Okay I JUST finished my viewing. I watched it over 3 days (I was going to do 4 as it was meant to be, but I had a lapse of self-control this evening and I'm deeply ashamed) and I have a few critiques, but mostly praise! I'll start with the praise:
When I watched this movie for the first time, I myself thought about doing a Miniseries structure, but I was delighted to see DonKamillo do it and save me the trouble. Bottom line: This edit was masterfully done. I enjoyed the original film a great deal, with a few complaints here and there, and I feel almost exactly the same way about this edit, which is absolutely a compliment. I also think it kind of goes without saying, but I didn't see any noticeable transitions (I didn't catch that stray frame either) So all-in-all, excellent work DK!
As far as critiques go, I have a few that are personal preference and don't really expect you to change, because they'd improve MY enjoyment, but I can't say that they'd objectively make your edit any better. And then there's just one that I absolutely think would improve your edit (#2)
I got a bit long-winded here; just know that the length of my explanations does not correlate with my level of dissatisfaction with this edit. As I stated above, I thought it was excellent!
1) Personally I don't really care for the deleted Joker scene (WITHIN the film). I think it detracts from Riddler knowing that there's a (arguably I suppose) superior villain right around the corner. This scene was very reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs, except in this case it's kind of like if SotL played out without any further Hannibal Lecter scenes after the first one, and then Buffalo Bill was the villain, and....that's it. He was just an easter egg I guess. That being said, I do think it worked well with your cold-opening structure, and I do truly like the scene itself, outside of the structure of the film, and I don't think this nitpick is a very big deal. I also think Barry did a great job and I hope we see more of him!
1.5) Along this same vein, I always felt like the Joker/Riddler scene would have been better as a mid-credits scene
2) Speaking of Cold Openings, I actually really liked how Episode 4 started with the Bike-Goodbye scene, and I thought the swap back to Riddler worked just fine, as you said! (I also thought Episode 2's ending was *chef's kiss*).
However, I do think the cold-openings feel SLIGHTLY off, and I think the fix would be super easy. As they are now, when you click on the file to play the next episode, it boots up and plays immediately, almost as though I had the actual Movie paused and I was just hitting resume. I think all you need to do is throw in a quick IFDB disclaimer title card, or one of those quick 5-second clips (I really liked the one L8wrtr used in his American Gangster edit so I used it in mine, so that's my recommendation) to give that same feel of when you click on a new episode of Stranger Things or something and it plays that Netflix fade-in, just to give that little buffer before the episode starts up. Then it boots into the cold-open, and I think that'd be the sweet spot (I like where you have your opening credits placed, I'm not suggesting you move those, they're great!)
3) In the original, it felt like Falcone was confused by Selina saying that he's her daughter, despite the movie setting it up to us that he knew about it already. I think if you structured that scene to be
"Dad?"
"....Yeah?"
"This is for my mother"
*BANG*
it would eliminate that weird confusion, and turn it into more of a "caught-off-guard" thing. OR maybe I've just been misinterpreting the scene and you can shed some light on it XD
3.5) Bonus praise: You're absolutely right. Having Selina "decide" to go inside and help Batman in the final act was a PERFECT coincidence and I think it worked wonderfully.
4) This one is a little from column A and B! Ending the film with the Alfred scene was much better than the Bike ride, I just think the music should be adjusted just a little bit, as I think it actually detracts from the emotion a bit. I think you should fade it in at either 35:24 or 35:50.
5) (super minor here) For Volume 3 I think it'd play out better if you cut right to the Batcave after your "Sins of the Father" title card, instead of the follow-up shot of Catwoman walking away after the Not-kiss.
As it stands I'd give this edit a 9/10 (and I will!) and if you change any of these (especially #2) you'd easily snag a 9.5 or a 10 in my book.
Say one thing for DonKamillo, say he's a damn fine editor.
