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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When I first saw this headline, "Emma Watson replaces 'old' Johansson," my first thought was that I was about to get my feminist on in a major way. I mean, is this what we've come to in Hollywood? Scarlett Johansson, at the age of 23, is considered too old to star in a romance?

Photo credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

As it turns out, though, the casting change is at least a bit better justified than I originally thought. The film in which Watson is now set to star is called Napoleon and Betsy, and the role she will play is based on a real-life figure.

Photo credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images (Watson)

Lucia Elizabeth "Betsy" Balcombe was 13 or 14 years old in 1815 when the exiled French emperor Napoleon was brought to live on her father's estate on the British island of St. Helena. The girl and the captive emperor struck up a friendship that would last three years until 1818 when the Balcombes moved to Australia.

Betsy later wrote a memoir of her time with Napoleon, published in modern times as To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St. Helena. There's also a novelization of the story for younger readers, by American writer Staton Rabin.

What seems to have been added to the story for the film version, though, is an element of romance between Betsy and Napoleon. Since Napoleon, historically, would have been 46 when he first met Betsy, I'm assuming that they're going to update her age to about 18 or 19 (at least, I hope they are, because otherwise … ew. And even so … well, still kind of ew).

Of course, if Napoleon isn't "too old" at 46, you might ask why Johansson has to be considered "too old" at 23 if the story's going to be fictionalized anyway, but … well, that's Hollywood for you. … continue reading

Happy birthday, Hermione! Emma Watson is 18 today. Whew, thank heavens, because now I feel a little less skeezy. Just a little, but then every bit helps. Though, to be serious for just a second (but just one), I couldn't be more thankful that the precocious Ms. Watson has reached this milestone with age-appropriate grace and modesty.

I've been a fan of Emma's since she began her journey through Harry Potter's magical universe seven years ago. Back then she portrayed the bookish brainiac with adorable ease. Now, her Hermione has matured into a confident, capable young woman. Gosh, how refreshing. … continue reading

As if Facebook didn’t already offer enough tempting ways to waste time, apparently they’ve now developed their very own line of quizzes, too. Recently I got a message in my news feed telling me that one of my cousins had taken this quiz, and discovered that if she was a Disney princess, she would be Pocahontas:

Since my cousin is an environmentally aware outdoor adventurer who works for a company that cleans up oil spills, this sounds plausible enough to me. Looking at the quiz, I also thought it was completely cool that it was gay-friendly (asking “What kind of guy/girl do you like?”).

Personally, though, I didn’t feel I needed to take a test to work out which one of the Disney princesses I was. Ever since the brunette Belle wandered into the early scenes of Beauty and the Beast, her head buried so deep in a book that she barely noticed what was going on around her, I knew I had found a Disney heroine I could identify with:

I’m still convinced that the main reason she married the Beast was because she’d seen his library.

According to this interview from last summer, Harry Potter star Emma Watson always saw herself as Ariel from The Little Mermaid: … continue reading

Before Christmas, I blogged about the upcoming BBC adaptation of Noel Streatfeild’s classic novel Ballet Shoes. Aired in the U.K. on December 26, it starred Emma Watson in her first non–Harry Potter role, as adopted orphan and budding film star Pauline Fossil. Pauline has two equally — although differently — talented adopted sisters, Petrova and Posy.

One of the reasons I was interested in the adaptation was to see how it would treat the characters of Dr. Smith and Dr. Jakes, female academics (played by Sense and Sensibility costars Harriet Walter and Gemma Jones) who had always seemed rather like life partners to me in the book. Here’s the illustration of them from my copy of Ballet Shoes: … continue reading

I'm a geek worshipper. It's really a form of positive self-esteem, since I am kind of a geek myself. I always love to find women in entertainment who seem to be geeks, not only in the characters they play, but also in real life. GeekSugar.com shares that sentiment and has kicked off a poll of the most popular female geeks of 2007.

First candidate: Mary Lynn Rajskub, Chloe O'Brian on 24.

The pictures are from her spread in Geek Monthly earlier this year. Although Chloe is an übergeek on 24, always able to hack into secret data just in time to save Jack's life, Rajskub herself is not too technically savvy. But in my opinion, she has geek cred because she does things like appear as a troubadour on Gilmore Girls and volunteer for the Young Storytellers Program. I do have one geekish issue with Chloe & company, though. Are we really supposed to believe that a government agency is smart enough to use Macs? … continue reading

This Christmas, U.K. viewers will get their first chance to see Emma Watson in a non–Harry Potter role. According to Watson’s official website, the BBC’s one-off film adaptation of Noel Streatfeild’s classic book Ballet Shoes will air Dec. 26 at 8:30 p.m. on BBC One. Watson will play Pauline, the eldest of three girls adopted by an eccentric old explorer, Matthew Brown, in 1930s London.

Fans of the book will know that Pauline’s character is actually not a million miles away from Watson’s in real life. A beautiful blonde girl, Pauline is sent to stage school and soon has success as an actress, first on stage and then in films.

A few clips from Ballet Shoes are included in this BBC preview of their upcoming Christmas season: … continue reading

Unless you've been sequestered as part of jury duty or marooned on some deserted island for the past two weeks, you've already heard about the recent Hogwarts outing. On Oct. 19, author J.K. Rowling outed Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. She didn't decide to wave a rainbow flag and shout it from the mountain tops or anything. She simply answered a question regarding whether Dumbledore ever found true love. Rowling answered by saying, "Dumbledore is gay." She went on to explain that he had been smitten with Gellert Grindelwald.

Naturally, entertainment reporters (being reporters) have felt it necessary to seek out reactions to this announcement from the folks who embody Rowling's characters on the big screen. Daniel Radcliffe found it amusing. Rupert Grint was surprised. But my favorite reaction came from the face of Hermione Granger, Emma Watson.

