Speaking of the Batman movies...

Terrible confession: my favorite of the last four Batman movies is Batman Forever.

I know! I know! Frickin' Joel Schumacher sucks ass!! You think I don't know that?? And yet... I still liked this one better than either of the Tim Burton films (which I think have not aged well at all). (We shan't even mention the fourth film. Shan't!)

I really liked Val Kilmer's performance as Bruce Wayne; he's the best of the Bat-actors. I think Nicole Kidman is smokin' hot, the best of the Bat-babes; very cool and sly and sexy in her mostly thankless arm-candy-in-peril role. I think Jim Carrey is at his over-the-top best. I think Tommy Lee Jones... uh... was very good in The Fugitive....

I liked the development of Batman's character. "You have a thing for bats?" "That's a Rorschach, Mr. Wayne." That one moment between Kilmer and Kidman is more cleverly revelatory about Batman's psyche than the other three movies combined. I liked that Batman wasn't a mad-dog killer, the way he was in Burton's films; it's hard to identify with or admire a superhero who kills as many people as his enemies do. (Especially in the first film, when he has the Batmobile drop a bomb in the middle of all the Joker's henchmen -- that's cold-blooded, dude.) I didn't especially care for Chris O'Donnell, or Robin, but how could you not love the line, "Holey rusted metal, Batman"?

I just plain liked it. So there.