Summer Knights: Bat-A-Thon Part 1

By Geeky Gem

As part of Avenging April some of you may recall Hmsbeefnuts watched all The Avengers related movies in the run up to The Avengers hitting the big screen. Now as this is Summer Knights and we are focusing all our attention on The Dark Knight it has fallen to me to watch all six Batman movies in order to fully enjoy The Dark Knight Rises ; that and Hmsbeefnuts didn’t want to have to sit and watch Batman and Robin. That’s right brave Knight’s I am stepping once more into Gotham City to watch the Batman strike fear into the hearts of criminals.

Batman – 1989

Back in 1989 Tim Burton brought us Batman in his own dark gothic way, as I watched this movie there where elements of Burton all the way through it from the twisted origin of The Joker to gothic feel of Gotham. The opening credits rolled, I knew I was in for some fun as to me this movie never gets old Danny Elfman’s soundtrack haunts the opening credits.

The things I like about this movie is there is some awesome dialogue one such line is as Batman holds a mugger off the edge of the roof “What are you?” the mugger squeaks and Batman simply says “I am Batman”.  Another fantastic line comes a lot later in the movie as the Joker says “Have you danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” simply fantastic. Not only are there some great lines there is also a brilliant cast. Michael Keaton was Batman and a good replacement for Adam West, Jack Nicolson took the role of the Joker and then there is good old Michael Gough as Alfred. Always watching and advising his young master on right and wrong and frankly build some amazing gadgets. Not to mention healing battle wounds.

The reason I like this Batman so much, as it was the first time on screen that he seemed less funny and more dark and edgy. Burton gripped the gothic feel he wanted and ran with it, it later transfers over to the animated series and that’s why it worked so well. There is some fine acting in this movie, if Michael Keaton could have moved his neck more in his bat suit it would have made for better fights I feel. The movie is just everything I wanted Batman to be when i was younger but little did I know it would get worse before it got better.

　

Batman Returns – 1992

Well that’s Batman covered how about we move onto movie number two in our epic marathon of Batness. I bring you Batman Returns, at the start of this piece I said Hmsbeefnuts couldn’t face the thought of sitting through Batman and Robin this is true but Batman Returns was another of the reasons he didn’t want too. Plus I don’t really mind, so back to Bat Cave we go.

So its 1992 and Batman Returns hit the screens, Tim Burton again directs this one and it sticks to the Burton-esqie feel as well as staying very dark and gothic. A style that he never strays to far from really, not that there is anything wrong with that. It works for him, anyway when I sit and watch this movie, I think about the time when I saw it first, as I have got older and read a few more Batman comics I have come to notice that this movie is very far from what it should be.

Let me be clear, the Penguin is not a sewer monster, he was and is a crime lord of Gotham, specializing in guns and weapons he just happens to be a gentleman and wear a suit. That is very different from this movies origin for him, and knowing that means I was less than impressed this time round. This means I hold a different veiw of this movie now, plus I don’t like the circus, so the whole circus gang bit puts me right off.

However let’s move on to the things I did like, the Catwomen birth always brings a smile to my face as Selina goes from pink and fluffy to dark and sexy. That and the fact she trashes her flat. I like Christopher Walken and Danny DeVito in other films but in this one I don’t know something just doesn’t feel right about either of them.  The story for this one is also a bit dull I feel, sorry if you like but it’s just how I feel. However in saying that, the part where Penguin has control of the Batmobile cracks me up. That alone is a plus but not enough for me to change my mind about it.

Batman Forever – 1995

As we near the end of our first part of the Bat-A-Thon it falls down to Batman Forever now I will not lie  to you, I am not a huge fan of this Batman movie but as part of the Bat-A-Thon I have to watch it. For the sake of Hmsbeefnuts and the many fans of All Geek To Me I do this for you. I will go one last time for now in to the streets of Gotham.

Right here we go on to the last movie in this part of epic quest to round up all six movies before we see The Dark Knight Rises. We are treated to a new director on this movie Joel Schumacher, who claims that Val Kilmer is the best Batman but we’ll leave that open for debate shall we. In fact I am not even going to get into it.

