Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin) Reviews

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1. Joker

   October 9, 2010 at 1:15 am

   Review by Joker for Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin)
   Rating:
   This collection of the four Batman movies from 1989, 1992, 1995, and 1997 is a winner all around. It comes with two dual-sided DVDs, with each DVD having a movie on each side. The picture clarity is good, the sound quality is good, the price is good.

   Here are the movies:

   1. Batman (1989) starring Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Jack Palance, Billy Dee Williams, and Michael Gough.

   2. Batman Returns (1992) starring Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy, and Pat Hingle.

   3. Batman Forever (1995) starring Jim Carrey, Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris O’Donnell, Nicole Kidman, Michael Gough, and Pat Hingle.

   4. Batman & Robin (1997) starring George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Chris O’Donnell, Pat Hingle, Michael Gough, and Elle MacPherson.

   Now this is just my opinion: The two best movies were Batman (with Jack Nicholson as The Joker) and Batman Returns (with Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman), when Tim Burton was in charge. These two movies are darker and a little more serious than Batman Forever (with Jim Carrey as The Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face) and Batman & Robin (with Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy), which are brighter and more campy. I won’t review each and every movie. This review is basically about what this four movie collection contains and its low price and good picture and sound quality.

   If you’re a fan of the first Batman series, then get these four movies for a bargain price. It’s worth it.

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2. Paul Rudoff

   October 9, 2010 at 12:38 am

   Review by Paul Rudoff for Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin)
   Rating:
   Below is a review of this product: 4 Film Favorites – Batman Collection. Amazon may display this review on the page of another version of this product, for which this review may not apply. After reading this review, please click on the link so that you can be assured that the product this review applies to is the same one you thought it was for.
   
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   ### ABOUT THE 4 FILM FAVORITES SERIES ###

   Warner Brothers/New Line’s “4 Film Favorites” is a line of two-disc sets consisting of four films that are part of a series/franchise or center around a common theme. Each disc is dual-sided, with the contents of each side being a bit-for-bit copy (a “disc image”) of a previous DVD release. Usually the very first DVD release of a film is used as the master for each side, which could be either single-layer or dual-layer. If the DVD master that is used first came out at the infancy of DVD production (the late 1990s), there may be little to no extras, and even a poor film transfer when compared to a later re-release. Also, if that original release was a two-disc set, or a dual-sided disc (see: Lethal Weapon 4), only Disc 1 or Side A will be used. The “4 Film Favorites” line is priced with the budget-conscience consumer in mind, with Target having the lowest price at 9.99 each (occasionally on sale for 8.99). Other stores will inevitably be priced higher, though I don’t recommend paying more than ten dollars for each two-disc set.

   ### ABOUT THE BATMAN COLLECTION ###

   BATMAN
   
   * Year: 1989
   
   * Runtime: 2:06:10
   
   * Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen
   
   * DVD Production Date: February 8, 1997
   
   * Region: 1
   
   * Layers: 1
   
   * Audio Languages: English, French
   
   * Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French
   
   * Extras: Cast & Crew Bios & Filmographies (Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Willians, Michael Gough, Jack Palance, Tim Burton), Production Notes (8 screens).

   BATMAN RETURNS
   
   * Year: 1992
   
   * Runtime: 2:06:23
   
   * Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen
   
   * DVD Production Date: April 9, 1997
   
   * Region: 1
   
   * Layers: 1
   
   * Audio Languages: English, French
   
   * Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French
   
   * Extras: Cast & Crew Bios & Filmographies (Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Michael Murphy, Tim Burton), Production Notes (Special Effects, Hero & Villains [Batman, The Penguin, Catwoman], The Screenwriter, The Composer).

   BATMAN FOREVER
   
   * Year: 1995
   
   * Runtime: 2:01:31
   
   * Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen
   
   * DVD Production Date: April 24, 1997
   
   * Region: 1
   
   * Layers: 1
   
   * Audio Languages: English, French
   
   * Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French
   
   * Extras: Cast & Crew Bios & Filmographies (Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O’Donnell, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Joel Schumacher), Production Notes (Additional Actors, Behind The Scenes, New Villains New Hero, Bob Kane).

