ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Commentaries

Commentaries Lists 

Celebrating Political Women in Film – Jennifer Merin reports

Jennifer Merin

This hyper political season is calling on all of us to be activists — not only in voting on election day, but in ongoing active support of the women politicos who are intent upon protecting, preserving and advancing the rights that we women have fought for and gained during recent decades. Face it: Life as we want it is at stake for women of all ages and ethnicities. The challenge is so overwhelming that it’s difficult for many of us to resist cynicism and despair. Damn it! A sense of our sisterhood and shared goals are intensely important in sustaining our hope and positivity. Inspiration is essential. Let’s look to the uplifting accomplishments of the women who steadfastly represent progress. We recommend watching a roster of excellent films that tell their stories for pure inspiration and ideas about what each of us can do. Excelsior!

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Commentaries Festivals 

My Comic Con International Film Festival 2024 Juror Diary – Leslie Combemale reports

Leslie Combemale , , , , , , ,

When Adam Neese, the program coordinator for Comic-Con International and director of the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival (CCI IFF) invited me to be one of three jurors for the 2024 film fest, I was floored. I’d been going to San Diego Comic-Con for almost 30 years, and had just made the hard decision that 2023 would be my last time. By 2023, I had played almost every role one could at the con. Every one except “special guest”, which I assumed, as film journalist, wasn’t for me.

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Commentaries 

Portrayal of Latinas in HIT MAN and ATLAS – Commentary by Jennifer Green

Jennifer Green , , , , , ,

Two new, high-profile releases are offering very different representations of Latinas in roles played by Jennifer Lopez and Adria Arjona. In the sci-fi actioner Atlas, Lopez saves the world, fighting off robots intent on destroying humanity, battling them from inside an AI mech suit and outwitting both them and her male colleagues. She’s buff and smart but also vulnerable, grappling with trust issues left over from childhood trauma. Compare this to Arjona’s role in Hit Man. Arjona plays a woman who considers hiring a hit man to kill her abusive husband, but the hit man is actually an undercover police contractor who convinces her not to. Instead, she leaves her husband and embarks on a steamy affair with the hit man.

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Commentaries Festivals 

CANNES REMAKES: The Fast Fashion of Film? – Jennifer Green comments

Jennifer Green , , , , , , , ,

Cannes kicks off its inaugural one-day movie remakes market on Monday, with the intention of meeting media streamers’ ever-increasing demand for quick and disposable content. What seems like a juicy business opportunity for local talents also feels somewhat like cultural decimation, especially in this globalized day and age when massive numbers of consumers are used to carelessly discarding whatever trending fashion claims the moment. Why not revisit the originals, many of which are classics? Are remakes the fast fashion of film?

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Commentaries 

CHALLENGERS: Love from the Tennis Movie Playbook – Jennifer Green comments

Jennifer Green , , , , , , ,

The final climactic scenes of Luca Guadagnino’s new film Challengers track an epic court battle between two professional tennis players, Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor). The story follows them as childhood best friends coming up in the world of pro tennis whose relationship is complicated by their love for the same woman, frustrated tennis star Tashi (Zendaya). Their own obvious mutual attraction adds another level of homoerotic friction. You’d expect nothing less from the director of Call Me by My Name. But that doesn’t mean Challengers is entirely new as far as tennis movies go. In fact, the film pulls quite a few ideas from the existing tennis movie playbook.

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Commentaries 

Horror Movies and Kids: A Scary Combination — Betsy Bozdech, with Brandy McDonnell, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow and Liz Whittemore

Betsy Bozdech , , , , , , ,

Back in 2017, a CableTV survey about horror movies revealed, among other things, that the average age at which the (presumably adult) respondents saw their first horror movie was 7.2 years old. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that today’s kids are in the same boat, we’ve all noticed members of the PG crowd at decidedly R-rated movies. What is the level of fear they experience during these movies and how does onscreen blood and gore influence their social expectations.?

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Commentaries 

BARBENHEIMER Rules: Conflating BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER – Pam Grady Comments

Pam Grady , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

There are places where the two films intersect, making Barbenheimer less ridiculous than the memes suggest: Both Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and Barbie (Margot Robbie) are midcentury icons, Oppenheimer as the father of the atomic bomb that forever changed the way humans live in the world, and Barbie as the doll that broke the mold, freeing little girls from the tyranny of baby dolls and forever changing the way children play with dolls.

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Commentaries Festivals 

Tribeca 2023 Women’s Performances To Watch – Liz Whittemore reports

Liz Whittemore , , , , ,

The 2023 edition of The Tribeca Film Festival upped the ante for female filmmakers. Femme-centric storytelling gave us innumerable outstanding performances from women of all ages. As usual, I begin my annual roundup with the caveat that this list pertains solely to the films I watched. You can read more about the festival lineup in our collective AWFJ coverage, and it is aplenty this year. Here is my 2023 list of Women to Watch from Tribeca.

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Commentaries 

African-American Film Critics Association Awards – Nikki Fowler reports

Nikki Fowler , , , , ,

The African-American Film Critics Association’s (AAFCA) awards ceremony, held on March 1 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, marked a much-deserved moment of celebration for Black creators and actors who’ve been unexpectedly snubbed by other awards groups this year. Although no longer tagged as #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy Award nominations slate had glaring omissions of Black creatives and actors, including Gina-Prince Bythewood and The Woman King, Chinouye Chukwu and Till and Elegance Branton and The Inspection, and all of the brilliant talent associated with those and other superb Black films.

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Commentaries 

The Most (and Least) Fun at the Movies in 2022 – Commentary by Chaz Ebert

Chaz Ebert , , , , ,

This is my joyous listing of six films I am glad I saw, and a seventh film that was the least fun! The most fun I had is during the screening of Indian director S. S. Rajamouli’s epic RRR. I did not know about the active cult following Rajamouli had acquired in the United States, so I was unprepared for the high excitement that rippled through the Music Box Theatre in Chicago as he made his way to the stage. Not only were there rambunctious hoops and hollers, but some people were dressed in festive cultural attire.

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