By: Selina
Last week I pointed out 25 television shows that have some
seriously bad ass women characters. Today, we’re going to move along to movies.
Just like last week’s list, though… I am well aware that
there are hundreds of lists with this basic idea. So, I’ll be avoiding the
commonly noted films from those other lists. Just because those movies are not
on my list, doesn’t mean anything other than I’m trying to avoid telling you
something you can learn anywhere else.
Among the films you will not see on this post are: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992), Resident Evil (2002-2017), Serenity (2005), Tank Girl (1995), The
Hunger Games (2012-2015), Alien (1979-2019), Kill Bill (2003-2004), The Fifth Element (1997), Blade: Trinity (2004), Star Wars (1977-2018), Underworld (2003-2016), Tomb Raider (2001-2018), The Marvel Universe Films – regardless
of production company (1986-), G.I. Jane (1997), Kick Ass (2010-2013),
Domino (2005), Atomic Blonde (2017), Mulan (1998), Erin Brockovich (2000),
Pirates of the Caribbean (2003-2017),
The Cabin in the Woods (2012),
and Star Trek (1979-2016).
For a full explanation of what I consider to be ‘bad ass,’
you can hop over to last week’s article and read the introduction.
Fair Warning: Some of the following entries will have SPOILERS. Read at your own
discretion.
30 – The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008)
Viewing Options: Amazon
Director: Matt
Vancil
Writer: Matt Vancil
Actors: Nathan
Rice, Carol Roscoe, Brian Lewis, Scott C. Brown, Christian Doyle, Jennifer
page, Geoff Gibbs, Ed Gibbs, Don Early, Sean K. Reynolds, Chris Duppenthaler,
Julia Vancil, Steve Wolbrecht, Emily Olson, John Frank Rosenblum
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Comedy
Rated: NR
Length: 105
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0447166
IMDb Blurb: Lodge,
a gaming geek, takes his playing very seriously, unlike his babyish friends
who'd rather be immature. He decides to shake things up by introducing two
unconventional people to their group.
The trailer doesn’t do a good job of showing just how
awesome Daphne/Joanna is.
Two names, sure, but same person. This movie is about a
group of buddies role-playing together. It goes back and forth between their real-life
personas and their in-game characters. In the film, Daphne is new to RP, but
she takes to it like a duck to water and winds up having more sense than any of
the other guys.
In the game, Joanna winds up being pretty bad ass and a lot
of fun to watch. Since she’s kind of shrugged off in the beginning as likely
not knowing what to do, it makes the stuff she accomplishes seem even better.
29 – Sharknado (2013-)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Anthony
C. Ferrante
Writer: Thunder
Levin
Actors: Ian
Ziering, Tara Reid, John Heard, Cassandra Scerbo, Jason Simmons, Alex Arleo,
Neil H. Berkow, Heather Jocelyn Blair, Chuck Hittinger
Genre: Comedy,
Horror, Sci-Fi
Rated: TV-14
Length: 86
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2724064
IMDb Blurb: When
a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature's deadliest killer rules sea,
land, and air as thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace.
Don’t laugh.
I know the Sharknado series is absolutely ridiculous. That’s
why I enjoy it. It’s like a parody. However, there’s no denying that it is full
of some massively bad ass women.
April and Nova are both pretty awesome. Nova started an
entire group of women dedicated to killing sharks. April is now a partial
cyborg with super strength and other abilities. That makes both of them just as
bad ass, or more, than Fin.
28 – Where the Heart Is (2000)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Matt
Williams
Writer: Lowell
Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Billie Letts
Actors: Natalie
Portman, Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, Joan Cusack, James Frain, Dylan Bruno,
Keith David, Ray Prewitt, Laura House, Karey Green, Richard Andrew Jones, Sally
Field, Mackenzie Fitzgerald
Genre: Comedy,
Drama, Romance
Rated: PG-13
Length: 120
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0198021
IMDb Blurb: A
pregnant 17-year-old rebuilds her life after being abandoned by her boyfriend
at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma.
