Thinking out loud

I do judge a book by it's cover.

The front, the back, the pictures, the text, the feel.

And if I like it, I buy it and read it.

I also judge people by their appearance.

The hair, the style, the accessories, the attitude.

And what's outside again gives me a pretty good idea of what's inside.

In both cases, I'm sometimes wrong.

But not always. Not even often.

Then there are movies.

Movies have been judged by professional reviewers and many in the public before I make the time for them, so I start out with biases of all shapes and sizes.

My judgement over the years has come to be based on the dialogue, the personalities, the space between chases and shoot-outs and the morality of the individuals and the whole.

Those biases have set me against such innocent movies as The Little Mermaid, and for such unexpectedly thought-provoking movies as I Am Legend.

When it comes to action hero flicks, there is one standard that outweighs all others in my book: not how many times our hero dodges a bullet or explosion or nuclear holocaust, not how many people he wipes out of necessity while saving the rest of the world, I tend to judge an action-hero flick by the strength of its female character.

With that standard, Spiderman comes in last. Indiana Jones is good -- especially bringing back the strongest woman from the first three movies to bring closure to the last. Star Wars always has had strong women. Depends on the 007 movies -- most women are expendable, there only for their looks and entertainment value. X-men have weak and strong in all shapes and sizes and genders. Ironman brought a strong woman in a surprising way -- one who never fired a shot or dodged a bullet, but who wasn't walked on, was confident, clever, capable and interesting.

Give me a good cover, a friendly countenance and a strong role model and I'll give you a thumbs up. Every time.

Blast from the past:

Some very close, personal friends in super-hero action at Universal Studies -- 10 years ago.