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

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 responsibilities 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

The most interesting couple I ever saw in media – film, television, music, books, whatever – were a middle-aged couple who spent more time trying to one-up the other than they did having wild, passionate sex.

They were Jack Bristow and Irena DiRevco from Alias.

Seriously, they were awesome. At least, for season two they were. They spent all their screen time, as equals – intellectually, emotionally and sexually – trying to outwit one another. To give you a brief background, Irena ...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