By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published May 03, 2024 at 5:01 PM

May is typically a time to celebrate mothers – and the Oriental is keeping with tradition ... kind of. Because to ring in Mother's Day, the East Side movie palace isn't just having a regular mom film series; they're having a Cool Moms film series throughout the month of May. 

To celebrate the leading ladies in everyone's life, the Oriental will screen almost 20 mom-centric movies during May. Some of the choices are masterpieces of the mom genre, like "Terms of Endearment," "Postcards from the Edge" or "Lady Bird"; others are terrific examples of not-so-terrific mothers, like "Carrie," "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Brood." Some are old classics like "Grey Gardens" and "A Woman Under the Influence"; others are new greats like "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and "20th Century Women." And some are "mother!," which is a wild choice – but also a very exciting one to see back on the big screen. (Though maybe not with your mother.)

That's just a few of the classic matriarchs coming back to the big screen this month – so here's the complete Cool Moms movie series lineup headed to the Oriental in May.

  • Friday, May 3 at 9 p.m. – "Carrie"
  • Saturday, May 4 at 1 p.m. – "Lady Bird"
  • Sunday, May 5 at 1 p.m. – "A Woman Under the Influence"
  • Thursday, May 9 at 9:30 p.m. – "We Need to Talk About Kevin"
  • Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m. – "Almost Famous"
  • Saturday, May 11 at 6:15 p.m. – "20th Century Women"
  • Saturday, May 11 at 9 p.m. – "mother!"
  • Sunday, May 12 at 1 p.m. – "Terms of Endearment"
  • Friday, May 17 at 9 p.m. – "Everything Everywhere All At Once"
  • Saturday, May 18 at 1 p.m. – "Grey Gardens"
  • Sunday, May 19 at noon – "Secrets & Lies"
  • Thursday, May 23 at 9 p.m. – "Serial Mom"
  • Friday, May 24 at 9 p.m. – "The Brood"
  • Saturday, May 25 at 1 p.m. – "The Manchurian Candidate"
  • Saturday, May 25 at 6 p.m. – "Hereditary"
  • Sunday, May 26 at noon – "Imitation of Life"
  • Sunday, May 26 at 7 p.m. – "Mother"
  • Monday, May 27 at 1 p.m. – "Postcards from the Edge"

The only thing missing in this lineup is the ultimate mom's movie: the six-part BBC "Pride & Prejudice" starring Colin Firth. 

For more information and to purchase tickets, check out the Oriental Theatre's website – and while you're there, check out one of the other awesome movies showing there and at the Downer, from film festival favorites "The Beast" and "Remembering Gene Wilder" to the latest blockbuster "The Fall Guy" and even a movie about a big, nasty sasquatch family. 

And stay tuned, because once this mother lode of mother movies is done, it'll be dad's turn on the Oriental marquee ... 

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.