This film starts out with an uneducated, pregnant woman
getting abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart. From there, we follow Novalee
through life.
She doesn’t stay down long. She picks herself up by her
bootstraps, all while dealing with a great deal of hell. She deals with a
kidnapping, a tornado, her best friend being assaulted… and she comes out the
other side happy and healthy with a beautiful daughter. She even gets to
confront the man that abandoned her at one point.
She may not be throwing any punches, but she is definitely
bad ass.
27 – Miss Congeniality (2000)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Donald
Petrie
Writer: Marc
Lawrence, Katie Ford, Caryn Lucas
Actors: Sandra
Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt, Candice Bergen, William Shatner, Ernie
Hudson, John DiResta, Heather Burns, Melissa De Sousa, Steve Monroe, Deirdre
Quinn, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Asia De Marcos
Genre: Action,
Comedy, Crime
Rated: PG-13
Length: 109
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212346
IMDb Blurb: An
FBI agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to
prevent a group from bombing the event.
Gracie Hart is ridiculously bad ass – emphasis on
‘ridiculous.’
This film is, after all, a comedy. And it’s a very slapstick
kind of comedy, but Hart kicks some serious ass throughout the film. In fact,
when the majority of her department thinks she’s wrong, she pretty much tells them
to fuck off and handles it herself.
26 – A Little Princess (1995)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Alfonso
Cuaron
Writer: Frances
Hodgson Burnett, Richard LaGravenese, Elizabeth Chandler
Actors: Liesel
Matthews, Eleanor Bron, Liam Cunningham, Rusty Schwimmer, Arthur Malet, Vanessa
Lee Chester, Errol Sitahal, Heather DeLoach, Taylor Fry, Darcie Bradford,
Rachael Bella, Alexandra Rea-Baum, Camilla Belle, Lauren Blumenfeld, Kelsey
Mulrooney, Kaitlin Cullum, Alison Moir, Time Winters
Genre: Drama,
Family, Fantasy
Rated: G
Length: 97
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113670
IMDb Blurb: A
young girl is relegated to servitude at a boarding school when her father goes
missing and is presumed dead.
This is a misleading movie for a list like this. It follows
the life of a well-off girl as she’s orphaned and forced into a slave-like
position by the matron of her boarding school.
Why is a character like that considered bad ass?
Even as she was forced to live in the attic with minimal
care, she managed to better her life and the life of the other little girl in
the same situation. She winds up caring for all the girls in the boarding
school through use of her incredibly in depth and imaginative stories. At the
end, when she’s framed as a thief, she manages to climb into another building from
the roof.
It’s a touching story, but I’ve always seen that little girl
as being pretty bad ass. She survives, even flourishes, in a situation that
would have ended many of us.
25 – Final Girl (2015)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Tyler
Shields
Writer: Johnny
Silver, Stephen Scarlata, Alejandro Seri, Adam Prince
Actors: Abigail
Breslin, Wes Bentley, Logan Huffman, Cameron Bright, Alexander Ludwig, Reece
Thompson, Francesca Eastwood, Emma Paetz, Gracyn Shinyei, Desiree Zurowski,
Sean Tyson
Genre: Action,
Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 90
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124787
IMDb Blurb: A man
teaches a young woman how to become a complete weapon. Later she is approached
by a group of sadistic teens who kill blonde women for unknown reasons. The
hunting season begins.
This entire film is about a girl that’s trained to kill.
She’s ‘kidnapped’ by a group of guys looking to hunt and kill her, but they’re
surprised when she fights back. It’s very satisfying to watch a victim turn the
tables on her attackers and make them regret life.
24 – Warm Bodies (2013)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Jonathan
Levine
Writer: Jonathan
Levine, Isaac Marion
Actors: Nicholas
Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John
Malkovich, Cory Hardrict
Genre: Comedy,
Horror, Romance
Rated: PG-13
Length: 98
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173
IMDb Blurb: After
a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form
a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire
lifeless world.
