This piece is part two in a series. See here for part one. Since Edward Cullen first graced the pages of a young adult novel in 2005, vampires have been the sexy bad guys du jour. But it’s not just the lingering fear that sex might lead to death that makes these nightmarish manifestations of [...]
Tomorrow, October 20, at 2 p.m., Living Downstream, the film based on Sandra Steingraber’s stunning book of the same name–will show at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center in New York City. It will have its broadcast premiere in November on Outside Television. Living Downstream follows in the tradition of Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking Silent [...]
Monsters in movies are us, always us, one way or the other. … John Carpenter My love of horror movies is a product of both nature and of nurture. My mother loves them. My older brother says I ended up in theaters as a child watching movies that were definitely not rated for my age [...]
Got a thing for zombies? Have some tween-age children in your life? Do you like whizz-bang stop-motion animation? Or, perhaps you are one of those types who appreciates a well-developed cast of characters that kicks stereotypes to the curb, features strong women and–can it be true?!?!–has a positively depicted openly gay character. If so, get [...]
“Please don’t make me a joke.” —Marilyn Monroe … Most surprising about Norma Jeane Mortenson Baker’s grave is this: It does not exist. No tombstone, mausoleum or urn marks her final resting place. Norma Jeane’s absence is telling, for her presence in the cultural imagination is unsettled and unsettling. Memorialized instead at Pierce Brothers Memorial [...]
Brave, which came out on June 22nd, features a princess, Merida (Kelly Macdonald), who defies traditional gender roles and refuses to marry her potential suitors. The film features Pixar’s first woman protagonist and was Pixar’s first feature directed by a woman director, Brenda Chapman. Such a woman-centric film in an industry dominated by men grabbed our [...]
The tragedy in Aurora, Colo., is on all of our minds as our reviewer casts a feminist lens on the latest Batman film. Our hearts go out to the wounded and to the family and friends of those murdered in yet another horrifying incident of gun violence. … Most reviews of The Dark Knight Rises [...]
From the trailer‘s wanna-be-gruff opening music and star Anna Kendrick’s heavy-handed black eyeliner, we know that the upcoming film Pitch Perfect (scheduled for release October 5) is going to be edgy. Well, as edgy as a comedy musical centered around an a capella rivalry can be. In the opening sequence, an upbeat orientation leader hands [...]
Brave, Pixar’s 13th feature film, is indeed rather brave. Yes, it strays from the romance focus; yes, it gives us a strong female lead; yes, it questions hetero-monogamous-marriage as the happy ending. But the real derring-do comes from the fact that it is woman-centered and focused on a mother-daughter relationship. Less overtly, it also supplies [...]
Early on in Snow White and the Huntsman, our “heroine”–and I use that term loosely–played by Kristen Stewart, dives into a sewer to escape the Evil Queen (Charlize Theron). Near the close of the film, some two hours later, the seven dwarfs wade through a sewer. These two scatological bookends are an apt framing device [...]
