MOVIES about Girls that could probably Kick your Ass

ACTION MOVIES about Girls that KickAss

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INDEX

-1- CHIX w/ SWORDS

-2- SCi-Fi

-3- Law Enforcement/Secret Agents/Criminal Anti-Heroines

-4- SUPERNATURAL

-5- in GENERAL hardcore FEMALEs

-6- COMICS / GAMES / Graphic Novels

-7- WESTERNs

-8- TRASH/ B-Movies / Exploitation

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CHIX w/ SWORDS:
Conan the Destoyer (1984) Grace Jones
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Michelle Yeoh & Ziyi Zhang
Legend of Fong Sai Yuk (1993) Josephine Siao  (aka The Legend)
Red Sonja (1985) Brigiette Nielsen
Ninja 3:  The Domination (1984) Lucinda Dickey uber cheese
The Messenger (1999) Milla Jovovich
Joan of Arc (1999) Leelee Sobieski

RoboGeisha (2009) Naoto Takenaka

Suckerpunch (2011) Emily Browning

SCi-Fi:
Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, 4 & 5 (1979+) Sigourney Weaver
5^th Element (1997) Milla Jovovich
Mad Max beyond Thunderdome (1985) Tina Turner
Bladerunner (1982) Darryl Hannah
The Matrix (1999) Carrie Ann Moss
Predator 2 (1990) Maria Conchita Alonso
Terminator 2 (1991) Linda Hamilton
Ice Pirates (1984) Angelica Huston 

Law Enforcement/Secret Agents/Criminal Anti-Heroines:
View to a Kill (1985) Grace Jones
Silence of the Lambs (1991) Jodie Foster
Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987) Brigiette Nielsen
La Femme Nikita (1990) Anne Parillaud (in French with English Subtitles)
Black Cat (1991) Jade Leung
Supercop (1992) Michelle Yeoh
Sister of the Street Fighter (1974) Etsuko Shihomi
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Diana Rigg
Goldfinger (1964) Honor Blackman
Mr & Mrs Smith (2005) Angelina Jolie
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) Gena Davis
The Brave One (2007) Jodie Foster
Jackie Brown (1997) Pam Grier
Domino (2005) Keira Knightley

SUPERNATURAL:
The Hunger (1983) Catherine Deneauve & Susan Sarandon
Ghostbuster (1984) Sigourney Weaver
Species (1995) Natasha Henstridge
Underworld (2003) Kate Beckinsale
Van Helsing (2004) Kate Beckinsale
Queen of the Damned (2002) Aaliyah

in GENERAL hardcore FEMALEs:
G.I. Jane (1997) Demi Moore dir. Ridley Scott
Girlfight (2000) Michelle Rodriguez
Million Dollar Baby (2004) Hillary Swank
Freeway (1996) Reese Witherspoon
Call Her Savage (1932) Clara Bow
Ladies of the Mob (1928) Clara Bow
High Tension (2003) Cecile De France
Deathproof (2007) Zoe Bell (who is also amazing in the 2004 documentary about female stuntwomen called Double Dare)

COMICS / GAMES / Graphic Novels:
Kill Bill v. 1 & 2 (2003) Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Darryl Hannah & Vivica Fox
Sin City (2005) Rosario Dawson & Devon Aoki
Tomb Raider (2001) Anglina Jolie
Wanted (2008) Angelina Jolie
PeeWee's Big Adventure () Large Marge lol
XxX (2002) Asia Argento
Resident Evil, 2 & 3 (2002) Milla Jovovich
Resident Evil (2002) Michelle Rodriguez
Batman & Robin (1997) Alicia Silverstone
Batman Returns (1992) Michelle Pfieffer
Catwoman (2004) Halle Barry & Sharon Stone
Xmen or X2 (2000) Halle Barry, Famke Janssen, Rebbeca Romijn, Anna Paquin
V for Vendetta (2005) Natalie Portman
Ultraviolet (2006) Milla Jovovich
Elektra (2005) Jennifer Garner
Aeon Flux (2005) Charlize Theron, but the animated version is way better
KickAss (2010) Chloe Grace Moretz

WESTERNs
Quick & the Dead (1995) Sharon Stone
Gang of Roses (2003) Little Kim, LisaRaye, Monica Calhoun

TRASH/ B-Movies / Exploitation:
Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973) Anitra Ford aka Graveyard Tramps
Serial Mom (1994) Kathleen Turner dir. John Waters
Switchblade Sisters (1975) Monica Gayle
Faster Pussycat! Kill Kill! (1965) Tura Satana dir. Russ Meyer
Foxy Brown (1974) Pam Grier
Coffy (1973) Pam Grier
Original Gangstas (1996) Pam Grier
I Spit on Your Grave (1978) Camille Keaton classic revenge horror
Kitten with a Whip (1964) AnnMargaret
Big Bad Mama (1974) Angie Dickinson produced by Roger Corman

Choctaw Origin Myths

Origins of the Choctaw Nation 

Origins of the Native American Choctaw tribe are relative to what time period you ask about.  Living Choctaws are prevalent in five states today due to earlier forced migration.  Location of Choctaws prior to removal has been written about by English, French and Spanish traders.  Oral tradition suggests Choctaws originated from a mound of earth referred to as "Beloved Mother".  Different scholars have opposing ideas about the true origin of the tribe and even now certain tribal members are quick to point out which state their clan (or ogla) hails from.

