Category — The Love Interest

In most ways, The Dark Knight is a truly spectacular film. It is certainly the best Batman film ever made (better even than the animated Mask of the Phantasm), and one of the best superhero movies ever made. Almost every character in the film has great characterization and development.

But on the female characters, it gets a big fat zero.

In Batman Begins, Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes) serves as the love interest, yes, but was still an active character. She dedicated her … READ MORE

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is another visual masterpiece from Guillermo del Toro and Mike Mignola, but like its predecessor it falls down when in comes to its female characters.

In the first film, Liz Sherman’s role as a dangerous, unstable pyrokinetic was overshadowed by her role as Hellboy’s love interest (an element not found in the original comics). In the sequel, she has clearly gained much more confidence and control in her powers, but instead of addressing this character … READ MORE

I just saw the new Iron Man movie last night, and while it is overall one of the best superhero movies ever made, there is one element that stands out as unusual: Pepper Potts. (Spoilers follow.)

Virginia “Pepper” Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is Tony Stark’s personal assistant, whose responsbilities range from handling Stark’s everyday needs to shipping off the women Tony has one-night stands with so that he doesn’t have to deal with them. She is clearly very fond of Tony despite … READ MORE

I used to be quite a fan of Tom Hanks until I realised that, while his movies aren’t exactly misogynistic, they’re definitely about the average-looking guy saving the day in some humble way and winning the stunning girl in the process. Such is You’ve Got Mail.

Hanks and Meg Ryan play Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly respectively. He’s the heir to a huge bookstore chain; she’s the owner of a small children’s bookstore who’s existence is threatened when Fox Books moves … READ MORE

I’m not a huge fan of romance on television. Mainly because it’s usually used as an excuse for someone involved to act like a moron (it tends to be the women), or it’s one character’s sole reason for existence (also usually the women), or it’s an excuse for fake drama when the relationship is “threatened”- usually by a third party (the dreaded love triangle)- even when the outcome is obvious. Pushing Daisies has managed to not only create a … READ MORE

It was less than discriminating. But, in my defense, I’ve been sick. And I just wanted to rent something easy to take my mind off of it.

So one of the movies I got was The Wedding Crashers. Fairly typical romantic comedy bullshit about a couple of hard-partying guys who find the right girls and fall in love, blah, blah, blah.

There was a mildly interesting shtick where the girl that Vince Vaughn’s character falls for is not *actually* … READ MORE

I’m a huge fan of all things Superman. He’s my favorite superhero, however un-cool that may be in general geek culture. So, when I started renting Smallville, I really wanted to like it. I made it through two seasons, and it was not until the third episode of the third season, “Extinction,” that I finally gave up. I just can’t keep watching this.

It isn’t the butchering of the Superman mythos. It isn’t the formulaic mutant-of-the-week plots. It isn’t the fact … READ MORE

Disclaimer: I’ve seen precisely two episodes of One Tree Hill, and I don’t even know why. There might be backstory of which I am not aware.

Viewing 1: There are shooters in the high school. Several students are held hostage, most noteably a curly-haired moppet named Peyton. Bad things happen, she gets shot. The Big Damn Hero of the show, Lucas, literally carries her out of the building and saves her life.

Viewing 2: Peyton’s long lost brother’s in town. Only … READ MORE

Numb3rs is basically a crime drama with a mathematics twist. One brother’s an FBI agent, the other an applied mathematics professor (and genius) who helps solve cases by number crunching. Add a sweet father, and you’ve got a nice family feel to your basic crime drama as well.

What I’ve always found a bit interesting about the show is Alan’s (the father) tendency to pry and poke and needle his two sons (Don and Charlie, for the record) about settling down, … READ MORE

What could possibly be better than UST between an OTP? UST between an OTP that gets disrupted by a BLT! Sorry, couldn’t resist the acronyms. In all seriousness, though, I’ve noticed that when shows bring in the whole love triangle chestnut, it is almost always the woman in the middle who has to choose her man. Everyone knows that it’s not compelling drama, good acting and concise writing that keeps viewers watching a show. It’s the romantic entanglements, and nothing … READ MORE