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Saying that most movies, whether independent or blockbuster, star men is such an extreme understatement that it's like saying the ocean is wet. Sadly, even when women are given the lead, they're frequently just passive damsels in distress. That's equally true with child roles. The standard for young female characters is that even when they're smarter, their male counterpart ends up with all the glory (Harry Potter, we're looking in your direction).
Fortunately, we're not the only ones who've noticed this pattern, and a few movies have begun featuring girls in starring roles — ones where they not only don't play second fiddle to men, in some, they even get to make their own honest-to-goodness choices. Pixar joins the trend with its latest, Brave, the studio's first movie to feature a female lead. In honor of its release, we put together a list of our favorite movies starring spunky young women.
See the "Not Your Pretty, Pretty Princess" List >>
Posted 06.19.12 by reelz -
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association cast its votes for the best movies of the "aughties," and in the end, it was David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. that came out on top, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The organization made the following statement in announcing its decision:
Lynch's film stands as both a cautionary tale and a mascot for the triumph ofart and personal vision in an industry that, from where we sit, often seems actively devoted to the suppression of both.
Mulholland Dr. stars Laura Elena Harring as an upscale LA woman who suffers from amnesia after a car accident. She meets Naomi Watts (in her breakout role), an ingenue trying to break into Hollywood, and the two set about trying to solve the mystery of the accident. The movie also features Justin Theroux as a director whose project is sabotaged by big-studio producers.
The movie both glamorizes and satirizes Hollywood, often in the same moment, and the tone runs the gamut from absurd hilarity to outright horror. It's a rhapsodic celebration of the history of movies on one hand, and yet at the same time a ruthlessly bitter denunciation of industry evils. Perfect territory for Lynch, whose very success depended partly on Hollywood capital and partly on his ability to keep his distance from it.
Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood was second on the critics' list, followed by Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of theSpotless Mind and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Other contenders included Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, and Alfonso Cuarón's Y tu mamá también.
Posted 01.13.10 by reelz -
The ReelzChannel 100 began when we asked Leonard Maltin for his favorite Hidden Gems of the decade. His list led the web team into a general discussion about the best movies of the decade and — after no small amount of debate, arguing, and (we're not proud to say) some petty name-calling — we decided we'd better bring it to an end with a company-wide vote. Then it was just a matter of tallying up the votes and hoping for the best. Lucky for us, ReelzChannel is filled with a staff ranging from movie lovers to movie fanatics. What turned out isn't what you'll find on a critic's best of list — instead it's what movie fans really enjoyed.
In day five of the ReelzChannel 100, we highlight the Top 10 Animated/Kids Movies of the Decade.
Posted 12.25.09 by reelz