A Few of My Favourite Things

He definitely has more appeal in deep shadows, yeah.

The fact that Burton feels that loner angst makes him clearly connect with those types of characters. I think that "in" gave him love for the material that really translated into the film. I think that's what's missing from the Schumacher ones is that I can't feel that love. Maybe Schumacher had it, but he didn't translate it onto film.

I think it kept the spirit of the comics without mimicking it. I think that's true of Burton's films, which is one of the reasons they work as movies: they do their own thing.

I love that about the Burton films. I also love the Dick Tracy film which looks like a live action comic; I've long felt that it's underrated.

My number one is Logan. Logan is a great dramatic film, basically about a family finding each other. It's about rekindling hope in a (seemingly) hopeless world and its themes and plot threads echo out far away from "just" superhero stuff. It's got plenty of cool superhero stuff, too, of course. That combined with its unique aesthetic, direction, and just a great script make it number one for me.

I'm tempted to put Joker at number two. Then I'd get into Burton's Batmans and Dick Tracy.

Watchmen would likely make my top ten, but I hesitate to bump it too high because I think that the source material is responsible for 99% of the genius there and, if anything, the direction holds it back. It's basically just the comic on screen, and it doesn't use the film medium to great use (with the exception of the opening credits), in the way that the comics used that medium to maximum effect (Fearful Symmetry!).

Just off the top of my head, for instance, they could have used split screens or multiple-exposures on film to give us a more chaotic and literal sense of Doctor Manhattan's perception of time. Zach Snyder is great with aesthetics and atmosphere, but he doesn't seem to get deeply creative the way that, say, Guillermo Del Toro or Stanley Kubrick do.

Then, of course, I felt like Snyder made the heroes a little too "cool" and "super". They punch through concrete, they look badass in their costumes... I kinda liked in the comic that Nite Owl had a clearly-visible paunch in his spandex suit. I know that the owl armour in the movie makes more sense, but I still would have liked to see a little muffin top in there somewhere. Just more visual cues that these guys are playing dress-up and there's a little patheticness under the whole thing.

Maybe those are nitpicks. It's still a great story and it was reasonably well-told. Again, I'd probably have it in my top 10. But it's got some things that hold it back from top 5, top 3, or number one for me.

You've probably seen anything I could recommend.

My number one recommendation would be Misfits; it's a superhero TV show. If you haven't seen that, definitely check it out. It's not a film, but it's definitely got the dark, adult, "real world" superpower stuff. I usually describe it to people as "Everything Heroes should have been". I give the highest recommendation for Misfits seasons one-three. Four is rubbish and five is "meh". But one-three are gangbusters.

Here's some stuff that I think might be along the lines of what you're looking for...hopefully one of them is new to you.

The Crow
Dick Tracy
Sin City
I Fight Giants - this isn't really "superheroes"...it's pretty neat, though, and it takes the fantasy-adventure meets real world stuff, so...maybe watch the trailer and see if you want to watch it.
Unbreakable

I kinda liked The Spirit, but most people hated it, so...odds are you won't like it, but I thought it was fun. I'd say the same thing about Ultraviolet. I liked it, thought it was kinda neat, but most people really detest it. "Enter at your own risk", I guess.

Ah, yes. I think Robin can work with Batman without sacrificing Batman's darkness. Although it's harder in a film setting; in comics where suspension of disbelief goes a little further. That was probably why they made Robin older - try to mitigate some of the joyfulness of Robin.

If it were me, I'd focus on the father-son relationship Batman has with Robin. Batman lost his parents and he tries to replace them with himself while trying to prevent Dick from suffering as he did. He can't, of course, and parenting is hard, and there would be the "I hate you!" "Go to your room!" stuff that might seem mundane, but would open up so many personal wounds for both of them. Could be a source of great drama.

Yes, the studio pushed for the family-friendly, "toyetic" stuff. To his credit, I've seen interviews where Schumacher admits that he was pressured and caved, and he takes responsibility for caving. Hats off to that man.

100% on the Nolan films. The first two are really, really great. Yeah, Rises was a mess, in my opinion. I'm not sure I'd say "hate", because I like the imagery of despondent, Howard Hughes Bruce, I liked some of the Catwoman stuff, I dig parts of it...but overall it's got too many plot holes, character bungles, and other problems. The thirteen year olds probably haven't even seen Driving Miss Daisy, they're just downvoting it to pump up Avengers: Endgame. Or it's college age kids who think it just ain't "woke" enough anymore. Doesn't pass the ever-changing racism litmus test; give it a one.

Any list is subjective, it's impossible to rate romcoms and fantasy movies on one continuum, but even considering that it's hard to take the IMDb top 250 list seriously when Infinity War is ranked higher than Vertigo, M, and 2001.

I still love Batman Returns. I don't mind when a Burton film feels super-Burton.