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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movies
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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The Hunger Games: And Still Men Talk More (Women & Men in the Movies No. 11)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed, and how they interact with other characters, in the 2012 dystopian thriller The Hunger Games, one of my favorite films. And books for that matter.
(You can find out more about the 3 tests I'll use in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
The Story
In the future a wealthy capitol city governs twelve districts that once rebelled against it. As payback, the Capitol requires each district to draw names of one boy and one girl—called Tributes—ea...
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The Protagonist Might Be Anyone In Transcendence (Women & Men in the Movies No. 10)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed, and how they interact with other characters, in the science fiction thriller Transcendence.
(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
Spoiler Warning:
I usually try not to spoil any major plot points in my articles. For Transcendence, however, I found that particularly difficult. The conversational topics often require revealing aspects of the plot. If you want to watch the...
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A Quiet Place: Defying Monsters and Common Sense (Women & Men in the Movies No. 8)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed in the horror movie A Quiet Place.
(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 family struggles to live in a silence in a post-apocalyptic world where monsters hunt and kill based on noise.
Spoilers: I’ve done my best not to spoil anything major that wasn’t shown in the previews, but if you want to remain completely spoiler-free you may want to watch the movie first ...
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Avengers: Infinity War – Women Talk, Men Talk More, & Everyone Fights (Women & Men in the Movies No. 7)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed, and interact with other characters, in the 2018 Marvel film Avengers: Infinity War.
(Find out more about 3 tests I’ll use to guide the conversation in Women, Men, and Movies or just read on.)
The Story
Superheroes the Avengers and their allies fight to defeat the seemingly all-powerful Thanos who is seeking out and stealing Infinity Stones. With these stones, he can alter life as we know it.
SPOILERS: The ending of the movie and major plot ...
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Terminator 2: Sarah, Action Hero, But… (Women & Men in the Movies No. 6)
This week I’ll look at how women are portrayed and interact with other characters in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the sequel to my favorite movie, sci fi thriller The Terminator, which I wrote about last week..
(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 powerful computer network sends a cyborg back from the future to kill John Connor, the leader of the humans who defeat it, when he's a boy. The human resistance send...
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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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