AWFJ highlights films made by and about women: Read more

The secret of Hollywood success: cheat women. Also: movies about girls are icky, Victorian smelling salts not required, and more. Read more

Michelle Monaghan has achieved her Hollywood stardom through versatility. Read more

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (the Pusher trilogy) is courting controversy with Bronson, a tour de force meditation on violence and celebrity about real-life British felon Michael Peterson. Over a period of three decades and through sheer determination and bare knuckled brawn, Peterson has earned the distinction of being Britain’s most violent criminal; in Refn’s gloriously macabre film, he’s also Britain’s most charismatic anti-hero since Alex DeLarge. But does Refn’s film recklessly perpetuate Michael Peterson’s self-made myth? And how much of himself does Refn see in his violent, controversial film, which he calls “autobiographical?” Read more

Chris Rock was genuinely alarmed when his adorable six year old daughter, Lola, was crying because she didn’t have ‘good hair.’ Driven by concerns about his daughters’ happiness and self esteem, Rock brilliantly reveals America’s — and, in particular, African-American women’s — obsession with hair, and its social and political implications. Read more>>

AWFJ highlights films made by and about women: Read more

Why is Hollywood defending a rapist? Read more

You gotta love Drew Barrymore! Ever since her sweetness captured our hearts as Gertie in “E.T.,” she’s been an authentic original. Now the former child star/hippie girl with anger issues has grown into not only an admirable character actress (HBO’s “Grey Gardens”), a formidable producer of 10 films including the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise, but also a smart, savvy, first-time director with a high-spirited sense of inspiring female empowerment. Read more