This is a romance, but it takes place during the zombie
apocalypse. Ignoring the romantic aspect, Julie pretty much grows up in a world
where the majority of the population is trying to eat her brain.
From pretty much the first moment we’re exposed to her, it’s
clear that she can handle herself. When she’s taken by a zombie, she even
manages to push past her fear to become comfortable with him. Taken by a
zombie, I would not be so cool.
23 – The Addams Family (1991)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Amazon, Vudu
Director: Barry
Sonnenfeld
Writer: Charles
Addams, Caroline Thompson, Larry Wilson
Actors: Anjelica
Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya, Elizabeth Wilson, Judith
Malina, Carel Struycken, Dana Ivey, Christina Ricci, Jimmy Workman, Christopher
Hart, John Franklin
Genre: Comedy,
Fantasy
Rated: PG-13
Length: 99
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101272
IMDb Blurb: Con
artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be
their long-lost uncle.
The Addams Family
is just full of strong, bad ass women. Morticia and Wednesday are the first to
come to mind. There’s really nothing not bad ass about either of them.
22 – Panic Room (2002)
Viewing Options: HBO
Go, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu
Director: David
Fincher
Writer: David
Koepp
Actors: Jodie
Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto, Patrick
Bauchau, Ann Magnuson, Ian Buchanan
Genre: Crime,
Drama, Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 112
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258000
IMDb Blurb: A
divorced woman and her diabetic daughter take refuge in their newly-purchased
house's safe room, when three men break-in, searching for a missing fortune.
Meg Altman is your basic everyday mom… but when a group of
men invade her home, she steps it up.
Altman takes control of the situation, gets her daughter
into a panic room with her, and then has to figure out how to control her
daughter’s medical needs while getting help for them both. This includes
abandoning the panic room more than once, risking her life against the violent
intruders.
21 – Sucker Punch (2011)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Zack
Snyder
Writer: Zack
Snyder, Steve Shibuya
Actors: Emily
Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla
Gugino, Oscar Isaac, Jon Hamm, Scott Glenn, Richard Cetrone, Gerard Plunkett,
Malcolm Scott
Genre: Action,
Fantasy
Rated: PG-13
Length: 110
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0978764
IMDb Blurb: A
young girl is institutionalized by her abusive stepfather, retreating to an
alternative reality as a coping strategy, envisioning a plan to help her
escape.
I originally had this film much higher on the list, but
after re-watching it, I decided it belonged a little lower. There are some
resolutions that negate bits of the bad ass nature of things, especially since
a lot of stuff turns out to be the fantasies of a lobotomized girl, but there’s
still a lot that applies.
20 – Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Doug
Liman
Writer: Simon
Kinberg
Actors: Brad
Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Adam Brody, Kerry Washington, Keith David,
Chris Weitz, Rachael Huntley, Michelle Monaghan
Genre: Action,
Comedy, Crime
Rated: PG-13
Length: 120
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356910
IMDb Blurb: A
bored married couple is surprised to learn that they are both assassins hired
by competing agencies to kill each other.
This film about two assassins that are married and ignorant
of each other is actually a really good place to find a bad ass female
character. Both before and after the truth comes out, Mrs. Smith is always
shown to be Mr. Smith’s equal in the assassination business. She’s ruthless,
smart, and active. When they finally go head-to-head, it winds up being a bit
of a draw.
They are shown as equals. If one of them is better in one
scene, the other is better in another. It’s really well done.
19 – Knights of Badassdom (2013)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Joe
Lynch
Writer: Kevin
Dreyfuss, Matt Wall
Actors: D.R.
Anderson, E. Earl Brown, Kevin Connell, Sean Cook, Peter Dinklage, Khanh Doan,
Michael Gladis, Summer Glau, Brett Gipson, Tom Hopper, Ryan Kwanten, Margarita
Levieva, Joshua Malina, Brian Posehn, Steve Zahn
Genre: Adventure,
Comedy, Fantasy
Rated: R
Length: 86
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1545660
IMDb Blurb: Live-action
role players conjure up a demon from Hell by mistake and they must deal with
the consequences.
