Of course, the best mom is your own, but here’s some of Lift Movie Expert Michael Gendron’s favorite on-screen moms.

TERMINATOR 2

Let’s start things off with one of the greatest movie sequels of all time Terminator 2: Judgement Day. My own mother wasn’t the strictest when it came to what I watched growing up and I love her even more for it, because five year old most have worn our VHS copy of this one out. Our movie mom in this one is Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton. Hamilton’s Connor is a fascinating role… balancing strength, vulnerability, paranoia, and hope in her mission to protect and raise son who she’s been told will help lead the human resistance against the robot’s in the future. In the first Terminator, Hamilton falls more in line with your typical horror final girl, but here she feels every bit the action hero as Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s probably my most watched movie of all time. Terminator 2 is currently streaming on Paramount+ and AMC+. You can also pick it up on Blu-ray or UHD.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH

A movie mom doesn’t need to be toting big biceps and a shotgun to demonstrate great strength, sometimes they just need to keep a family’s faith alive and understand their children. Jane Darwell’s Ma Joad in the 1940 adaption of the Grape’s of Wrath does just that. Ma Joad is the matriarch of the Oklahoma Joad family who are forced off their farm and join countless others struggling against a Dust Bowl daze in the Great Depression. Henry Fonda’s Tom Joad and the incredible shadows captured by cinematographer Gregg Toland are the first things that jump out… but what lingers is Darwell’s presence. Despite everything going on, it isn’t morose, it isn’t defeated, it’s hardly even nostalgic for better days. No, its an earthy and steady gaze to what’s next. She won the Oscar for the role more than 80 years ago, and rightfully so… staggering work. The Grapes of Wrath is available to rent on most digital services or you can pick up the Blu-ray.

THE LION IN WINTER

From one Oscar winning performance to another, we turn next to Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1968’s The Lion in Winter. Released from her prison for Christmas, Hepburn conspires against her husband King Henry II and manipulates her three children all vying to inherit the throne. A great movie mom doesn’t need to be great mom. While there is love there, Eleanor is also pretty open about her disdain for some of her children…doling out maternal affection only as its necessary to move pawns into place. If you enjoyed the back room politicking of the early seasons of Game of Thrones, you’ll feel just at home here. Hepburn helps elevate her verbal sparring partner Peter O’Toole and we also get to great early roles from Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton. You couldn’t pass a needle through this script. Its that tight. The Lion in Winter is available to rent on most digital services and on Blu-ray.

ALMOST FAMOUS

Finally, we’ll end things we my favorite movie mom, Frances McDormand as Elaine Miller in Almost Famous. Miller is a strict and particular professor and mother of two who fears she is pushing her kids away, but also lets them fly and be themselves when the time comes. Most of the movie focuses on her teenage son who hits the road with a rock band to write a story for Rolling Stone magazine, but McDormand steals every scene she’s in. She’s not 70’s cool, but she’s an equally commanding and loving presence…even over the phone. She’s just the best. Almost Famous is currently streaming on fuboTV and Paramount+ or you could also pick it up on UHD or Blu-ray.