Q&A With the Movie Mom

Posted on March 18, 2009 at 8:00 am

Thanks to all who wrote!Q: Nell, i am really hoping you can help me with the name of this movie, unfortunately i don’t have a lot of info to give you, all i can remember is that it was set in the 50’s-60’s in a small American town where a lady either inherits or owns a cafe and decides to sell it but because of the location and lack of prospective buyers she advertises in city paper but it is the way she advertises that is unique. Instead of asking for a price for the property she asks anyone who is interested in having the property to send a letter explaining why they would want to own this shop, along with the letter they are to pay a fee of say $1 or $5 (i can’t exactly remember), the owner then reads all the letters and chooses who she thinks is best suited to take over – not only does she makes some money but the new owner only pays a small amount. I remember thinking what a fantastic idea but unfortunately my memory has failed me on the name! I do remember seeing it in the 90’s on TV so possibly was only made for TV. My lovely children think i am going batty. Can you help! Thanks heaps A: That lovely movie is “The Spitfire Grill.” Tell your children that you were right! Thanks for writing.Q: It stars Robin Williams. He has children in the film. I think they are going into a painting, lots of color. I think he has to save his child. A: I believe you are thinking of “What Dreams May Come.”Q: It is an older movie – a comedy about a couple that buys a house in the country (white picket fence) they have a niece that lives with them. An uncle comes to visit that they think is wealthy but it ends up that he has no money at all. There is a road that goes through their property and I think they want to close it but cannot. They do not have a deed to the house that proves they own up to the road – A dog finds the deed in a boot that was buried in a ditch. A: That is one of my favorites! “George Washington Slept Here” with Jack BennyQ: What was the name of the movie that had two brothers terrorizing a family in the family’s home? I believe the brothers had an English accent. A: That sounds like “Funny Games.” There is an English language version remake by writer/director Michael Haneke of his own 1997 Austrian film.Q: Recently I saw a very beautiful movie of John Cusack when in the most memorable scene he is carrying a big stereo out and a song begins to play. He wants the girl to forgive him. What is the movie? A: Thanks for asking! That wonderful movie is “Say Anything.” Q: I remember seeing a film many years ago a couple of times. I remember a scene early on in the film where the father and son are sitting watching trains and having a great conversation. Then later the father gets an automobile and ends up dying in a wreck. The boy suddenly finds himself alone as his mother gets caught up in her grief and people from the minister to neighbors are down right rude to the boy. Anyway long story short the film is about the boy finding himself lost and all alone with no one to turn to as his father was his best friend. Eventually the boy runs away and goes to the place where he and his father would watch the trains which is where his mother finds him and they begin their road of healing and coming to terms with life without the father. I hope you can help me on this one as most of the time I have a pretty good memory about old films but this one escapes me. A: That is “All the Way Home,” based on the classic James Agee book “A Death in the Family.” It stars Robert Preston and Jean Simmons.Q: I was wondering if you would be able to help me find a movie I saw on the Family Channel a while ago. The movie is about a girl high school student who cuts her hair and dresses up as a boy to find information for an article she’s writing for her school newspaper. She transfers to a new school and ends up falling in love with the school’s outcast somewhat-bad-boy. That’s pretty much all i can remember, but it would be great if you knew what i was talking about! A: That’s “Just One of the Guys” (1985).Q: I can’t recall the name of this movie. All I remember is that some teens trash this town and the judge sentences them to community service over the summer. The lead male is a rich kid and he ends up falling in love with the local diner owners daughter. It seems like she is really sick. I also remember that lovers write their name on a certain wall in the diner. There is also a scene where he takes her to his home and they have