Beauty vs Beast: Super Cat Scratch Fever
Monday, September 4, 2017 at 12:46PM 
Jason from MNPP here with today's new "Beauty vs Beast" -- I finally got my boyfriend to watch Wonder Woman this weekend (it's finally out on VOD) and he was as surprised as I was by how much he enjoyed it (I was skeptical given DC's lousy track-record and he was skeptical because he doesn't like superhero movies). But he had one complaint that I very much got - there are a couple of full-body CG shots where Diana's hopping around where the effects look pretty goony, or as my boyfriend put it, "That looked like Catwoman."
Which got me thinking about Catwoman. The Halle Berry one, I mean. Which isn't as dire for me as it is for most - I actually enjoy the 2004 dud, albeit for camp value. But you kind of get the feeling that the film's director Pitof (whose career was, probably rightly, murdered by the film) intended the camp value, which then got me thinking about what a blessing it is that Patty Jenkins was able to give us a female superhero and take her (and her girly love for love) seriously - there's a long history of female superheroes being treated as less than serious by male directors, from Supergirl to Showgirls.
Of course Tim Burton took Catwoman seriously once, and from that we got the Greatest Superhero Performance of All Time. And he also proved that taking something "seriously" doesn't mean you have to drain all the fun, or even the camp, from it - a lesson every DC movie not named Wonder Woman could stand to learn. So I hope we get a proper Catwoman movie some day, but until then, I'll make due with the camp of Halle Berry smashing the beauty magnate villanness Sharon Stone's cement face in. Which leads me to this week's purrfect poll...
PREVIOUSLY When I was out of town last week Nathaniel took y'all back to Disney's film Hercules (which sidenote I have never seen, whoopsie) and faced off its hero and hell-ward villain, and in a squeaker the titular ginger took the crown with just over 51% of your votes. Always bet on ginger. Said Emma:
"I consider Hercules the second dishiest Disney character (second only to Nick from ZOOTOPIA... don't judge me!), so had to vote for the eye candy."
Reader Comments (15)
Laurel, no question, and I have to say this: If the Catwoman movie was going to get ONE Worst Supporting Actress nom? In NO universe should it have been Sharon Stone. Either Alex Borstein's bad comic relief, or Frances Conroy's "wise mentor as a sentient puff of wind" should have been on that ballot before her.
lol "sentient puff of wind" is brilliant, Volvagia
Why Can't Sharon Stone get the comeback she deserves? She was the only tasty part of this Meow Mix of Messiness.
Stone should be on every Oscar ballot cos she is SHARON STONE,I heard that she's difficult which can mean lots of things,I would like to see her get a great role again and Halle too.
I recently watched Broken Flowers for the first time and Sharon/Frances were my joint MVPs (following Jeffrey Wright, of course). Both so effortless and lived in...
Never seen Catwoman but I watch Halle's Razzie acceptance speech annually...
Stone understands camp. Berry does not. Easy vote.
Honestly, I would've voted for neither. Both of them were boring.
A terrible movie
Catwoman" is a movie about Halle Berry's beauty, sex appeal, figure, eyes, lips and costume design. It gets those right, she dresses like a dominatrix and Ithe big fight scene is a real catfight .I really don`t get all the hate, it`s howlingly silly, moderately diverting exercise in high, pointless style. And the WINNER here gotta be SHARON STONE, the woman delivers camp like no one else , she`s elegant and graceful cool, because, well, she's Sharon Stone. You always get the feeling she's just about ready to snap a full on crazy - but that kinda IS what is interesting about Sharon Stone. Sort of a female Jack Nicholson, but hotter in heels and a skirt.
My vote goes direct to Shazza and her cement face.
The unproduced Catwoman script by Daniel Waters -- in which Selina Kyle is an amnesiac in a dystopian Vegas-type town -- is somewhere on the Internet and it is EVERYTHING. It's like Batman Returns in that it goes off the rails at the end and some of the violence is downright mean-spirited, but it's feminist, twisted, queer in some parts, and Pfeiffer would have slayed it.
I was crazy for Stone in her HEY DAYS. In 1992 I was seriously disappointed that the Academy didn't nominate her breakthrough perf and in 1995 I seriously rooted for her and not for Shue, Streep or Sarandon...it's sad that her Diva Stardom didn't last but I wish that Ryan Murphy or Lee Daniels found something interesting for her soon...
I voted for Halle. Catwoman is a guilty pleasure, I always laugh when she orders a White Russian with no kahlua and no vodka. So dumb.
Halle Berry was out of her league with this role. Completely destroyed the fanbase.
I like the unproduced script too, I wish they'd made it but I'm glad we got Halle Berry in this role. It's one of the all time great bad performances, down there with Elizabeth Berkeley in Showgirls and Keanu Reeves in Dracula. A mesmerizing combination of incredibly hard work, total commitment and terribleness. Nothing is half-assed, she gives herself to every stupid mannerism and cringe worthy moment (catnip).
Sharon Stone is also quite bad in this film but it feels like a sad burlesque of her better performances. In contrast; with each new line, each tin of tuna, each poorly judged attempt to sound like Eartha Kitt, Halle Berry gives us something new. Something different. Something I haven't seen before or since. Whenever I watch this I find new depths to her work. That for me is the mark of a truly epically bad performance. I am never bored watching her.