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i was thinking about how tim burton's movies are sort of set in the winter time, returns obviously, while its like the christopher nolan movies are set in/around summer (?) and batman forever is set at halloween and i have no idea when the hell batman and robin is lol.

do you guys think a winter setting is the best or not? why or why not?

I think so. It is the setting that jumps out at you the most in typical Burton esque high contrast. Good stuff.

i didn't just mean for tim's movies. i meant for all of them, do you think winter would be best?

and don't say "no because then they'd all be like tim's and that'd suck." look at them all seperately, jackasses.

I love the winter setting. (I'm a winter person) It's a key reason why I love Returns. It's Burton through and through. However, I wouldn't be wanting all of the films set during winter. Batman doesn't come out just in those months, after all.

I think a winter setting provides for some pretty neat visuals, as we saw in BR. But to me the quintessential setting for Batman is the stereotypical dark and stormy night. There's a neat shot of him in Begins when he's in the narrows and it's raining.

Aside from one scene where you see kids trick or treating at Wayne Manor, I never really got a Halloween feeling from Batman Forever. There's a potential to create a really creepy Halloween atmosphere for a Batman film, but it hasn't happened yet.

Quote from: phantom stranger on Thu, 12 Nov  2009, 01:01
But to me the quintessential setting for Batman is the stereotypical dark and stormy night.  

Same with me. Very mysterious. A lot of dramatic power and atmosphere. That weather is Batman, just as sunshine is Superman. I love the rain, wind and the gloomy vibe it generates. I feel alive during it. However, I am a fan of cold temperatures and ice just as much, so they're pretty much neck and neck.

Quote from: phantom stranger on Thu, 12 Nov  2009, 01:01I think a winter setting provides for some pretty neat visuals, as we saw in BR. But to me the quintessential setting for Batman is the stereotypical dark and stormy night. There's a neat shot of him in Begins when he's in the narrows and it's raining.

Yep.  One of my fave Batman stories is a LOTDK one shot titled Storm.  The entire thing takes place during a single stormy night in Gotham.  Very atmospheric.

Another good one is obviously the Laughing Fish.

QuoteAside from one scene where you see kids trick or treating at Wayne Manor, I never really got a Halloween feeling from Batman Forever. There's a potential to create a really creepy Halloween atmosphere for a Batman film, but it hasn't happened yet.

Again, yep.  Loeb and Sale did more with that during one LOTDK annual/special back in '95 or '96 than Schumacher did in an entire film.

Kinda pathetic, really.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Thu, 12 Nov  2009, 02:38

Quote from: phantom stranger on Thu, 12 Nov  2009, 01:01
But to me the quintessential setting for Batman is the stereotypical dark and stormy night.  

Same with me. Very mysterious. A lot of dramatic power and atmosphere. That weather is Batman, just as sunshine is Superman. I love the rain, wind and the gloomy vibe it generates. I feel alive during it. However, I am a fan of cold temperatures and ice just as much, so they're pretty much neck and neck.

amazing that we're so similar and don't like each other.

QuoteOne of my fave Batman stories is a LOTDK one shot titled Storm.

Legends of the Dark Knight--now there was a great Batman book. Along with Shadow of the Bat, that book provided some of the best Batman stories of the 90's. And then they both disappeared, leaving us with a bunch of interchangeable Batman books.

Quote from: phantom stranger on Fri, 13 Nov  2009, 05:21Legends of the Dark Knight--now there was a great Batman book. Along with Shadow of the Bat, that book provided some of the best Batman stories of the 90's. And then they both disappeared, leaving us with a bunch of interchangeable Batman books.

You're so right.  If I have a gripe about LOTDK, though, it's the lack of continuity between stories... which, I realize, was the entire point of the book but my point is that "character studies" can only really go so far and after a while you'd sorta want Batman getting blown up in the Going Sane series to have some kind of ramifications in the Criminals arc.

Which is stupid and defeats the entire point of that comic, blah blah blah, but there it is.

