Gearing up for the summer action movies, Lori and I list our favorite female action heroes of all time, from Bridget Fonda in Point of No Return (1993) to Halle Berry in Die Another Day (2002) to Michelle Yeoh in three movies, including the upcoming Mummy one.

Along the way, we lament the lack of non-martial arts roles for Asian American actresses, debate whether Harry Potter's Hermione can properly be considered an "action hero," and argue over the value of women in Bond movies.

Plus: which female action heroes were the most groundbreaking? Check out our answers, and then let us know if you agree in the comments.

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Like that pink bunny, franchises keep going, and going, and going. But before we even have a chance to gauge Maria Bello's success in taking over the role of Evie in the Mummy movies, Bello revealed in an interview with MTV movie news that she's committed to another trilogy in the franchise.

Not that I'm complaining too much. I was a fan of the first movie in the Mummy franchise (though not so much that my ex-girlfriend spent fifty bucks to get a Brendan Fraser haircut after seeing it). If The Mummy's tongue-in-cheekiness wasn't enough to win me over, it was also my introduction to Rachel Weisz.

As I've lamented previously, I'll be missing Weisz in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, even though one could do worse for a pinch hitter than Bello. I do like the looks of her in the production stills. … continue reading

One night last week, Gladiator was showing on TV. I used to love that movie — in fact, I think I owned it at one point — but I realized something this time around. I didn't want to see the ending, Connie Nielsen notwithstanding.

(Speaking of whom, watching Gladiator did make me wonder what she's been up to, aside from guesting on Law and Order: SVU a while back. Turns out, she appears in Battle in Seattle with Michelle Rodriguez and Charlize Theron. Yet another reason to try to see that movie.)

Then, over the weekend, my girlfriend rented a few movies. One of them I haven't exactly avoided, but haven't been dying to see: 300. I know, I know, Lena Headey. Period costume works for her, but somehow I just couldn't get worked up about a movie that could realistically be called More Than 300 Really Horrible, Bloody Awful Ways to Die.

So what did this make me realize? (Besides that my girlfriend really, really loves sword-and-sandal movies? To the point where we wrestled over the remote?) It's not the violence (although I admit the over-the-top spraying blood of BloodRayne made me queasy. Possibly that was the acting). No, it's the fact that sometimes if I know the ending to a movie up front, I don't see the point in sitting through it. … continue reading

I'm usually in need of inspiration on Mondays. What better way to get it than to peruse some pretty pictures? Let's start with the new poster for The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman.

I think that green dress must really be the other Boleyn girl, because it's taking up the whole damn poster. And Scarlett's lips are looking huge, even for her. But who am I kidding? All I can really see here are the names Johansson and Portman on the same poster. I'm in. … continue reading

Maria Bello, whose most recent work includes The Jane Austen Book Club, calls her new gig as librarian Rachel Weisz Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor "the role of my dreams. It is just a blast." Here's a reminder of what this replacement looks like:

And what's in this role of her dreams? Bello says that her Evelyn is "a very different character than Rachel played. She's a bad-ass action chick. I had to train a lot. I had to do wushu, a martial-art form, some kick-boxing, swordfighting, rifle training for a couple of months before we even started shooting." Here she is in Toronto, all brunette already:

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Sounds good, but I still can't figure out how this is going to work. Generally when a different character is introduced, I want, you know, a different character.

Either the French Legion knows that Michelle Yeoh can kick their collective ass back to the Napoleonic era, or they are smarter than American audiences, who have yet to give Yeoh her due. I'm guessing it's a bit of both — but there's no doubt that Yeoh's formidable skills have earned her the Legion of Honor medal (Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur), to be given at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on Oct. 3.

The French civil award is akin to the British honor of knighthood, minus those pesky monarchy complications: Since its establishment by Napoleon himself (no complications there, right? oh, wait a minute ...), membership in the Legion has been based solely upon merit without regard to birth. Yeoh received a similar award in 2001, when the Sultan of her home state in Malaysia granted her the honorary title of Dato.

The "Queen of Martial Arts" — who started off as a dancer and beauty queen — tends to be modest about her accomplishments (once referring to "her own little style"), but there's nothing modest about her ability to hold her own with just about anyone, from Bond to Jackie Chan. She also happens to be an easy addition to the "making 40 fabulous" list. … continue reading

Every wonder what your favorite star would look like as a work of art? Or a Japanese animation? Or a baby? Or an apeman? (Well, hopefully you haven’t wondered too much about the latter, ’cause that’s just weird and makes me think I shouldn’t sit next to you on the subway.) As for the rest, wonder no more. The Face Transformer is here to help you slack off at work find the answers. Answers to questions like, “What would Salma Hayek look as painted by Alfons Mucha?

Much like the insanely addictive MorphThing.com, The Face Transformer lets you manipulate famous faces. You can choose from more than a dozen options, ranging from different ages to races to painting styles and, yes, ape features. I stayed away from the racial and simian choices in favor of art and age. The results were alternately fun, freaky and down-right frightening.

Lucy Lawless by Amedeo Modigliani: Fierce, I’d hang that on my wall.

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