Superb Tim Burton movies
Known for his gothic aesthetic sensibilities and black humour, Tim Burton has delivered many memorable and nightmareinducing movies in almost four decades of film-making.
Whether it’s the demon barber of Fleet St in Sweeney Todd, a flying elephant in Dumbo, or Paul Giamatti as an orangutan in a Planet of the Apes remake, his efforts are never boring.
As he makes the leap to television with The Addams Family-inspired Wednesday, Stuff to Watch has looked over his career and picked our seven favourite Burton tales (and where you can watch them).
Batman Returns
(1992, Neon)
Burton’s second stab at the Dark
Knight is one of the greatest blockbuster sequels of all time. This time, Michael Keaton’s complicated caped crusader is up against the alter egos of Danny DeVito’s Christmas Dayborn Oswald Cobblepot and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle.
Beetlejuice (1988, Neon) Michael Keaton’s ‘‘ghost with the most’’ helps make Burton’s pitch-black comedy a riot from start to finish. He plays the eponymous bio-exorcist who is called in to assist when a seance goes awry for ghostly couple Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis). Winona Ryder also stars.
Edward Scissorhands
(1990, Disney+) Winona Ryder plays the object of Johnny Depp’s disfigured scientific-creation’s affections in Burton’s winsome, whimsical tale. As he struggles to find his place in society, he discovers a talent for topiary and icesculpturing. Also starring Vincent Price, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall and Alan Arkin.
Ed Wood (1994, Disney+) Johnny Depp heads the cast for this black-and-white biopic of the colourful, but unsuccessful mid 20th-century film director Edward D Wood Jr. Alongside terrific turns from Patricia Arquette, Sarah Jessica Parker, Vincent D’Onofrio and Jeffrey
Jones, Martin Landau won an Oscar for his performance as former horror star Bela Lugosi.
Mars Attacks! (1996, Netflix)
While Roland Emmerich’s alien forces were blowing up the White House in Independence Day, Burton’s martian invaders were causing mass chaos with gleeful abandon in this hilarious black comedy. It features Tom Jones playing himself and Jack Nicholson as the US President.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993, Disney+) Henry Selick was the director of this macabre masterpiece, but Burton was the man who conceived the dark musical fantasy. Danny Elfman’s songs and memorable characters bring the story of Jack Skellington to life, while positing the theory that Halloween is better than December 25.
Big Eyes (2014, AroVison, Academy OnDemand, RoxyOnDemand)
This entertaining and excellent dramatisation of the life of American artist Margaret Ulbrich (Amy Adams) focuses on how she was swept off her feet by charismatic Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz). Although he helps bring her works to public attention, not everything is as it seems. It’s easy to see what attracted Burton to this.