In light of the Warner Bros. controversy yesterday, where it was alleged Warner Bros president of production Jeff Robinov privately said he would no longer consider, or even read, scripts that have women as the main characters (something which predictably WB has denied, and I don’t believe them, but that’s neither here nor there), a commenter suggested a good post topic would be some of our favorite actress lead movies.
Now, I haven’t sat down for hours and given this serious contemplation… these are mostly off the top of my head, so I’m sure many of you can come up with some wonderful actress lead films to add in the comments section, but for now, here is the list of my favorite actress lead films:
1) The Descent – Not everyone agrees, but its the best horror film I’ve seen in 15 years
2) Amelie – Moving, inspiring… all those other cliches
3) Moulie Rouge – I will never understand why more people don’t appreciate this masterpiece.
4) Waitress – Such a special little film for so many reasons
5) Million Dollar Baby – Make no mistake, Clint was good, Morgan was great, but Swank MADE this movie all the way
6) Joy Luck Club – One of the best generation movies I’ve ever seen
7) What’s Love Got To Do With It? – Bassett probably should have won the Oscar that year
8) My Best Friend’s Wedding – SHUT UP! SCREW YOU… I love this movie ok!!!
9) Sophie’s Choice – First Meryl Streep movie I ever saw
10) Thelma and Louise – I know I know I know… it’s totally stereotypical to put this on here… but I’m sorry, it’s a great movie and it deserves to be on here.
Ok, so what actress centric films would you add to a list like this one and why?
An 18 year old Christina Ricci in Buffalo 66. Put a floor under her career.
i am so sory fot not to see kill bill
Philadelphia Story (she was Yar)
Alot of my favorites were already named, so I’m going to try and add a few that haven’t been mentioned and yes, I went back pretty far in years for a couple…
Fried Green Tomatoes
Breakfast At Tiffanys
Howard’s End
Dangerous Beauty
Enchanted April
Steel Magnolias
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Crimes of the Heart
Postcards From The Edge
Terms of Endearment
How To Marry A Millionaire
Dead Man Walking is one of my favorite movies of all time!
Very much enjoyed Moulin Rouge and Amelie. People should give it a chance and watch these films … wonderful
and the list is decent, but i would have added:
Girl with Pearl Earrings (love scarlett J.)
and
Elizabeth (Very great film)
RUN
LOLA
RUN
Amelie is awesome.
I’m not sure exactly what my list would include, but it would likely include a double shot of Lars Von Trier – Kidman in Dogville (many people hate it, i love it) and Bjork in Dancer in the Dark.
My Top 10 would be:
1. Mulholland Drive
2. Amelie
3. Y tu Mama Tambien
4. Alien/Aliens
5. Maria Full of Grace
6. Kill Bill series
7. Million Dollar Baby
8. Mary Poppins
9. Carrie
10. Misery
My Top 10 would be:
1. Mulholland Drive
2. Amelie
3. Alien/Aliens
4. Maria Full of Grace
5. Kill Bill Series
6. Million Dollar Baby
7. Mary Poppins
8. Y tu Mama Tambien
9. Carrie
10. Misery
What about pedro almodor’s movies, most of them are about women…and those are considered some of the best movies
Hey John. Awesome that you would include Moulin Rouge! I love that movie.
I would like to add:
-All about Eve
-Carrie
-Ninotchka
-Out of Africa
-Halloween (1978)
In no particuler order:
Aliens
Erin Brockovich
The Devil Wears Prada
The Sound of Music (Julie Andrews was I think the lead in this)
Under the Tuscan Sun
Charlie’s Angels (no matter what people might say, I think its an awesome movie, BRING ON CHARLIES ANGELS 3!)
If we’re talking Pam Grier, then “Coffy” and “Foxy Brown” would be my choices, not “Jackie Brown”.
I’ll admit my love for all things Milla, especially “Resident Evil”.
Not mentioned thus far: Naomi Watts in “The Ring”.
I was just thinking about this, no leading women thing. I guess this means we won’t have a Wonder Woman movie? WB owns DC comics so????
Aliens – Sigourney Weaver single-handedly wipes out an entire species of monsters over the course of four films. Have you done that? I didn’t think so.
Kill Bill – There’s no denying Beatrix Kiddo.
Ghost World – A really powerful performance by Thora Birch.
The Gift – Cate Blanchett doing what she does best: being awesome.
Fargo – Marge Gunderson is perhaps the coolest female character ever caught on film.
Silence of the Lambs – Agent Starling all up ons.
