Entertainment
Everyone Is Wrong About Batman Forever
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Of all the Batman movies that have been released over the past several decades, 1995’s Batman Forever receives what I consider to be a lot of unnecessary hate. Losing points among die-hard Batman fans for being incredibly campy and over-the-top when compared to Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman returns (and Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series), Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever isn’t remembered fondly because it’s not dark and brooding like its predecessors or successors, but rather bright, explosive, stylish, and corny, much like the 1960s iteration of Batman that featured Adam West as the Dark Knight and Burt Ward as Robin.
I don’t necessarily see this stylistic pivot as a reason to hate on Batman Forever because when you look at any movie critically, you need to consider one very important aspect regardless of what critics and audiences say: did the movie accomplish what it set out to do?
I think yes.
Not The Best, But Definitely Not The Worst
I’m going to first extend an olive branch because I need to go on record saying that Michael Keaton is the best Batman, bar none, because of his dry wit and deadpan delivery. Christian Bale working under Chistopher Nolan’s direction in the Dark Knight Trilogy is a close second for me because of how Nolan spent a considerable amount of time building up the backstories and emotional through lines that carried a significant amount of weight throughout the film series, all of which having tremendous payoffs that will stand the test of time.
I also need to go on record saying that Batman Forever’s ill-fated followup, 1997’s Batman & Robin is wholly deserving of its 12 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes for bringing George Clooney, who has publicly (and rightfully) disavowed his portrayal of Batman, into the mix.
But watching Batman Forever in a vacuum instead of comparing it to other adjacent intellectual properties makes for a better viewing experience because it did exactly what it set out to do. Remember, Batman Returns, my personal favorite Batman flick, was so heavy and dark that kids left the theater crying. In fact, Roger Ebert thought Batman Returns’ PG-13 rating was a joke because of how not kid friendly it was.
In other words, Batman Forever’s more light-hearted and campy approach, while not received well by long-time fans of the franchise, made logical sense from a financial standpoint because Batman Returns was considered a box office disappointment despite its $266 million earnings, as 1989’s Batman earned about $150 million more, making it the sixth-highest-grossing film in history at the time of its release.
Batman Forever’s Marketing Hype
Growing up, I distinctly remember Batman Forever’s release being a cultural event – there were McDonald’s collaborations, Six Flags Great Adventure amusement parks had themed tie-ins and rides, its soundtrack reached the number five spot on the US Billboard 200 (even with that god awful U2 song leading the charge), and several video games related to the movie all saw releases to get everybody hyped.
Knowing how over-hyped projects tend to get the wind taken out of their sails upon their release because there’s no possible way they can live up to the lofty expectations made by their own aggressive marketing campaigns, I have reason to believe that Batman Forever was a victim of its own promotional material because everybody I knew was absolutely pumped ahead of its release, and gravely disappointed when they didn’t get what they expected.
Appreciate It For What It Is
Behind the scenes, Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones, who played the Riddler and Two-Face respectively, did not get along, to the point where Jones told Carrey to his face, “I hate you. I really don’t like you … I cannot sanction your buffoonery.” As Batman Forever’s two adversarial antagonists, this dynamic played out tremendously on-screen because both villains reluctantly worked together to take down Batman, and some of that animosity we see between the Riddler and Two-Face in the final cut was coming from a genuinely adversarial place behind the scenes.
Val Kilmer’s portrayal of Batman and Bruce Wayne also actually has some depth to it, as he experiences vivid flashbacks about his parent’s murder while unpacking his personal demons with Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridian, his love interest and de facto psychologist in Batman Forever. Perfectly foiling Bruce Wayne/Batman’s secretive, lone-wolf disposition is Chris O’Donnell’s Dick Grayson, the young acrobat who wants to avenge the death of his parents after their run-in with Two-Face, and forces Bruce’s hand to allow him to suit up, call himself Robin, and become his partner.
The Batman/Robin dynamic in Batman Forever ends up paying off because Bruce explains in no uncertain terms to Dick that becoming a vigilante for the sake of revenge will corrode one’s soul, leaving them with a profound feeling of emptiness if they can’t find it within themselves to rally for a larger, more universal cause like keeping the streets of Gotham safe so other ruthless crime lords don’t have the opportunity to tear more families apart. Dick’s stubborn unwillingness to listen to Bruce pays off because when Batman finds himself in an impossible jam in Batman Forever’s third act, he comes to the realization that he can’t go alone in his crusade, and a partnership is finally forged to save the day.
Streaming Batman Forever
At the end of the day, Batman Forever isn’t among the best of the best Batman movies, but its successful in establishing easily digestible backstories, is visually charming in the sense that its fluorescent aesthetic makes it a perfect popcorn movie full of action that has no right being so colorful, and has a form of over-the-top charisma that makes you want to yell “ZIP!” and “POW!” whenever our heroes start throwing hands with their common enemies. For whatever reason you may want to dunk on Batman Forever, you might want to reconsider giving it a rewatch one of these days because it’s hypnotically campy, endlessly entertaining, and never fails to embrace its own inherent silliness.
