Top 5 – Michael Keaton Movies

I love Michael Keaton, simply love him.  I loved him when I first saw him in Batman (1989) and could not be happier for his recent career resurgence.  Every movie he is in, I get excited for, and his latest film, American Assassin, doesn’t have a lot going for it, but he is in it so I will see it.  Here are my picks for the best Michael Keaton movies, in honor of American Assassin.

These movies and performances are based on movie quality and Keaton’s performance.

5 – BATMAN/BRUCE WAYNE in BATMAN RETURNS (Tim Burton, 1992)

For my money, Micheal Keaton is the best to ever put on the Batsuit.  He brought the physicality and broodiness that is a must for Batman and also did an excellent job playing the tormented Bruce Wayne.  The reason it put Batman Returns over the first Batman (1989) is because I think the movie elevates everything from the first film and utilizes it’s bigger scale.  It’s darker, wilder, and features a trio of great villains.  Keaton also has some moments with Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, as the two go toe-to-toe both in costumes and as humans.  Batman Returns is one of my favorite comic book movies ever and Keaton is Batman.

4 – JACK BUTLER in MR. MOM (Stan Dragoti, 1983)

Mr. Mom shows Keaton as his comedic best.  He plays Jack Butler, a man who gets laid off from his job, which forces his wife to go back to the corporate world while he stays at home with the kids.  Butler, a working stiff his whole life, has no idea what he is doing or how to take care of the kids.  He can’t cook, clean, or handle anything.  Watching Jack adapt to his new life is comedy gold.  Things burn, vacuum cleaners attack, and he becomes obsessed with soap operas and playing poker for coupons.  Keaton shows he is a comedy master in this one and also shows us a gentle side as well.  His one-liners are perfectly delivered and his interactions with his kids will make you laugh and melt your heart.  This is a wonderful performance in a wonderful movie.

3 – WALTER ROBINSON in SPOTLIGHT (Tom McCarthy, 2015)

Keaton’s career resurgence in the 2010’s is highlighted by two of his best performances, both of which are on this list.  His performance in Spotlight is much like the movie: quiet, yet powerful.  Keaton is mesmerizing as Walter “Robby” Robinson, the head of the Spotlight Team of the Boston Globe who are investigating priest molestation in Boston in the early 2000’s.  Walter knows he has a game-changing story, yet has to keep a professional mind when it comes to getting the right information and how to release the story.  He must deal with mistakes that he made in the past and make sure the story is right.  Keaton was criminally snubbed of an Oscar nomination for this performance.  An actor usually known for his bigger performances gives a subdued, brilliant turn.

2 – RIGGAN THOMSON in BIRDMAN or (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)  (Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, 2014)

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar winner is one of the best movies of the decade.  Technically astounding with masterful performances, this is filmmaking at its finest.  The weight of the movie is put on Keaton’s shoulders as Riggan Thomson, an actor known for playing a superhero who is now writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway play.  Thomson is a broke-down former movie star who nobody takes seriously and who has a terrible relationship with his daughter (Emma Stone, flexing her dramatic chops).  All anyone talks about is his role as a superhero and not how he is a serious actor.  Kind of relevant for Keaton, don’t you think?  Keaton crushes our souls here, giving us a portrait of a desperate man who is trying to be relevant again, while also trying to mend the relationship with his family.  It’s a dramatic, funny, daring, heartbreaking performance from Keaton, who gives us a painstakingly real image of this broken star.  Robbed of an Oscar win, this is one of the best performances of this decade and the launching point to Keaton’s renaissance.

1 – BETELGEUSE in BEETLEJUICE (Tim Burton, 1988)

Birdman is a masterpiece, but Betelgeuse is a performance that could only be played by one man and Keaton is that man.  This is a towering, bombastic, incredible performance from Keaton.  Nobody in Hollywood has the personality or acting talent to pull this one off.  He play Betelgeuse, a bio-exorcist who is hired by dead people to scare the living who have moved into their house after they died, this time hired by Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis).  Keaton wasn’t acting with rookies in this film, with a cast of Baldwin, Davis, Winona Rider, and Catherine O’Hara, Keaton is part of an incredibly talented cast.  Yet he is in a league of his own here.  Keaton disappears into this performance more than any other.  He gives a performance that hilarious, dark, creepy, and jaw-dropping.  Paired with great make-up and director Tim Burton’s gothic, beautiful set pieces, Beetlejuice is one of Burton’s finest and one of Keaton’s best performances, which is why it is the best Michael Keaton movie.

What are you favorite Michael Keaton movies?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.