Before I was married and had young kids running around and leaving a mess in their wake, I spent quite a few hours playing video games. My parents would be horrified to hear this. My favorite game used to be Tomb Raider — a game that revolved around the ridiculously curvaceous Lara Croft, who would go in search of treasures while thwarting enemies like mummies and wild animals. I’d travel to exotic places like Peru, Greece, and Egypt. After a few hours of maneuvering Lara in dark caves and underwater mazes, I really felt like I could repel down a wall with the grace of a ballet dancer, hop and flip over never-ending holes with the agility of a gymnast. I felt like Wonder Woman, but without the glittery bustier and red boots. Maybe it sounds silly, but I felt empowered, like I could accomplish anything in my life. I could kick some serious butt. When Angelina Jolie became the avatar of Lara Croft, I was sent into a tizzy. She was just as smart, strong, and tenacious as her video game spirit.

I love watching movies that have a fierce and resilient female protagonist. These are woman who are mentally tough and realize that there is something more than just physical attributes that make a strong woman.

Thelma & Louise

A buddy movie that illustrates the powerful bond between friends and documents how one event can change your whole life and your attitude about it. Thelma (Genna Davis) is a subservient woman who moves at the snap of her husband’s fingers. Louise (Susan Sarandon) is her best friend that seems composed and strong-willed. As they embark on a road trip together, Thelma finds herself in a precarious situation with a man at bar. Knowing that her friend’s life is in danger, Louise takes matters into her own hands. Fleeing from the law, Thelma & Louise take their new found confidence on the road. The fears that predicated their lives give way to more brave and fearless attitudes. Rated R for strong language, sensuality and violence.

Working Girl

Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is an ambitious woman who dreams that one day she will use her keen business sense and take on the male-dominated business world. For now, however, she is stuck with other women typing agreements, letters, and other idle documents, until she becomes a secretary for Katherine Parker (Sigourney Weaver). While Katherine nurses a broken leg from a skiing accident, Tess is determined to prove to everyone that she can be successful in the business world. In the process, she meets Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford), another executive wheeler and dealer and discovers she has a connection with him. Throughout the movie, Tess knows exactly what she wants and uses her brains, not her body, to achieve it. Rated R for brief nudity, language and adult situations.

The Brave One

As the host of a daily radio talk show, Erica Bain ( Jodie Foster) waxes poetic about her revered city of New York. She loves the city’s sounds and the movement of everyday things within it. She is ebullient of her surroundings and goes to sleep feeling safe in her city. Erica abandons her once-brimming joy for the city when she and her lover are attacked in Central Park. Erica becomes bitter and defiant. She walks the streets of New York as a vigilante who has lost faith in people. Rated R for strong violence, language and some sexuality.

Million Dollar Baby

A masterful story about Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) whose determination to become a top female boxer brings her to Frankie Dunn’s (Clint Eastwood) gym. A curmudgeon who is settled in his ways, Frankie barks at Maggie and tells her “I don’t train girls!” Not one to give up easily, Maggie shows up to work-out at the gym every day. She proves to Frankie’s partner, Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman), that she is a hard worker and has a lot of talent. Slowly, Frankie softens and finds himself looking out for Maggie — training her, pushing her. As Maggie finds a way to scramble out of her dead-end life, Frankie realizes that Maggie has awakened something in him. Rated PG-13 for language, some disturbing images, thematic material.

North Country

Choosing to work at a mining company after she leaves her abusive husband, Josey Aimes (Charlize Theron) finds herself surrounded by men who only want to harass and humiliate her. Instead of kowtowing to her male coworkers, she finds the courage to stand up to them and prove that women have a place in the factory just as mush the men do. However, her resoluteness is not shared by her female co-workers, who are too scared to lose their jobs and any other ramifications they may endure for standing up. In the process of trying to garner some support against her employer, she finds the inner strength to know what is right and that she can’t waver in this fight. Rated R for violence, adult situations, rape and sexual abuse and language.

Erin Brockovich

Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is a single mom who is making ends meet, barely. She comes home to feed her kids whatever she has left in the cupboards. She convinces her lawyer (from a car accident she was involved in), Edward Masry (Albert Finney), to give her a job in his law office. As Erin sorts through a sea of files, she discovers a case against Pacific Gas and Electric Company. There’s something disturbing about this case and Erin persuades Ed to let her look into it. As Erin does more research, she discovers the atrocities the people of a town have endured at the hands of PG&E. She is relentless and takes on high-powered attorneys without blinking, even though she has never attended a law school. Rated R for language, adult humor, adult situations.

These protagonists are ambitious, brainy, resourceful, risk-taking, and witty. Bring it on!