Batman Returns (1992) My kids spent the better part of Saturday playing Batman figures with their Batcave they got for Christmas. Since I practically ignored them all day while I was cleaning up the house, I decided to spend some quality time in front of the TV with them after dinner and let them watch "a Batman movie with real people"...as my kids would call it. Elias was especially excited because this was his third PG-13 movie.
That's my son! (He's also seen the new Indiana Jones and
Revenge of the Sith.) Batman Returns has always been one of my more favorite Batman outings mostly because of the presence of Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays Catwoman. This film is actually a total mess. I have a long list of complaints about Super Hero movies, and Batman 2 is a case study for a number of my complaints. Super Hero movies never have enough of the title Super Hero in the actual movie. It always takes too long for the first appearance of the Super Hero. In this case the movie is called Batman Returns...we know Batman is in the movie, we know he's returning - so return him and lets get on with it! Every super hero movie, also, does not need to have backstories. We don't need to know anything about the Penguin or Catwoman except they are bad guys and they hate Batman. Do we really need to know that Catwoman became Catwoman because someone pushed her out a window and she came back to life because 50 stray cats licked her and scratched her?!? And why do they always feel the need to kill off the bad guy at the end of the movie. We all know that Batman is going to battle Penguin, Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, Mr. Freeze...all of them a million more times. You don't need to kill them! I also have another complaint about there never being enough Bank Robbing Robots in these movies, but I guess that's another argument for another time. Nonetheless, I don't need to tell you that my kids loved every second of this movie.
Swingers (1996) I had seen this independent film when it first came out on video 10+ years ago. I remember not thinking much of it, but gave it a second look late last night. Being 35 now, instead of 23-24, I appreciate and understand this movie alot more. There's not much of a story but there are quite a few well fleshed out characters that keep things interesting. I remember at the time this came out, it was considered pretty vulgar and edgy but it's all actually pretty low-key stuff. This, of course, was also the film that launched the career of Vince Vaughn. He's really good in it as well as Jon Favreau (who went on to direct
Elf and
Iron Man) and Ron Livingston (who later stared in
another classic from this time,
Office Space).
Batman Returns (1992) My kids spent the better part of Saturday playing Batman figures with their Batcave they got for Christmas. Since I practically ignored them all day while I was cleaning up the house, I decided to spend some quality time in front of the TV with them after dinner and let them watch "a Batman movie with real people"...as my kids would call it. Elias was especially excited because this was his third PG-13 movie. That's my son! (He's also seen the new Indiana Jones and Revenge of the Sith.) Batman Returns has always been one of my more favorite Batman outings mostly because of the presence of Michelle Pfeiffer, who plays Catwoman. This film is actually a total mess. I have a long list of complaints about Super Hero movies, and Batman 2 is a case study for a number of my complaints. Super Hero movies never have enough of the title Super Hero in the actual movie. It always takes too long for the first appearance of the Super Hero. In this case the movie is called Batman Returns...we know Batman is in the movie, we know he's returning - so return him and lets get on with it! Every super hero movie, also, does not need to have backstories. We don't need to know anything about the Penguin or Catwoman except they are bad guys and they hate Batman. Do we really need to know that Catwoman became Catwoman because someone pushed her out a window and she came back to life because 50 stray cats licked her and scratched her?!? And why do they always feel the need to kill off the bad guy at the end of the movie. We all know that Batman is going to battle Penguin, Catwoman, Joker, Riddler, Mr. Freeze...all of them a million more times. You don't need to kill them! I also have another complaint about there never being enough Bank Robbing Robots in these movies, but I guess that's another argument for another time. Nonetheless, I don't need to tell you that my kids loved every second of this movie.
Swingers (1996) I had seen this independent film when it first came out on video 10+ years ago. I remember not thinking much of it, but gave it a second look late last night. Being 35 now, instead of 23-24, I appreciate and understand this movie alot more. There's not much of a story but there are quite a few well fleshed out characters that keep things interesting. I remember at the time this came out, it was considered pretty vulgar and edgy but it's all actually pretty low-key stuff. This, of course, was also the film that launched the career of Vince Vaughn. He's really good in it as well as Jon Favreau (who went on to direct Elf and Iron Man) and Ron Livingston (who later stared in another classic from this time, Office Space).
No comments:
Post a Comment