The Favorites - 13 Favorite Batman Movies

Well, it’s 2022, and we have yet another live-action Batman film. Yeah, we had Ben Affleck in the previous DCEU movies, but this is the first solo film in about a decade. Not only are we getting Rob Pattisson in the role, Michael Keaton (along with Affleck) is supposed to be returning to the role in the Flash movie. By the way, why is this movie constantly pushed back? Maybe that slo-mo from the Snyder Cut carried over onto that movie’s production.

This did get me thinking about what my favorite Batman films are. I mean, the Dark Knight has had a crapton of films released in over the years, live-action and animated. He’s been on his own, hanging with teams, fighting Joker, flirting with Wonder Woman, teaming up with reptiles, fighting Superman, fighting Joker, sleeping with Batgirl, fighting Joker, in Victorian era Gotham, and last but not least, FIGHTING THE JOKER. I think I sense a bit of a pattern. So, here are my favorite Batman movies. Even though he has a lot, I’m stopping at 13-ish. I’m mainly including primarily solo Batman films here, but I do have a couple of exceptions. First, here are some honorable mentions:

• The Dark Knight Rises – Yeah, this didn’t make it to the main list, so take that, Nolanites! Now, this isn’t a bad movie, but I can’t throw it on the list. While it was the ending of Nolan’s trilogy and had good things with it, I couldn’t vibe with it. Heck, it took me almost eight years to see it again! I’ve seen the other two many more times than that! It just felt phoned in at times. Whatever spark those first two movies had wasn’t here. I also wasn’t a fan of some plot points and other things (those dang hilarious voices). Overall, it’s not bad, but it’s not that good.
• Batman and Robin – This one goes without saying. It was the first Batman film I saw in theaters. While I can find a lotta joy in Batman Forever, I can’t with this one. While I do like a little camp with Batman, this one took things too far for me. It’s not one of the worst movies ever though. It has a couple of good things like the subplot with Alfred. Also, Alicia Silverstone looked nice in that costume… hey, it’s true! As for everything else, meh. I can accept it as a comedy, but nothing more.
• Batman (1966) – I wanted to at least mention the original 1966 Adam West movie. It’s one that I honestly haven’t seen a lot of. I do need to see it in its entirety one day, but even if I did,  it would probably still be in the mentions.

Tales From the 50 Cent Bin! - Batman Beyond #10

The last Batman wanna-be I’ll be doing for the year is the future boy himself: Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond. I talked about the show a couple of years ago. It was a good one. His story feels a little similar to Bruce’s. Terry got pulled into a retired Bruce Wayne’s life when his father was brutally murdered. Terry accidentally stumbles upon the Batcave and steals the last experimental suit Bruce made. After Terry uses the suit to get justice for his father, Bruce thinks that Terry could be a suitable replacement. After Terry accepts Bruce’s job, he officially becomes Batman.

He is far from that of Bruce’s Batman. He’s much younger, sarcastic, has a past as a troublemaker, and has a family.  He’s essentially another Robin but he’s doing all of the heavy lifting since Bruce is in his twilight years. They even share a connection which is something I won’t talk about here (hint: "Epilogue" from Justice League Unlimited). Unlike Jean-Paul, Dick, and even Comm. Gordon, Terry actually gets to interact and get help from Bruce on things. Heck, he’s only a high school kid, so he’s going to need a lot of help. The suit he and Bruce (Bruce wore it before he retired) wear on the show is pretty cool and has all sorts of tricks and gadgets.

DC Comics have done a few series on the character and this futuristic world. Today’s issue comes from the second volume that was coming out at the same time the show was on. Batman Beyond #10 was written by the late Hilary J. Bader. Not only did she write for the show, she also wrote for other shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Superman: The Animated Series, and The New Batman Adventures. The pencils were provided by Craig Rousseau and the inks were done by Rob Leigh.

Batman Beyond: #10

Writer: Hilary J. Bader

Pencils: Craig Rousseau

Inks: Rob Leigh

Colors: Lee Loughridge

Letters: Tim Harkins

Assistant Editor: Frank Berrios

Action Figure (Eh?): Joseph Illidge

Movie Talk - The DCAU Batman Movies

Come on, Bruce! At least look like you're having fun! I know I would be.

Now that I’m at the end of Batman Month, I can finally get back to the animated universe created by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini. While they churned out good shows like Batman: the Animated Series, Justice League, and Batman Beyond, they also did some feature-length animated movies set in Batman’s animated universe. Unlike today, it was rare when we got movies like these. One of them even got released in theatres. So, let me see what I can remember about them.

I remember when Batman: Mask of the Phantasm was released in theatres. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it there. I ended up renting it on VHS. The rest of their movies ended up being direct-to-video. I only saw their second feature, Batman vs. Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero, on TV when the WB aired it one Saturday morning. I rented their third feature, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, from Movie Gallery. I ended up getting the unrated version on DVD a few years later. Finally, I rented their last one, Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman and I’ve only seen it once. Since I haven’t seen most of these movies in along time, I watched them all over the weekend.

TV Talk - Justice League/Justice League Unlimited

They will never know that I was the one who stole the cookies from the cookie jar!

So, here it is. Approaching a show like this is kind of hard. I mean, it’s perfect! It had great stories, great voice acting, and awesome animation. It was the culmination of everything that came before with DC’s Animated Universe (DCAU). Without a doubt, it is one of my favorite shows. Let’s get to it.

Background

I came across the show on Cartoon Network in 2001. I remember that the show came on in the evening which was pretty awesome. After it shifted in Justice League Unlimited (JLU), I was only able to watch some episodes. I was in college and Cartoon Network keep airing the show randomly at this time. Later on, I was able to get caught up on episodes through YouTube and other video sites.

When I found out the show(s) were on Netflix, I didn’t really care mostly because I’ve seen just about every episode. After a while, I decided to go through both shows. I mostly wanted to see ones I haven’t seen in a while. I haven’t completely finished watching both shows, but I’ve seen them enough. For simplicity’s sake, I’m putting both shows together on here. Heck, JLU’s just Seasons 3, 4, and 5 of Justice League.

TV Talk - Batman Beyond

Hey all. I'm back with another Batman show. Yes, this counts as a Batman show because even though Bruce Wayne isn't Batman here, he still is around in some form. Ladies and Gents: Batman Beyond.

Background
This show came on in 1999 (7th/8th grade). Anyway, I really didn't know what to expect with this show when it came on. I mean, it looked really different. Since I was bored, I checked it out. It was pretty cool. I'm glad I checked it out every Saturday when it was on. I also have Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker at the house. And yes, it's the unedited version where ____ kills _____. I haven't  really watched the show since it aired, but I have seen some episodes online and BB: ROTJ is a movie that I try to watch occasionally. Yeah, it's that good.