I'm a big fan of Halloween and trick or treating, but I do think it belongs to kids, probably under the age of 10 or 12. There are the obvious costumes like ghosts, witches, pumpkins and clowns (yes, I was all of these at one point), but there are also quite a few from movies that I've been thinking of that are also appropriate for girls rather than trashy options that seem to dominate the stores, but I'm sure there might be others. Here are 5 I'd recommend:
1. Hermione Granger - Excellent role model, magical and has great friends.
2. Mary Poppins - She can fly, sing, has a movie, a book, and a musical. Also, easy to wear a heavy coat and scarf if you're up north.
3. Dorothy Gale/Wicked Witch - I have no problem with good or bad characters, just as long as they're fun and recognizable.
4. Belle (or many of the Disney princesses, including the new one, Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog)
5. Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl - Okay, the guys costumes from Toy Story are a lot more fun, but I think being a cowgirl is still really cool.
Bride Wars is not for everyone - it's unapologetically a chick flick. There's even a moment in the film when the brides are asked if they need to consult their fiancees and they of course answer no. I don't think I know a guy who would love Bride Wars except maybe to watch them torture each other, but even then it's still so girly that few guys will enjoy it. Basically, two best friends (Oscar nominees Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway) get engaged at nearly the same time, and their dream since childhood is a June wedding at the Plaza hotel in New York City. They gloss over how ridiculously expensive that would be with one of them having a high paying law job and the other saving for 10 years. Anyway, they go to a wedding planner (Candice Bergen) who accidentally books their weddings the same day, causing a problem in having each other as their maid of honor. Rather than fixing it with either a double wedding or some sort of slightly staggered wedding they insist someone must change their date. They refuse, become enemies and start sabotaging the weddings. Bad tans, hair dye, scheduling snafus, etc. follow before a very sweet, but not treacly, reconciliation toward the end. It's a cute movie, go with your best friend ladies. Also, I loved seeing Chris Pratt (Everwood) as one of the fiancees (that's him in the picture with Anne). 3 lambs/stars.
I was more than a little surprised when I read Movie Viewing Girl's list of 20 actresses. She said she had trouble coming up with enough actresses, and likes actors better. I think that's probably because more actors get work, and in general get to have more fun or more dramatic careers. However, there are still lots of actresses that I will go to the movies just to see their new film. My list is below - more than half are Oscar winners or nominees and most of the rest are Emmy winners or nominees. I chose my favorite actresses - I realize there are none from earlier movies, but I go to see these actresses, so today they are my favorites.
1. Ellen Page 2. Queen Latifah 3. Nicole Kidman 4. Julia Roberts 5. Zooey Deschenal 6. Emily Deschenal 7. Allison Janney 8. Natalie Portman 9. Anne Hathaway 10. Reese Witherspoon 11. Elizabeth Banks 12. Angelina Jolie 13. Meryl Streep 14. Frances McDormand 15. Emma Thompson 16. Kate Winslet 17. Tina Fey 18. Drew Barrymore 19. Jennifer Garner 20. Lauren Graham
Ages ago I posted a blog on the Famous Female Characters from film, in response to a great post over at Blog Cabins. It's easily the hit on Google that brings the most traffic to my little blog. So I've been thinking about how to bring it back, and since the new season of TV started, here's the top 15 female television characters for the last 20+ years. I'm sure there are many I missed, but these are the ones from shows I actually watched to some degree and so could at least mention a little of why I think they're important. Also, the criteria from my previous post holds - these are not necessarily award winning performances, but are definitely recognizable on their own merit (and not necessarily the fame of the actress, though in most cases that helped). Let me know if I've missed any.
1. Buffy Summers (aired Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1997-2003) – Sarah Michelle Gellar
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was an awesome TV show that did all kinds of teenage ansty things set against the back-drop of saving the world (secretly though). Buffy proved you can be girly, California, and still beat the crap out of evil things (dead or alive).
2. Murphy Brown (Murphy Brown 1988-1998) – Candice Bergan
Murphy Brown as a character was inspiring to women, she broke ground by making women seem powerful, in charge, and still sexy. She fought with real-life people, challenged stereotypes, and still didn't make it look easy.
3. Sidney Bristow (Alias 2001-2006) – Jennifer Garner
I loved Alias because Sidney Bristow was smart, kickass, and could wear a wig and jump off a building like nobody's business. She fought against the bad guys (once she realized she was one), and made being a spy seem like a fairy tale job.
