[.ca] Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997 (Batman / ...

From Amazon.com:
For fans and newcomers, this boxed set holds a great collection, including all four great movies. The first in the series, Batman (1989), and arguably the best of the four movies, exudes the moodiness of the Dark Knight's character. Tim Burton's direction and Michael Keaton's rendition of Batman are an electrifying combo. Together they capture the sinister atmosphere of Gotham City and Batman's darkness. Jack Nicholson as the fiendish Joker and Kim Basinger as the resourceful and gorgeous Vicki Vale lend their charm. Three years later, in 1992, Burton and Keaton reunited for Batman Returns. This time our pointy-eared hero has to combat two villains: Danny DeVito as the disturbed and freaky Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. In Batman Forever (1995), Joel Schumacher gave his direction to the story with Val Kilmer under the cape. Kilmer keeps the moodiness but adds a little panache to his rendition. His archenemies this time are the Riddler (Jim Carrey) and Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones). Luckily, he enlists the help of the Boy Wonder, Robin (Chris O'Donnell). The final movie in the series, Batman & Robin, is great eye candy, and this time Schumacher returns with George Clooney as the leading man and Chris O'Donnell again as Robin. Together Batman and Robin battle the icy Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger), with a little help from Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone). Delve into the Gotham City world with the Dark Knight to protect you, and don't forget to make lots of popcorn for this Batman marathon. --Samantha Allen Storey

Required viewing for any filmmaker...:
There are two DVD box sets that contain the Batman movies of Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher - The Batman Legacy and The Batman Motion Picture Anthology. My advice is to see these movies ahead of time, and buy the ones you like individually. I GUARANTEE YOU WON'T WANT TO BUY ALL FOUR MOVIES - unless of course, you're a DVD collector like me, who loves DVD extras. A serious DVD collector will not buy The Batman Legacy - they'll shell out some extra coin to get The Batman Motion Picture Anthology. That box set comes with 18 hours of extras. The Batman Legacy doesn't have any good DVD extras, so movie buffs won't be interested in getting that box set. But if you don't care about DVD extras, and just want to acquire all four films, you may as well get The Batman Legacy. As a fan of the Batman comics, I can recognize a lot of problems with all four movies. The first two were directed by Tim Burton, and are generally well-liked today. But the last two were directed by Joel Schumacher, and they're generally reviled by everyone. These Batman movies show what happens when a popular series is put in the hands of a director with a completely different vision, who ultimately destroys the series. THAT is the lasting legacy of this series. The series lost a lot of steam after Schumacher made Batman Forever, a movie that alienated a lot of Batman fans. Then Schumacher made Batman & Robin - and the series lost all credibility after that movie came out. In the case of the Harry Potter movies, Chris Columbus (who directed the first two Potter movies) said he wanted to ensure that the next Potter director would not stray too far from the style of his first two movies - and he cited this Batman series as an example of what he hoped to avoid. Burton's movies are enjoyable - but a little ridiculous. Some of the villains and goons were a bit too cartoonish for my liking in Batman Returns, but they're WAY too cartoonish in the Schumacher movies. However, the character of Batman in Burton's movies is perfect. Batman may be a hero, but the character is so dark and gritty that there's a real malevolence to him. The Kilmer and Clooney Batmen didn't have that malevolence - so viewers won't experience the sense of awe and wonder that Keaton's Batman evoked from them. Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) is in the first Batman movie. He doesn't turn into Two-Face in this movie. I figure they wanted Dent to appear in this movie with the hope of making him a villain in a future sequel. Williams doesn't add much of anything to this movie - but it would have been AWESOME if Burton had Williams play Two-Face in a Batman sequel. Too bad Two-Face doesn't appear until Batman Forever, when Schumacher took over. Even though Batman Forever is a sequel, Schumacher completely ignores Williams' portrayal of Dent, and cooks up a completely different character for Tommy Lee Jones to play. In a Burton movie, it's safe to say that Williams would be playing a leaner, meaner and less eccentric Two-Face than we saw in Schumacher's movie. The first Batman is also the only movie of the series where the villain's goons are cool - but they would have been cooler if they kept their old fashioned mobster appearance of fedoras and trenchcoats. The goons in Batman Begins are ninjas - and there are few things on Earth that are cooler than ninjas. Batman Forever was a rude awakening for those of us who expected the Batman series to retain the same style as Burton's movies. Schumacher and the writers didn't know how to make a good Batman movie, and Kilmer was miscast as Batman. Batman didn't deserve the title of 'World's Greatest Detective' in Batman Forever. He should've done some investigating into Nygmatech when he suspected that "the box" could be used for evil purposes. Batman certainly dropped the ball that time. Anyway, Schumacher was trying to make Batman Forever a much more lighthearted film. Then he made the travesty that is Batman and Robin, which is like an updated remake of Batman: The Movie and the Adam West TV series. And for the record, I'm a big fan of the Adam West TV show. That show was a product of its time. But IT'S NOT suitable for this day and age - Schumacher should've known better. But I imagine he was a huge fan of the TV series, and this was probably his way of paying homage to it. Another serious problem with his movies was the way the villains were portrayed. Bane, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, The Riddler, and Two-Face were all too obnoxious and/or annoying for my liking. I expect The Joker to behave like a clown, but TWO-FACE and MR. FREEZE? What was Schumacher thinking? Let me put it this way. If you loved Batman and/or Batman Returns, you'll probably be able to tolerate Batman Forever, but you'll HATE Batman and Robin. If you love the Adam West TV show, you might like Schumacher's movies. But it's hard to say, because Batman & Robin is a terrible movie, whether you like bright and cheerful superhero movies or not. Fans of the Batman comic books will appreciate Burton's movies, dislike Schumacher's movies, and LOVE Batman Begins - but that movie isn't a part of this Batman series, so it's not in this DVD set. I myself will be getting the Anthology - I'd LOVE to hear the commentaries from Schumacher. I'm curious to hear what he was thinking as he made those movies. Thank God Batman Begins came along - the start of an entirely NEW Batman series. Now I can forget about Schumacher's movies, and all the problems with Burton's movies. I like Burton's two movies a lot. But Christopher Nolan's NEW BATMAN SERIES will become the best comic book movie series of all-time. Mark my words.

