Batmania

RV!: Batman (1989) Dir: Tim Burton Date Released: June 23, 1989 Date Seen: July 12, 2012 Rating: 4/5

RV!: Batman Returns (1992) Dir: Tim Burton Date Released: June 19, 1992 Date Seen: July 15, 2012 Rating: 4.25/5

227) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Dir: Christopher Nolan Date Released: July 20, 2012 Date Seen: July 17, 2012 Rating: 3/5

Do the Bat-tusi with me, please. 

I didn't write much about the 1989 Batman but generally speaking: I think it's messiness was more apparent to me this time around than it was when I last rewatched it. But I still have a very strong personal attachment to both of Burton's Bat-films. Burton gets so much right in his hyper-personal first foray with the character and his world that I can't really say that the film's apparent flaws seriously bugged me. I think he gets more confident with Batman Returns, a film that is probably my favorite of the live-action Batman movies to date. I've said it before but: I wish Burton had had a chance to direct a third Batman film. I'm irrationally convinced that it would have been even stronger than Returns.

In any case, two big pieces about Batman, one a semi-comprehensive look at the character and his best incarnations over several decades and various media; and one a lengthy, spoiler-intensive review of Christopher Nolan's concluding film in his Bat-trilogy. Both pieces can be found at Press Play here and here.

297) Planet of the Apes (2001)

297) Planet of the Apes (2001) Dir: Tim Burton Date Released: July 27, 2001 Date Seen: July 23, 2011 Rating: 2.75/5

Wow, practically 10 years ago to the day. Freaky, huh?

Ahem.

Being the glass half full kind of guy that I am,* I like to think that this film isn't nearly as bad as it's reputation. There are some genuinely neat ideas here even if I hated Tim Roth's character and didn't think the action scenes were very good and didn't enjoy anything after Roth's character wages war on Marky Mark's in that stupid, stupid set piece. 

But hey, it was actually ok. I've been avoiding this film for years for no reason. The sky is not falling. The birds are still chirping. The Paul Giamatti character and the film's ending are both still rathah stinky. And the film is actually ok in parts. 

I'm as surprised as you are, frankly.

*Ha!

109) Alice in Wonderland (2010)

109) Alice in Wonderland (2010) Dir: Tim Burton Date Released: March 2010 Date Seen: March 21, 2010 Rating: 1.75/5

I've never been so mortified to call myself a Tim Burton as I was after watching this drab and thoroughly mismanaged take on Lewis Carroll's iconic fever dream. It induced shell-shock in me as I watched. I felt like I was pinned to my seat; there were no words, just my big, slack, gaping mouth. Everything that should go right with this adaptation doesn't. Both Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham-Carter stand out, yes, yes, but it's hard to give a damn about seeing Johnny Depp quirk up another role for Burton like he does here. Likewise, there's a kernel of an exciting and fittingly brooding revisionist take on the film here, one that is extra-sensitive to the hints of proto-feminism buried deep in the background of Caroll's story. But it's completely squandered on a dull stock plot about Alice being "the chosen one" and hence fated to save Wonderland. So sluggish and uninteresting. I miss the Alice in Wonderland adaptations of my youth, like the one with Ben Vereen and Gene Wilder or the Disney one. Now I can't get that god-awful image of Depp break-dancing out of my head no matter how hard I try. This thing had Christopher Lee voice the Jabberwocky. How could it go so wrong in so many ways?