Ah, I remember the good old days, when the tail wagged the dog so hard it had to go and get a spare dog.
This week on the podcast, Ryan Roe from the Muppet movie podcast Movin’ Right Along joins me to discuss Batman Forever, the 1995 film that set new standards for movie merchandising. We talk about the stars of the film — McDonalds and Kenner Toys — and also, to some extent, the actual movie.
Batman Forever features an unforgettable Jim Carrey as not-quite-the-Riddler and a shouty Tommy Lee Jones as not-really-Two-Face, and involves no actual crime-fighting on Batman’s part. I thought that stories were supposed to feel perfect and powerful, but this turns out to be the other kind.
The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Audible, Stitcher and lots of other places. Come check it out!
Here’s Act 2:
And here’s Act 3:
Next:
My weekend popcorn post on
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3!
— Danny Horn
Superheroes Every Day 
Danny, congrats on the podcasts! Are you going back to posting here about movies or has this replaced that?
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Or will the podcasts at least substitute for blogs for these movies?
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I was about to ask the same thing!
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I am definitely planning to come back to regular posting, finish Superman III and keep on going. I just don’t know right now when that’s going to be.
The podcast is taking up all my creative time right now, and it’s exciting and new for me, so I’m following that. It’s been a month so far, and I’m still learning a lot — I think what I’m learning is going to help me do this faster and more efficiently. The first four episodes were a big hassle, but I’m editing #5 and the whole process is going a lot more smoothly.
I will be doing a weekend popcorn post in a couple weeks on Guardians vol 3, cause I can’t miss that. With my recording schedule, I probably won’t write much else in May, but I’m hoping that by June I’ll have this down to a reasonable rhythm and I can spend some time on Superman again.
I hope that you all are listening & enjoying the podcast! I’ve got a lot of fun episodes coming up, and I’m planning some interesting surprises. I know that the loyal readers who have been following the blog are probably a bit disappointed that I’m not posting regularly right now. If it helps, I’m not going to do any episodes for the movies from Superman III through Batman Returns, because I’m thinking of the next seven movies as still achievable for blog posting.
So — I hope you hang with it and enjoy getting regular content, even if it’s in a different format. I love you all, and thank you so much for reading and loving the blog.
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Thanks. I’m enjoying both the blog and the podcast. I think it’s beneficial to the creative process to vary things a bit. The blog gives a sense of community through the comments that does not seem to be as common with the podcasts. (Or am I just listening on the wrong platform?) I imagine some people find it easier to find a few minutes to read a blog than 40+ minutes for a podcast but I’m happy to have you and your guests keeping me company while I cook. Also, I like that you cover a movie a week with the podcast so I will get your take on more movies that way. For me, it’s win-win!
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It’s very confusing to hear you address another Ryan on the podcast, and I insist one of us get a new name. We’ll fight for it. My hot take on Schumacher’s Batman was that, yes, the toys. But to get there, he tried to meld the ’66 TV show’s sensibilities with the visual styling of the Burton films. Both Carey and TLJ seem to be trying to do Frank Gorshin’s Riddler (or TLJ maybe Romero’s Joker) – and that would have made sense as a reference to them at the time. I’ll contend that Gorshin’s Riddler is one of the best villains in *any* live action superhero media. But it is the return to a winky camp that Burton had eschewed.
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And just for fun – Gorshin cut a single “The Riddler” and performed it on The Dean Martin Show. https://youtu.be/K-YX4d2s0xs?t=296
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In part 4B you ask if Joel Schumacher ever directed a musical.
Yes, he directed the 2004 film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.” It was not received well though did okay at the box office (double its ~$70M production cost).
I went to see it as a fan of musicals and horror movies and thought it looked good, if not overly exciting, but with Gerard Butler in the lead it suffered from what I call “Celebrity Karaoke” where we’re supposed to applaud someone bankable for trying their best.
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Kenner should have done an Earring Magic Ken, er Dick doll.
As cute as Chris O’Donnell is, I’m sorry he didn’t do a better job filling out those grey sweatpants in the laundry scene.
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Two Face used that coin to determine if he was going to do something good or something evil. If memory serves, the face of the coin was scratched up and the “evil” side. Yeah, sounds like they dropped the ball on that one in the movie.
You mentioned seeing the reflection of the golden arches on the Batmobile when Robin went joyriding. I remember seeing that imagery used in the McDonald’s crossover commercials,
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