TheRetroCritic

Some new pics from Tim Burton's upcoming Dark Shadows have recently popped up online: lol Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter looking very suspicious indeed.

Need I say more?

Here are some new stills from Tim Burton's upcoming Frankenweenie . Doctor and creation. Comically chunky nosy neighbour. Sparky "in stitches". Some Igor-looking fellow that wasn't in the original short. Bride of... Poodlestein? Big lol Looks visually pretty great and it looks like Mr Burton might just have found his old wit. Can't wait.

Tim Burton's latest stop-motion venture gets a new poster: A return to form? We shall see...

"The Bat, The Cat, The Penguin." Best. Tagline. Ever. For a long time, Batman Returns was not only hands down my favourite Batman film but one of my all-time favourites. To a certain extent, this is still true but time has made me a harsher critic so here's me trying to objectively review a film which has been firmly embedded in my DNA for decades. Hell, I could even hum the entire score from start to finish if I was drunk enough! Where Batman took the film noir route and was firmly inspired by detective flicks of the 40's, Batman Returns is pure Tim Burton. The snow, the quirky fairytale feel, the gothic look, the twisted sense of humour... it's a very different Gotham City to the one we were first introduced to. The film almost feels like an opera with the town hall, where most of the action takes place, acting as a kind of grand stage where all the drama and madness can take place. The film's opening is one of my personal favourite sequences of

Following on from a preview I made some time ago in regards to Tim Burton's latest stop-motion venture Frankenweenie , here's a new picture from the film just released. Not sure how Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea will come into play but we shall see... Lookin' good.

As many of you know, Mr Tim Burton is currently hard at work on an animated adaptation of his very own short Frankenweenie . It sounds fab with Martin Short playing no less than 5 characters, former Burtoneers Winona Ryder, Martin Landau and Catherine O'Hara all back in the game and the whole thing resembling Burton's animated short  Vincent . Here are some early stills: Looks pretty great indeed: Sparky's adorable. It's all in black and white. It's Frankenstein with a dog. I'm sold.

After the catoonish lunacy of the Adam West 60's TV series which had the Dark Knight dancing, surfing, running to crime scenes ON FOOT and stroking his chin repeatedly speaking bat-nonsense and adding the word "bat" before any device, it was definitely time for something a little more, shall we say, edgy? Not that the old series weren't fun: they were great! But as far as comic book heroes go, this one had more potential than the West series could ever produce. So who better to bring out the gothic weirdness and quirky theatrics of The Bat than Beetlejuice maestro Tim Burton? Michael Keaton is the troubled caped crusader, an unlikely choice but one which proved to be surprisingly spot-on: he brings humour and likeability to a character which could easily be bland and "one-note". Of course, the real scene-stealer here is Jack Nicholson's devilish joker who prides himself on being the world's first "homicidal artist" by trashing a museu

By far the weirdest animation of 2009, 9 is really more for hyperactive younger teens than little kids who probably will feel much less stressed out watching Up : 9 is literally one big sci-fi action sequence after another. The film should be applauded for its slightly more subtle environmental message, a rarity these days. Borrowing from 50's sci-fi ( War of the Worlds ) and old horror films ( Frankenstein ) mostly, 9 creates something pretty original and entertaining regardless if not particularly compelling. Dialog and story-wise this is simple, predictable fare with no great surprises and no particularly memorable moments on offer: 9 is bland when it should be bursting with creativity. To be honest, when making a film about hand-made little creatures with stitches, fabrics etc. stop-motion really is the way to go. A lot of texture is lost in the CGI, as detailed as it is, to make room for the scary robots and their big battles. Mixing CGI and stop-motion on this one, muc