Director Michael Wayne
Rated G
Score 6/6

Darren Maxwell became addicted to collecting Batman merchandise in late 1980s Australia as a way to be a part of nascent geek culture. Decades later, Darren’s stuck with a room full of collectables – a membership card to a fandom he no longer recognises – yet powerful forces beyond his control mean he’s unable to let go. BATMAN AND ME is a sobering look at the highs and lows of obsessive collecting in an increasingly pop culture-centric world, and the price of admission to fandom.

I thought that it was amusing that the opening for Batman and Me reminded me of the 2001 movie Moulin Rouge. For those of you might be wondering, or have probably guessed I collect DVDs and yes my collection is larger then I care to admit to and I will admit that some personal quirks that Darren Maxwell described when it comes collecting I have caught myself doing many times. This is a remarkably interesting documentary with some very clever camera work. I hope that I come across more of director Michael Wayne’s work.
Several interesting points where made the first was the difference between the total global box office of the 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton and the total merchandise sales for the 1989 Batman. Maxwell recounting an incident as where he was told the reason why a piece of merchandise was so expensive was ‘because of collectors.’ Also, there was another point made by Maxwell how he couldn’t by merchandise for a batman movie he did not like because he did not want to support a bad movie. This is something that I have noticed occurring with certain movies franchises that have been brought by the house of mouse.