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"Batman might be having his moment in the cinematic sun right now thanks to Christopher Nolan&amp;#039;s brilliant retooling of the character, but it hasn&amp;#039;t always been plain sailing for the Caped Crusader on the big screen. Tim Burton and Michael Keaton kick-started the Batman movie series to great success before Joel Schumacher&amp;#039;s neon-drenched sequels irked the hardcore fanbase. For all the fun we&amp;#039;ve had with the superhero on film, it&amp;#039;s still impossible to overlook the fact that its been a wildly inconsistent movie franchise. With The Dark Knight Rises fast approaching, Digital Spy highlights the best and worst of the DC Comics hero on screen. Batman arrives (Batman 1989) - Best! After the striking opening titles - a camera creeping through a stone bat symbol to Danny Elfman&amp;#039;s majestic score - Burton introduces his Caped Crusader taking down two small time Gotham crooks. Michael Keaton convinces right off the bat, and the scene immediately sets him apart from &amp;#039;60s predecessor Adam West.      &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ll get drive-through&amp;quot; (Batman Forever) - Worst! If there was a moment to pinpoint exactly when the Batman franchise started to go downhill, then this could be it. Perhaps it was funny on paper? Maybe it&amp;#039;s for the neat fast food tie-in as evidenced below? All we know is this exchange between Alfred and Bats is enough to elicit audible groans.      The Joker&amp;#039;s surgery (Batman 1989) - Best! &amp;quot;Mirror... Mirror!&amp;quot; After dropping into a vat of acid, Jack Nicholson&amp;#039;s Jack Napier gets facial reconstruction from a dodgy backstreet surgeon in a bid to save his face. Things don&amp;#039;t go to plan, and the below scene is the first time we hear The Joker&amp;#039;s maniacal laugh. The fact that The Simpsons parodied this scene shows you just how good it is.      Arnie&amp;#039;s chilling one-liners (Batman &amp;amp; Robin) - Worst! As Mr Freeze, Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered a series of clunking puns enough to send a shiver down anyone&amp;#039;s spine. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re not sending me to the cooler!&amp;quot; / &amp;quot;The iceman cometh!&amp;quot; / &amp;quot;Ice to see you.&amp;quot; You get the idea...      Where are you? (Batman Begins) - Best! After spending a good chunk of 2005&amp;#039;s reboot exploring Bruce Wayne&amp;#039;s origins, Christopher Nolan unleashed his Dark Knight in this tense docks scene. The best part in his takedown of Carmine Falcone&amp;#039;s goons is the final moment in the clip below...      Batcard (Batman &amp;amp; Robin) - Worst! &amp;quot;Never leave the cave without it...&amp;quot; *shudder*      Michelle Pfeiffer becomes Catwoman (Batman Returns) - Best! It&amp;#039;s crazy to think it, but Michelle Pfeiffer wasn&amp;#039;t Tim Burton&amp;#039;s first choice to play Catwoman. Annette Bening was originally pencilled in to play Batman&amp;#039;s feline adversary but had to drop out when she fell pregnant. The below scene, showing a manic Selina Kyle putting together her skintight outfit, is one of our favourites from Batman Returns.      Alfred lets Vicki Vale into the Batcave (Batman) - Worst! Spending years as Bruce Wayne&amp;#039;s trusted confidant, butler Alfred (Michael Gough) suffers a serious lapse in judgement when he lets Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) - an investigative reporter - into the Batcave, thus blowing Bruce&amp;#039;s cover as Gotham&amp;#039;s mysterious masked hero.  The Joker&amp;#039;s pencil trick (The Dark Knight) - Best! &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m gonna make this pencil disappear.&amp;quot;      Nipples on the Batsuit (Batman Forever, Batman &amp;amp; Robin) - Worst! &amp;quot;They put nipples on the batsuit. I didn&amp;#039;t know they would do that,&amp;quot; said George Clooney last year. Had he seen this suiting-up montage, maybe he&amp;#039;d have had second thoughts?  Share your highlights and lowlights from the Batman franchise in the comments below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/batman/news/a392382/dark-knight-rises-the-best-and-worst-of-batman-at-the-movies/>