Joel Schumacher

[Babillygunn]

After his Batman run, it's easy to forget that he has had some real home runs. Lost Boys, Usual Suspects...

I only remember the buzz about Burton getting the boot, but Schumacher had to have been seen as a huge win for the franchise.

He is clearly a good filmmaker. How much blame for the two bat films do you lay at his feet?

 

[Rowsdower!]

Bryan Singer directed The Usual Suspects.

However, yes, Joel has made good films. Falling Down and 8mm are two of my favorites.

 

[Babillygunn]

Dang it you're right. I thought about this while watching Lost Boys again the other night.

 

[Lencho01]

I blame him as much as I blame the studio, writers, producers, etc.

'Batman Forever': The Story Behind the Surprise Hit "Nobody Really Wanted"

 

[Mr.?]

Batman Forever is awesome, I love it.

Batman and Robin is truly awful, he should get blame for that.

 

[Flint Marko]

I blame him as much as I blame the studio, writers, producers, etc.

'Batman Forever': The Story Behind the Surprise Hit "Nobody Really Wanted"

Thanks for posting this, I'm going to give it a read.
I'm always fascinated by how Batman Forever completely goes unscathed when talking about some of the worst superhero movies in the genre. It's a pretty awful movie, but because B&R sunk to the depths that it did, it gets a free pass.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah Batman Forever is a train wreck. But no one remembers that because Batman and Robin was mid-air collision.

 

[Flint Marko]

Well said, Rowsder. I think people also give it a free pass because it was an undeniable hit.

 

[BH/HHH]

I don't think it was a train wreck, I still think it's a decent superhero movie.

It doesn't deserve to be saddled with crap like Batmn & Robin (which when you get down to it is a badly done version of BF), Ghost Rider, Steel etc.

 

[Mandon Knight]

I've never known a director more than Schumacher to be able to have his film making ability be at two ends of the spectrum as much as he. Some directors knock it out of the park once, maybe twice in their career and then have a 'middle of the road' production history, some try hard but never release a classic, then there is Joel.

Quality films in varying genres, then he releases the most atrocious mess...twice ! for Batman films.

To take a character and f**k him up in two films as badly as he did was an achievement and a half.

He killed Batman dead. Thank god for Nolan.

 

[Lencho01]

Thanks for posting this, I'm going to give it a read.
I'm always fascinated by how Batman Forever completely goes unscathed when talking about some of the worst superhero movies in the genre. It's a pretty awful movie, but because B&R sunk to the depths that it did, it gets a free pass.

Besides being a less ridiculous film, I think BF explored the Bruce Wayne/Batman character and his relationships better. With B&R, it was pushed much further into the background

 

[BH/HHH]

I've never known a director more than Schumacher to be able to have his film making ability be at two ends of the spectrum as much as he. Some directors knock it out of the park once, maybe twice in their career and then have a 'middle of the road' production history, some try hard but never release a classic, then there is Joel.

Quality films in varying genres, then he releases the most atrocious mess...twice ! for Batman films.

To take a character and f**k him up in two films as badly as he did was an achievement and a half.

He killed Batman dead. Thank god for Nolan.

It wasn't that simple though, he we never allowed to make the Batman film he truly wanted to. He had to do what the studio wanted and what the studio wanted was the main problem.

 

[marvelrobbins]

He has made decent films.while he's not completly blameless a big part was him having to do films that WB wanted.

Batman forever is ok film.it has redeeming qualitys.he shot some darker stuff cut from film.B & R Is total crap.

His dream batman film would have been Batman:Year One.

 

[Mandon Knight]

It wasn't that simple though, he we never allowed to make the Batman film he truly wanted to. He had to do what the studio wanted and what the studio wanted was the main problem.

Whilst I appreciate studio heads will always dictate to a certain degree with summer blockbusters and approach (its their money on the line), a director cannot be blameless for those two situations, it is his vision, style, choices on the screen.

He had no idea how to present the characters. That as director is certainly his fault.

