Catwoman is a American superhero film and quasi-spin-off of the Batman film series directed by Pitof
Monday, 17 December 2012
Catwoman Movies List
Catwoman (mini-series) 1-4 (1989)
Catwoman: Defiant (1992)
Catwoman (vol. 2) 1-94 (1993–2001)
Catwoman #0 (1994)
Catwoman #1000000 (1998)
Catwoman Annual #1-4 (1994–1997)
Catwoman/Vampirella: The Furies (1997)
Catwoman Plus #1 (1997) (with Scream Queen)
Catwoman/Wildcat #1-4 (1998)
Catwoman: Guardian of Gotham #1-2 (1999)
Catwoman (vol. 3) #1-83 (2002–2008, 2010)
Catwoman: Secret Files and Origins (2003)
Catwoman: When in Rome #1-6 (2004)
Batman/Catwoman: Trail of the Gun #1-2 (2004)
Gotham City Sirens #1-26 (2009–2011) (Catwoman co-stars in the title alongside Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn)
Catwoman (vol. 4) #1 – present (2011-present)
Catwoman Movie Review
Patience Phillips begins the movie as a soft spoken, demure former art student who works as an advertising agent for the Hedare cosmetics company. When she accidentally discovers the toxic side effects of their upcoming beauty product, they try to silence her by flushing her into the sea with their industrial waste. Fate has other plans for her; through the intercession of a rare and ancient breed of cat, she’s brought back to life and granted feline attributes, principally reflexes and speed. Soon, she takes charge of her life and starts hunting down those responsible for her murder. When the police detective she's dating investigates the crimes of Catwoman, her life becomes a delicate tightrope walk as she struggles to keep her two identities separate.
This was loosely based on the DC Comics character Catwoman, though they seem to have cribbed her origin a bit from Catwoman's previous film incarnation in Batman Returns, where she's also killed and brought back to life by cats. Comics purists won’t be pleased that they changed the character's name from Selina Kyle to Patience Phillips, or that they moved the setting away from Gotham City, but these criticisms won't bother the average moviegoer.Even as it begins, the film immediately tries to establish the suspension of disbelief to help the audience accept the title character. They fill the opening credits with interesting renditions of historical catwomen from around the world, as though to create a legacy for this Catwoman. And though they don't explore it in detail within the story, they use it to help the character come to terms with what’s happened to her.Additionally, there are small moments that utilize the character's transformation to Catwoman; cute ideas, such as they way she eats, sleeps, her reaction to catnip.Alex Borstein stands out among the cast as Halle Berry's cheerful coworker Sally. Halle Berry herself is actually more likable as Patience Phillips than she is as Catwoman. Patience has vulnerability, and Berry clearly has fun with her lively apologies. She's also the only persona that can deal with Catwoman as an alternate personality, and Patience has some good moments terrified of her own mental illness.Catwoman herself is more of a one note character, combining her aggressive sexuality with violence and an irritating self-righteousness which makes her unapproachable except as a revenge fantasy.Frances Conroy's crazy cat lady Ophelia is the driving force behind Catwoman's rejection of societal conventions. She seems eager to live vicariously through Catwoman, due to her past as a professor who was denied tenure as much for being a woman as for her wild theories regarding catwomen. And although her theories are borne out within the world of the film, she apparently forgot that professors aren't supposed to act like crazy people until after they've secured tenure.
The film's villain, an evil cosmetics company, is actually a loose stand in for the typical action movie's drug running operation. Their product, a debilitating beauty cream, is described as addictive. Its users must get their fix, or else, basically, their faces melt. As a former employee, Catwoman has a direct connection to the company, which neatly ties the movie together. This way, she doesn't have to search for someone to fight.Hip hop and dance dominate the soundtrack, which is fine if you like that sort of thing. It neither adds much to the movie, nor takes anything away.In general, the movie hinges on a message of female empowerment. Unfortunately, they tend to undermine their own purpose a little by making the principal antagonist another woman. Perhaps their intent was to hold up Catwoman and Sharon Stone's Laurel Hedare as opposing examples of empowered women, although if that's the case, they have achieved, at best, mixed results.Having self confidence is one thing, but Catwoman commits burglaries and constantly assaults people, whether they deserve it or not. Add in the sleazy leather bondage outfit and it's hard to regard her as a role model. The most she can even say for herself is "I might not be a hero, but I'm certainly not a killer." Most of us can say the same.On the other hand, Laurel is ambitious, intelligent, and successful, and understandably upset at being cast aside by her husband and company due to her advancing age. Except for being conveniently evil, she's sympathetic in her own right. Her intelligence unfortunately extends only so far as the plot allows, since there's no obvious reason why she would confess her crimes to the police at the vaguest suggestion of bribery when she could just as easily deny everything and let her lawyers do the heavy lifting.