Not the century's deal:
The first two Batman were good. About as good you can get from a man dressing in a bat costume. But the two next were utter parody. With both Batmans (Kilmer and Clooney) just don't bringing the right feelings to the screen. Well let's put it this way: if you'd liked Batman begins you'll probably enjoy half the DVD set which certainly doesn't worth its price of 70 bucks. Rather buy the two Tim Burton's and the latest by Christopher Nolan.

BATMAN REVIEW:
Okay, for all those people who are wanting to know which of the four batman movies are the best. Well here is my two cents. Batman#1- staring Michale Keaton as the dark night himself batman, Jack Nicolson as the dark comical feind joker,and Kim Basinger as the sexy Vicki Vale. This was a dark beginning for the series and it explained the troubles of Bruce Waynes two lives Billion Dollar buissness man, and the dark night. Michale Keaton played an awsome batman, his two attitudes as both characters Bruce Wayne and Batman never reveal that they are the same person. Jack Nicolson as the joker was pure brilliance. His facical expressions through out the movie and his remarks make him the number one batman movie villian. This movie was directed by the brilliant mind of Tim Burton. Batman#2- Batman returns- staring- Michale Keaton returns as the role of Batman , Michelle Phieffer as the sly sexy Cat Woman, Danny DeVito as the sewer ridden Penguin, and Christopher Walken as the notorious Max Shreck. This movie was again directed by the brilliant mind of Tim Burton. This was the darkest of all four movies. It shows the trials and errors of masterminds against the dark knight. Danny DeVito played a spectacular role as penguin. He was definitly the man for the part. Michelle Phiffer as cat women was a great selection. Props on the skin tight body suite. This was another good movie from a good cast, and a great director. Until #3 Batman#3-Batman Forever- staring- Val Kilmer as Batman, Nichole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, Chris O'Donnelle as the boy wonder Robin, Tommy Lee Jones as the physcotic Two Face, and Jim Carrey as the clever Riddler. This was the worst of the 4. Jim Carrey played an awsome Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones played a fantastic two face. Nicole Kidman played a beautiful role as the sexy physco-therapist. But the other two was the downer. Starting with the least of the worst, Chris O'Donnell as robin. He was good in the beginning but as the movie progressed, his image slowly died out. Drew Barrymore played a quick role as one of two faces girls. But the number 1 reason for the faliure of this movie is the man himself Batman, played by a no personality Val Kilmer. Dont get me wrong Val is an awsome actor, but not for Batman. He had no personality, except when he tried to rival with Edward E. Nigma (The riddler for the non true batman fans) other than that he had no personatlity split between the two Bruce Wayne and Batman. Batman#4-Batman and Robin- staring George Clooney as the role of Batman, Chris O'Donnell as the return role as Robin, Uma Thurman as the sensual Dr. Pamela Isley, also known as Poison Ivy, amd the governator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger as the bone chilling Mr. Freeze. This was an alright movie but not the best. Again the role of batman was trivialized by another actor. George Clooney as batman was good, on paper, but his performance was too wity for some. Again not seperating the lines between batman and Mr. Wayne. So all in all the batman series is a definite DVD collection to have my ratings on the movies are. BATMAN#1-***** BATMAN#2-**** BATMAN#3-** BATMAN#4-*** TAKE FROM A TRUE BATMAN FAN. ITS A GOOD BUY.

FINALLY!:
IT is finally here. This sets been in the works for months, so if you bought the original when BATMAN BEGINS came out, you got suckered!

A clear rip-off:
I bought it for like 35 bucks or so, and think the purchase does not worth it; once I watched it was when I realised I'd been ripped-off. See, I haven't watch Batman & Robbin yet when I bought the legacy case but considered Batman and Batman return being good movies and just thought "How bad could Batman & Robbin be, albeit considering Batman forever was not very good?" The answer to that question stroke me down: it can be really bad. Even worse than I could ever allow my imagination to gage about how bad can a flick be. That was horrible! But I was under a Bat-mood influence at the time I've commited that reckless gesture, cause I'd just seen Batman begins and it just made me de-emphasize the poorness of the third Batman. Anyway, that's me.