This week, our 10-part critical retrospective BATMAN ON FILM continues, as we revisit each of the theatrical Batman features in advance of Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman with Robert Pattinson. For Part 2, we’re looking at the birth of the modern superhero film genre with Tim Burton’s BATMAN from 1989, starring Michael Keaton as the caped crusader and Jack Nicholson as the Joker. It’s a fascinating film, one that’s full of things to praise – Burton’s direction, Danny Elfman’s score, the incredible production design, Keaton’s performance, and more – yet somehow adds up to less than the sum of its parts, with a choppy script and messy structure, and an inconsistent version of the Joker brought lazily to life by a very checked-out Jack Nicholson. But all that makes for a great in-depth discussion. Before that, we also check in on some recent games we’ve been playing – including Demon’s Souls on PS5, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for PS4, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity for Nintendo Switch. And at the very end, we sing the praises of the latest episode of The Mandalorian, a Dave Filoni written and directed masterpiece that may be one of the best pieces of Star Wars media ever. 

Time Chart: 

Intro: 0:00:00 – 0:04:52

Stuff: 0:04:52 – 0:51:51

Batman (1989): 0:51:51 – 

The Mandalorian Chapter 13: 2:30:04 – 3:13:54

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