20 Reasons Why Growing Up in the 80s and Early 90s Was Best Time For Cinema

13. Tim Burton Made Interesting Films

Some of the entries here relate to specific films and people and here€™s one of them. Tim Burton is often chastised on this site and many others for being overrated. And to anyone who grew up at a time when their early Tim Burton experience might have included The Planet of the Apes remake, this is an understandable response. The reason Tim Burton is €œrated€, for lack of a better word, is because there is a generation of pale kids who grew up in the €˜80s and whose first Tim Burton experience was Beetlejuice or Edward Scissorhands (mine was Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice was scary). Burton€™s directing run of Pee-wee€™s Big Adventure, 1985, Beetlejuice, 1988, Batman, 1989, Batman Returns 1992 and Ed Wood, 1994, not to mention the Burton-produced and scripted, Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993 is a run many modern directors can only dream of. Batman aside, these movies were personal, original and looked unique, but most importantly, they were relatable to the outsider, to the goth or to the geek. This was a time before being a geek was akin to a fashion statement or latest trend. Burton was even able to incorporate his unique style into the Batman films, making the Dark Knight dark way before Chris Nolan. Its understandable for the younger generation who missed out on this the first time around to not €˜get€™ it, but that€™s just it, you don€™t €˜get€™ it. Burton has unfortunately become homogenised by the studio and his screen identity diluted as a result, but this Burton you younger guys see is not the same guy a generation of €˜80s weirdos once loved.