We made it to the end of our very enlightening Eve Stewart retrospective and to celebrate we’re discussing the divisive Tom Hooper spectacle Cats. There’s a lot to love in this film, and there’s a lot to hate, and really it boils down to how easy it is for you to get past Rebel Wilson and James Corden’s abysmal performances. Production design here is stellar – big surprise – but Tom Hooper tries his best to focus on other things. Bad Hooper. Bad. All that said, is the film worth watching? Hit that play button and we’ll tell you.
Batman Returns turns 25 this week, and to celebrate we’re looking back at the hype for the movie!
My introduction to Batman Returns wasn’t typical in that I came to it much later and played the video game first. As a young kid my Batman was the Adam West Batman, so this darker take from Tim Burton never really connected. It certainly looked cool, and piqued my interest thanks to its edgier tone, but it felt “other” to the goofier Gotham I was used to.
I decided to take a look back at the hype surrounding this movie, especially since I don’t remember much of the marketing for it compared to the ’89 Batman film.
For some this was probably “their” movie Batman, and the trailer definitely brought the hype for that. For me, I had much of the same reaction I had for the first movie: “It’s fine.” What I didn’t expect was that in the marketing for this movie (and for the movies themselves) Gotham would feel like a tangible location and not some dressed up “insert-city-here.” That’s unique, and in my opinion one of the legacies of the Burton era of Batman.
Do you remember the marketing for Batman Returns? What did you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!
Writer/Creator/Web Guy for After the Hype. Created an animated fantasy webseries called Flagon. GM for Demon Dayz: An Actual Play Podcast, which you can conveniently find here on athpod.com
