Midnight Ramblings

IT'S BAT-TUESDAY!!

Today, out comes one of the DVD boxed sets I've wanted since DVD began:

Batman: the Motion Picture Anthology 1989 - 1997. At long last, 2-disc super-special editions of Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin! All in a handsome boxed set! The only question is do I dip into my savings and buy it now, or put it in the #1 spot on my Christmas list? If only they waited another month to release this...then there'd be no debate, it'd be on the Christmas list for sure!

Also out today, Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan's Batman movie is, by far, the best, finally treating Batman seriously, contending with the whole of Batman's origin, and giving us a more realistic Gotham City. Plus, it has my two favourite Bat-villains, Ra's Al Guhl and the Scarecrow.

I know, I know, a friend of mine didn't like it because Batman wasn't fighting any supervillains. But that's actually an integral part of Batman's origins. Batman first took down the mob, and that created a power vacuum that the supervillains rushed in to fill. Batman Begins only contends with the "taking down the mob" part.

Batman Begins is available in both full screen and widescreen AND single-disc movie only version and a 2-disc "Deluxe Edition."

And, for historical completeness, also out today is Batman: The Complete 1943 Movie Seriel. This Batman movie seriel was the first time ever that Batman was portrayed on the big screen. Set during WW2, it features Batman and Robin busting up a Japanese spy ring. It's now infamous for it's highly racist, incredibly negative sterotyping on the Japanese people. It was released on video about 10 years ago with most of the racist content cut out, but, amazingly, people objected. On DVD, it's available in its complete, uncut form.

For the young'uns, today also sees the release of The Batman vs. Dracula. The latest animated incarnation of the Bat stars in his first straight-to-DVD movie, where he does battle with the Joker, the Penguin, and a resurrected Dracula.

Stay tuned for next week, when, at long last, we get our 3-disc super-special edition of Titanic. There's actually a huge controversy about that, but I'll get into it next week.