Now, Gwen wasn’t the main character of Knights of Badassdom… but that changes nothing. She put the rest of
the characters to shame in how epic she was. She was a character that easily
stands out in your mind, even in a film as strange as this one.
18 – Scream (1996-2011)
Viewing Options: Vudu,
iTunes
Director: Wes
Craven
Writer: Kevin
Williamson
Actors: Drew
Barrymore, Roger Jackson, Neve Campbell, Skeet Ulrich, Lawrence Hecht,
Courteney Cox, Rose McGowan, Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy,
Live Schreiber
Genre: Horror,
Mystery
Rated: R
Length: 111
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571
IMDb Blurb: A
year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new
killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a
deadly game.
Sidney Prescott may have started her time in the Scream movies as a victim… but that
changed pretty quickly. She learned from her mistakes and, by later movies, she
was almost cold blooded in her actions to ensure the bad guy didn’t come back
after being killed.
No matter how weak she might have been at the start, there’s
no doubting that later Sidney is ready to take on whoever she has to.
17 – Yoga Hosers (2016)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Amazon, iTunes
Director: Kevin
Smith
Writer: Kevin
Smith
Actors: Lily-Rose
Depp, Harley Quinn Smith, Adam Brody, Harley Morenstein, Ashley Greene, Jack
Depp, Austin Butler, Tyler Posey, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, Justin Long, Tony
Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Haley Joel Osment, Johnny Depp, Kevin Conroy, Kevin
Smith, Stan lee, Jason Mewes
Genre: Comedy,
Fantasy, Horror
Rated: PG-13
Length: 88
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3838992
IMDb Blurb: Two
teenage yoga enthusiasts team up with a legendary man-hunter to battle with an
ancient evil presence that is threatening their major party plans.
The two teenage main characters of this film start off
pretty normal, but when faced with evil, they step up their game and take it
out.
The film is a little ridiculous, but in the best way… and
the girl are bad ass in it.
16 – The Craft (1996)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Andrew
Fleming
Writer: Peter
Filardi, Andrew Fleming
Actors: Robin
Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeet Ulrich, Christine
Taylor, Breckin Meyer, Nathaniel Marston, Cliff De Young, Assumpta Serna, Helen
Shaver, Jeanine Jackson
Genre: Drama,
Fantasy, Horror
Rated: R
Length: 101
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115963
IMDb Blurb: A
newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage
girls who practice witchcraft and they all soon conjure up various spells and
curses against those who even slightly anger them.
Although the girls in this film start out as just kind of
weird, the entrance of Sarah turns them all into real witches. Nancy may turn
evilly batshit, but Sarah winds up growing into her power and saving the day.
When the other girls lose their abilities, she doesn’t. The ending suggests
that she’ll remain a strong witch for the rest of her days… only without the
crazy that Nancy fell victim to.
15 – How I Live Now (2013)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Hulu, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Kevin
Macdonald
Writer: Meg
Rosoff, Jeremy Brock, Penelope Skinner, Tony Grisoni, Jack Thorne
Actors: Saoirse
Ronan, Tom Holland, George MacKay, Harley Bird, Danny McEvoy, Anna Chancellor, Jonathan
Rugman, Corey Johnson, Darren Morfitt
Genre: Drama,
Romance, Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 101
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1894476
IMDb Blurb: An
American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds
love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world
around her.
Although I found this movie intensely creepy, the main
character, Daisy, proved herself to be really amazing in a horrible situation.
She didn’t succeed at absolutely everything, but she managed to reunite the
majority of her family during a struggle-filled war. That’s kind of hard to
overlook.
