12 movies for Mother’s Day

Celebrate Mother’s Day by giving your mom the remote and letting her watch these flicks with chicks she can totally relate to.

Ordinary Love (2019)

Lesley Manville is precious and relatable in this drama with a serious theme – cancer. Her character Joan is a mild-mannered wife who cares for her hubby Tom (Liam Neeson) and they have a peaceful life. Until Joan discovers a lump in her breast and their world comes crashing down. But while they have very different outlooks on their immediate future, one thing is undeniable: they’re doing it together, hand in hand, looking ahead.

• It took home two of its 10 nominations (Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Film 2020 at the Irish Film & Television Awards) and has a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Good Liar (2019)

Who doesn’t love a little Dame Helen Mirren? And she’s better when she’s being mean because she doesn’t give a damn what anyone says or thinks – and she’ll tell you to your face. So spare a thought for Ian McKellen’s conman character Roy, who targets widowed millionaire widow Betty (Helen). What Roy expected to be an easy score turns into a back-and-forth game that Roy may not actually win.

• Three of its five award nominations were for Helen’s performance and you’ll see why when you stream The Good Liar.

Red Joan (2018)

Love Helen Mirren? You’ll adore Dame Judi Dench in this biographical period drama that’s full of spy twists, turns and double-crosses. As Red Joan, Judi plays a fictional version of KGB spy Melita Norwood. Her mission? To go undercover in Britain’s military government, locate and then share the country’s nuclear secrets with her Russian bosses during the 40s and 50s. Remember, kids: spying and selling military secrets is bad. But when you’re Judi Dench, being bad looks oh-so good.

The Dressmaker (2016)

Ever wanted to reinvent yourself, return to your childhood neighbourhood and show up everyone who knocked you down? Kate Winslet is doing that in this period drama as Tilly, a successful seamstress who returns to her small Australian town 25 years after being held responsible for a tragedy and run out of town. She’s not out for revenge on the people who shunned her – she’s in town to care for her mentally unstable mother. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t going to enjoy manipulating everyone …

• 15 wins and 41 nominations make The Dressmaker one to watch, with Kate winning Best Lead Actress at the Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards.

Ava (2020)

Jessica Chastain is cruel, cold and vindictive as Ava Faulkner, an ex-Special Ops soldier who plies her trade as an assassin after being dishonourably discharged for her drug addiction. Thing is, she has been double-crossed by her latest client and what’s meant to be an easy hit turns into a gunfight and Ava fleeing for her life. Who wants her dead and why? We don’t know (yet), but this is a wild ride with bullets flying everywhere and Jessica being decisively deadly and firing on all cylinders.

Damsel (2018)

Mia Wasikowska might look like a delicate young waif – she’s anything but! In this Western dramedy, she plays Penelope, a well-to-do young woman who is in a relationship with wealthy pioneer Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson). And while Penelope is at home, Sam is planning a very special marriage proposal that includes the town drunkard to officiate their marriage and a miniature horse called Butterscotch, which will be the new Mrs Alabaster’s wedding present to keep on their ranch. Thing is, Sam gets himself into a predicament with the local outlaw and it’s up to Penelope to save the day, rescue her beau, and get little Butterscotch back home. And she does that without a lick of lipstick, rouge or wearing a dress – cos Western women aren’t damsels in distress.

• Three indie award nominations don’t do this fun film justice.

Dark Waters (2019)

Mark Ruffalo takes centre stage in this biographical drama about deliberate poisoning by a chemical manufacturing giant, but Anne Hathaway proves that behind every strong man is a stronger woman. She plays Sarah, the pregnant wife of corporate defence attorney Robert Bilott (Mark) who discovers that the DuPont company has been using chemicals in the manufacture of its products for years – products that Sarah uses daily like pots and pans – and that a study as linked said chemical to birth defects. While Robert is off fighting his crusade and being beaten down daily by large corporations and crooked businessman, Sarah gives him the support and backing he needs until the very end.

• Nominated for six awards with one win for Best Feature Film and the Environmental Media Awards.

Carol (2015)

It took director Phyllis Nagy almost 20 years of rewrites and waiting for the perfect lead actresses before she was ready to have this biographical period drama made. Set in the 40s, aspiring photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) is working in a department store and meets glamorous Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett). While neither realises it at the time, their brief interaction sparks an emotional connection that brings them together later – Carol forgets her gloves at the store, Therese mails them to Carol, who then invites Therese to her home in New Jersey and their chemistry blossoms into something beautiful that brings them back to each other time and time again.

• 248 nominations, 77 nominations including six Academy Award nods – Rooney and Cate (and the entire cast and crew) hit the spot with this romantic drama.

This Is 40 (2012)

Sometimes you just need a crazy snort-laugh-out-loud comedy to make you realise you don’t have it that bad – like Leslie Mann’s character Debbie. She’s turning the big four-zero (gasp), her marriage is a little on the dull side (gasp), and she thinks that her boutique employee is stealing (gasp). And there are a whole lot more complications besides. There’s a whole bunch of crazy – yet you’ll be able to see a lot of yourself in Debbie. Because she’s basically an everyday woman who’s going through the most at the moment and trying to survive… without murdering anyone.

• 12 nominations and two wins – this isn’t Oscar-worthy comedy, but you’ll still be laughing until your PJ top rolls up over your belly.

The Beguiled (2017)

This period drama set in 1864 is packed with strong female leads but Nicole Kidman stands out as headmistress Martha Farnsworth. She runs a school in Virginia during the US Civil War and helps a wounded soldier who arrives on her doorstep. While he’s an enemy from the Union forces, Martha refuses to “do the right thing” and turn him over to the Confederate Forces, rather choosing to heal him. But his arrival brings some unintended consequences.

• 29 nominations and five wins, including a win for director Sofia Coppola, who scooped the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Grab your guns – it’s crime caper time in this iconic movie that turned Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis into household names and earned them Oscar nominations. They play ride-or-die besties Thelma (Geena) and Louise (Susan), who ditch their annoying hubbies for a weekend at a fishing cabin. Instead, they get into an altercation at a roadhouse when a moron oversteps the mark and tries to rape Thelma, who then shoots the guy in self-defence. Except rather than go to the cops and tell them what happened, they flee and make a run for the Mexican border. The car chase that follows is pure escapism magic as the besties throw caution into the wind and search for freedom.

• 18 nominations, two wins and a cult following and social references that are still going strong to this day.

Notting Hill (1999)

Julia Roberts is magical in light romcom roles – like this cutesy feel-good flick about an unassuming bookshop owner William (Hugh Grant) in the little London suburb of Notting Hill who falls for Anna (Julia), who just happens to be a world-famous movie star. Sure, you may not be able to relate to the worlds the characters live in, but we dare you not to feel your heart warm up with fuzzy bubbly gooeyness when Julia’s character says, “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” It’s cheesy, it’s corny, and we alllll wish someone would say it to us.

• 17 nominations, 11 wins, a cult following and a box office haul of $363 million on a budget of $42 million – and it’ll give you all the feels in the romcom world.