Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Film myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.HTSI editor Jo Ellison © Marili AndreI came of age in the early ’90s, and so perhaps it’s only natural I consider it a period of unparalleled cultural relevance: it’s not an opinion, people, it’s empirical. Certainly, it was a time of cinematic brilliance, cementing the reputations of a new breed of directors – including Quentin Tarantino, Hal Hartley, Richard Linklater and others – who would subvert tropes of film and reinvent them for the modern age.Chief among them was Tim Burton, an oddball cinéaste and animator whose dazzling cinematic universe found expression in gothic horror comedies. His film about a happily haunted house, disquieted by the arrival of a family of grotesques and subsequently terrorised by a bio-exorcist, Beetlejuice, had become a sensation on its release in 1988, grossing $74mn at the box office (on a budget of $15mn) and enabling Burton to helm his later, epic studio pictures. This autumn, Burton has brought back many of that same cast in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel. I’m excited because it reunites my idols Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara on the screen, as well as revisiting Michael Keaton’s extraordinary improv skills.Keaton could win awards for rambling, but we’re here for all the talesAs is revealed in this week’s cover interview with Keaton, his screen time in the first film added up to just 17 minutes. Yet it sparked the beginning of a brilliant collaborative streak with Burton, which next found him strapping on the rubber suit for Batman. Keaton is neither a Hollywood star in the traditional sense, nor is he reclusive. On our cover we call him Hollywood’s last maverick because his career has been packed with nice surprises. He has simply continued to do what best makes sense to him – ideally, angling for giant trout near his second home in Montana – and, as he tells Joel Stein, remained pragmatic in a crazy business. Getting a short answer out of him is nigh-on impossible – he could win awards for rambling. But as he’s one of the most authentic voices in the industry, I’m here for all the tales.Elsewhere, another angler, David Coggins, gets in a car with fellow HTSI contributor James Harvey-Kelly to embark on a backroads tour across the Scottish Highlands. No fishing in this story, but the duo feast on venison at Lundies House, stock up on royal tweeds at the cult outfitter’s Campbell’s of Beauly and eat delicious pastries in Dunkeld. Having never made it to the Highlands, I’ve been taking careful notes – I dream of spending a night or two at the Boath House, in Nairn, or wandering the braes surrounding Killiecrankie House.Lastly, we turn to food and drink, where we examine the etiquette surrounding two vital subjects: how to improve baked beans (can you? Should you?) and the makings of a perfect Martini. Ajesh Patalay has taken on the Heinz, while Alice Lascelles is on cocktail duty. She introduces her latest book on what is arguably the world’s most fêted and hotly debated drink. She’s got a recipe for everyone – be it on the rocks, or absolutely filthy dirty. @jellison22
