Oh I can hear the complaints roaring in. "Oh, well you're just a goth kid who likes to shop at Hot Topic and complain about the world's pointlessness and how Marylin Manson is a the dark lord prince of truth and knowledge and blah blah Gothy McBlackclothing blah blah" and so on. Well, to those who judge me as this without even a moment's look at this article...that's slightly fair. I've seen crazy Tim Burton fans. I'm in high school and I see at least twelve different pieces of Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise in every classroom. I'd also agree with most of you on the man himself; age 49 is a bit too old to wear a dead rodent on your head. Still, I remain a supporter. Not a full fledge Hot Topic shopper that cums black semen (too far?) Goth type fan mind you, but one who is willing to give the man a fair chance.

This might have to do with my upbringing. As a kid, my dad raised me the right way; by making me eat dinner on a TV tray and watch movies. Granted, some of the movies he considered genius were of sub-par quality (Twister, The Posieden Adventure, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), but more times then naught, the films were good or better. One such film was Pee-wee's Big Adventure (that is how it's spelled). This is the film that introduced us to cult icon Pee-wee Herman a.k.a Paul Reubens and the future blog subject (is there a higher honor?) Tim Burton. The film also started a turning point in my life; this film helped inspire me to be a film fan, which I could both praise for helping me become well rounded in the art of cinema and bash for making me become a socially awkward, nerdy, overweight, source of ridicule who spends more time watching movies than studying or getting closer to women...but I'm ranting here. Anyway, Pee-wee had everything I wanted in a film; disturbing main character, explosions, a large cast of supporting characters, disturbing cross dressing, visual humor, dinosaurs, scary dream sequences, a huge chase sequence in the middle of a film set and a burning pet shop! This, mind you, was my taste at age 5...and 7...and ages 8-11...oh fuck, IT STILL IS MY TASTE! I don't have one bad thing to say about it; it's so perfect. Sure, you can disagree...and admit that you feast on the flesh of children.

Then other Burton films came along. While Pee-wee introduced me to comedy at a young age, Beetle Juice, Batman/Batman Returns & Nightmare Before Christmas did the same for the horror comedy, superhero and stop motion aspects of film, respectively. Beetle Juice, while not being the laugh riot I remember as a kid, still remains one of the more original films of the past twenty years. Nightmare Before Christmas is also a great twisted version of a children's film, even if Disney has whored it out continuously. Yes, it's debatable as to whether or not any of those films represents their genre well, especially with Burton's two Batman films. With the Schumacher fall and Nolan rise of Bat-Cinema, Burton's contribution to the Dark Knight seems to be discarded in the shuffle. When I heard three out of our four Non-Robotic Fearless Leaders of Spill (or NRFLS...we can't all come up with ACOCO or LEOG) criticizing certain aspects of these movies, I felt a bit defensive about the two films, which I loved. Having just watched them recently and comparing them to Batman Begins, however, I realize that they're right; Nolan's film is superior in it's respect to the source material and in the overall feel of Batman. Still, Burton's Batman films work on a different level. Instead of thinking of them as direct Batman adaptations, think of them more as gateways to the Caped Crusader or "Batman for Dummies", if you will. When I was a kid, I didn't touch comics; I was too busy watching movies and television to notice printed material of any kind. Now...I'm still not much of a comic fan, but without watching The Goth Knight's versions of Gotham's superhero, I never would have read The Dark Knight Returns or watched Batman: The Animated Series.

Yes, I know Burton isn't perfect. I've seen the huge mess of celebrity cameos that is Mars Attacks!, I've viewed the creepy Carol Burnett/Marylin Manson mesh of a classic character that was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I've unfortunately been subjugated to the ungodly sin against all forms of religion that is the Planet of the Apes remake. Plus, some of Burton's movies are just good, not great to me; Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Big Fish are only 3/5 star movies in my book. Yet, if any of you doubt the work of Burton as a filmmaker, I submit this to you;

Ed Wood is my favorite biopic, Burton film and one of my favorites in general. It's definitive proof that Burton doesn’t need his usual gothic look to make a great movie. It's somewhat like an adult version of Pee-wee, with a strange main character that meets a group of weird supporting characters while going through the story line. Johnny Depp is top notch in portraying a overly optimistic visionary of bad films, Martin Landau provides a great hero to worship, the dramatic and comedic moments intertwine so well and the stupid fun facts about these people support the story instead of bogging it down. It's so simple, yet so brilliant! This is Burton's peak of quality.

As for recent Burton...I really liked Sweeney Todd. I liked Depp's supposed "no singin' ass", the skunk hair on his head and the cream soda shade of blood. The whole horror musical angle worked for me in a great way. Still, his future projects slightly worry me. Alice in Wonderland doesn't seem like a project he should tackle and the remake of his short Frankenweenie does seem like a big sell-out move. Still, despite the fact that I'm not a Goth, Emo or Suicide Watch kid, I'll give him a chance. Everyone deserves a chance, even an overgrown goth kid.