News
What Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep Have in Common
I know I am lucky. I get to watch and think about movies and write about them and talk about them. But being a blogger, I don’t very often get to see the people in the movies or those who make the...
Patty Jenkins Exits Thor 2
According to the Hollywood Reporter, director Patty Jenkins (Monster) has left Thor 2. They wrote that she was working as of Monday afternoon and had recently been a part of a photo shoot on women...
I Admit it: I Love Sons of Anarchy
On the occasion of the fourth season finale tonight I am coming out and admitting to my deep affection for the TV show Sons of Anarchy. This might seem a bit off based on what I usually write about,...
Angelina Jolie Talks to Christiane Amanpour
Here is a very comfortable Jolie talking with Christiane Amanpour about her upcoming film — In the Land of Blood and Honey. Film opens December 23rd.
Good News: Women Directed and Women Written Films Fill Sundance Premiere Section
While there weren’t enough films directed and written by women in the competition as I would have hoped, the list of premieres looks at bit different. Check out the description for Bachelorette-...
Meryl Streep Receives Kennedy Center Honor
Meryl Streep along with several other esteemed artists including Yo Yo Ma, Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond and Sonny Rollins were honored at the 34th Kennedy Center honors on Sunday evening. The...
Tilda Swinton Scores Two Wins for We Need to Talk About Kevin
Tilda Swinton got a much needed awards boost with two wins in the last couple of days. She was named best actress by both the National Board of Review and at the European Film Awards. She needs to...
Charlize Theron Talks About Her Life and Young Adult
A very impressive woman. She started a foundation in her home country of South Africa to end sexual violence and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. Young Adult starts rolling out this weekend and will...
Sleeping Beauty — written and directed by Julia Leigh
Sleeping Beauty is a film that is very divisive. After I saw it in Toronto I spoke with several different people, and some absolutely hated it and others thought it was brilliant. Personally, I...
Get a Discounted Pass to the Second Annual Athena Film Festival
I am happy to offer readers of Women and Hollywood an opportunity to get discounted all-access passes to the upcoming Athena Film Festival — a celebration of women and leadership — which...
The Lady
The Lady is opening today for one week in LA for an Oscar qualifying run. It will open early next year here in the US. The review below was written based on the version that was at the Toronto Film...
Long Trailer for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Prepare yourselves. It is almost here. This wil hopefully hold you for a little while. https://medium.com/media/2c4880a22aa1f04800262275610f12f5/href
Interview With Julia Leigh — Writer/Director of Sleeping Beauty
I was able to chat with novelist and now filmmaker Julia Leigh about her film Sleeping Beauty in September at the Toronto Film Festival. Here is our conversation. Women and Hollywood: Talk a little...
Interview With Julia Leigh – Writer/Director of Sleeping Beauty
I was able to chat with novelist and now filmmaker Julia Leigh about her film Sleeping Beauty in September at the Toronto Film Festival. Here is our conversation. Women and Hollywood: Talk a...
The Sundance 2012 Competition Lineup: The Women
Sundance unveiled the competition lineups. Here is the first look at the US Dramatic and Documentary competition. There are 16 films in each category. In the dramatic category, 3 are directed by...
Headlines Matter
The Sundance competition lineup is out. Analysis on the gender breakdown to come. But here’s the first thing I saw when I opened the story in the Hollywood Reporter (I seriously think they need a...
Special Screening Offer for Women and Hollywood
Dear Readers – Here is a special offer for those of you in NYC. I am putting together a screening for the Weinstein Company this THURSDAY (yes, tomorrow) for My Week With Marilyn starring...
Cross-Post: Name It, Change It, Flip It, Quip It
In honor of the Women’s Media Center Awards this evening (and I want to thank everyone who voted for me in the social media award category- I did not win), Nell Scovell and Gloria Steinem have put...
Hope Solo Not Dainty Enough for Dancing With the Stars
Hope Solo is a competitive athlete. She’s won Olympic gold. World Cup Silver. The Golden Glove Award at this summer’s Women’s World Cup. She is probably the best female goalkeeper in...
Where are the Women at the Indie Spirit Nominations?
I just got back from a meeting and broke open the list of indie spirit nominees for 2012 and I am utterly dispirited at the lack of female voices throughout the categories. I am looking back at the...
Dirty Trailer for Young Adult — written by Diablo Cody
If you think you knew what Young Adult was about, this will throw a wrench in those thoughts. Just please don’t play this around the kids — it’s good and dirty.
Gotham Award Winners: The Women
The awards season began in earnest last evening with the IFP sponsored Gotham Awards. Here are the female winners: Breakthrough Director — Dee Rees — Pariah — hopefully this is...
Trailer Watch: Katharine McPhee in Smash
Katharine McPhee gets the star treatment in this video from Smash (which is created by Theresa Rebeck.) Show will premiere on February 6. Check out all the other great stars in it. Debra Messing....
My Week With Marilyn
The sad reality that I admitting to here is that I really don’t know much about Marilyn Monroe. Here’s what I knew before I saw the film. She died of a drug overdose realtively young. She sang...
Cross-Post: Oscars 2011: Single Fathers and the Vanishing Mothers
One of the threads running through this year’s Oscar race is the single father who must pull things together for the sake of his kids. This is especially poignant in three films — Moneyball,...
Trailer Watch: Declaration of War directed by Valerie Donzelli
This film is France’s entry to the Academy Awards and it is based on Valerie Donzelli’s real life experience. She also co-stars in the film. Will open in the US in late January.
