Our Favorite Bad Ass Chicks of Pop Culture

Although folks like Quentin Tarantino and Joss Whedon have always pushed strong independent influential female characters on fans through their films and television series, they haven’t unfortunately been as widely accepted in pop culture as most of us would want.  But the last few years saw a major turning of the tides with many hit shows featuring strong female characters like “Nikita.” Not to mention what with Scarlett Johannsen kicking ass as Black Widow in “Iron Man 2” and “The Avengers,” Zoe Saldana dominating in “The Losers” and “Colombiana,” or Rick Jacobson garnering a cult following with three ass kicking sexy lesbians in 2010’s “Bitch Slap.”

There’s also Noomi Rapace winning the hearts of film buffs everywhere as Goth hacker Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish critically acclaimed murder mysteries “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Disney’s “Tron Legacy” putting the gorgeous Olivia Wilde center stage as the enigmatic game heroine Quarra, and Zack Snyder giving us a super team of tough warrior women in his 2011 fantasy epic “Sucker Punch,” we thought we’d pay tribute to the bad ass chicks of pop culture that we loved and couldn’t get enough of. For those among you expecting the obvious, you will not be getting the typical list as we took about as much precaution to pick the more unusual characters we relish in reading and watching, those women who could kick your ass up and down the street and look good doing it.

After heavy consideration and much switching and deletion, here are warrior women you’d want in your corner during a when the chips are down.

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Star Wars – The Art of the Bad Deal — Serenity-Firefly Class of 03-K64

SW-SerenityOne of the interesting aspects of this Star Wars and Serenity one shot is that writer Zach Whedon takes the time out not only to tell interesting stories in a little under fifteen pages, but he draws parallels between the Firefly and Star Wars universe that’s tough to ignore. Deep down Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds are cut from the same cloth. They’re both street smart pirates, they both love what they do, they both can handle themselves in combat, and they both have creaky old ships that they’d rather die in before giving up. In “The Art of the Bad Deal,” Han and Chewie land on a distant planet where they’re having trouble trading with a particular alien species.

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Chronicle (2012)

If history has taught us anything, it’s that time and time again it all comes back to the same old adage. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely. A bold mix of “The Craft” and “Akira,” director Josh Trank completely embodies such a notion with “Chronicle” a film that demonstrates what occurs when sentient power is put in the hands of three people with major chips on their shoulders and a god complex. “Chronicle” is in essence a superhero movie without a comic book source, but deep down it’s a brilliant examination of what could happen if real amazing power were to belong to average human beings with their own vendettas and selfish goals. No matter how good a person, deep down we all know it would become incredibly disastrous and absolutely and chaotic.

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Subspecies (1991) [Blu-Ray]

Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention but what is the Bloodstone supposed to do, anyway? The entire first film of “Subspecies” revolves around the sacred macguffin called the Bloodstone. Allegedly it’s supposed to drip the blood of the saints but then what? Does that grant the vampire god-like abilities? Isn’t that a bit redundant considering a vampire is already near invincible? Does it allow them to walk during the day? Does it make them holy or something? I could never quite figure out what if anything the bloodstone was for. “Subspecies” in spite of its inherent narrative faults and logic gaps is a time when Full Moon was trying to deliver us quality entertainment.

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Apocalypse Pizza Video (2012)

As is the case with most short films these days, “Apocalypse Pizza Video” is only really existent as a pitch for a feature film. It’s a small glimpse in to a humongous world and massive narrative that promises to be wide in scope should it ever become a feature film. Or a series. I’m not sure which. Some information I’ve read claims this film is part one in a series, while other sources claim it’s a “trailer” for the feature film the producers are trying to get funding for to make in to a feature film. None of that matter as I’m a complete sucker for any form of fiction that concerns the apocalypse and the film from Je Suis Bien Content is one of the most creative piece of post-apocalyptic cinema I’ve seen in a while.

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Robots Killed My Grandma! Our Ten Favorite Robots of Pop Culture

Robots are at an all time high in popularity across the world. Not since the eighties has there been such a surge of robotic characters in pop culture, what with the smashing success of Michael Bay’s “Transformers” movies, the battling bots in “Real Steel,” the upcoming “Battleship,” and the enigmatic David in Ridley Scott’s highly anticipated “Prometheus,” robots are as richly tapped in modern pop culture as ever before. In celebration of the newest trend of robots in modern cinema and media, we compiled ten of our favorite robots of pop culture, ranging from film, TV, comics, and literature. Grease up your rivets, and dive in.

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Justice League: Doom (2012)

It’s the Justice League’s worst nightmare. After years of battling petty thugs like the Royal Flush Gang, someone finally figured out how to systematically bring down each and every member of Earth’s most powerful super team. And worse, they’ve figured out a way to psychologically destroy them so they’re each rendered completely impotent in battle. Vandal Savage is at his megalomania again and he has a master plan that will completely ruin how the world operates leaving him the supreme ruler. But first he must eliminate the Justice League. Through a series of scenarios and calculated confrontations, Savage manages to succeed in immobilizing each member of the justice league allowing him adamant time to complete his plan. But he doesn’t count on the secret weapon: Cyborg.

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