Welcome to Friday links. On Saturday.

First, check out Fearless female Iranian film maker Tehmineh Milani's new film "Payback" on UK blog Dollymix:

Kick ass Iranian film director Tehmineh Milani has been arrested and charged with four crimes that carry the death penalty because of her relentless bravery and films that "divide Iran". Her latest film called "Payback" is about four Iranian women who meet in prison, and form a vigilante gang, pose as prostitutes and seek the revenge they so desperately need.

Latino Review has an interview with Anna Walton, who will be in Hellboy 2. Her Hellboy role won't be an action role, but she makes some comments about her work in The Mutant Chronicles. Sword fighting? All right! Let's get that thing a release date. Latino Review also has an interview with Selma Blair about Hellboy 2, and SuperHeroHype.com has a piece as well... I'm getting mixed signals on Liz. Time will tell.

I had basically written off Speed Racer, but Rotten Tomatoes has some comments from Christina Ricci about her role that may put this back in Heroine Content land. No points for calling it "progressive women's lib stuff," though, Mr. Reporter, and for the love of all that's holy don't read the comments if you head over there to take a look. (Now you're going to feel compelled to read the comments, aren't you?)

The 20th Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction and Fantasy Fans is up, Diamond Age style. The February 2008 issue of Cerise is up. Feminist Law Professors has details of a Call For Papers from Transformative Works and Cultures, a journal which "publishes articles about popular media, fan communities, and transformative works, broadly conceived."

And from my files...

TMNT: April O'Neil Kicks Ass, Takes Names by Patrick on the Hathor Legacy. I would not have looked there for a heroine.

The Fifth Element: One Man's Guide to Women by Maryann Johanson on FlickFilosopher.com. You know that cringe you get when you read something critical about something you love because you know it's true? Yeah.

And finally, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Wit's End: It's time to throw Jack Sparrow overboard by by Nathan Lee at the Village Voice, for the following line:

Ah, but I have forgotten Captain Sao Feng! Luxuriating in the hysterical chinoiserie of his exotic Singapore lair, this outrageous Oriental (played by Chow Yun-Fat) has been wedged into the Pirates panoply in order to exude colorful slant-eyed menace, enable the destiny of a white woman, then die.

See you next week.