   BATMAN & ROBIN
   
   * Year: 1997
   
   * Runtime: 2:04:45
   
   * Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen
   
   * DVD Production Date: September 23, 1997
   
   * Region: 1
   
   * Layers: 1
   
   * Audio Languages: English, French
   
   * Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French
   
   * Extras: Cast & Crew Bios & Filmographies (Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, Elle Macpherson, Stephen Goldblatt, Akiva Goldsman, Peter Macgregor-Scott, Joel Schumacher), Production Notes (Bob Kane And The Birth Of Batman, Creating The New Story, Friends And Foes, Recreating Gotham City, The Batmobile, The Redbird, The Freezemobile, Special Effects, The Costumes, Special Makeup).

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3. K. Fontenot

   October 9, 2010 at 12:18 am

   Review by K. Fontenot for Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin)
   Rating:
   Way back in 1989, long before the current influx of superhero films, millions of people lined up to see Michael Keaton put on Batman’s cape…..nah, let’s be honest, people lined up to see Jack Nicholson’s version of the Joker. However, Keaton’s wonderful performance shocked audiences and so began a string of successful films that got progressively campier over time.

   If you’re like me, you thought “Batman” was excellent, liked “Batman Returns” even though alterations were made to the Penguin, enjoyed Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey in “Batman Forever” despite the campiness, and thanked the good Lord above that “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” managed to wipe away the stain of the fourth film in this collection, “Batman and Robin.”

   This “Four Film Favorites” collection gives fans of Batman and superheroes in general all four of Warner Brothers’ late century versions of Batman on two bare bones discs. According to the box, each film comes with production notes. What this boils down to is a stills gallery, brief actor bios, and a few lines about makeup, special effects, and Batman’s wonderful toys.

   The actual films are presented in a widescreen format and appear to lack any major clean-ups. The first film is a bit grainy at moments and the third film had faint traces of pixellation in close-ups, but the second and fourth film look visually excellent.

   I won’t waste any time reviewing each film in depth. If you want this collection, you probably already know why you are getting it. I purchased it primarily for the first and third films in the franchise. Being a completionist, though, I wanted to get the second and, yep, even the fourth film in this collection. This two-disc set gives you all four films for a wonderful price.

   Highly recommended to fans of Batman or comic book films who want all four of these movies without breaking the bank. It will give you a taste of some of the best and some of the worst moments in comic film history!

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4. Matthew D. Davis

   October 8, 2010 at 11:24 pm

   Review by Matthew D. Davis for Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin)
   Rating:
   This set is amazing! It is all 4 movies for a very low price of 10 bucks. I picked this up at my local Target on Thursday and watched all the batman movies through the weekend. This set includes four Batman films. Batman (1989), Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997). The special features include some character facts and production notes. It is all very basic reading material on the disc, but I found a lot of it to be very interesting. They could have had absolutely no special features at all, and I still would think this set is worth it! Is this set better than the Motion Picture Anthology? Well it depends on how much you care about these movies to want to watch all the special features for them. I would say I wouldn’t mind watching the special features of the first two movies, but the last two I could do without. As far as the price goes, this set is better because it is only 10 bucks and the anthology is $80. As far as picture quality goes, all the films looked great to me. You can’t really go wrong with this release, you get 4 films for 10 bucks in a single DVD case on 2 discs (and the discs are double sided with one movie on each side for those worried about compression)! Talk about saving shelf space! I am thinking of buying the other sets in this series like the superman and matrix collections and replacing my existing DVDs with them just to save shelf space alone! Anyways this is the first of the “4 film favorites” collections that I have bought and I am very happy with the purchase. Sure not ALL the films are that great, but your going to be spending more than 10 bucks for just one of these films and I can tell you that 2 of the films should be owned by everyone.

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5. Jonathan Kui

   October 8, 2010 at 11:13 pm

   Review by Jonathan Kui for Batman Collection: 4 Film Favorites (Batman 1989 / Batman Returns / Batman Forever / Batman & Robin)
   Rating:
   I’ll admit that the price is cheap. Having all four films for less than $10 is great, but upon watching the first disc, I find that the quality of the transfer is absolutely terrible. Lots and lots of pixelation artifacts, especially when there’s black on the screen, and let’s face it, BATMAN was not a brightly lit film. The quality is barely, BAREly above VHS. I feel like they hooked a VCR up to a DVD recorder and had at it. I’m not even talking about grain (which I would expect from an older film transfer), but rather poor resolution. There are no solid diagonal lines, everything is blocky. The video looks like an SVCD that was poorly upconverted to DVD.

   It’s good value, if you’re just looking for an affordable way to complete your collection, but if you’re used to DVD-quality video, you will be disappointed…

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