Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
dir. Tim Burton (2024)
So determinedly kooky that it forgets to be anything else, Burton directing a bog-standard redemption arc that renders Michael Keaton dramatically anonymous and wastes Winona Ryder’s talents. Notwithstanding Jenna Ortega and Arthur Conti, who give genuine performances, only the music is worthwhile.
Wednesday
(Netflix, 2022)
Delightfully kooky teen coming-of-age horror/mystery series. The production values smack of feature filmmaking (iconic costume design and makeup; Tim Burton directs half the episodes). Jenna Ortega makes precocious antihero Wednesday Addams an instant favourite… even before her dance-out to ‘Goo Goo Muck’!
Corpse Bride
dir. Mike Johnson & Tim Burton (2005)
Short for a feature film, refreshingly straightforward, and not weighed down too heavily by songs or Tim Burton’s trademark love of the macabre. The darkness in this case works with the story, and the Victorian era stop-motion character design is exquisitely ghoulish.
Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas
dir. Henry Selick (1993)
Cue the skeleton:
“If Christmas fills your heart with woe, a schmaltz-fest souring your December
maybe you’ll prefer macabre stop-motion Halloween adventures
(but) Disney brings the curse of singing, rhymes so trying, Walt’s will lurking
Elfman’s lyrics don’t deliver Burton’s dark disturbance.”
Batman
dir. Tim Burton (Warner Bros., 1989)
By far the pick of the franchise pre-Nolan — albeit not as funky as Prince’s soundtrack would intimate — the original Batman soared, giving us Jack Nicholson as a whimsically understated over-the-top Joker and Michael Keaton as the most beguiling Bruce Wayne of all.