Catwoman Movie series
In 1993, Catwoman was given her first ongoing comic book series. This series, written by an assortment of writers, but primarily penciled by Jim Balent, generally depicted the character as an international thief (and occasional bounty hunter) with an ambiguous moral code.Story-lines include her adoption of teenage runaway, and erstwhile sidekick, Arizona; aiding Bane, whom she later betrays to Azrael; and a stint as a reluctant government operative. The series also fleshes out more of her origin, revealing her beginnings as a young thief, her difficult period in juvenile incarceration, and her training with Ted "Wildcat" Grant.[4]
Moving to New York, Selina becomes corporate vice president then CEO of Randolf Industries, a mafia-influenced company, through blackmail. She plans to use this position to run for Mayor of New York City, but her hopes are dashed when the Trickster inadvertently connects her to her criminal alter ego.
Selina then returns to Gotham City, which at this time is in the midst of the No Man's Land storyline. As Catwoman, she assists Batman against Lex Luthor in the reconstruction of the city. After being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, she escapes from prison. Later that year, during the "Officer Down" storyline in the Batman titles, Catwoman is initially the chief suspect. Although later cleared, she displays increasingly erratic behavior throughout the story. Soon afterward, she disappears and is believed to have been killed by the assassin Deathstroke the Terminator, ending her series at issue #94.Catwoman then appears in a series of backup stories in Detective Comics #759-762 (August – November 2001). In the backup storyline "Trail of the Catwoman", by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke, private detective Slam Bradley attempts to find out what really happened to Selina Kyle. This storyline leads in to the newest Catwoman series in late 2001 (written by Brubaker initially with Cooke, later joined by artist Cameron Stewart). In this series, Selina Kyle, joined by new supporting cast members Holly and Slam Bradley (a character from the early Golden Age DC Comics), becomes protector of the residents of Gotham's East End, while still carrying out an ambitious career as a cat burglar.During the Batman: Hush storyline, Batman and Catwoman briefly work together and have a romantic relationship, during which he reveals his true identity to her. At the end, he breaks off their relationship when he suspects it has been manipulated by the Riddler and Hush. This is the second story to establish that she knows Batman's true identity. In an early 1980s storyline, Selina and Bruce develop a relationship. The concluding story features a closing panel in which she refers to Batman as "Bruce". A change in the editorial team at that point, however, brought a swift end to that storyline and, apparently, all that transpired during the story arc.In the Justice League story arc "Crisis of Conscience", Catwoman fights alongside Batman and the Justice League against the old Secret Society, of which she had once briefly been a member.
Catwoman Cast and Crew
Catwoman is a American superhero film and quasi-spin-off of the Batman film series directed by Pitof.
Cast:
Halle Berry as Patience Phillips / Catwoman
Benjamin Bratt as Detective Tom Lone
Sharon Stone as Laurel Hedare
Lambert Wilson as George Hedare
Frances Conroy as Ophelia Powers
Alex Borstein as Sally
Michael Massee as Armando
Byron Mann as Wesley
Alex Cooper as Gloria Ojeda
Kim Smith as Drina
Peter Wingfield as Dr. Ivan Slavicky
Berend McKenzie as Lance
Michael Daingerfield as a forensics cop
Benita Ha as a forensics technician
James Lloyd Reynolds as a doctor
Jill Krop as a newscaster
Dagmar Midcap as a television reporter
Gordon Sharplin as a nightclub patron
Ryan Robbins as a bartender
Peter Williams as a detective
Janet Varney as a party girl
Crew:
Director: Pitof
Writers: Bob Kane and Theresa Rebeck .
Editing : Sylvie Landra
Cinematography :Thierry Arbogast
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