Some Articles to Ponder
Here are some articles worth a look before the work takes over again tomorrow- Cinema Blend: Arthur Christmas Director On The Logic Of Santa And Her Idea For A Sequel New Yorker: CRASS WARFARE LA...
Sexism Watch: The Hollywood Reporter Writers Roundtable
It kind of feels like I am experiencing deja vu. I just don’t understand how the folks at The Hollywood Reporter can continue to publish these types of pieces without anyone saying hey, wait a...
Trailer Watch: Gone
Amanda Seyfried goes all vigilante to save her sister from being the latest victim of a serial killer of young women. Film will open Feb 2012.
Lisa Aschan Wins $800,000 From Stockholm Film Fund
Director Lisa Aschan whose first film She Monkeys won the best narrative feature at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival is the inaugural recipient of the Stockholm Film Fund. She receives $800,000...
Taylor Swift Impresses on 60 Minutes
Not having a tween or being a tween, the Taylor Swift phenomenon almost past me by. Saw her last night on 60 Minutes a couple of hours before she won Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards....
Breaking Dawn Scores 5th Highest Opening Weekend Ever
Women dominated the box office this weekend. Breaking Dawn grossed $139.5 million here in the US and another $144 million overseas making it the 5th highest opening domestic weekend EVER. It was...
Trailer Watch: W.E. directed and co-written by Madonna
I totally want to see this. https://medium.com/media/272ed8c627c1744d3fe13ba84afb7792/href h/t The PLaylist
The Documentary Short List: The Women
The Academy released it’s list of 15 films (out of 124) that made the short list for the best documentary feature. The list is sent out with production companies not the directors, so it’s hard...
Announcing the 2nd Annual Athena Film Festival: a Celebration of Women and Leadership
For those of you who don’t know, I am the artistic director and co-founder of the awesome (if I do say so myself) Athena Film Festival. We will launch year two on February 9. We will be announcing...
Women Directed Movies in 2011
Yesterday, the Hollywood Reporter roundtable on directors made me crazy, but it also made me think. While I will give them no leeway on the ridiculous comment asking the directors to name a major...
Guest Post: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 High Heels, White Weddings, Broken Headboards, and Bella as Pregnant Martyr by Natalie Wilson
While the first Twilight film was directed by a woman, all subsequent adaptations have had males at the helm. The first adaptation, directed by Catherine Hardwicke, featured a Bella that was...
Guest Post: Bloody Good By Katie O’Grady
What’s the worst thing a woman can do to another woman in a grocery store? Nope. You can’t guess, but our film opens with it. RID OF ME is the simple story of a mousy newlywed, Meris (played...
Breaking Dawn Gets Ready to Take The Weekend Box Office
Well it looks like the Twilight phenomenon has corrupted one who I thought was immune — Manohla Dargis of the NY Times who wrote in her review today that she “had surrendered.” She also...
Trailer Watch: Brave
Pixar’s first female lead kicks some butt. Opens in the summer of 2012.
Guest Post: Creating a New Online Feminist Film Journal by Miriam Bale
Most of my work as editor of a new online feminist film journal has involved crossing out the phrases “I think” and “according to me.” Sometimes “call me crazy” pops up, too, and...
Meryl Streep: Political Biopic of an “Old Lady” Will be a Hard Sell at the Box Office
Evening Standard writer Liz Hoggard reports about a dinner she was invited to at the home of The Iron Lady director Phyllida Lloyd to talk about film with several other female writers along with...
Trailer Watch: Mirror, Mirror
Here’s the trailer for the second Snow White movie coming out next year. It looks much better than I thought it would. Nathan Lane playing sidekick to the evil Queen, Julia Roberts. And Snow White...
Interview with Celine Sciamma: Writer/Director of Tomboy
Women and Hollywood: How did you come up with this story? Celine Sciamma: I had the storyline in mind for a while, as a pitch: “a little girl pretending to be a little boy”. When I decided I...
First Reviews — The Iron Lady
The Iron Lady was unveiled for critics in London and clearly there was no embargo since the reviews have been coming in. Neither one of the reviews below is a rave except for Streep’s performance....
The Bridesmaids Effect: Imogene
The folks from Coming Soon have posted some first photos from Imogene the new comedy starring Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening. Here’s the description from imdb: A playwright stages a suicide in...
Tomboy
Tomboy written and directed by Celine Sciamma is literally one of my favorite movies of the year. I enjoyed every second of it. It tells the story of Laure, a girl who moves to a new town and...
Cross-Post: Seven things Glee gets wrong about The First Time by Therese Shechter
Warning: Brimming with spoilers. Last year, during Glee’s Madonna episode, Rachel, Finn and Emma (the guidance counselor with OCD) attempted to lose their respective virginities during a sexy...
New Commercial for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
This is the commercial I saw on Sunday night during The Good Wife. This one heavily focuses on Lisbeth. Tell me you aren’t excited to...
A Good Day for Women and Film
This morning I posted the trailers for both The Iron Lady and The Hunger Games. I watched them both, got excited and then I went off to do other things. A couple of minutes ago it dawned on me how...
Kim Cattrall Stars on Broadway in Private Lives
Over the last couple of years, Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall has been working in the theatre in Europe. Her latest show, Privte Lives is about to transfer to Broadway. Here is Cattrall talking...