Cat Power

The video store tends to get DVDs in about a week early, and sometimes they're kind enough to let us employees take one home for the night. So I got to check out Catwoman tonight with my roommate Nathan, a week before it goes on sale to the public. And, let me tell you, it's as awful as you've heard.

I'm not writing up a full review, as the film is not really worthy of more than 300 words. Suffice it to say, director Pitof has got nothing. He fills his film with busy camera movement and constant, needless special effects to distract you from the utter lack of anything interesting in the material or in his direction.

Halle Berry's unconvincing as a meek wannabe executive, and too campy as the extroverted, brash Catwoman. The story is flat and boring (about a power struggle within a cosmetics company between Sharon Stone and her husband, played by the obnoxious Frenchie from the Matrix sequels). They changed the Catwoman mythology in unneccessary and goofy ways. And Pitof shoots all the action in that obnoxious sped-up choppy music video style, so you can't tell what's happening and there's no visceral impact whatsoever. Plus, there's far too much time spent developing dreary relationships between Catwoman/Prentice and her man-crazy friend and Benjamin Bratt as a hunky cop.

Okay, enough said, the movie's lame. I hope Batman Begins and Superman can pull WB out of this funk, because there's a few cool DC properties I wouldn't mind seeing on the big screen. Thank god they're sparing us that wretched Jack Black as the Green Lantern idea...It's a shame that their animation division seems to be the only area of the company capable of getting superheroes right. These characters ought to be relatively easy to adapt to the big screen, with their oversized mythology and franchise potential, but it already seems to me the comic book fad has kind of worn out its welcome. Oh well...

I know I promised some more reviews of old school films as well, but I've been sleeping, you bastards. In the next few days, I'll come up with full reviews on Don't Look Back, Scorsese's Cape Fear and Three Days of the Condor. Alright? Satisfied?