14 – Wanted (2008)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Timur
Bekmambetov
Writer: Michael
Brandt, Derek Haas, Chris Morgan, Mark Millar, J.G. Jones
Actors: James
McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann,
Common, Kristen Hager, Marc Warren, David O’Hara, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Dato
Bakhtadze, Chris Pratt, Lorna Scott, Sophiya Haque
Genre: Action,
Crime, Fantasy
Rated: R
Length: 110
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464
IMDb Blurb: A
frustrated office worker learns that he is the son of a professional assassin
and that he shares his father's superhuman killing abilities.
A lot of people found this film to be lacking, but I enjoyed
it in all its cheesy glory.
Fox was incredibly bad ass in it. Not only was she
responsible for initially saving Wesley and training him, but she’s the only
one that made the right decision in the end… even though it involved her death.
13 – Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Gary
Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Writer: Tab
Murphy, Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, Joss Whedon, Bryce Zabel, Jackie Zabel,
David Reynolds, Plato
Actors: Michael
J. Fox, Cree Summer, Corey Burton, James Garner, Claudia Christian, John
Mahoney, Phil Morris, Leonard Nimoy, Don Novello, Jacqueline Obradors, Florence
Stanley, David Ogden Stiers, Natalie Strom, Jim Varney, Jim Cummings, Patrick
Pinney, Steven Barr
Genre: Animation,
Action, Adventure
Rated: PG
Length: 95
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230011
IMDb Blurb: A
young adventurer named Milo Thatch joins an intrepid group of explorers to find
the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis.
Princess Kida wound up being the only hope of her land. This
is an incredibly often forgotten Disney film and she’s a very underrated
princess for the production company. She’s never mentioned, but she was
definitely epic.
12 – Divergent (2014)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Neil
Burger
Writer: Evan
Daugherty, Vanessa Taylor, Vanessa Roth
Actors: Shailene
Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz,
Miles Teller, Tony Goldwyn, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Mekhi Phifer, Kate Winslet,
Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Christian Madsen, Amy Newbolds, Ben Lamb
Genre: Adventure,
Mystery, Sci-Fi
Rated: PG-13
Length: 139
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1840309
IMDb Blurb: In a
world divided by factions based on virtues, Tris learns she's Divergent and
won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the
mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too
late.
Tris is MUCH more epic in the books… in fact the movies are
so different than the book that I’m hesitant to call them the same damn story.
Still, and begrudgingly, I have to admit she’s pretty bad ass in the films as
well.
I still recommend the books over the movies.
11 – You’re Next (2011)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Adam
Wingard
Writer: Simon
Barrett
Actors: Sharni
Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, AJ Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Margaret Laney,
Amy Seimetz, Ti West, Rob moran, Barbara Crampton, L.C. Holt, Simon Barrett,
Lane Hughes, Larry Fessenden, Kate Lyn Sheil, Calvin Reeder
Genre: Horror,
Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 95
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1853739
IMDb Blurb: When
the Davison family comes under attack during their wedding anniversary getaway,
the gang of mysterious killers soon learns that one of the victims harbors a
secret talent for fighting back.
This thriller focuses on a family that’s attacked during a
gathering. Erin is an outsider visiting with a date. When she’s confronted with
the violence, we learn quickly that she’s more than she seems. She takes them
on with survival instincts we couldn’t have expected from anyone at that
gathering. It’s a sight to behold.
10 – I Am Number Four (2011)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: D.J.
Caruso
Writer: Alfred
Gough, Miles Millar, Marti Noxon, Jobie Hughes, James Frey
Actors: Alex
Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Teresa Palmer, Dianna Agron, Callan McAuliffe,
Kevin Durand, Jake Abel, Jeff Hochendoner, Patrick Sebes, Greg Townley, Reuben
Langdon, Emily Wickersham
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rated: PG-13
Length: 109
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1464540
IMDb Blurb: Aliens
and their Guardians are hiding on Earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. They
can only be killed in numerical order, and Number Four is next on the list.
This is his story.
