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1989's "Batman" was a pivotal moment for superhero movies. Richard Donner's "Superman" established the blueprint for the modern blockbuster back in 1978, but without Tim Burton's late-'80s take on the Dark Knight, the trajectory of the superhero tentpole itself would look a lot different. It's a good thing the film was so influential, too, considering what Burton went through to make it.

Casting controversies, grueling shooting schedules, and the fact that Batman as a character had yet to prove himself as a box office draw all made for what was surely an extremely stressful time for the director. Recall that, at that point in his career, Burton had only helmed two major studio movies: "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Beetlejuice." While both films are fondly remembered today, they were hardly the $35 million blockbuster that "Batman" represented, and for Burton the whole experience was somewhat of a baptism of fire.

Cinephiles disagree on many things, but regarding the greatest American film critic, there is a consensus about Roger Ebert. Eleven years after his death, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist is remembered for his insightful film commentary. Ebert never calibrated his enthusiasm to the views of the masses. Occasionally, he would praise films that the public or his peers hated or lambaste the ones they loved.

Eberts great work paid off and quarter-way into his career, he would become the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Additionally, he was the first 'non-industry' figure to be included in the in-memoriam montage of the Academy Awards.

As any critic should, Ebert loved all genres equally, but he appeared to have a fondness for superhero films. He was impressed by the work done in Blade II, Superman, and Spider-Man 2, among others. Surprisingly, he rebuked Tim Burtons Batman, balking at the...

After being mostly unheard of for years, Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullocks 2009 rom-com The Proposal is suddenly a hit on Disney+s global chart. Although the title has been available across multiple platforms which in the U.S. include Hulu, Freevee, Prime Video and several others in many countries, the film has been getting a helpful push by Disney+ for one reason; to catch the wave of attention Reynolds is about to generate on the platform with Deadpool & Wolverines imminent arrival.

For those who saw Deadpool & Wolverine in cinemas, or on PVOD services, you will remember that The Proposal received a hilarious name-check by that lovely version of Deadpool with the long, flowing hair and the mushy and nice personality right before he was brutally slaughtered - oh, sorry Peanut, spoilers. The same joke also made fun of the self-referencing fourth wall breaking humor that the Marvel motor mouth has become known for,...

It’s baffling just how easy it is to take a good movie for granted after watching it so many times that its success appears to have been inevitable. And while seeing your work become a household name seems like an artist’s greatest achievement, it’s a shame that this process can sometimes overshadow the weird and risky choices that made these projects so unique.

A great example of this is Tim Burton’s Batman duology – two wildly popular films that a lot of people forget were actually deeply strange productions which almost certainly couldn’t have been made today. And in honor of Batman’s 85th Anniversary Event, today I’d like to look back on Burton’s only foray into comic-book adaptations and reevaluate these films as I believe the director always intended: as expressionist monster movies.

It’s no secret that the character of Batman has...

It took decades, but Batman fans will finally get to see Madonna in the role of Harley Quinn in Batman '89: Echoes, a sequel to Batman '89, the six-issue miniseries showcasing a canon taking place after the events of Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. Written by Sam Hamm – who wrote the stories for both Burton Batman films – with art by Jo Quinones, Batman '89: Echoes #1 is currently set for a November 28 release date.

With Echoes, Hamm and Quinones are set to return to their alternate take on the 80s-90s Batman movie universe. Below, readers can find cover art and variants from Quinones, Riley Rossmo, and Doug Braithwaite. What may be most notable to readers is Quinones' cover art highlighting what appears to be a Harley Quinn figure designed with the likeness of Madonna.

Related: Batman '89 and Superman '78 Take Place in the Same Universe,...

The Batman ’89 comic series continued the story of Tim Burton’s Batman and introduced new characters to its canon, but it very nearly introduced a significantly different iteration of Harley Quinn as well. The Tim Burton Batman duology is part of two timelines, with one succeeding Batman Returns with Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and the other continuing in the Batman ’89 comics and the Dceu movie The Flash. An early proposal for Batman ’89 would have created an iteration of Harley Quinn that revives a seemingly dead character from the original 1989 Batman movie.

There were numerous proposals for a comic continuation of Tim Burton’s Batman movies before Joe Quinones and Sam Hamm’s phenomenal Batman ’89 was finally greenlit and later published in 2021. A 2016 proposal for the series by Joe Quinones and Kate Leth featured numerous elements that made it to the Quinones/Hamm version, such as...

I hadn't heard of Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face until last year, following a screening of Holy Motors in Cannes when someone noted how Edith Scob was wearing a similar white mask (see here) to the one she wore throughout all but a few minutes of Eyes, where she plays the scarred daughter of a high profile Paris surgeon (Pierre Brasseur). Come to learn, the film's influence is more widespread than that, including films such as Pedro Almodovar's Skin I Live In, the mask for Michael Myers in John Carpenter's Halloween and even Tim Burton's Batman as Jerry Hall wears a mask to cover her face playing The Joker's secret lover, Alicia Hunt. Little did Alicia know, her plunge out the window was decided almost 30 years earlier. Described as a horror, the adjectives "lyrical" and poetic are also associated with this film and both are incredibly appropriate.