Tim Burton directed Batman (1990) and Batman Returns (1992) before exiting the franchise over disagreements with Warner Bros. about tone. In a new interview with Empire, he said that his reaction upon seeing the next installment, Batman Forever (1995), was, “You put nipples on the costume? Go fuck yourself.” The conversation came as part of a broader reckoning with the twists and turns of the Batman films, which in recent years have trended darker. It’s something Burton had always wanted, he said. “It is funny to see this now, because all these memories come back of, ‘It’s too dark,’ So, it makes me laugh a little bit.” As he explained, “[Back then] they went the other way. That’s the funny thing about it. But then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Ok...
“Cool.” “Riveting.” “Gripping.” “High-Octane Thrill Ride!” All cliches of film criticism and yet all feelings we’ve experienced while watching a crackerjack summer blockbuster. Oops, there we go again. All things considered, any moviegoer can speak to the divine feeling of sitting in a cool, packed theater in the heat of the summer and being united by narrative. Not just united, but hypnotized, mentally convinced that the fate of the world is before your eyes, and there is nothing more important in that very moment. It’s escapism. It’s popcorn. It’s Chinatown. But also, it’s the power of spectacle. Over the years, Hollywood has certainly run that concept through the ringer, having turned what used to be a summer blockbuster season into, well, an entire calendar year. Now, all those aforeme...
Seal on Monday (June 22) told a story he said was not well-known about his classic song “Kiss From a Rose,” which Joel Schumacher helped make a huge hit. The director died Monday. He was 80. In a video that was more than five minutes long, the musician sang a few bars of his song before telling the story of how it was a flop in 1994 before Schumacher fell in love with it and used it on the soundtrack for Batman Forever in 1995. “It was the fourth single from my second album. It went into the charts at No. 60 and dropped to No. 80-something the next week and that was the end of it. It was over,” Seal explained. While he was in the studio working on his next album, he got a call from Schumacher who said he was seeking a song to use during the love scene in his Batman ...