Grind House – Between Zoe Bell and Rose McGowan, come on…
Terminator – With her baby daddy in the first film and her baby in the second, Sarah Conner sometimes gets up-staged, but look at the character arc she goes through. Badass.
Shop Girl – Claire Danes shows her sugar daddy what for.
Ghost In The Shell – I don’t care what anyone says. It’s a movie, the lead is a woman, and she rules the school.
Guess I’m Damned (doesn’t matter, I’m an atheist). I thought Moulin Rouge was just an incredibly Beautiful failure. I loved the chutzpah behind the making of the film. But for me , it didn’t work (although I loved the Like a Virgin scene)
Moulin Rouge fucking RULES. Damn anybody who says otherwise.
And Uma in Kill Bill…..man did she rock.
I know she didn’t technically LEAD this film, but Linda Hamilton in T2 was BADASS.
Fuck, how could I forget JACKIE BROWN?
An unforgivable mistake.
I forgot about Jackie Brown, what a great film.
In random order:
1) Million Dollar Baby
2) Jackie Brown
3) Aliens
4) Joy Luck Club
5) The Color Purple
6) Under The Tuscan Sun
7) The Hours
8) Pretty In Pink
9) While You Were Sleeping
10) Harrison’s Flowers
Mozzerino:
I always looked at the two of them as co-stars, and remember, she won the Oscar for Best Actress, not Supporting Actress
Herby:
Now ANNIE HALL is one of my favorite films of all time.
But does a woman really play the lead in it?
I would argue that Woody is the lead in the film, not Diane.
Otherwise it would of course also appeared on my list.
To bigsampson,
To each his own, I loved Barbarella and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (tell me that wasn’t the inspiration for Josie and the Pussycats).
BTW. When you write the type of posts that you wrote, the only DICKCHEESE is you.
Where is Pan’s Labyrinth??
i mean the girl who playd as ofelia was not that good,but the movie?!one of the so called”instant classic”.
1. Kill Bill
2. Alien/Aliens
3. The Terminator
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Fargo
6. Annie Hall
7. Silence of the Lambs
8. Rosemary’s baby
9. Henry and June
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. The Philadelphia Story
12. The Piano
13. Barbarella
14. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (I don’t care, I love this film)
15. The African Queen
16. Klute
17. Norma Rae
18. Working Girl
19. Rabbit Proof Fence
20. A League of their Own
Puhh….I’ll try and limit myself to ten.
Ok, here we go:
1. Alien & Aliens
I count this as one, so shoot me. Sigourney Weaver carried both these movies and was the first and until now best action-heroine of cinema.
2. Kill Bill
Well, technically two movies again, but not really. Tarantino tailor-made this movie for his muse Uma and hell, she give all in this part.
3. Barbarella
Jane Fonda is the pinnacle of hotness and this movie may be glorious trash, but I love it all the more for it. Oh man, that Zero-Gravity-Strip scene..*drool*
4. Heathers
Winona Ryder’s best movie and one of the best Teen-High school flicks. Not just of the 80’s, but ever.
5. The Queen
A phenomenal movie and Helen Mirren’s Oscar was well deserved.
6. Scoop
One of Woody Allen’s most enjoyable efforts in the last 15 years. Scarlett Johanson may be a mixed bag, but here she is fantastic. Quirky, funny and incredibly hot.
7. Ghost World
Scarlett again and Thora Birch was also great, back when she had a career. Enjoyable,quirky and neurotic little movie with the always reliable Steve Buscemi in one of his best roles.
8. Pan’s Labyrinth
Fantastic. Nothing less.
9. Leon
This is as much Natalie Portman’s movie as it is Jean Reno’s. And she did amazing work, especially considering her young age at the time.
10. Contact
I know that many people have problems with this film. I think it’s very interesting and one of the rare philosophical sci-fi movies made in the last 20 years. I liked it a great deal. And hey, you can’t really argue about Jodie Foster, can you?
Honorable mention:
Fargo, The Silence of the Lambs, The Others, Amelie, Rosemary’s Baby
Just off the top of my piles of dvds:
Heavenly Creatures, Bound, Henry & June, Mulholland Drive, The Virgin Suicides, Ghost World, Fargo, The Piano, and my first and most obvious choice… The Silence of the Lambs.
All great films to varying degrees, highlighted by great leading performances by women.
Whaaaat! Where’s Alien/Aliens? I wouldn’t leave that out.
One of my favorite movies with a lead female was Silent Hill. As much as everyone hated that movie, it captured the videogame’s atmosphere perfectly and the actress was great. I remeber initially that everyone that was a fan of the game was pissed because they replaced what was suppose to be a male lead with her.