Of late, veteran director Garry Marshall ("Pretty Woman") has been experimenting holiday-themed ensemble romantic comedies beginning with the hugely successful "Valentine's Day" in 2010 and followed by the modest hit of "New Year's Eve" the year after. After a five-year hiatus, Marshall continues his ensemble genre tradition with "Mother's Day", which features an all-star cast including Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts. And with this year's Mother's Day celebration just around the corner, let's take a look at our five best movie mums who have graced the big screen!
It's not easy being a wife (Shelley Duvall) to a writer (Jack Nicholson), especially if the husband suffered from a series of psychotic episodes! Just asked Wendy Torrance. But despite being snowbound and trapped inside the Overlook Hotel, the otherwise shy and timid Wendy managed to save herself as well as her son Danny (Danny Lloyd) from her increasingly mental-unstable husband.
The titular character has been taken on before by Lena Headey in the short-lived TV series, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and Emilia Clarke in the much-maligned reboot of sorts in "Terminator Genisys". But most die-hard fans would tell you that the best Sarah Connor still belonged to Linda Hamilton, who originally played the famous role in the first two "Terminator" movies directed by James Cameron. It's amazing how her character has evolved from a vulnerable damsel in distress in "The Terminator" to a tough female fighter in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day". Besides, it's hard not to admire her courage and determination as she was willing to risk everything to protect her only son, John Connor (Edward Furlong).
Technically, the relationship between Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Newt (Carrie Henn) wasn't a biological one in "Aliens". But still, Ripley went all out proving her maternal instinct as a mother figure to protect Newt at all cost. After all, who could forget her classic line towards the end of the movie where she warned the gigantic alien queen, "Get away from her, you b****!" while arming an exosuit cargo-loader? In fact, Weaver's iconic role of Ellen Ripley was so famous that she even earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress - a rare feat, considering the Academy often overlooked acting categories in the sci-fi and horror genre.
Sure, Tim Burton's imaginative yet heartfelt direction and Johnny Depp's impeccable performance as the titular character himself may have received lots of love in the widely-acclaimed "Edward Scissorhands". But let's not forgot about Dianne Wiest as well, because she deserved a praise for giving such a strong support as the sympathetic Avon saleslady Peg Boggs, who was kind enough to give the lonely Edward a warm welcome to her family and even treated him like her own son. Not to mention she brought her role with such genuine poignancy.
Okay, so her character was animated but it's hard not to include her in this list. How so? Impeccably voiced by Holly Hunter, Helen Parr may have been a typical suburban mom who just wanted to live a simple life with her husband Bob (Craig T. Nelson) and three kids - Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Spencer Fox) and Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile and Maeve Andrews). Until one day Helen was forced to spring back into action as Elastigirl when her husband was held captive by the evil Syndrome (Jason Lee). Now, being a superhero mom was not easy. But Helen Parr a.k.a. Elastigirl did a great job of keeping her family together, rescuing her hubby and even managed to save the world at the same time! "Mother's Day" opens in cinemas nationwide on 5 May 2016.