 

  
Choctaw tribe is considered a sovereign nation independent of the United States by many countries in other parts of the globe.  Today, the Choctaw tribe is split into five factions within Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Oklahoma and California with a population of a little over half a million Choctaws living on tribal lands.  In the past, Choctaws were democratically governed by three regional chiefs or mikos under the advisement of a head chief.  Issues like war were voted on in an assembly open to all members of the tribe (Swanton 95-96).  Interestingly, the American imposition on the Choctaws has created another system of governance based on location.

 In Mississippi, the Choctaws who refused to be removed from their homeland by American soldiers and missionaries were forced onto oppressive reservations there.  Oklahoma Choctaws were the first members of the Five Civilized Tribes to be moved West in the poorly guided and tragically undersupplied Trail of Tears series of migrations.  It is notable that these first groups traveling to Oklahoma did so voluntarily without military escorts based on the promises of land grant treaties (www.ChoctawNation.com).  At the beginning of the last century prior to the First World War, the American military coerced many Choctaws to move to California.  These patriotic Native Americans were eager to support the war effort working in munitions plants.  They were disappointed to find the promised relocation funding and housing to be inadequate and most were unable to escape the poverty found in California to return to their families in Oklahoma (www.OklaChahta.org).

 At the time of the European invasion of Native American lands, the Choctaw people mainly lived in Mississippi.  Their residence there is confirmed in historical writings by American missionaries in the 1800's, French traders in the 1700's and Hernando de Soto's Spanish conquistadors as early as 1540 (Swanton 4).  Archaeological evidence of prehistoric Choctaws living in Mississippi is especially abundant near the large mounds of earth called "Nanih Waiya" in what is now Winston County.

  Oral tradition says that the Choctaw ancestors could remember living beneath the earth and found their way above ground through a tunnel passage or cave leading to the top of a tall mound of earth (Swanton 35-37).  Details of this origin myth vary.  Some suggest the mounds in Mississippi to be the point of origin,  saying that the tribe emanated from the Nanih Waiya Cave on the other side of the creek nearby the Nanih Waiya Mound. These days, the cave's many entrances are closed to the public (McGinnis p. 165).

Other versions insist the origin story includes a chapter about the people migrating from an original Mother Mound located somewhere far West of Mississippi and that Nanih Waiya was built as part of a citadel complex upon their arrival (Swanton 10-35).

     This migration legend suggests that after "fresh, moist" Choctaws "dried in the sun," they were led across forest and river by two brothers who had a wooden pole, much like an "axis mundi" that pointed them in the right direction to a fertile valley much like the Jewish exodus to their promised land.  This migration was estimated to take about forty years or three generations.  When members of the tribe died along this journey, their bones were respectfully packed and carried along.  The story says that just as the people began to moan under the weight of their relatives' bones, the leaders had found their destination and the wooden pole planted in the ground at each night's campsite finally stopped leaning, directing them East and finally stood upright.

In celebration of finding their homeland, a community project was designed to honor the memory of the dead and create a civic monument.  The Chief of the tribe asked that all the remains be stacked high and earth piled around it for as many days as it took to for the monument to look down on the treetops.  The citadel was built around these earthen monoliths. 

Mississippi's Nanih Waiya contains anthropological evidence of human remains in one of the mounds that suggests it was a burial site and limited crockery and arrowheads near the area within the wall remnants show traces of the civilization that once thrived in the area. (Swanton 21).  Some accounts mention the remnants of a retaining wall around the perimeter of the area adjacent the two mounds (Swanton 8-10). 

    

No evidence has been found to suggest where out west the tribe may have migrated from.  Geological time has more patience than humans are known for.  In plate tectonic theory, magnetic hot spots remain unmoved though mantle plates shift around over time.  These hot spots induce volcanic activity, geysers and shifts in great masses of earth's crust.  The crust of the continental United States is youngest towards the West near California.  One of the most well known hot spots is now situated under Yellowstone National Park.  We haven't uncovered any moist humans emanating from hot spots in Hawaii, Japan or California.  However, they may only recall walking up an earthen passage towards the light of the sun.

 (video of a choctaw stickball game above, a field sport with no protective gear, a tiny ball, more incidental bloodshed than hockey and more tackles than football)

Bibliography:

McGinnis, Helen.  Hiking Mississippi: A Guide to Trails and Natural Areas University of Mississippi Press, 1994.

Swanton, John R., Source Material for the Social and Ceremonial Life of the Choctaw Indians (Contemporary American Indians) Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2001.

Interesting Choctaw Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw

www.choctawnation.com (Oklahoma band)

www.oklachahta.org (California band)

www.choctaw.org (Mississippi band)

http://www.jenachoctaw.org/ (Louisiana band)

http://www.aiac.state.al.us/MOWA%20tribal%20history.htm (Alabama band)

http://www.uwm.edu/~michael/choctaw/retrace.html (choctaw charity during irish potato famine)

http://www.natchezbelle.org/ahgp-ms/push.htm (pushmataha)

http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/features/feature14/choctaw_removal.html (mushulatubbee)