Linda Hamilton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Mother's Day is bittersweet for me because my own mother passed away 11 years ago. In recent times, though, the sweet far outweighs the bitter, because I have wonderful memories of our time together watching -- and loving -- movies. When I'd come home from school in the afternoon, we'd talk and watch old movies on a tiny, black and white TV. When everyone else in my family thought I was crazy for waiting in line for hours to see Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, she told me about waiting in line for hours as a young teen to see Gone With the Wind. When she was dying of cancer and I visited for a couple of weeks from out of state, we spent hours watching old movies together.

In honor of all of our mothers, I've compiled a list of seven of the most awesomest movie moms. But this isn't a competition; it's just a list, and it's just a highly personal reflection of my own thoughts, so please feel free to share your favorite, most awesome movie moms in the comments.

1. Geena Davis as Samantha Caine / Charly Baltimore in The Long Kiss Goodnight

As Elisabeth Rappe rhapsodized recently, "the charm of the movie is that her psychotic nature is buried within a happy-go-lucky mom who enjoys baking muffins and wearing ugly Christmas sweaters." Home-made muffins are nice and all, but wouldn't it be cool if your mother could assassinate those bullies who keep beating you up after school? Not saying she would, of course, though that would have been a tantalizing prospect for me. Of course, the flip side is that you'd better behave ... or else!

Welcome to Girls on Film -- not as skin-laden as the Duran Duran song, but a new Cinematical column full of female-centric musing, rants, love, and aggravation.

There are two ways you can go with an introductory post -- you can either jump in randomly, or try for something all-encompassing. I was set on the latter, but the challenge is not just stating the obvious. We know that women struggle behind the camera, and we know what they get offered in front of it. But as much as gripes and arguments about women in film are necessary to improve the Hollywood landscape, they're only as good as the moments of praise and adoration. If we can't appreciate the good that's present today, and for that matter, was present yesterday, this cycle will never end because eyes set completely on the future never see the perks of the present.

It's a bad habit that pops up in any part of life -- so much energy is expended on the fight, and it's so easy to fall into an aggravation-filled rant, that we often forget the good. In the world of cinema, it's everywhere. We rant, rightly so, about remakes and sequels, but also forget when they transcend their mundane brethren to become a worthy feature. (The first Fly is wonderful, but can you imagine Hollywood without the remake?) When it comes to women, so much energy is thrown down the toilet ranting about talented women selecting crap -- Sandra Bullock's next dumb comedy, or another romcom about girls fighting over boys (I'm looking at you, Bride Wars) -- that we rarely chatter on about the good. And, if you follow that whole Law of Attraction thing, focusing on the absence is bad, but focusing on the good that's there brings more of it.

In lieu of last night's hush-hush premiere of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot in Austin, to a crowd fully expecting to see mere clips and then The Wrath of Khan instead, we checked our Inbox of the Future (patent pending) to see what other shenanigans the Alamo Drafthouse might have in store for these coming months...

April 15th -- An admitted sneak screening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was preceded by the director's cut of Australia, with Hugh Jackman himself collecting money at the door as "a favor to Baz." However, many stayed to take advantage of the opportunity to literally stone Roger Friedman in the parking lot. Several Austinites returned their bongs to their cars when they realized that this didn't mean whatever they thought it meant, while others were commissioned to restrain Hitfix's Drew McWeeny when he took to chucking nearby scooters towards the tied-up Friedman -- a sight which left AICN's Massawyrm in equal awe and fear for his property.

May 5th -- What was alleged to be a screening of Piranha II: The Spawning turned out to be the informal premiere of McG's Terminator: Salvation, to the disappointment of many fanboys who had their fingers crossed for Avatar, but would settle for this instead. Compounding the frustrations was the appearance of Linda Hamilton, who proceeded to narrate the film live in person to an annoyed crowd. Tangents included all those weeds she pulled in the garden last week and that couch Jim took in the divorce.

Lots going on this week -- here are a few stories that fell between the cracks ...

UPDATE: Slashfilm was sent a link to a password protected page on the Legendary Pictures website that lists the title of the Superman Returns sequel to be Superman Unleashed. No word on whether that's old or new or if it will stick, but that looks to be the title they're working with now.

