A New Blog Focusing On The Film

[DallyWhitty]

Wow, that scene with the Batmobile and Elfman's 'Childhood Remembered' is brilliant! To echo the thoughts of users above me, that would've made for a terrific teaser trailer.

Thanks so much for sharing!

[DocLathropBrown]

Forgive me for waxing nerdily, but... well, here I go.

That B-roll bit of glamour footage of the Batmobile to "Childhood Remembered" (which now may be my favorite piece of the score) did give me chills, for unexpected reasons. The music, combined with the dark room and nothing else made the Batmobile appear far more intimidating and imposing than I'd ever noticed about it before. Having grown up with the film, I think I had taken the car's design for granted, having become used to it for so long and not being 'evolved' enough the first time seeing it to take away the impact Furst and Burton designed it for.

But beyond that, the haunting quality of the music fit with this lost bit of footage. It helps the whole B-roll section feel like it's some kind of top secret time capsule for us fans, something none of us were meant to see--which I guess, of course, we weren't.

Seeing that ultra-rare footage of Keaton standing aside the vehicle and do that cape swish did something rare for me; it made me see him as I did when I was a small child. Normally when I look at him in-character now, I usually see the actor/his career/the man that is Michael Keaton. Seeing his other films had perhaps taken away the magic of how I discovered this man. But the music, the atmosphere, the vibe... in that moment he was once again simply "Batman" to me. Seeing that B-roll footage did something special: for about a minute, I was an awestruck child again.

And it was wonderful.

And, as a funny aside, the very last image of Keaton in that zooming shot looking at the camera in his Batsuit was actually pretty terrifying. He looked like a coiled psychopath. All of Nolan/Bale's 'hard work'... and Keaton is more effective with so much less.

[The Dark Knight]

Doc has said exactly what I was feeling but couldn't express.

Childhood Remembered really is a haunting, 'old' sounding piece of music. In the film it's Bruce recounting his past. And here, we are doing the same. Remembering ourselves as youngsters, sitting up and watching this classic over the years.

Happiness and sadness wrapped in a big bow.

[1989Batmancom]

Seeing that ultra-rare footage of Keaton standing aside the vehicle and do that cape swish did something rare for me; it made me see him as I did when I was a small child. Normally when I look at him in-character now, I usually see the actor/his career/the man that is Michael Keaton. Seeing his other films had perhaps taken away the magic of how I discovered this man. But the music, the atmosphere, the vibe... in that moment he was once again simply "Batman" to me. Seeing that B-roll footage did something special: for about a minute, I was an awestruck child again.

And it was wonderful.

And, as a funny aside, the very last image of Keaton in that zooming shot looking at the camera in his Batsuit was actually pretty terrifying. He looked like a coiled psychopath. All of Nolan/Bale's 'hard work'... and Keaton is more effective with so much less.

Ya nailed it Doc... This is EXACTLY what I felt when I saw it- Especially that last bit with him looking into camera. All of a sudden, I was a boy just about to turn 11 again, staring awestruck at the movie magazine resting on the grocery store periodical rack.

Truly magic.

-James

[DocLathropBrown]

http://www.1989batman.com/2014/04/merchandise-spotlight-batman-bucks.html

"Yeah, maybe your store didn't really need 216 copies of Police Academy VI... but how else were you going to get that sweet Batman Denim Jacket?"

Haha! Zing!

[The Dark Knight]

Seeing that ultra-rare footage of Keaton standing aside the vehicle and do that cape swish did something rare for me; it made me see him as I did when I was a small child. Normally when I look at him in-character now, I usually see the actor/his career/the man that is Michael Keaton. Seeing his other films had perhaps taken away the magic of how I discovered this man. But the music, the atmosphere, the vibe... in that moment he was once again simply "Batman" to me. Seeing that B-roll footage did something special: for about a minute, I was an awestruck child again.

And it was wonderful.

And, as a funny aside, the very last image of Keaton in that zooming shot looking at the camera in his Batsuit was actually pretty terrifying. He looked like a coiled psychopath. All of Nolan/Bale's 'hard work'... and Keaton is more effective with so much less.

Ya nailed it Doc... This is EXACTLY what I felt when I saw it- Especially that last bit with him looking into camera. All of a sudden, I was a boy just about to turn 11 again, staring awestruck at the movie magazine resting on the grocery store periodical rack.

Truly magic.

-James

25 years later, B89 is still taking us to school.

[1989Batmancom]

Another rare treat to celebrate Batman's 25th Anniversary! Much like the recently posted Video Press Kit, the 1988 Warner Brothers Batman Preview is a long-buried treasure created during the production of Batman... It is up today at the site for your viewing pleasure, and also includes a brand new interview with the special's director- Andrew Gillman! Go check it out!

http://www.1989batman.com/2014/04/special-feature-1988-warner-brothers.html

-James

[DocLathropBrown]

THIS is the kind of stuff that needs to be on the 25th anniversary edition release, as opposed to a repackaging.

Seriously, the SE DVD release was indeed so good, my only thoughts are: digging up more archival material (like this and the press kit stuff), remastering the SE features for HD, and inclusion of news reports (all that stuff is archived, I'm sure. WB could do some digging). Or maybe all of it rolled into one new documentary about the film's quarter-century impact.