Wonder Women: Mission: Impossible Franchise

If Ethan Hunt is considered the quintessential American spy opposite MI6 British royalty James Bond, then his female counterparts are presumably bad-asses in their own right. Throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise led by Tom Cruise, Hunt's squad has offered actresses a wide range of love interests and agents. With the series's sixth installment Fallout hitting theaters, I thought it was about time to take a look at how the women fare throughout the franchise. Here's another edition of Wonder Women featuring Mission: Impossible. (Note: this list is in chronological order of the movies' release date and contains spoilers). Which is your favorite Mission: Impossible female character? Feel free to let me know in the comments!

Where Are All The It Girls of 2018? (And Here Are My Top Five)

The label It Girl is a complicated one. Originating in the 1920s, Clara Bow was a young up-and-coming actress who captivated audiences on-screen with her looks, vulnerability, style, and talent to become one of Hollywood's earliest icons. In one year, she made twenty-five movies, and was eventually dubbed the first It Girl, the simple definition of which is a woman with a magnetic personality and/or sex appeal. Despite becoming an instant sensation, her work and unique charisma from the silent film era continues to live on and inspire.

Over the years, It Girl has often come to mean something else; a way of noticing women for their fifteen minutes of fame regardless of the industry in film, television, music, or fashion; treating them more as a promoted trend than a natural force to be reckoned with. It became less about celebrating actresses who rose from indies or obscurity to entertain and enlighten, and more of who could be more gif-worthy in interviews and on the red carpet. Most recently, Hollywood used the the term to peg rising stars Brie Larson, Emma Stone, Lupita N'Yongo, and Jennifer Lawrence as they captured the audience's and media's attention with their talent, personality, and range on-screen. Yet just as fast as they took over film, magazine covers, and social media, the celebration of a woman or women taking over Tinseltown slipped quietly out of the spotlight, rarely to be used again since.

This suddenly made me ask: What happened to all the It Girls? Granted, the answer arrived pretty easily: The past six months in Hollywood alone from the #TimesUp and #MeToo movement, and the political warfare making waves around the world, have paved the way for more important issues. (And comparatively, there is no It Bro putting actors on a pedestal, is there?.) The glamorous side of Hollywood isn't the first thing on most people's minds right now when it constantly feels like the world is in peril.

Though I shirk at the idea of singling out actresses over others in a superficial game of Who-Is-Better-or-More-Famous, I also look forward to the inspiring success newer actresses have created by breaking out on-screen or out of the mold. It is refreshing to see fresh faces pave the way for themselves and imagine where their careers will be in the future. As 2018 is almost halfway over, powerful actresses have continued to slay on-screen but haven't been offered the spotlight as they have in the past. This still made me want to share my top five favorite bad-ass It Girls for 2018 in the hopes that you're inspired to check them out and see what they have going on. 'Cause they are slaying Tinseltown right now (and for the foreseeable future).

What actresses or actors are onto big things this year? Whose work should I check out? Let me know in the comments below!

Thank you Carrie: 13 Moving Tributes to Our Princess Leia

Carrie Fisher didn't expect to become famous, let alone the icon of a major franchise. 

Daughter to actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, she started studying the arts as a young adult, and then sort of fell into showbusiness by taking one small job and then landing the role of a lifetime. In 1977, Princess Leia in George Lucas's A New Hope became a beacon for what would become generations of fans. Her character's intelligence, tenacity and resilient attitude set herself among the best and most beloved heroines in film history.

After being absent from the big screen for nearly thirty years, the fandom never thought Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia would ever return. When Disney rebooted the franchise in 2015 with The Force Awakens, one of the greatest most anticipating moments was to see the original characters come back. Leia returned as a sophisticated General still fighting the good fight against evil. Though Fisher unexpectedly passed away in December 2016, a year before the eighth film and most recent installment The Last Jedi hit theaters, her character and performance became a sudden a goodbye that has meant the world to so many fans, including myself.

The legacy she leaves behind both on and off the screen is unforgettable. Now that the eighth movie has hit theaters, I thought now would be the best time to send out a simple Thank You to Carrie and our Princess Leia with thirteen moving tributes celebrating her humor, confidence, bravery, spontaneity, vulnerability, and pure bad-assery. May the Force Be With You.

Wonder Women: Lisa Freemont in Rear Window (1964)

When one thinks about the intriguing elements of Alfred Hitchcock's filmography, the abundance of "icy blondes" he utilized throughout his career is hard to ignore. He worked with a myriad of starlets like Tippi Hedren, Janet Leigh, and Kim Novak, establishing them as femme fatales and victims on-screen. In celebrating Halloween by watching Rear Window, Grace Kelly's role as Lisa Freemont felt like a great character to highlight for my Wonder Women series.

Elegant and tenacious Grace Kelly dazzles in the classic thriller about an injured photographer L.B "Jeff" Jeffries (played by James Stewart) who's cocooned in his apartment and starts spying on his neighbors. Getting caught up in their own imaginations and theories, they suspect a grizzly murdered took place just across the street and try to prove their accusations to the authorities.

Throughout his career Hitchcock examined the themes of a seemingly perfect crime, and the morals that came along with the act in question. Like similar suspenseful films Marnie, Vertigo and Dial M for Murder, he also dabbled in the complications of marriage, singlehood, and the sexual tension between men and women. More prominently Rear Window, a tale of voyeurism and murder, offers a switch of gender roles where its independent and undaunted leading lady becomes the hero.

Wonder Women: Sasha Williams

Guts and blood? Check. Zombies? Check. Andrew Lincoln looking amazing? Check. Oh yeah, what does The Walking Dead also have: kick-ass women. BOOYAH.

For a while now, we've been celebrating women of The Walking Dead like Lori Grimes and Andrea, and then Maggie and Beth. Lucky for us there are plenty of strong and complex survivors who are worthy of being under the spotlight.

For this edition, we're moving onto the calculating straight-shooter, Sasha Williams. From her skills as a warrior to her devastating losses and post-traumatic stress, she's been an invaluable and complex survivor.

We're going to take a look at how awesome this woman is, and how the flaws or achievements of the writing shape her. What do you love about Sasha? Feel free to share in the comments! Hope you enjoy!