mothersday Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Wow, what does Darren Lynn Bousman's mom get for her special day? News that her son is remaking Charles Kaufman's Mother's Day, a 1980 exploitation horror flick from Troma that follows the hilarious misadventures of two brothers whose mom likes to watch them rape and murder women. Wait, did I say hilarious? Sorry, I meant icky and effed up. (But that doesn't mean I'm not going to Netflix it.) And no, it's not an existential and tripped-out treatise on love and mortality a la Charlie Kaufman. Charles Kaufman wrote and directed Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters, directed and produced Sextasy, and wrote Squeeze Play. He also has uncredited roles in Mother's Day as a cocaine addict and Squeeze Play as "Man with Popcorn in his Nose."

I've never been a big fan of Mother's Day only because my birthday is May 9th and it sometimes falls either on Mom's Day or the day before (like this year). And since I'm an egotistical bastard who likes to have an entire day dedicated to me and my awesomeness, having to share that day with someone else is a total drag. But we love our moms, and without them none of us would have ever been born. So, as is customary with this time of year, we're beginning to see movie-related mom lists pop up online -- and over at Fandango they asked 3,500 readers to cast their votes for both the sexiest movie mom and scariest movie mom in contemporary cinema (meaning within the past 30 years).

Yes, it freaks me out that thirty years back brings us only to 1979, but the sad fact remains that a lot of today's youth (ie: the people participating in these polls) aren't as familiar with the cinema of the past as they should be. So, with that said, leading the pack in the sexiest movie mom category is a motion-captured Angelina Jolie in Beowulf. Yup, their choice for sexiest mom isn't even real! Behind her you have Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich), Beyonce Knowles (Obsessed), Diane Lane (Unfaithful) and Jennifer Aniston (Marley and Me), who rounds out the top five.

When it comes to scariest movie moms, Faye Dunaway (Mommie Dearest) takes the top spot, with Jane Fonda (Monster-in-Law), Angelina Jolie (Beowulf), Anne Ramsey (Throw Momma from the Train) and Madea (Madea Goes to Jail) rounding out the top five. Surely they've missed a few hot, scary moms in this survey (ahem, Linda Hamilton, Terminator - to name one glaring omission) ... care to name a few more?

Ah yes, Charles Kaufman's Mother's Day. A fine vintage of 1980 sleazoid cheese that was absolutely one of the "dare you to watch it" horror flicks from my childhood. (My friends had such an aversion to explicit gore. What kind of twelve-year-olds was I pals with?) The Drano scene. The TV smash. The filthy mess, the incessant slobbering, the omnipresent threat of grungy rape. Such fun. It was actually one of Troma's earlier efforts, back when they made bad flicks by accident instead of on purpose. But there's no denying that Mother's Day is a sick and twisted little puppy, and a flick that any serious horror fan should definitely check out...

Especially because Brett Ratner wants to do a remake!! Whaaaaat? Yes. According to Shock, Ratner will produce and Saw-maker Darren Lynn Bousman is quite interested in the director's chair. And feel free to toss writer / producer Franck Khalfoun into this crazy mix. (He did that P2 flick with Alex Aja last year, and apparently has a remake of Silent Night Deadly Night in the works.) Details are slim at this early stage, but to be honest ... my opinion of Brett Ratner just raised a few points. Who knew he was a fan of such awesome crap?

(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)

I don't quite understand how I knew, when I asked my mom about her favorite film, that she was going to pick Doctor Zhivago. But I guessed it immediately. She's never mentioned it as a favorite. Maybe it's because when she talks about Omar Sharif in that film, she gets this faraway look that you see when someone's reminiscing about a movie they've loved for a long time. Maybe someday we can watch it together, preferably in a theater. Here's what Mom replied when I asked her about her favorites.

"The first movies that popped into my mind were Great Expectations (1946), Citizen Kane, and Jane Eyre (1944). I must really be living in the past! I just thought they were great movies. But the sentimental me settled on Doctor Zhivago. That was a great epic, had fantastic panoramic scenes, great scenery, and was a wonderful love story. The music was very good and it didn't hurt that I had fallen in love with Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia and loved him in this too. In fact, I thought this was well cast and the acting was great!"

(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)

I take a lot of credit for my mom's burgeoning cinephilia. Used to be that she'd balk at anything remotely suspenseful, frightening or "unpleasant" (I think because she makes herself so emotionally available when she watches a movie that a nasty one can really wound), but I'm happy to report that last year, she voluntarily sat through No Country for Old Men, and even enjoyed it. When I asked her to name her favorite movie, she rattled off a list long enough that I had to stop her and tell her that this isn't the assignment. When I insisted she narrow it down to one, she regretfully cast off House of Games, You Can Count on Me and The Savages (Laura Linney is beloved in the Novikov household), and landed on The Godfather. By the end of the movie, she says, she feels like one of the family -- which is slightly terrifying, but I can see what she means. She tells me, "I can watch it every day and never get tired of it;" I believe her. And I'm awfully proud of her choice.

(In honor of Mother's Day, we're launching a series of posts today written, in part, by our mothers after we asked them one simple (yet very complex) question: What's your favorite movie and why?)

The first film I ever watched with my parents was Annie Hall. I was three. I'd go on to watch bits and pieces of it throughout the years (my mother always had it on), but it wasn't until later in life that I came to really appreciate everything this film represents and all that it means for my eccentric Jewish family from New York. So when I asked my mother for her favorite movie, I already knew this would be the first one out of her mouth ...

"At that time, I related to Annie Hall. I always dressed differently; was always trying to better myself. We were hip, your Dad and I; we lived in the city and I even had a Bloomingdale's card that Daddy was always trying to take away from me. I just saw myself in this film. I went to school, but never finished -- not only was Woody Allen at his best when he made this film, but he also captured this time in New York City perfectly. A close second after Annie Hall would be The Big Chill -- because I never graduated college and I never had a group of friends like that, so I was always drawn to that movie. And the soundtrack ... how do you beat that soundtrack?"

Most of the time, our earliest memories of film have something to do with our parents. Personally, I wouldn't be half the movie nerd I am today if it weren't for my mother and father. My mother took me to see my first film in an actual theater (E.T.), as well as my first drive-in movie (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). While my father was off at work, she sat through the Star Wars films (even though she never got them) and never complained a bit when I'd insist on watching the live-action Popeye for 8-10 hours in a row, six days a week, when I was a small boy. (I was addicted to Popeye, by the way.)

With that said, today is Mother's Day, and all across internet movieland you'll see lists of the best movie moms, the worst movie moms, the best films to watch with your mother, the hottest celebrity moms, and so on and so forth. We here at Cinematical decided to do things a bit differently this year, and instead of shoveling out another list based on one of the above topics, we've gone ahead and given the site over to our moms for the day. Oh yes, we're nutty like that. Basically, we asked our moms to tell us, in their own words, what their favorite movie is and why. So, throughout the day, you'll see posts from a number of our writers ... with one noticeable difference: the majority of said post will be written by that writer's mother.

So this one is for all our moms (and all the hard-working moms out there who read Cinematical on a daily basis). Thanks for being there, and thanks for being you. Love ya!

Ah, Mother's Day. The one day a year when Mom gets to chill and take it easy, and everyone else gets to shower her with love, affection, and gifts. Whether you're a mother yourself, or you're just in this world because you have one, what better way to spend Mother's Day weekend than by kicking back with one of these memorable Mother's Day flicks?