The radical notion that women like good movies
In the House movie poster Written by Amanda Rodiguez Spoiler Alert Francois Ozon’s In the House (or Dans la Maison) is actually quite good. It’s an intelligent film with brilliantly portrayed, complex, interesting characters along with pathos and moments of poignant humor. The film is very aware of social class dynamics, showing the interplay of … Continue reading “‘In the House’: Promising Female Characters Disappoint”
World War Z movie poster Written by Amanda RodriguezSpoiler Alert As someone who read and enjoyed Max Brooks’ novel World War Z, I confess that I was doubtful that the film version (also entitled World War Z) could do the complex, multiple perspective, international, decade-long “oral history” justice. Turns out, I wasn’t wrong. The sociopolitical … Continue reading “The Strong Yet Traditional Women of ‘World War Z’”
She-Ra: Princess of Fucking Power Written by Amanda Rodriguez Confession: as a child of the 80’s, I refused to watch cartoons that didn’t have a significantly visible representation of women in them, and the more visible and the more badass, the better. GI Joe and Transformers were out, but Jem and the Holograms, Thundercats, and … Continue reading “She-Ra: Kinda, Sorta Accidentally Feministy”
Farah Goes Bang movie poster Written by Amanda RodriguezSpoiler Alert “I wanted to do something I hadn’t done before. Change the world and be awesome.” – 17 year-old female John Kerry Campaign Volunteer in Farah Goes Bang Meera Menon’s Tribeca Film Festival award-winning Farah Goes Bang is a lot of things: it’s a coming-of-age and … Continue reading “‘Farah Goes Bang’: A Love Letter to Female Friendships”
A Girl and A Gun movie poster Written by Amanda Rodriguez Trigger Warning Cathryne Czubek’s A Girl and A Gun is a powerful documentary that broadly surveys the incendiary topic of women and firearms in America. The film shows us the many sides of women and gun ownership, including safety and self-protection, competitive sport, family … Continue reading “‘A Girl and A Gun’: A Look at Women and Firearms in America”
Star Trek is the future for Christ’s sake. There’s no reason to continue to parrot the shortcomings of a series that always strove to show us a better, more egalitarian future but failed on many levels because it couldn’t see the ways in which it fell victim to the limiting ideology of its own era.
Wonder Women movie poster Written by Amanda Rodriguez Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines is a documentary by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan available for free streaming on PBS (I heart free stuff). The film shows us Wonder Woman from her inception as a feminist character designed by her creator William Moulton Marston to usher in … Continue reading “Wonder Women and Why We Need Superheroines”
Panmela Castro Written by Amanda Rodriguez “I was able to survive through the art of graffiti.” – Panmela Castro Heloisa Passo’s short documentary Panmela Castro about the eponymous Brazilian graffiti artist and women’s rights activist is included as part of the Focus Forward: Food for Thought installment of the Tribeca Online Film Festival. In around … Continue reading “Panmela Castro Graffiti Art: A Feminist Statement?”
Move poster for Stoker Written by Amanda Rodriguez Spoiler Alert (Read my fellow Bitch Flicks writer, Stephanie Roger’s, review of Stoker here.) The first time you watch Stoker, it’s something of a perplexing experience because the narrative is such a genre-bender. I spent at least half the movie wondering what kind of movie I was … Continue reading “‘Stoker’ and the Feminist Female Serial Killer”
Movie poster for Children of Men Written by Amanda Rodriguez for our theme week on Infertility, Miscarriage, and Infant Loss. I like Alfonso Cuarón’s bleak, dystopian cinematic interpretation of Children of Men (based on the PD James novel) wherein the world collapses after an infertility pandemic strikes, causing there to be no human births for … Continue reading “The Exploitation of Women in Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Children of Men’”
House of Cards poster Written by Amanda Rodriguez The first season of Netflix’s House of Cards set the tone for an amazing series, populated with nuanced characters, conflicting motivations, and a whole hell of a lot of awesome scheming. When the primary antihero, Frank Underwood, brilliantly portrayed by Kevin Spacey, addresses the camera, breaking the … Continue reading “Claire Underwood: The Queen Bee in ‘House of Cards’”
Virginia Woolf Written by Amanda Rodriguez Because I recently wrote a review of the film The Hours, I’ve got Virginia Woolf on the brain. Though Woolf’s last novel was published over 70 years ago, her words as a woman, as a writer, and as a feminist still echo their truth in our contemporary world, despite … Continue reading “Quote of the Day: Virginia Woolf”
