unconvincing as either Bruce Wayne or Batman. Kim Basinger struggles with role made gimpy by a script that treats her like a typical action movie girl-attached-to-the-hero, one the filmmakers only grudgingly accept as necessary. Tim Burton’s signature gothic and darkly comic fantasy hardly ever shows in this film; this is mostly a Tim Burton film in name only. However, Jack Nicholson takes the script and elevates it. Except for a few hammy moments, he’s brilliant and his delivery brings his lines to snappy life.
Compared to the recent Batman Begins, Batman 1989 doesn’t hold up, but the two films are actually quite different in tone and style. This Batman is a combination of the wrong ingredients or at least incorrectly measured ingredients (from director and cast to the music and other production elements) plus a big helping of Jack Nicholson’s miraculously funny performance; both make this an average and (for reasons unknown to me) curiously entertaining film.
5 of 10
C+
NOTES:
1990 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Anton Furst and Peter Young)
1990 BAFTA Awards: 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jack Nicholson), “Best Costume Design” (Bob Ringwood), “Best Make Up Artist” (Paul Engelen and Nick Dudman), “Best Production Design” (Anton Furst), “Best Sound” (Don Sharpe, Tony Dawe, and Bill Rowe), “Best Special Effects” (Derek Meddings and John Evans)
1990 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Jack Nicholson)
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