For the next few weeks, we will be counting down our 25 favorite blockbusters! Read all of the entries here.

14. Batman Returns (dir. Tim Burton, 1992)

by Anthony Glassman, Contrbutor

Twenty-nine years ago, perfection dawned on silvers screens across this nation, a cinematic sunrise of such magnificence that its like had not been glimpsed before, and certainly has not been since equaled.

It was both a summer blockbuster and a Christmas movie, but it’s not that rubbish from Nakatomi Plaza. No, I speak of Batman Returns, one of the few times Christopher Walken could stand and watch his co-workers chew the scenery in a manner to which he could only aspire. A movie that had Paul Reubens saying pretty much nothing. A movie that gave us Doug Jones’ fifth professional appearance onscreen, still so long from Abe Sapien and Saru.

Most importantly, it gave us what I would argue is the only Oscar-worthy moment in a superhero film to date. Earlier in the film, Batman and Catwoman are fighting when Batman tells his feline foe, “Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it,” to which his opponent replies, “But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it.” And then she kisses him. And stabs him. And jumps off the roof.

Reflecting that moment later, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton, the best Batman, and if you disagree, you’re just plain wrong) and Selina Kyle (Michelle Pfeiffer) are dancing at a fete when Selina notices what is hanging above them. “A kiss under the mistletoe. You know, Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it,” to which Bruce replies, “But a kiss can be even deadlier… if you mean it.” 

The flash of shifting emotions on Pfeiffer’s face, fear, sadness, confusion, as she realizes that Bruce is Batman, and he realizes that she is Catwoman, and the tortured way she emits the next line, “Oh, my God. Does this mean we have to start fighting?” cements this film as perhaps my favorite summer blockbuster. The fact that the scene was scored to “Face to Face” by Siouxsie and the Banshees just turns the sublime into perfection.

And, in a time when DC Comics is under fire for not allowing Batman to be shown going downtown on Catwoman in the Harley Quinn cartoon, an HBO Max show that already includes graphic violence and profanity, at least we know the Penguin (Danny DeVito) would be more than happy to do so. The Penguin also gives us our favorite film-related game of all time: Guess the Penguin! Is that penguin one of the real penguins, or is it an actor in a penguin suit?

Christopher Walken’s turn as Max Schreck, the evil department store kingpin and would-be kingmaker of Gotham City, is everything an audience could want from the role: Christopher Walken, pure and uncut, mainlined right into your eyeholes.

And yes, while we all know Paul Reubens played the Penguin’s father, his mother is also a veteran of Tim Burton’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Diane Salinger, who played Simone. Tim Burton’s faithfulness to his favorites, including Danny Elfman, who of course did the score, add those finishing touches to the perfect summer blockbuster. Thank you for coming to by Bat-Talk.