-- The first official ... logo (?) for New Moon (aka Twilight 2) has arrived online via MTV (which I heard now stands for Music, Twilight, Very Bad Reality Shows) and, ya know, it looks like the original Twilight logo except with some extra yellow-orange color. Not sure if I'm crazy about the whole Twilight Saga thing, but I guess they had to find a place for the word 'Twilight' in order to remind people that it's the same franchise. Nevertheless, you can check it out at the top of this post.

-- Looks like Mickey Rourke might not be done with Iron Man 2 after all. The actor told Jeffrey Lyons recently that he's met with the screenwriter and director and there's a chance they'll work out something (the key word there being 'Give me more money you cheap bastards'). Some say Rourke and his people are holding out to see if he wins the Oscar for Best Actor, which would surely give him a bit more leverage in the contract negotiations. So we'll see ...

-- Meanwhile, in the year 2018, it looks like Linda Hamilton is in talks to reprise her role as Sarah Connor for Terminator Salvation. She confirmed earlier rumors, telling MTV that, if the talks go well, she'd be providing a voiceover -- most likely one that will open the movie.

After the jump: Scream 4, Superman and a Coming to America sequel ...

I wanted to continue this whole week of Indiana Jones, but we've already given you movies reminiscent of the classic adventure series, and we've already given you retro reviews for each of the three films. So, I started to think about what I like about Jones and my favorite of the three, Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of the best gems of that film is Marion Ravenwood.

So, in celebration of how much Ravenwood rules, I wanted to celebrate women who are more than just damsels in distress. The might find themselves captured. They might get beaten down. But they don't wallow -- they fight back. And even better -- they're both old-school. One comes from the '90s, and the other first kicked butt on the big screen 31 years ago. I give you: Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia in Star Wars.

I know I'm not completely in the minority with this, but I have to admit first off that I loved Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. I really thought Jonathan Mostow did a great job delivering the action -- obviously not close to as good as James Cameron would have done, but better than many others could have. When it was revealed that a fourth Terminator was in the works, I hoped Mostow would be rehired for the gig. But I guess he's either doing something else (Swiss Family Robinson perhaps?) or for some reason he's not welcome back. According to CHUD.com, his replacement on the franchise may be McG, who I find to be one of the most annoying guys working in Hollywood these days. Really, though, I just hate on the guy because of his stupid name. I guiltily kinda enjoyed his two Charlie's Angels movies. Apparently, McG is currently in talks to take the helm of the sequel, for a pre-strike production start, but it isn't for certain that he'll get the job.

I'm sure many of you will probably be upset if McG officially signs on, even if you too just criticize him for his name. It could be the nail on the coffin for a lot of fans already nervous about the continuation of the storyline without any definite sign of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes or anyone else who has previously starred in the series. From what we've so far heard, it seems part 4 will focus on the post-apocalyptic period involving the war between the machines and John Connor's army. Everything else, regarding an Arnie cameo, or whatever, I'm still considering to be hearsay. Anyway, all I care about now is that at least Terminator 4 has been scripted by T3's Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, a duo I'm sure are well-enough-versed in the Terminator universe to make this next installment interesting and worth seeing.

While it may be a while before we see a fourth Terminator film, fans of the franchise will be happy to hear that a television show is now on the fast-track to production. Warner Bros. TV has tapped David Nutter to direct the pilot for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, with filming to begin early next year in New Mexico.

Story will take place immediately after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, following Sarah Connor as she lives a life on the run, and casting for the show will begin immediately. For those of you itching to know, Linda Hamilton (who played Connor in the first two Terminator installments) and Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be reprising their roles.

Personally, I think the project has some solid talent behind it, what with Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds, The Black Dahlia) penning the script and Nutter (who also directed pilots for Smallville, Without a Trace and Supernatural) behind the camera. Nutter also has a connection to Terminator helmer James Cameron, as he directed the pilot for Cameron's Dark Angel. All promising, but the quality of this show will rest heavily upon whoever is cast as Sarah Connor. Oh, and those robots better look cool.