Across Oceans, Violence is Violence

Honor killing. Domestic violence. Murder. Spousal abuse. “She made me do it.” There may be different names for the murder of women by men in their families, but as first-time filmmaker Mary Ann Smothers Bruni tells Ms., “We’ve got to stop the killing of women in every place.” In her debut film, Quest for Honor, [...]

“Ramona and Beezus”: A Mother-Daughter Film Review

Natalie (mom): Though I was suspicious that the latest children’s book-to-film adaptation would be a fluffy disappointment, I was pleasantly surprised by Ramona and Beezus. Many other reviewers, however, don’t share this view. Dawn Taylor at Cinematical argues the film “feels a little …off,” is “so limp,”  and drips with “maudlin sentimentality.” Arguing that the film is [...]

Chilling Truths in Winter’s Bone

Winter’s Bone, directed by Debra Granik, is an excellent film not only for its gritty realism, its stunning and well- developed characters, its breathtaking cinematography and its telling of a necessary and socially relevant story, but also for something rarer than any of these things: depiction of strong, complex female characters whose prime motivation is [...]

Anne Lister: Jane Austen’s Radical Lesbian Contemporary

Who knew that Jane Austen had a kick-ass lesbian contemporary? Well, she did, and her name was Anne Lister. What’s more, she kept four million words worth of diaries, about a sixth of which were written in a code that took a century to crack. Now, 170 years after her death, Anne Lister’s diaries have [...]

Covered: New Documentary on Women and Tattoos

What does it mean to be a tattooed woman in a culture that objectifies your body? In the new documentary Covered, Beverly Yuen Thompson has created an innovative, personal, honest and feminist exploration of women tattooists and tattooed women. In a refreshing change from mainstream media’s coverage, the film talks very little about what individual [...]

Bella’s Eclipsed Role in Twilight Lacks Fangs

As The Twilight Saga: Eclipse hit theaters this week, fans and critics alike anticipated a film packed with both more action and more romance, and they weren’t disappointed. But feminist critics ought to be, as Bella (Kristen Stewart) continues to be less a person than a puppet, a character who is pulled from scene to [...]

Attention Feminist Filmmakers

Have you been working on a movie about women and wondering where to show it? The Athena Film Festival is looking for woman-centric films to show in February 2011 at Barnard College in New York. Feminist film blog Women In Hollywood is producing the festival. The festival aims to be a “world-class celebration of films [...]

The Gen X Male-Only Midlife Crisis: Hot Tub v. SATC

The men of “Hot Tub” are funny, while the women of SATC are “desperate.”

Shrek Forever After: It Ain’t Easy Being (A) Green (Woman)

Fairy tales rarely move beyond their tidy endings into the realm of what they promise will be “happily ever after.” As many end with marriage, one can presume that “ever after” for the likes of Snow White, Cinderella, et al would likely include children. Shrek breaks this fairy tale model in its fourth installment, moving [...]

Rachel Weisz, Star of “Agora,” on Hypatia, Religion and Politics

It’s unfortunate that Agora, a film about the 5th century neo-Platonist philosopher-astronomer-mathematician Hypatia, is coming out this weekend. It’s in theaters along with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Sex and the City 2: Abu Dhabi Do (not really the title, but it might as well have been). Rachel Weisz, the star of [...]

« Previous Page — Next Page »