 

[BeaverJuk]

With falling down,8mm and phone booth I always though he was a wrong fit to make batman movies but something like Punisher would of suited him more.

 

[Rorschach2012]

I watch and enjoy Bf and B & r as much as I watch and enjoy TDKT. There is a difference in quality but not enjoy ability

 

[Spider-Aziz]

He's one of my favorite film directors, easily more than Chris Nolan, and absolutely a lot more than Tim Burton.

Why should I blame him for two movies I enjoy? One of them is pretty solid, the other is just entertaining, but so disappointingly bad that is helped make the awesome reboot that is the Dark Knight Trilogy, starting with the awesome Batman Begins, inspired by Year One, as suggested by the big Batman fan himself, Joel Schumacher.

 

[redfirebird2008]

I don't know if I would call Batman Forever a trainwreck. There are certainly some terrible elements to it like TLJ's Two-Face, the general amount of camp in the film, O'Donnell's Robin, and some pretty terrible CGI (even by 1995 standards).

But there were some good elements to it. The psychological stuff with Bruce was good (especially the flashbacks to his childhood). Carrey was pretty good as a campy Riddler. The music was pretty good. The fight sequences with Batman were arguably better shot and choreographed than any of the other Batman movies.

All in all it's about a 5 or 6 out of 10 type of movie. Batman & Robin is both a 1/10 and a 10/10 at the same time depending on your perspective. haha

 

[Babillygunn]

I watch and enjoy Bf and B & r as much as I watch and enjoy TDKT. There is a difference in quality but not enjoy ability

I'm not sure. Lost Boys was a pretty good example of Dark with a stylized comic tone. Interesting that that film was a Schumacher / Donner team.

 

[Vulture]

Batman Forever was a fun movie for its time. Let´s not forget that in 1995 SH movies were still trying to decide what they should be. Nowadays studios have the luxury of having three decades of successes and failures they can learn from. In 1995 nobody had that luxury. We had a couple of relatively successful CB movies and that was pretty much it.

 

[StarLord]

Batman Forever is still one of my fav Batman movies.

Schumacher's a good director. A few of my favs:

Phone Booth
Tigerland
8MM
A Time to Kill
Falling Down
Flatliners
The Lost Boys
St. Elmo's Fire

 

[Ken Briefman]

I watch and enjoy Bf and B & r as much as I watch and enjoy TDKT. There is a difference in quality but not enjoy ability

I don't feel the same way. If I don't think a film is any good, I can't enjoy it.

 

[BadrHari]

I was very young when Batman Forever came out and I loved it. Re-watching it as an adult, I still enjoy it...

Its just a very different interpretation of the Batman mythology. To me Burton's interpretation was a Gothic dark artistic story with deep psychological characters that made an interesting and brilliant story...Schumacher Batman Forever was a popcorn summer blockbuster of the characters. Nolan was a more dramatic approach with emphasis on character development. Batman & Robin was a two hour toy commercial. And the toys SUCKED too, btw. The Batman Forever ones were much better.

But would I trade Batman Forever for a Tim Burton's Batman 3 ? Absolutely !! IN a heartbeat !

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Did that Two-Face design use Black Mask as the mutilated half of Harvey's face?

 

[Babillygunn]

I was very young when Batman Forever came out and I loved it. Re-watching it as an adult, I still enjoy it...

Its just a very different interpretation of the Batman mythology. To me Burton's interpretation was a Gothic dark artistic story with deep psychological characters that made an interesting and brilliant story...Schumacher Batman Forever was a popcorn summer blockbuster of the characters. Nolan was a more dramatic approach with emphasis on character development. Batman & Robin was a two hour toy commercial. And the toys SUCKED too, btw. The Batman Forever ones were much better.

But would I trade Batman Forever for a Tim Burton's Batman 3 ? Absolutely !! IN a heartbeat !

It's funny, but this is why I still love Batman '66. I actually watched it yesterday with my wife and kids.