4. Betty Suarez (Ugly Betty 2006-present) – America Ferrera
I'm sure I don't have anything to add to the many many many things written about why Ugly Betty is an awesome show, and makes real people feel like they could someday work at Mode. Betty's not perfect, and she knows how to be heard, helpful, and important without being the most beautiful person around.
5. Roseanne (Roseanne 1988-1997) – Roseanne Barr
Roseanne gave a different version of what a family could be like. It doesn't have to be happy all the time, it doesn't have to be rich, and it doesn't have to be particularly functional, but it's still a family. They were happy when good things happened and dealt with the crap just like everyone else.
She was crazy, she saw babies dancing, and had an unfailing faith in love. Plus, her life always seemed more impossible and crazy than ours. She was an attorney, but practicing law was always the last thing you remember about her.
7. Ellen Morgan (Ellen 1994-1998)– Ellen Degeneres
This show and Ellen Degeneres as the main character probably would be more remembered than the specific character Ellen Morgan, but it's hard to remember the show without the character. Ellen had secrets and wanted to be herself, and thus changed some of the face of TV (also written about as many or more times than Ugly Betty).
8. Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City 1998-2004)– Sarah Jessica Parker
She made all kinds of fashionista ideas household names - Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choos, fashion week, fleet week, etc. She made it okay (if not right) for people to date around (a lot) to find your true love (and it's okay if you nickname him and only call him Mr. Big for years). And that other people will come along and break your heart, but never EVER give up your UES apartment.
9. Joan Giardi(Joan of Arcadia 2003-2005)– Amber Tamblin
My mom watched this show more than I did, but she loved it and anyone else I know who watched it said it was wonderful. Joan could hear God speaking to her, and in turn would do something great to make the world better.
10. The Golden Girls (The Golden Girls 1985-1992) – Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and Bea Arthur
All of the Golden Girls made it clear that people over 50 can still have terrific TV shows without just being the parental sidekick. They were fun, sassy, told stories and ate cheesecake. I watched reruns of this every day after school in 7th grade (can't explain why, but I did).
Lorelai and Rory Gilmore created new kinds of characters that talked in their own pop culture language, really fast, and basically they were the only people who really understood their world, but they often let funny colorful characters join in. Plus, they are addicted to coffee.
12. Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote 1984-1996) – Angela Lansbury
She wrote mysteries and solved all kinds of problems all over the Maine coast. She was older, single, and had all kinds of adventures. She survived all the evil plots that she managed to get involved with, with the help of lots of local people.
13. Peg Bundy (Married...with Children 1987-1997) – Katey Sagal
She was a terrible mother, a terrible wife, and not particularly good at very much. But that didn't mean we didn't want to watch her yell at the kids, and whine to Al, and basically cause mayhem and keep the family together.
Grace was probably the first beard or fag hag on TV, and openly so. It was her love of Will (and her relationship with Karen) that always made us tune in again. Also, it didn't help that she has the comedic timing of Lucille Ball and could hurt herself, hurt other people, fall down, or break things better than anyone. She's always hysterical.
15.Brenda Lee Johnson (The Closer 2005-present) – Kyra Sedgwick
The Closer is a wonderful show mostly because of the character of Brenda Lee (Thank you so much). She's a steel magnolia of sorts. She uses her southern charm to get criminals to confess their secrets and put them in jail. She disregards most of the rules, bosses everyone around, but she closes all her cases so she rises to the top.
Honorable Mentions – Patty Hewes – Glenn Close, Damages; Meredith Gray – Ellen Pompeo, Gray’s Anatomy; Max Guevera - Jessica Alba, Dark Angel; The Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girls, The ladies of the L Word, Sisters of Charmed, Bones/Temperance Brennan – Emily Deschanal, Bones.
A fellow movie blogger put together an awesome list of the 20 best movie characters of the past 20 years. However, there were not enough female characters to make the list, perhaps because the authors were predominantly male, or because a lot of the best characters have lines best suited to men (just theorizing). So I decided to put together a list of best female characters. I thought of them as characters that can be identified by name and movie and actress, with lines or actions that were immediately brought to mind. I used the same model for describing them as appears on Blog Cabins (thanks Fletch!). So in no particular order here are the top 15 female characters:
Character: Cher
Movie: “Clueless"
Year Released: 1993
Catch Phrases: "Whatever", "She's a full on Monet. From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess."
