women Tagged Articles at Cinematical

So we've all heard of the Hooker with a Heart of Gold, right? Well step aside Ms. Thang, because there's a new clichéd sheriff in town, and this time she's equal parts cute, cuddly and quirky. Before I get started, I just want to make sure you know I think Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, and Penelope Cruz are wonderfully talented actresses. Unfortunately, I also happen to think these gals have perpetuated one of the most cloying and sickeningly adorable characters to ever grace the screen: The Manic Pixie Dream Girl (it's a mouthful, but bear with me...).

Maybe the easiest way to define an MPDG is to leave it to the originator of the term, Nathan Rabin, who first used it when reviewing Elizabethtown. According to Rabin, the MPG is "that bubbly, shallow, cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." Or maybe an easier definition is pretty much any girl in a Cameron Crowe film ... or Natalie "My hair's blowin' in the wind" Portman in Garden State, who seems to be everyone's pick for the most annoying MPG in cinematic history.

So what makes this character different from other free-spirited, whimsical ladies like Susan Vance in Bringing up Baby or Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's? Well, there is a very small difference, and it's that the MPG has no function other than to support our sulky fellow as he makes sense of his suspended adolescence or commitment issues. The MPG in the end isn't even a fully realized character; she has no storyline or purpose other than to serve as a romantic vision for our mopey hero -- maybe it's a small distinction, but hey, the devil is in the details.

Cont'd...

Let's talk about Sex, baby ... I got an email from Melissa Silverstein over at Women and Hollywood yesterday, asking a pack of women who work in various aspects of the film industry to share our thoughts on whether a successful box office turn for Sex and the City, which opens this weekend, might herald a change in Hollywood's attitude toward chick-centric movies. Melissa posed the following questions:

• If it's a success do you think that this will change Hollywood minds about whether women can "open" movies?
  
• If it doesn't do the predicted numbers, do you think this will spell more difficulties for women centric films?
  
• Do you think that because this is an "event" that other films about women will be held up to an unrealistic standard?
  
• Do you think there is a double standard for this film?
  
• Are you surprised by the nasty tone that some of the media has taken on this week?

You can read my response, and the thoughts of some other smart women, over on Melissa's site, but in the meantime, I thought this was a great set of questions to pose to Cinematical readers. Whether you love Sex and the City or hate it, what are your thoughts on whether a big box office run for the film might change the way Hollywood thinks about movies for and about women? Discuss away ...

We're back! James Bond touches land, air and sea in this episode as we talk about our favorite Bond cars, the Spy-Fi Archives exhibit coming to the Queen Mary, and the re-opening of the 007 Stage in London. We also talk to a special guest in this episode, screenwriter and Young Bond Dossier expert John Cox -- who takes us into the literary world of the Young James Bond novels, which are very popular right now.

Some links and highlights from this episode:

• The 007 Stage reopens: visit their revamped website and check things out.
• The James Bond Car collection: subscribe and have Bond replica cars sent to you.
• Spy-Fi Archives at the Queen Mary: on exhibit April 7th through September 2007.
• John's amazing Young Bond Dossier site: check out the links to the Young Bond "apache" gadget, and the new Centenary Bond novel coming out next year.

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Okay, so it might be a bit creepy for an adult to admit that an animated character is hot, but come on, Jessica Rabbit wasn't really bad, she was just drawn that way, right? Animated characters have been sexualized since the early days of the genre because sex sold just as well back then as it does today. It's pretty evident when you check out all of Disney's animated leading ladies that they've been drawn to look appealing to the eye, going back as far as Snow White and Tinkerbell. (An interesting side note here, according to this interview with Margaret Kerry, who was the character model for Tinkerbell, she claims that her real name is Tinker Bell, two words, although Disney officially has it as one. Her interview is pretty fascinating, check it out.)

The Being a Man Spot over at fanpop has a list of Disney's top ten hottest women, and there are no real surprises on the list. What's notable are the omissions like Jessie from Toy Story 2 who was both sassy and smart, and Daisy Duck, who sort of falls into the creepy Wayne's World category of Bugs Bunny in a dress being attractive. Daisy had a fair amount of sass as well, and she didn't take Donald's nonsense either. That has to count for something, because she definitely wore the pants in that pants-less relationship.

The real question is, what effect does the traditional Disney female image have on young kids? Not everyone is a fan of the oversexed and vivacious look that runs rampant in the Disney-verse, arguing that it gives little girls an image to live up to that is far from what a normal person looks like, and that is sets a very limiting stereotype of what a heroine can look like. Barbie has faced the same sort of criticisms, especially during the whole "Math is hard!" fiasco, yet both Barbie and the Disney women are still created to look like pinup girls.

Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? What do you think, Cinemites?

[Thanks, Marsha]

James Bond films are always known for their action, sex appeal, explosions, guns, vehicles, Bond girls ... and the opening credit sequences. I still remember being about twelve years old and seeing Octopussy (I'm really dating myself here). My friend and I were like, "Holy crud. You can almost see naked women!" Yes, when you're twelve years-old and living in Texas, that's some pretty exciting stuff. Although these were the days before the Internet was invented, so that's probably all changed now. Believe me, it was hard enough convincing my mom to let us go see a movie called Octopussy.

The point is that the Bond film openings are meant to ooze sex and mystique. They all do an extremely good job of that, except Dr. No which is all wacky flashing lights until about halfway through, and then it morphs into a semi-sexy "Samba Lessons for Adults" sequence, and then jumps the shark into bizarro-land with a Jamaican version of "Three Blind Mice" ... we kid you not. They figured it out by From Russia With Love, and every Bond movie has had a similar opening sequence ever since.

Since we brought you every Bond movie trailer imaginable on Monday, you can find every Bond opening title sequence after the jump. YouTube user jmkaos, if you're out there reading this, thanks for all your hard work. The first martini is on us. (We can expense those, right?)

With the new James Bond film Casino Royale rushing toward us at turbo speed (it opens on November 17 in the States), Cinematical tackles the question: Which Bond is the Best?

Most people have their stock answers ready to go for this one. It's either a quick, "Roger Moore" or "Sean Connery." Does anyone actually pick George Lazenby? I always end up feeling sorry for him. He went from hunk-of-the-moment in a chocolate bar commercial to potentially being one of the biggest stars on the planet. But would you want to follow in Sean Connery's shoes? Go rent On Her Majesty's Secret Service if you haven't seen it, it's worth a look. Plus it's the only James Bond film with a metareference. In the opening scene, Lazenby saves a woman from drowning and she slaps him before running away. He looks directly at the camera and says, "This never happened to the other fellow." Ouch. So, by default in our books, after only being in one film and forced to try to follow up the original, he's out of the running for best Bond. That leaves us with Connery, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan ...

Note: Portions of the review appeared on Cinematical during the Sundance Film Festival, as part of this article.

Friends with Money stars Jennifer Aniston as an unhappy, 30-something, pot smoking maid who can't stop stalking her married ex. Like writer/director Nicole Holofcener's previous films, Walking and Talking and Lovely and Amazing, Friends with Money is an astutely observed relationship dramedy, painfully funny even as it burns. As Holofcener's unhappily unmarried heroine, Olivia, Aniston – a one-note actress, but virtuoso-good at that note – acquits herself more than admirably,  considering the film began shooting the day after news of her seperation from Brad Pitt leaked to the press, The timing could maybe not have been more cruely ironic: the role requires Aniston to convince us that she's a loser. Watch for a key moment, about three quarters in, where a romantic rival tells Olivia to "go get [her] own husband." It's not hard to imagine the real-life motivations Aniston used to fuel Olivia's profanity-laden response.