I hear this film is also very off from the plot in the
books, but I still enjoy it. And, although Number 4/John is the main character,
it’s Number 6 that’s a rock star.
Number 6 swoops in when the worst is happening and saves
John’s ass. She also fills him in on everything they need to do and helps him
figure out his powers better.
And yes, there’s two girls on the poster, but there’s no
love triangle. How’s that for a breath of fresh air?
9 – Evil Dead - Remake (2013)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Fede
Alvarez
Writer: Fede
Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues, Sam Raimi
Actors: Jane
Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore,
Phoenix Connolly, Jim McLarty, Randal Wilson, Rupert Degas, Bob Dorian, Ellen
Sandweiss, Bruce Campbell, Inca
Genre: Fantasy,
Horror
Rated: R
Length: 91
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1288558
IMDb Blurb: Five
friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads
them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
All the original Evil
Dead films are awesomely campy and fun to watch, but the remake took a more
serious turn. Not only that, but it replaced our beloved Ash with Mia, a bad
ass girl that has to try to survive the evil in the house.
People really need to stop activating the evil inside
cabins. Rule of thumb, if it’s written in Latin – don’t read it out-loud.
8 – Hush (2016)
Viewing Options: Netflix
Director: Mike
Flanagan
Writer: Mike
Flanagan, Kate Siegel
Actors: John
Gallagher Jr., Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco, Samantha Sloyan, Emma Graves
Genre: Horror,
Thriller
Rated: R
Length: 81
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5022702
IMDb Blurb: A
deaf writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for
her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.
Hush is bad ass in
so many different ways. Not only is the main character a female charged with
protecting herself against a sociopathic invader, but she’s deaf as well.
Maddie is convinced she’s going to die during the majority
of the film, but decides that she’d rather go down fighting than waiting for
her fate. By the end, she pulled herself out of danger and made it clear that
she was no easy victim.
7 – Frozen (2013)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Chris
Buck, Jennifer Lee
Writer: Jennifer
Lee, Hans Christian Andersen, Chris Buck, Shane Morris
Actors: Kristen
Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Santino Fontana, Alan Tudyk,
Ciaran Hinds, Chris Williams, Stephen J. Anderson, Maia Wilson, Edie McClurg,
Livvy Stubenrauch, Eva Bella, Spencer Lacey Ganus
Genre: Animation,
Adventure, Comedy
Rated: PG
Length: 102
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629
IMDb Blurb: When
the newly crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into
ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain
man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition.
There isn’t a single part of me that understands why this
film isn’t on more lists like this one. It’s featured on precious few, as a
matter of fact.
Elsa is incredibly bad ass and Anna sets out to get her sister
back before she even met Kristoff. It’s clear that she’d have continued on her
mission with or without the guy. The film itself isn’t even based on romantic
love, it’s based on the true sisterly love between the two women.
6 – Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010)
Viewing Options: Netflix,
iTunes
Director: Stuart
Beattie
Writer: John
Marsden, Stuart Beattie
Actors: Caitlin
Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris
Pang, Ashleigh Cummings, Andrew Ryan
Genre: Action,
Adventure, Drama
Rated: R
Length: 103
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1456941
IMDb Blurb: When
their country is invaded and their families are taken, eight unlikely high
school teenagers band together to fight.
This is basically the Australian version of Red Dawn (1984/2012), only the group is
led by a female. It’s actually a great film.
5 – Brave (2012)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Mark
Andrews, Brenda Chapman, Steve Purcell
Writer: Brenda
Chapman, Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Irene Mecchi
Actors: Kelly
Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin
McKidd, Craig Ferguson, Peigi Barker, Steven Cree
Genre: Animation,
Adventure, Comedy
Rated: PG
Length: 93
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217209
IMDb Blurb: Determined
to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos
to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her
archery skills to undo a beastly curse.
This is another Disney film that isn’t mentioned nearly
enough on lists like this one. Merida is a bad ass with a bow and arrow, and
there’s very little that’s a real match for her.