this amazing green house. Sound familiar? A: That movie is “Here on Earth” with Chris Klein, Josh Hartnett, and Leelee Sobieski. Q: OK I’m trying to get the name of this movie….it’s about some girls who visit a foreign country. a think 2 of them get arrested. When they get visits from family they have to yell over several people because they speak across a river. There is also a similar movie to this that involves a group of guys..they get arrested for trying to buy pot in a foreign country..it came out first..if you know the name of both that would be great. A: That’s “Brokedown Palace” with Claire Danes and the one with the guys is “Midnight Express.” Q: I’m looking for the title of a movie that was about some college roommates that invite people over for dinner. They ask the visitor a bunch of questions regarding social issues and if they don’t like their answers they kill them and bury them in the backyard. A: That is “The Last Supper” with Cameron Diaz and Ron Eldard.Q: Apparently I’m getting old…(37) and have been feeling nostalgic lately and have been watching a ton of movies from my Childhood that I remember from HBO’s Early days. I found many of them I remember via IMDB’s Search – but this one I cannot track down there or via google. Of course I don’t remember much other than it was about a girl who was obsessed with Michelangelo. Somehow she finds a statue and thinks it’s one of his, and I can’t remember if it truly was. I remember something about a marking on the bottom of the statue or something. I’m guessing time frame of 79-81 or so. She had a friend as I recall, (or maybe little brother) that helped her in her quest. Any clues as to what this movie might be? Thanks so much! A: Great movie! You are thinking of “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” based on the best-selling book by E.L. Konigsburg. A brother and sister run away from home and hide out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it is there they see the statue that may be by Michelangelo. There are two movie versions, one with Lauren Bacall and one with Ingrid Bergman, so I am not sure which one you saw. They’re both good, so watch them both!Q: I’ve been trying to find a movie I saw when I was a kid. I remember it haunted me as a child. It’s a love story about a woman who is dead, and comes back as a child and literally grows up spending time with her soul mate. Each time he sees her she’s a little older. He becomes very involved and falls madly in love. Then they get to the part where she dies. I think in the ocean. You’re supposed to believe that everything is alright now because she found her man. Black and white- perhaps set in England.A: That’s “Portrait of Jennie,” based on the book by Robert Nathan.Q: I am looking for a movie I saw in high school…The premise of the movie is that there is a woman who is a hawk/falcon by day and a woman at night- and a man who is a man by day and a wolf by night. They are in love. However, they are cursed with a cruel twist of fate that only allows them to “SEE” each other during the twinkling hours of dawn and twilight. They can not touch, speak or be near one another. They can only communicate in notes left for one another. A: That movie is “Ladyhawke” with Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer.Q: It was about a young couple who were married and the wife was having trouble getting her husband to help out around the house. Her Mother gave her a Dog Training Book. To follow the rewards system and use it on her husband to get things done. But she’s never to tell him about the book. he did find. its a cute fun movie would like to see it again. Thank u I hope u can help me. A: It is a cute one! That’s “If a Man Answers” with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darrin.Q: I’m looking for the name of a movie that I saw and from which I can can remember very little.I think that Rosario Dawson has a small role in it but I am not sure at all. Anyway, the one scene that I remember is a little boy talking to an African American woman who is in jail. The woman is on the second floor of the jail and can only see the little boy through a mirror. I’m pretty sure it’s set in NY. A: That movie is “House of D” with Erykah Badu. Q: Can you ID the movie which had a runaway robot who falls in love with a young woman? I am thinking the 80’s, and maybe Ally Sheedy, but I am totally blanking. Very funny, cute movie. Thanks for your help. A: The Ally Sheedy movie about the robot is “Short Circuit.” Number 5 is alive!