And then you get Shadow of the Bat.  I liked it but it felt like the editors never really knew what to do with it.  To this day, I'll never understand pairing Alan Grant with Barry Kitson.  Grant wanted to write dense, psychological stories while Kitson was a straight up superhero artist.  To me, the more logical pairing (aside from Norm Breyfogle, duh) would've been Grant and Kelly Jones.  But Jones was a bit of a celebrity back then so naturally he should go on the main Batman book with an adventure writer like Doug Moench while Kitson the then nobody got matched up with Alan Grant.

That decision will never make sense to me (although I'm a huge fan of Jones work on Batman, easily the most atmospheric and Burton'ish illustrator of the 90's).

Since we're on the subject, I LOVED Batman Adventures.  That book would've been memorable even if it hadn't been tied up in the BTAS continuity.  Mike Parobeck was a friggin craftsman.  The light, the shadows, the angles, the pacing, the structure, Parobeck understood how to tell stories visually.  Towards end of that line, Puckett could write stories with only the bear necessities of dialogue and Parobeck could tell the story almost completely with visuals.  Absolutely stunning, in most cases.  No, this wasn't exactly the Dark Knight but it had a perfect balance of warmth, humor, pathos, drama, etc.

Much like BTAS itself.

Me, I never felt like the post-Adventures books carried the same magic.  There was some extraordinary chemistry that got lost when Parobeck passed away.  After that, things were never really the same again.

When you look back on it, you really can't argue that there weren't any really awesome Batman comics back then.  Sure, the 90's had its share of absolute drek but for every Cataclysm/No Man's Land, you've got oodles of Elseworld's stories, LOTDK, Batman Adventures, SOTB.

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Fri, 13 Nov  2009, 06:52


When you look back on it, you really can't argue that there weren't any really awesome Batman comics back then.  Sure, the 90's had its share of absolute drek but for every Cataclysm/No Man's Land, you've got oodles of Elseworld's stories, LOTDK, Batman Adventures, SOTB.

You know, I actually liked the Batman crossovers. Whether or not they still hold up, I don't know, but they didn't seem like stunts, as opposed to the X-Men ones. Only problem was that I couldn't always afford to buy a zillion books a month. That's why it was great to be able to buy a self-contained story.

see this is why i wish i wasn't an ink and pencil virgin so i knew what the hell you guys are talking about.

Quote from: Catwoman on Fri, 13 Nov  2009, 20:49
see this is why i wish i wasn't an ink and pencil virgin so i knew what the hell you guys are talking about.

Well, I'm sure there are a few people on this site who would be more than happy to assist you with your, um, inexperience.

i like the idea of a winter setting for returns - goes well with the whole penguin deal- didn't like it though that they filmed this winter movie primarily indoors and in los angeles - so i never really was sold on the winter aspect of returns

for me gloomy old pinewood worked the best

QuoteQuestion: does a winter setting suit batman?

One of the reasons I liked Batman Returns in the first place. Batman stories fit like a glove with a snow (or rain) setting. One of the factors that make me like the "Going Sane" story (Legends of the Dark Knight, issue 60+) is its BR vibe with the snow.

Quote from: WingedFreak71 on Fri, 13 Nov  2009, 21:41
i like the idea of a winter setting for returns - goes well with the whole penguin deal- didn't like it though that they filmed this winter movie primarily indoors and in los angeles - so i never really was sold on the winter aspect of returns

for me gloomy old pinewood worked the best

Agreed.  I think the chill and all that stuff would've played better in a real location like that.  Plus you'd get English craftsmanship behind the camera.  Still, I think it turned out well.

Quote from: thecolorsblend on Sun, 22 Nov  2009, 02:41
Plus you'd get English craftsmanship behind the camera. 

Indeed. Some genuine talent hails from those parts. I would know.

But like you, I'm fine with how the film looked and where it was shot.

Quote from: The Dark Knight on Sun, 22 Nov  2009, 03:52Indeed. Some genuine talent hails from those parts. I would know.

I'm American so I wouldn't know any of 'em personally but let's face the facts, the history of filmmaking in Britain speaks for itself (and far more eloquently so than anything I could say here).