Sounds like Eight-Legged Freaks, right? Don’t worry, no spiders here. Over New Year’s I was hanging out with my three favourite movie buddies, and we were comparing notes on how many movies we had watched. I must be a rank amateur because I couldn’t count them up. So I’ve just started using Letterboxd to log the movies I watch, and here are the last four movies I added:
- The Founder
- Jeff, Who Lives At Home
- Zulu
- The Fast and The Furious
Now while there is a certain logic to watching Zulu – the start of my project to watch all the significant Michael Caine movies, after reading his autobiography – and the Fast and the Furious appealing to my love of action movies, it seems pretty clear that this movie-watching year is starting out as a bit of a sausage-fest, in the words of the most feminist man I know.
And then there’s the movie list we keep on the write-on wall, where we jot down movies as they come up in conversation.
How did the movies I watch end up being so male-dominated? Ok duh, Hollywood. And more importantly, short of watching Aliens over and over again (Ripley! Vasquez!) how can I get my action fix with female stars?
So we asked the Internet for female action movies, and here’s what we came up with – in three categories: Why have I never watched this before?; Oh that’s right – have watched but would see again; and You gotta be joking.
Why have I never watched this before?
- Foxy Brown
- Jackie Brown
- Yes, Madam and Royal Warriors, both early roles for Michelle Yeoh
- Catwoman – probably silly fun
- Aeon Flux
- Domino?
- Chocolate
- Cherry 2000
- Hanna
- The Hunger Games – now that I’ve read the books
- Atomic Blonde
- And I can’t wait for Captain Marvel. Now, about that Black Widow movie…
Oh yeah there is hope
- La Femme Nikita
- Haywire – The first time I saw this, I watched it twice in one weekend
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The Long Kiss Goodnight
- Lucy
- The Heat
- Spy – funny, but great action too.
- The first Underworld
- Elektra – it gets points off for going all million tentacles at the end, but still Jennifer Garner kicks ass
Never in a million years
- Tomb Raider or Charlie’s Angels – I was unfortunate enough to catch them the first time around. Although the CA reboot may hold some promise, directed by Elizabeth Banks.
- Kill Bill – too violent!
- Resident Evil – IMHO, Prince of Persia is the only decent film based on a video game
- Sucker Punch – school uniforms? Not my demographic.
Any films I’ve missed? And do join me on Letterboxd – Username is CatJeffcoat
And the hairy legs? After two weeks on holiday, it’s back to work tomorrow. 30-odd years of feminine grooming conditioning, and 5 of those years living in Paris is hard to shake, especially when you work in communications, where appearances perhaps count slightly more. But I realised this morning in the shower, I really can’t be bothered shaving my legs any more. Life’s too short. When was the last time I looked at another woman’s legs and judged her? There are so many other things I could be doing with my time, including more writing.
So this year is going to contain more women kicking ass, me included. For my next move – spend less time baking.