4 – Bend it Like Beckham (2002)
Viewing Options: HBO
Go, Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Gurinder
Chadha
Writer: Gurinder
Chadha, Guljit Bindra, Paul Mayeda Berges
Actors: Parminder
Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher, Archie Panjabi,
Shaznay Lewis, Frank Harper, Juliet Stevenson, Shaheen Khan, Ameet Chana, Pooja
Shah
Genre: Comedy,
Drama, Romance
Rated: PG-13
Length: 112
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286499
IMDb Blurb: The
daughter of orthodox Sikh rebels against her parents' traditionalism and joins
a football team
For a young girl interested in soccer, this film was filled
will bad ass role models. They got dirty, they sacrificed, and they fought
against stereotypes in order to play the game they love. A great film with some
great women in it.
3 – Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu, iTunes
Director: Andy
Tennant
Writer: Susannah
Grant, Andy Tennant, Rick Parks, Charles Perrault
Actors: Drew
Barrymore, Anjelica Huston, Dougray Scott, Patrick Godfrey, Megan Dodds,
Melanie Lynskey, Timothy West, Judy Parfitt, Jeroen Krabbe, Lee Ingleby, Anna
Maguire, Richard O’Brien, Elizabeth Earl, Alex Pooley
Genre: Comedy,
Drama, Romance
Rated: PG-13
Length: 121
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120631
IMDb Blurb: The
"real" story of Cinderella. A refreshing new take on the classic
fairy tale.
Yes, a Cinderella story made this list.
Ever After: A
Cinderella Story, however, is a little different than what people are
mostly used to. Although the prince gets it into his head to save Danielle (Cinderella),
he doesn’t get there in time. She saves her damn self.
This film was actually my favorite for a little while when I
was younger.
2 – Enough (2002)
Viewing Options: HBO
Go, Amazon, Vudu, iTunes
Director: Michael
Apted
Writer: Nicholas
Kazan
Actors: Jennifer
Lopez, Billy Campbell, Tessa Allen, Juliette Lewis, Dan Futterman, Noah Wyle,
Fred Ward, Christopher Maher, Janet Carroll, Bill Cobbs, Bruce A. Young
Genre: Crime,
Drama, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
Length: 115
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278435
IMDb Blurb: After
running away fails, a terrified woman (Jennifer Lopez) empowers herself in
order to battle her abusive husband (Billy Campbell).
This film focuses on a more realistic kind of bad ass woman.
In the beginning of the movie, Slim meets a man and gets
married. Somewhere down the road he turns incredibly abusive. The majority of
the rest of the film is Slim running or learning how to fight. She’s started to
understand that he’d never stop going after her and their daughter if she doesn’t
fight back.
The ending is amazing to watch, especially for someone that’s
dealt with abuse.
1 – A League of Their Own (1992)
Viewing Options: Amazon,
Vudu
Director: Penny
Marshall
Writer: Kim Wilson,
Kelly Candaele, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
Actors: Tom
Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, Megan Cavanagh, Tracy
Reiner, Bitty Schram, Ann Cusack, Anne Ramsay, Freddie Simpson, Renee Coleman,
Robin Knight, Patti Pelton, Kelli Simpkins, Neezer Tarleton, Connie
Pounds-Taylor, Kathleen Marshall, Sharon Szmidt, Pauline Brailsford, David
Strathairn, Garry Marshall, Jon Lovitz, Bill Pullman, Eddie Jones, Justin
Scheller, Alan Wilder
Genre: Comedy,
Drama, Family
Rated: PG
Length: 128
minutes
More Information Here.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104694
IMDb Blurb: Two
sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help
it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.
I watched this film so much when I was a kid that I destroyed
the video tape.
This film was filled to the brim with bad ass women breaking
stereotypes and owning the baseball diamond. I still have the soundtrack
memorized from beginning to end and it’s almost impossible to choose just one
character to admire over the others.
The fact that this wasn’t mentioned on any of the lists I
saw, is a crime.