Oh where do I start, there are more things I dislike about this movie than I like. This may be harder than I thought, however I will try. Ok, so we have a new Batman as I mentioned in Val Kilmer, who although I do not like a whole heap as Batman, I do think he gets Bruce Wayne right. He truly is a slightly more haunted Bruce than Keaton. That alone makes him watchable, bur I am sorry but what were Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones up to? I get that at the time this was made Carrey was hitting it big with his new comedy style but my goodness it is so over used in this movie that it’s not funny at all. With that being said Jones can’t really do Ha ha funny can he?  Two-Face was never meant to be a funny character he was meant to be dark and scary.

The addition of Robin to these movies I feel is a breath of fresh air, however I am glad he was played the way he was. The death of his family in the circus at the hands of Two-Face is one of my favourtie scenes in this movie. Purely because you can see Bruce struggle for the first time to stand up for himself, something he can do really easy as Batman. You see Dick lose his family in one go much like Bruce did so you can see why he takes him in as his ward. Plus I do like it when Dick finds the cave and takes the Batmobile for a joy ride. These scene’s alone make this movie watchable but other than that I always think this one and Batman and Robin are a hard watch, but they are enjoyable fare and not a bad way to spend a few hours.

 

This brings to the end of the first three movies in this journey, well that was a bit epic wasn’t it? However, it’s going to get a little worse before it gets a whole lot better. Next time we visit Batman and Robin, We see Batman Begin and the Dark Knight run. Until then I am off to the Geek cave to relax after all this epicness.

SUMMER KNIGHTS: BEST BAT VIDEO GAMES

By @hmsbeefnuts

 Lets face it, video games based on licensed properties are usually a big bag of dog vomit. There are exceptions of course, for every piece of shit like Superman 64, we have a Goldeneye 007. As we are knee deep in the glory that is AGTM’s Summer Knights, it falls to me to write about the greatest Batman video games of all time. Obviously there are two that I could not fail to mention, and don’t worry, they are included, but there are also 3 more on the list, so lets check them out immediately shall we?

BATMAN – NES

 

A  fun  little platformer that I can barely remember, except to say that it was mega fun to play. I never owned this game for some reason, but played it over a friends house a lot. OK so the graphics are nothing to write home about, but nothing looks good on the NES these days. Joker was the main bad guy to take down, and I seem to remember the game reminded me of Castlevania, which can not be a bad thing really, can it?

BATMAN RETURNS – SNES

 

The kind of beat em up that they just don’t make any more. The graphics were beautiful, and unbelievable at the time. The fighting which was fun, especially the grab two bad guys and smash their heads together, was spread out between fun mode 7 batmobile sections. Good use of the grapple gun as well. I don’t care for the movie, but the game is awesome, and I would play it all through right this instant.

LEGO BATMAN

 

You either love or hate the Lego games, as they are all pretty similar, no matter what property they are representing. Batman Lego drew me back to Lego Games after I had had enough of Star Wars Lego. They are basically collect em ups, sometimes are very frustrating, but for some reason, they are quite addictive. I’m currently playing through Lego Batman 2, and the added Justice League members have made it a little bit more exciting. At the very least, these games are dripping with Batman-ness.

BATMAN ARKHAM ASYLUM

 

The best Batman game released at the time, Arkham Asylum wasn’t just a great Batman Game, but a fantastic game in its own right. What Rocksteady managed to do was finally get Batman right. The combat was awesome, but they also got Batman’s brain. As the worlds greatest detective, Batman isn’t just a meat head who punches people, this game got it so right. Just bashing bad guys with fists won’t do you much good anyway, even Batman can be shot, or overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Luckily then that Arkham Asylum got the fear of Batman right, keep to the shadows, take out bad guys stealthily and sneak around being a stealthy ninja, and Arkham Asylum was simply the best Batman thing outside of comics, well until the sequel arrived.

BATMAN ARKHAM CITY

Arkham Asylum was great, I liked the fact it was kept in the sprawling grounds of the Asylum, but how to make it better? How about turning a large section of Gotham into an open prison? That’s a start. The open world of Gotham was stunning, there was so much freedom, yet things were kept tight by Rocksteady’s brilliant story telling ability, thanks Paul Dini. What the Arkham games have got so right is the mix of Batman elements that they used. The realism of Nolan, the voice cast of Batman: The Animated series, a whole host of villains and a story that escalates to brilliance. If you haven’t played this game, you must, you really must. It is the closet thing to being Batman, without having to have your parents killed, leaving you millions of pounds/dollars in order for you to disappear for a few years, learning to become the ultimate badass, and then swearing revenge on crime, dressed as a flying rodent. Probably easier you just play the game really.