Batman Forever, which is currently streaming on Max, should be loved for what it is, not hated for not being what it’s not trying to be.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on March 1
It’s a new month, and while the Moon may appear totally full, we’re still a couple of days away from this yet. But in the meantime, there’s still lots to spot on its surface.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Sunday, March 1, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. According to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide, 94% of the Moon will be lit up tonight.
With just your naked eye, tonight you’ll be able to see the Mares Imbrium and Crisium, as well as the Tycho Crater. If you have binoculars hanging about, dust them off and pull them out to catch a glimpse of the Mares Nectaris and Frigoris, and the Endymion Crater. And proud telescope owners will see all this and more, including the Apollo 15 and 17 landing spots, and the Schiller Crater.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon will be on March 3. The last Full Moon was on Feb. 1.
What are Moon phases?
According to NASA, the Moon takes about 29.5 days to orbit the Earth. Over the course of this period, it moves through eight recognisable phases, what we call the lunar cycle. While the same side of the Moon always faces us, the amount of its surface lit by the Sun changes as it continues along its path. The shifts in sunlight create the different appearances we see from Earth, ranging from a fully illuminated Moon to a thin sliver or near darkness. The eight phases are:
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
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Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Entertainment
Men are paying to have negative posts removed from Tea app
As reported by 404 Media, online service Tea App Green Flags will scrub negative posts from anonymous gossip app Tea and similar online forums where women post about negative experiences they’ve had with men they’ve dated.
According to 404 Media’s interview with Tea App Green Flags’ founder, simply identified as Jay, the company launched two years ago to tackle posts on the many Are We Dating the Same Guy Facebook groups. His focus has turned to Tea in the past year.
“We just want to take down posts about people who are being defamed,” Jay told 404 Media. “And when I say defamed, it means like, ‘this guy has a small penis,’ or ‘this guy smells.’ That doesn’t fit the mission statement of what the Tea app was for, which is to warn women against people who are harmful, who are abusive, who are cheaters.”
Tea App Green Flags’ site claims to have removed over 2,500 posts from the Tea App for over 759 clients. Most of the service’s clients are men, although Jay noted that occasionally the wives and girlfriends of men posted on the app will reach out.
Prospective Tea App Green Flags clients must provide their name, age, location, and photo to the service, as well links to specific posts targeting them. According to Tea App Green Flags’ FAQs, they can only remove posts with direct references to a client. On average, the site says, a Tea App “takedown campaign” will take 21 – 30 days. The lengths of other takedowns depend on the platform.
Price-wise, it costs $1.99 to report one Tea account and up to $79.99 to report 25 of them. The company also offers “24/7 Reputation Monitoring,” which costs $19.99 per month and alerts clients when they appear on Tea or Facebook.
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Jay would not share the details of the takedown process with 404 Media. Tea does have a free form for takedown requests on its website, and says that it will “only reply to takedown requests submitted via the takedown portal.”
Jay emphasized to 404 Media that Tea App Green Flags does not extend its services to people who have been accused of sexual assault multiple times on Tea, or who have been accused by one person using their real name and photo in a Facebook group.
“Sometimes we find along the process that there are pedophiles or people who actually did what they did, and they’re very bad,” Jay told 404 Media. “So we say, ‘we’re not doing this.’ We can’t take a rap for that. We’re ethical. We just want to take down people who are being defamed.”
Tea markets itself as presenting “dating safety tools that protect women.” In July 2025, it was the target of a large-scale cyberattack that exposed thousands of user images including drivers’ licenses, leaving users vulnerable to doxxing and harassment. These images were provided as verification for accounts, although the app itself is otherwise anonymous.
Jay claimed to 404 Media that Tea’s anonymity “causes a cesspool of defamation,” and that he would prefer if women shared their faces, even if they are speaking out against dangerous men who have done them harm.
While Tea is meant to be a women-only app, Tea App Green Flags is proof of men’s infiltration of these online dating spaces. (Tea itself was founded by a man: Sean Cook.)
“I have a Tea app account. I’m a dude,” Jay told 404 Media. “All my reps have Tea app accounts. They’re men.”
Mashable has reached out to Tea for further comment.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for February 28, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is for people who love golf.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Golf Equipment
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Green: Materials in a Baseball
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Blue: SEC School Locations
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Purple: First Names of Chicago Bears
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #523 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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Golf Equipment – CLUB, GLOVE, RANGEFINDER, TEE
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Materials in a Baseball – CORK, LEATHER, RUBBER, YARN
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SEC School Locations – ATHENS, AUBURN, LEXINGTON, OXFORD
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First Names of Chicago Bears – CAIRO, CALEB, LUTHER, ROME
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Chicago Fire score twice in stoppage time, blank CF Montreal
Layne Riggs holds on to claim first NASCAR Trucks street race
