Anchorhead said:

The Schumaker films were all but unwatchable.

Eh, I'd say they were well into the unwatchable territory.

Anchorhead said:

I enjoyed Batman Begins, but thought they spent way too much time on history and backstory. I don't care to know how or why he learned martial arts or the entire story behind the batmobile. I much prefer the darkness and mystery of Batman89. Which brings me to my only serious criticism of the Nolan films; the high-contrast cinematography. I really don't like how well-lit and sharp everything is. For me, that literal removal of the darkness also takes away the character's darkness. Dark Knight seems even more well-lit\high-contrast than Begins.

I loved the history and backstory. I would have loved an entire film devoted to practically just that. The best part of the film was the sword fighting on ice during his training (very dramatic). A few of the details—like purchasing his batsuit pieces—weren't needed, but I even appreciated those parts as trying to add realism. Essentially, Batman is all about self determination, self discipline, detective work, brilliant resourcefulness, and quick thinking. Batman Begins was the first Batman movie to actually capture that focus for its story and that easily made it my favorite.

I understand what you mean about the cinematography though. Batman begins was very straightforward in that regard while Tim Burton's version of Batman is more fun to watch.
Then the straightforward-ness of the movie descended into pure chaos during the fighting scenes with close, meaningless shots.