Hello Stage 32 land!
I like always like posting an icebreaker question in Introduce Yourself weekend. Since it's March and I just saw The Batman (I liked it a lot), I'm going to go for an easy one, and ask you all: What's your favorite Batman film that deserves a little more love, and why?
I'll go with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. It's animation, score, and incredible voice performances from Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker, and a strong script that provides us the best depiction of Batman's origin story and his "World's Greatest Detective" skills didn't have a high box office output back in 1993 (though my Dad, my brothers and I were in a packed theater) is a story that is worth visiting and revisiting. It doesn't get as mentioned as some of the others for some reason, though it seems to finally be getting its due all these years later!
Honorable mention to the 1996 Batman movie with Adam West and Burt Ward, and if you're at all a fan of that TV series, this one needs no explanation!
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Hello Brian,
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is arguably my favorite Batman movie. Kevin Conroy's depiction of Batman and Mark Hamill's depiction of Joker are what I consider the best. When I read Batman comics, I hear Kevin Conroy. Conroy is the standard and I use his depiction as the rubric to grade them. The actor that I feel portrays the best live action Batman is Ben Affleck. The film I chose to be the Batman film that deserves more love is Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition directed by the visual mastermind Zack Snyder and written by Oscar winning screenwriter Chris Terrio. I must clarify I'm referring to the Director's Cut of the film, not the theatrical version. The Director's Cut has better pacing and ties up plot holes that are present in the theatrical.
I adore this film. The performances, score, cinematography, narrative and themes, pull me in. When this film came out, it got destroyed by critics and many fans. However, I believe history is starting to look back at it more fondly. At the time of its release, general audiences were accustomed to the lighter storytelling of Marvel films, so I think a dark, operatic Batman and Superman film was overwhelming for some. One of my favorite parts of this film is how it deconstructs these heroes we love. Superman is trying to learn to become a symbol of hope and realizes there's consequences for his actions, even if they are good intentioned. Batman has lost moral compass and has given into his darkness because of his past failures and seeing millions of people die because of an alien invasion. Once Batman sees the humanity within Superman and Superman sacrifices himself for mankind, it guides him out of the darkness. They both have such compelling character arcs. I can go on and on about this movie. I recommend to anyone that they should go revisit that film, but make sure you're watching the Ultimate Edition.
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Mask of the Phantasm is terrific. I was involved with the making of an animated feature based on comic book superhero team Gen13 (bought and shelved by Disney but released by Paramount in some international markets), and we hired Kevin Altieri to direct, largely on the strength of his work on Mask of the Phantasm.
But I'm old enough that my emotional favorite remains the Adam West 1966 Batman movie. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb." Classic.