It?s been a big week for franchise movies.

I spent the weekend binging on old Batman movies in preparation for Batman Begins which comes out this Tuesday.

In case your comic book obsessed friend hasn?t already told you, Batman Begins is really cool, and surprisingly good ? especially in light of all of the terrible comic book movies lately.

Batman Begins, as the name suggests, is the origin story of Batman/Bruce Wayne. It covers his parents? gruesome death, his training with a deadly ninja cult, and the motivations that led him to don the costume of the Dark Knight and become Batman.

Christian Bale, who previously starred in American Psycho and Equilibrium, plays Batman excellently.

Moreover, with an superb supporting cast (Micheal Caine as Alfred, Liam Neeson as the Villain, Katie Holmes as the Token Beautiful Woman, and Morgan Freeman as the Misunderstood Genius Scientist) the film is on solid footing.

All in all, Batman Begins is excellent and I would highly recommend it, although before I do, I have one major criticism which most of my fellow critics seem to have overlooked.

They completely destroyed the Batmobile.

Don?t worry, this is not a spoiler, I am not talking about the Batmobile blowing up or crashing or anything (although that does happen in Batman Forever.)

I?m simply talking about the fact that they completely ignored decades of batman history in building a monstrosity of a Batmobile.

It might seem like a trivial point, but the Batmobile is supposed to look a certain way ? kind of like a classic corvette ? I know this because I?ve been playing with toy Batmobiles since before I could walk.

I really resented them changing the Batmobile, it was unnecessary and it didn?t look especially cool.

Other than that, the film is great and I highly recommend it, I just feel the need to register my complaint.

Anyway, as I said, in preparation for Batman Begins, I went back and watched the previous Batman movies, and I not feel safe in saying that my favourite, without a doubt, is Batman Forever.

I can understand why most people cite Batman or Batman Returns as their favourites, since they?re both directed by Tim Burton and they?re sort of seen as the originals, the ones against which all other Batman movies must be judged.

However, for my part, I could never take Michael Keaton seriously as Batman; he just doesn?t seem tough enough.
I mean, I think I could probably beat him up (when he?s not wearing the costume of course.)

I will concede that there has never been a better Batman villain than Jack Nicholson as The Joker, but I never much cared for Danny DeVito as the Penguin.

All of that being said, for my money, Batman Forever has the whole package.

Val Kilmer makes for a great Batman (I could never beat him up,) and I really like how they work Robin?s origin story into the movie.

Moreover, either Jim Carey as the Riddler or Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face would have been an excellent villain on their own, together they?re unbelievable.

However, you really can?t go wrong with any of these three, just please, please don?t watch Batman & Robin.
No matter how bad you?ve heard it is, it?s worse.

On a totally different subject, there was big news about another major movie franchise this week.

Betting closed on who would be named the next James Bond, and it?s Daniel Craig.

Craig surprised everyone by being handed the Bond tuxedo and the keys to the Aston Martin.

I?ll be very interested to see whether he turns out to be the next Pierce Brosnan or the next Timothy Dalton.

If you want to scope him out to judge for yourself, rent Layer Cake.

Craig starred in Layer Cake, playing a London cocaine dealer who tries to successfully navigate the criminal underworld and make it out alive.

Layer Cake is directed by Matthew Vaughn, who produced Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.
The film retains the same gritty, British criminal culture as Snatch and Lock Stock had, however it?s not comedic in the same way.

It?s top notch and very worth checking out.

I guess that?s all for this week.

In closing, I?d just like to say one more time: I could definitely beat Michael Keaton up.






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