Batman

Batman, 1989
Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin)

I never really pre-planned a time when I wanted to watch this movie, but ideally I wanted to watch it between June 15 when I started the challenge and January of the new year so I could finally watch The Dark Knight on the anniversary of Heath Ledger's death. Don't judge me, I fell in love with him when I watched 10 Things I Hate About You for the first time in 1999. Once you lose your Heath Ledger, or the first star you really liked for their performances and dashing good looks, then we'll talk. And I realize I probably didn't have to watch this movie first to watch Dark Knight, but I wanted to see Jack Nicholson as the Joker before I watched Heath Ledger play the same character.

After having watched the movie:

I liked Batman enough, but I don't know why it took almost three attempts to finally watch the entire movie. I guess it just wasn't my favorite movie, but to be fair it was also the first movie I tried to watch after the car accident I had the day before Christmas Eve. On the way home from work I rear ended someone on Interstate 4 in Orlando at the 408 ramp. It made the holidays really rough and was kind of an awful way to end the year. I had a rental car for more than a week and finally found a car by the 10th of January, but the whole process seemed long and drug out because of the holidays. Unexpectedly it also made even watching movies difficult. It was about five days until I was able to sit down and watch another movie after the accident, because my mind was so scattered I couldn't really focus on anything.

All in all though, I have to say that I thought Jack Nicholson played an amazing Joker. I can see why he has gone on to say that it's one of the most difficult roles he has played, because it seems as though it's one of the roles that sticks with you for hours after the First Assistant Director calls a wrap on the day.

What I didn't know about the comic, again as so many other people like to point out, is that I didn't realize until I was about eighteen or nineteen was that comics were a legit thing. I had no idea there were conventions or such avid fans. This concept was completely new to me. So what I found most interesting about the movie was that it came out the same year Batman celebrated it's 50th year, and more than 50,000 fans wrote to Warner Brothers complaining about casting Michael Keaton as Bruce. As a way to get fans excited, Warner Brothers created a short, ninety second, teaser to create buzz around the movie. They more than succeeded. From my understanding, being able to see this trailer is kind of a big deal to comic book fans.

Final thoughts: Despite learning all the new things about the movie, I still think it's just ok. I mean, I wouldn't go as far as to call it a bad movie, but I have to agree with the reviews that I read that called the movie too dark. Too dark as in it's hard to see what's on screen, and not subject matter. I can't always watch movies at night after work, there are times when I have to watch them at noon and with the layout of my apartment it makes watching a lot of dark movies difficult and slightly irritating because of the reflections and glares.

OFFICIAL COUNT: 152 DOWN 213 TO GO

Next up: It's a Wonderful Life