The Bechdel Test was named for Allison Bechdel, whose comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For in 1985 measured female presence in movies by employing three criteria: Are there two or more women in it, with names? Do the women talk to each other? About something other than a man? Far too many mainstream movies [...]

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Million Dollar Baby (2004) Directed by Clint Eastwood Screenplay by Paul Haggis, based on stories from Rope Burns by F.X. Toole Produced by Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy, Tom Rosenberg, Paul Haggis 132 minutes This Academy Award winner for Best Picture of 2004 seemed to forge an unholy backlash of conservative pundits (claiming to be [...]

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By Joe Valdez What the *&#! Are They About? C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) — accountant for Consolidated Life, or more specifically, “Ordinary Policy Department, Premium Accounting Division, Section W, desk number 861” — has made his West 60s apartment available to four executives who treat Baxter’s home as their extramarital playground. His neighbors, a Jewish [...]

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