Kindle Edition Amazon Category:  Arts/Entertainment Publisher: BAM Press Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 152 Copyright: March 31, 2012 ISBN-13: 9780986604256 Over 100 movies that are about women, have strong leading roles for women or are about women's issues are described to help women find great movies to watch. The films are all directed by a woman and so provide a unique perspective appreciated by women audiences. With the exception of a few unique properties (The Hunger Games, The Help, Eat Pray Love, Sex and the City, etc), Hollywood has been getting out of the movies-about-women business in the last few years, choosing instead to concentrate on films with more appeal to men in global markets. As for women directing any of those big films and bringing a female perspective to the content, well it's still a big challenge, but over the decades there have been quite a few entertaining movies about women directed by women, sometimes for theatrical release, sometimes for regular television and more often now for premium cable. This book celebrates just over 100 of them. So it’s fun and exciting to offer female film fans this list of 101 Movies About Women Directed By Women, some of which will be familiar (Julie & Julia, Mamma Mia, 27 Dresses), but a lot of them won’t. So refind an old forgotten special movie or discover something new. Excerpt Wedding And Marriage Help To Straighten Up One Crazy Lady If you saw the Lili Taylor character from the start of A Slipping-Down Life (1999) on the street you would likely go out of your way to avoid her, but it turns out that she's a work in progress and does end up a much better human being. She is extremely introverted to begin with, but something about the singing of Guy Pearce (as Drumsticks Casey) on the radio reaches into her repressed Southern psyche and shakes her up. She gets herself together enough to go in search of him, but she quite quickly turns into a fan/stalker. She carves his nickname (Drums) onto her forehead at one point, but there's still something about her that appeals to him. They get married in a civil ceremony that does not look like it's going to turn up on one of those reality wedding shows about perfect weddings. But the fact that they did get married has a big affect on their relationship and the story of how Taylor begins to find herself. Fans of the Anne Tyler novel this story is taken from will probably not be thrilled by the version created by writer-director Toni Kalem, but people who like stories of redemption featuring off-beat characters will. ROM, MUS, DR (the codes are categories of movies which are added at the end of each review. This one means Romance, Musical, Drama) This is one sample review from the book.

Bottom line: A smart, interesting, and helpful movie guide April 9, 2012
By Caroline Taylor
This book is really pleasant to wander around in. I like the alphabetical order of the entries. I like that the title of each entry is a mini-synopsis of the movie. And each movie description is concise, eloquent, informative, and without bias or criticism. I really like the voice of the book, which is a nice combination of well-informed, matter of fact, and in love with the movies.

The authors have also invented a pretty elaborate code system for categorizing the pictures. It's easy to use and very helpful.

I've always considered myself to be a movie buff, and I hadn't realized how few movies directed by women I've actually seen. I complain (mostly to myself) that there aren't enough, and that more should be made. It never occurred to me to actively look for them. Now I don't have to! And I'm off to recast my Netflix queue (and tell others about what I discover).

Thanks, Susan Winlaw and Alex Law, for a valuable and engaging reference tool!