Related Tags:

 

Q&As

17 Replies to “Q&A With the Movie Mom”

  1. I do not see any information here on the new movie that comes out tomorrow called The Haunting in Connecticut. I would really love to hear what you have to say about this movie, or what you know about it. My son has been asked by several of his friends to go and watch it Saturday night (15 year olds), and was hoping to read on your site about it, but I don’t see anything on here. Please let me know. I know I would NEVER go see it as I hate scary shows, but please let me know what you know or think.
    Thank you,
    Tina

  2. What Movie was it that a mom dressed her son as a pretty little girl (while she was doing it he was constantly asking to go to Hollywood) then he put here in a woman’s slip and he was blowing kisses and posing. Do you know what movie this is. thank you

  3. I am really hoping you can help me with the name of this movie. Unfortunately I don’t have much info to give you. I can’t remember if I saw it on Lifetime or if it was an actually movie on tv. All I can remember about it was a mother who’s first husband recently passed away. She remarried. She had a son who didn’t like the fact she remarried and was replacing his dad. She decided they should go to this cabin in the woods and stay for a couple months to get her son to accept her new husband and his new dad. Something happened and a ring or something the boy had gotten from his father accidently gotten thrown in the camp fire. The boy got angry and thought that his stepfather did it. Son being angry ran away on one of the sail boats. The stepfather knowing that a storm was coming went after him. The two got lost at sea. The mother had to take care of the cabin by herself. She found out she was pregnant. She never knew if they were going to come back. She stayed their just in case. She eventually had to have her baby all alone. I can remember she had to tie her arms to the bed post for some reason while having the baby. Eventually after the baby was about 1 , I think, the boy and the stepfather came back. When they came back the came back loving each other. They became a family she’d hoped for. Please help me remember what the name of this movie is so maybe I can watch it again. Thanks

  4. Gosh, I am so sorry, Brittany, but I don’t know that one. If you remember any other details, like who might have been in it, I’ll do my best to track it down.

  5. Hi,Can I have the name of the movie? I could just remember little story of it.. Two little brothers, step-father or something like that… Two brothers made an aeroplane and the little brother fly away to find her mom or ….

  6. Hi, Can You I.D. This Movie Where This Poor Kid Starts Working For This Rich Lady Who’s Single Due To Her Husbands Leaving Her And For That Matter Hates Men. She Has a Daughter Or Niece(I’m Sure It Was Her Niece) Living With Her As well. Well The Lady Hires The Poor Boy To Do Clean Ups Inside & Around Her Mansion And One Day, The Boy Saw The Girl And Falls In Love With Her(She Seems To Have Been Raised To Hate Men By Her Aunt So She Plays a Cold Hearted Role Throughout The Movie, so She Shows Little Interest In The Boy). Throughout Time, The Lady Starts Liking The Boy As a Nice Kid But Doesn’t Show It. The Kids Grow Up And The Boy Becomes a Painter Artist, And The Girl, Like a Model Or So. The Kid Still Visited The Lady(She Was old at This Time) Asking About Her Niece But The Lady Warned Him Not To Fall In Love With Her Since She Wasn’t That Type of Girl. Well at The End The Boy Runs To The Old Lady’s House on a Rainy Night Yelling Outside Her House That She Loved Her Niece And I Don’t Remember Anything Else. Its A Pretty Old Flick. I Must Have Watched It When I Was 8,(20 Now).

  7. hi.. i can’t remember hardly anything about this movie. but what i do remember is there were some kids that went into a painting. i think maybe they were running from a guy. please if you know that would be great!

  8. Where is the painting of jennifer jones from the movie portrait of jennie today? David o selznick had it at the time of the movie.

  9. i have been trying to think of this movie all I can remember is a little boy who gets picked on by some boys that are brothers and the boys dad comes home from war, I think they were trying to buy a house for his mom. the two dads i think get into it and the boys dare the little boy to climb up a silo maybe or go in one something like that. i want to say kevim costner is the dad but i might be wrong. the only other thing i remeber is the bully brothers but their little bros hair and it looks like they missed some spots and the dad gets really mad. pleas help me find this movie

  10. I’ve been trying to find a movie about a young couple that are trying to get pregnant, but the girls mother gets pregnant first. It’s a comedy from the late 50’s or early 60’s.

  11. this movie is about burgular breaking into a house and ends uphelping the family of the house fight and escape some type of creature

Comments are closed.

THE MOVIE MOM® is a registered trademark of Nell Minow. Use of the mark without express consent from Nell Minow constitutes trademark infringement and unfair competition in violation of federal and state laws. All material © Nell Minow 1995-2024, all rights reserved, and no use or republication is permitted without explicit permission. This site hosts Nell Minow’s Movie Mom® archive, with material that originally appeared on Yahoo! Movies, Beliefnet, and other sources. Much of her new material can be found at Rogerebert.com, Huffington Post, and WheretoWatch. Her books include The Movie Mom’s Guide to Family Movies and 101 Must-See Movie Moments, and she can be heard each week on radio stations across the country.

Website Designed by Max LaZebnik