Catwoman: By consensus, Halle Berry has one of the best bodies in Hollywood - which perhaps explains this under-dressed flesh-fest which is long on lingering shots of her leathers and somewhat shortchanged in other matters. You know, stuff like a decent script, a storyline that doesn't assume you are an idiot, dialogue which sounds vaguely plausible ... the little things. The story, such as it is, goes like this: graphic designer Patience Philips (Berry) works in a high-powered cosmetics company owned by nasty George Hedare - played by Wilson, who is all sneers, megalomania, and off with a model while married to the aging but still gorgeous former model Laurel (Stone). For reasons which I missed because the fellow next to me was snoring, Berry turns into a catwoman when a kitty breathes into her mouth. Oh, and she's dead when this happens because she was killed when discovered in some off-limits area of the boss' factory. It seems Hedare Beauty has developed a product which gives you an instantly youthful complexion but with the unfortunate side-effect that if you stop using it your face falls off. Fortunately the boss' wife hasn't, so she has a face as beautiful as ever - and as hard as a rock. Catwoman prowls the night trying to sort all this stuff out but still manages to fall for the impossibly handsome Tom Lone (Bratt) who, like all cops in such comicbook flicks, doesn't recognise her when she has the kitty mask on. As an Oscar-winner, Berry is hardly stretched in this, another minor league outing after the appalling Gothika. Her routine comes down to two alter-ego roles: as the coy, coquettish, nervous and permanently apologetic Patience; then the vampish Catwoman, who mostly leaps around in a manner more befitting a frog than a feline, or walks in that slightly disconcerting, hip-swinging manner models adopt whenever they're on the catwalk. Either way, this slightly voyeuristic vehicle for Berry is also a minor embarrassment for all concerned - except perhaps Stone, who doesn't have to walk in an utterly ridiculous manner, has a marginally more meaty role as a rich bitch with a scheming mind, and gets to pose like she's going to say something sarcastic (but rarely does). Patience's friend in the office, Sally (Alex Borstein) is only there to provide very small and obvious comic relief.

Catwoman - originally a Batman nemesis - has been in movies and television shows before and Berry's portrayal falls far short of the cool vamp quality that, say, Eartha Kitt brought to the part. Berry might want to consider looking for a part more worthy of her talents than her toning. CAST: Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Sharon Stone, Lambert Wilson. DIRECTOR: Pitof. RUNNING TIME:105 minutes. RATING: M. Hitler: A German film about Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's final 12 days has leapt to the top of the country's box office with nearly half a million tickets sold in its opening weekend, distributor Constantin Film says. "The Downfall" starring Swiss actor Bruno Ganz that shows Hitler's diabolical nature as well as a softer side that is foreign to most Germans attracted 480,000 viewers in its first four days -- one of the strongest starts for any film this year. "Der Untergang", as it is known in Germany, is told from the point of view of Traudl Junge, one of Hitler's secretaries in his Berlin bunker and also based on eyewitness accounts from a book of the same name by leading German historian Joachim Fest. The film has set off an emotional debate in Germany over whether Hitler can be portrayed as anything less than the world's greatest evil. Some viewers and critics have applauded its gory depiction of the final days of the Nazi regime but others have objected to scenes showing Hitler having a human side -- whether kissing his newlywed wife Eva at their wedding or eating pasta. But at least one screening in east Berlin was marred by two neo-Nazis, aged 29 and 27. They showed the outlawed stiff-armed "Hitler salute" and applauded during the film. The screening was interrupted and police were called in to arrest the two men. The film, one of the first German productions to wade into the darkest chapter of their own history, has received mass media coverage, with pictures of Hitler making it onto the cover of both major weekly news magazines, Der Spiegel and Stern. It was released on 400 screens, one of the biggest releases this year. Costing 13.5 million euros, "The Downfall" is also one of the most expensive productions in German history.

 

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