Watson seems to think this really shouldn't be any big deal.

"This is the 21st century! I just could not believe the amount of fuss that was being made over Dumbledore being gay." … continue reading

We've been hearing an awful lot about the elder stateswomen of Hollywood taking over the airwaves lately. From Glenn Close in Damages, Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer, Sally Field in Brothers & Sisters to Mary-Louise Parker in Weeds, Lili Taylor in State of Mind and Holly Hunter in Saving Grace, women of a certain age have been generating a whole lot of buzz. Even Whoopi Goldberg joining The View could be viewed as part of the "trend."

With all this positivity going on around about these lovely ladies, I'm led to wonder about the future. What I want to know is this: Are any of today's youngsters going to be ready to step up to the plate when these ladies take their final bows and gracefully exit the stage? Now, I know that's likely a long way off, but that doesn't make my curiosity any less. So I decided to don my Carnac the Magnificent-like turban and see if I could find any answers in my crystal ball. Forgive me if said crystal ball provides some somewhat strange replies. The power is on the fritz here due to some nasty thunderstorms last night, and I'm afraid my battery supply is being used elsewhere. (I meant in flashlights, people!) … continue reading

With the movie premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix tonight, we are about to embark on a two-week period (at least) of Extreme Harry Potter Mania, capped off with the release of the seventh and final Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on July 21. Like many Potter fans, I'm both thrilled to see the film and read the book and saddened that the series is nearly over.

Thankfully, Order of the Phoenix is only the fifth installment, so there are two movies to look forward to after this one. In Phoenix, Harry and his friends are in their fifth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry is suffering from some bad publicity (to say the least) after the death of his classmate Cedric in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Unfortunately, most people don't seem to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, and Harry's attempts to convince them fall on largely deaf ears. Stymied by bureacratic red tape, he begins training his classmates to fight against the dark arts, forming a secret extracurricular group called Dumbledore's Army.

The reviews of the movie have been pouring in all week, and so far it's getting generally positive reviews. Here's what some of them have to say: … continue reading

This summer movie season, I couldn’t care less about machines that turn into bigger machines. I’m not moved by the superhero with sticky powers and I couldn’t tell you why Bruce Willis is still dying hard. What I do care about is these three kids — Harry, Hermione and Ron — who have gone from adorable pre-adolescence to graceful young adulthood in the last six years.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens next week, and I, for one, can’t wait. Much to my own surprise, I’ve turned into a true fan of the movie franchise that at first I dismissed as only kid stuff. My interest went from casual to come-on-when-is-the-next-one-already with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Since the third film, the stories have become more nuanced, the direction more dark. And it helps that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint no longer look like they play with Legos. This week, HBO aired an exclusive 13-minute preview of Order of the Phoenix, complete with clips and interviews. All I can say is bring on the wizard battle royal. … continue reading

Warner Bros. has just released some screen shots from the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, due in theaters July 13. I admit I have long been a Potter fan but have only recently come to appreciate the movies. But now that the series is winding to its inevitable conclusion (so sad!!), I think I'm just OK with getting as much Potter as I can before it's all over. Take a look at some of the new photos (warning: some are slightly spoilery!):

Emma Watson as Hermione, who's thinking, "Why are we in this freaking Forbidden Forest again? Why? We have exams, I tell you!"

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Listen, I know the Harry Potter kids are growing up before our eyes, but this is ridiculous. It seems Warner Bros. execs decided to hurry the natural process when they released the IMAX version of the new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix poster. Take a close look at 17-year-old star Emma Watson's, uh, assets in the original and IMAX posters. Either she had one magical growth spurt, or digital breast augmentation has come to Hogwarts.

Apparently adolescence was just moving too slowly for the studio's marketing department. But after a little Photoshop hocus-pocus, Hermione Granger went from normal to ta-ta da. What was it Scribe Grrrl was saying about the sexualization of the Potter girls? Color me convinced ... and grossed out. Say it with me: "Ick." … continue reading

by scribegrrrl

Last week there was a brief article in the Daily Mail titled "The girls putting the magic into the new Harry Potter film." It summarizes the "host of attractive female co-stars" in Order of the Phoenix, namely Emma Watson as Hermione, Katie Leung as Cho Chang, Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood and Bonnie Wright as Ginny Weasley.

I'm a little creeped out by the notion that the Harry Potter girls are now considered "attractive" rather than "cute." They just look like kids to me; I want to take them out for ice cream, but that's about it. Packaging them as pretty young things who "put the magic" into anything at all is kind of ewww.

(Click "read more" to continue.) … continue reading

by Sarah Warn

Dark Horizons is reporting that there may be an updated version of Teen Wolf in the making. The original 1985 comedy was a fun flick starring Michael J. Fox as a high school basketball player-turned-werewolf, and the less-fun sequel Teen Wolf Too featured Jason Bateman as a college student in the title role. This one has Smallville's Tom Welling reportedly attached - but not as the lead. This Teen Wolf is reportedly going to be about a female teen wolf.

So, who's it gonna be? Or better yet, who should it be?

There's always the obvious choices, like Heroes Hayden Panettiere, or Harry Potter's Emma Watson. Erica Hubbard would be great, but she is 28, and already stretching credibility as Lincoln Heights 16-year-old Cassie (although she's great in that role).

In fact, everyone I can think of is too old, which makes me wonder: who are the young female up-and-comers to watch now? The Ally Sheedys, Jena Malones, even the (dare I say it) Lindsay Lohans of the new teen generation? And don't say Dakota Fanning - the fact that she's 13 now already makes me feel too old...