This week I'm talking about the 2021 movie Our Father, where two young women go in search of their estranged uncle after their father's death. (I'm aiming to watch an average of one movie a week in 2024.)
I chose Our Father because I've been wanting to watch a movie featuring Chicago actor Brian King. A trailer for this one caught my eye, though he appears in only one scene.
The Premise Of Our Father
In the days after their father's death, two young women learn that they have an u...
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Film
The Final Girls (Movie Review)
This week I'm talking about the movie The Final Girls. As I wrote about last week, I'm watching one movie a week in 2024.
I chose The Final Girls because I like the actress Nina Dobrev. She plays a key role, though she's not the lead.
The Premise Of The Final Girls
Main character Max's mother is an actress best known for a starring role in a classic cult horror movie. Max and her mother are very close, which is easy to see in the opening scene. But tragedy strikes, and her mother is ki...
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New Year’s Resolutions For Fun
New Year's resolutions can be tricky. That's why I rarely make them, but this year I decided to. Why? Because a friend suggested a way to make a new year's resolution fun.
Many people make resolutions to try to improve parts of their lives they struggle with. But often they focus on what the "should" do not what they want to do. Eat vegetables every day. Go to the gym once a week. Learn a language. The challenge comes when you miss a day or a week, then one more, and pretty soon it's March. S...
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Leia Says Little In The Last Jedi (Women & Men in the Movies No. 9)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed, and how they interact with other characters, in the 2017 Star Wars film The Last Jedi.
(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
The Story
On an isolated island, young Rey tries to persuade unwilling Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to train her. General (and former princess) Leia struggles to lead what remains of the Resistance against the tyrannical First Order even as her son Kylo ...
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The Terminator: Men Talk, A Woman Fights (Women & Men in the Movies No. 5)
This week I look at how women are portrayed and how they interact with other characters in the sci fi/thriller classic The Terminator.
(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
The Story
A young woman, Sarah Connor, must flee from and ultimately fight a cyborg from the future intent on killing her.
Chasing Bechdel
(Does a named female character talk to another named female character about anything other than a man?)
Who’s ...
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Annihilation: Five Women And The Unknown (Women & Men in the Movies No. 4)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed and interact with other characters in the 2018 suspense/thriller film Annihilation.
(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
The Story
Annihilation was written and directed by Alex Garland, who also wrote and directed last week’s movie Ex Machina.
In Annihilation, Natalie Portman plays Lena, a biologist and professor grieving the disappearance/ presumed death of her husband o...
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The Invitation: Psychological Suspense & Horror In Hollywood Hills (Women & Men in the Movies No. 1)
This week I'll look at how women are portrayed and interact with other characters in the 2015 suspense/horror film The Invitation.
(Find out more about 3 tests I'll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
The Story
Will is invited to a formal dinner party at a stunning, isolated Hollywood Hills mansion he used to live in with his ex-wife.
On returning to his former home, Will struggles with memories of and guilt over his son’s death. His ex-wife Eden...
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Extant, Transcendence, and Who’s Talking To Whom
The concept of recent sci-fi movie Transcendence– what if a human’s brain becomes an A.I.? – fascinated me, and I enjoyed the film. What bothers me is that despite one of the two main characters being a woman, Dr. Evelyn Caster, I can’t remember, in the entire movie, any woman speaking one-on-one with any other woman. About anything. I understand men outnumber women in the hard sciences, but Evelyn has not a single woman friend to support her in a crisis? I also understand that writers can’...
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