Significance: Alicia Silverstone was terrific (and never really topped this performance) and the movie put a whole new set of catch phrases into the lexicon.
Character: Juno
Movie: “Juno"
Year Released: 2007
Catch Phrases: "I mean, I'm already pregnant, so what other kind of shenanigans could I get into?", "Dream Big"
Significance: I think she'll have significance for years to come. It's a great story and she's a new kind of teenager, both vulnerable and willing to acknowledge her vulnerability at the same time, while working to make her own decisions.
Character: Clementine
Movie: “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
Year Released: 2004
Catch Phrases: "I'm Clementine... No jokes about my name."
Significance: Her hair is memorable, but she was an insane character with a lot of heart and cruelty.
Significance: This is the best performance by an actor in an animated movie, and raised the bar for all future performances. I'm just going with Dorrie being a girl cause Ellen is.
Character:Lisa Rowe
Movie: “Girl, Interrupted”
Year Released: 1999
Catch Phrases: "Take one more step and I'll jam this in my aorta"
Significance: It launched Angelina Jolie's career and won her an Oscar, and gave some suspicious notes to her real life behavior at the time.
Character: Marge Gunderson,
Movie: “Fargo”
Year Released: 1996
Catch Phrases: "And I guess that was your accomplice in the woodchipper", "You betcha."
Significance: She was just terrific and really came to the forefront of movies with "Fargo" and this character. The accent is just so perfect without being overdone.
Character: Miss Daisy,
Movie: “Driving Miss Daisy”
Year Released: 1989
Catch Phrases: "Hoke, you're my best friend"
Significance: This was just a terrific movie that gave an older woman and an older man a great story line that others will always try to emulate.
Taken from Blog Cabins since I totally agree:
Character: Tracy Flick
Movie: "Election"
Year Released: 1999
Catch Phrases:"It's like my mom says, "The weak are always trying to sabotage the strong."
Character: Bridget Jones
Movie: "Bridget Jones’ Diary”, "Bridge Jones: Edge of Reason"
Year released: 2001, 2004
Catch Phrases: "Bridget Jones, wanton sex goddess, with a very bad man between her thighs","Oy,"
Significance: She gave voice to all the crazy thoughts all women have, and her embarrassing moments outweigh any in reality.
Character: Amelie Poulain
Movie: "Amelie”
Year Released: 2001
Catch Phrases: "At least you'll never be a vegetable - even artichokes have hearts."
Significance: She's just awesome, and a totally different archetype than previous existed.
Character: Clarice Starling
Movie: “Silence of the Lambs”,
Year Released: 1991
Catch Phrases: "Your anagrams are showing, Doctor."
Siginficance: A lot of her power came as she reacted and forced reaction from Hannibal, but she is still powerful on her own.
Characters: Thelma & Louise
Movie: "Thelma & Louise” Year Released: 1991
Catch Phrases: "Thelma: OK, then listen; let's not get caught. Louise: What're you talkin' about? Thelma: Let's keep goin'! Louise: What d'you mean? Thelma:...Go. [Thelma nods ahead of them] Louise: You sure? Thelma: Yeah.
Significance: It was the best female buddy movie ever. Still is actually. Two women who go away for the weekend, become criminals and then drive off into the sunset precluding any sequels, what more could you ask for?
Character: Penny Lane
Movie: “Almost Famous”
Year Released: 2000
Catch Phrases: "You're too sweet for rock and roll"
Significance: She was awesome, almost holding it together to be mysterious and flirtatious and the perfect object for William Miller's affection, but then couldn't keep it going.
Character: Stifler’s Mom
Movie: “American Pie” series
Year Released: 1999, 2001, 2003
Catch Phrases: "I got some scotch. Finch: Single malt? Stifler's Mom: Aged eighteen years. The way I like it. "
Significance: Launched the MILF concept without being cliched.
Character: Elle Woods
Movie: “Legally Blonde” series
Year Released: 2001, 2003
Catch Phrases: "The rules of hair care are simple and finite. Any Cosmo girl would have known"
Significance: The first movie was awesome, and the second dreadful, but the character stayed strong. In a totally tongue-in-cheek way proved that blondes can be smart.
- I have no problem with good or bad characters, just as long as they're fun and recognizable.
(or many of the Disney princesses, including the new one, Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog)
