Q&A with the Movie Mom

Posted on September 5, 2009 at 8:00 am

Q: A reader at a Intelligence hide out is sent out for lunch. When he returns everybody has been killed. Now the killers are after him. He carjacks a lady and hides out at her place…Movie title?
Answer: That is “Three Days of the Condor” with Robert Redford.
Q: In the movie Big, with Tom Hanks, before he get’s “big,” he is playing a computer game in his room. It is interactive, and he types in things like, “brake glass with hammer.” I have heard that this game is real, so do you know what it is called?
Answer: Some people believe that it is Colossal Cave Adventure, but others think that it was just inspired by that game but made up for the movie.
Q: The plot entails a kid who is plagued by 3 bullies – 2 boys and a girl. He enlists the help of a retired magician. In one scene, it is Halloween and the bullies are dressed up as a mummy, vampire etc and are chasing the kids. The magician’s dog steps on the “mummy”s bandage and he trips down some stairs. At the end, the bullies are arrested along with an old lady who was controlling them.
Answer: I think that’s “Spooky House” with Ben Kingsley. I hope that’s it!
Q: About 6-8 months ago I rented a movie with the description of a man who goes on the rampage after his entire family is killed at a waterfront family gathering. I didn’t know the actor playing the lead role, but loved the movie….it wasn’t until I took the movie back that I realized that the movie I had seen was in the wrong “rental envelope”. Does anyone out there recognize this scenario….I also remember that his wife and son died last, being run down on a pier/deck leading out into the water. Thanks.
Answer: That’s “The Punisher” with Thomas Jane.
Q: I watched a movie about 20 years ago about a sea creature that turned out to be an old rock quarry shovel/excavator. The excavator was sitting at the bottom of a water filled quarry. It was attached to a windmill on shore by chains and when the wind would blow the sea weed covered excavator would lift out of the water. In the movie the lake was drained and the true identity of the “monster” was discovered. Any help locating this movie would be greatly appreciated!
Answer: That movie is called “The Quest” (sometimes called “Frog Dreaming”) and stars Henry Thomas of “E.T.”
Q: The movie deals with a couple whose next door neighbor (a black policeman) harasses them.
Answer: That movie is “Lakeview Terrace” with Samuel L. Jackson.
Q: There is a movie that I cannot for the life of me remember the title to. I only remember bits and pieces about it. There is a house by a lake that the former owners are able to converse with the current owners only through the mailbox. They live in different times so they are unable to meet. I believe that it is a love story. I hope you can help me!
Answer: Hi, Kimberly! That is “The Lake House” with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.
Q: Hi I’m looking for a movie based at a high school and this guy who raced for money and at the end he had to race against time in a 57 Chevy as a bet to get the money to save his school. Can you help me?
Answer: That movie is “Catch Me if You Can” with Matt Lattanzi. Thanks for writing!
Q: I’m looking for a movie that came out I think in the past 15 years or so. The scene I remember best was a group of people in a restaurant, and when the girl realized they were going to EAT the lobsters, she “liberated” them and it was hilarious. She asked someone later, “Why would you want to eat someone’s pet?” I think she was mentally challenged or had some social adjustment issue, and she had been in a school, but the school closed and she was sent to live with her (reluctant) brother. She learned to get along in society, got a crush on her brother, found out that wasn’t appropriate, and starting liking another man, if I remember rightly. I think she had an obsession with things being in a particular order.
Answer: You are thinking of “Molly” with Elisabeth Shue. Thanks for writing!
Q: I saw a movie in this time frame of a gal that was a stewardess, she was dating 3 guys and they all happened to be named Mike. That is all I remember. thanks
Answer: You remembered the important part! That movie is called “Three Guys Named Mike,” with Jane Wyman and Van Johnson.

Q: Does anyone know the name of a film (70’s-80′) Its about two super powers USA v Russia. Where they no longer fight normal battles, they fight each other in 2 giant mech type robots. With super fit guys controlling them.

Answer: That movie is “Robot Jox.”
Q: There is this children’s movie that I absolutely LOVED when I was little, but I can’t for the life of me remember the name of it. It was about this little boy who finds this big present with a red bow has floated into his living room. He opens it and it’s a car of some sort, I think? He gets in and is transported to a cartoon-like setting….There is a dog with a giant clock in his chest and two kings (one of numbers and one of letters) who can never agree with one another. Thanks a million!
Answer: A great movie based on one of my favorite books! “The Phantom Tollbooth.” Enjoy!
Q: What is the name of the movie that was produced 15 or so years ago about a woman music professor who goes to Appalachia in the early 1900’s to record the folk music of the locals before it became lost forever? Thank you.
Answer: I love that film. It is “Songcatcher” with Emmy Rossum and Janet McTeer.
Q: Looking for movie title about several French nuns visiting and raising funds in(New York State I think) for a hospital (maybe a children’s hosp.) Post WWI or WWII, nuns are hosted by a man who does a little singing, may play a singer in the movie or composes jingles but doesn’t play a big part, may be a singer in real life. I think this movie was made in the 40’s. Saw it on TCM.
Answer: That lovely movie is “Come to the Stable” with Loretta Young and Celeste Holm.

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Ask Amy Recommends My Blog!

Ask Amy Recommends My Blog!

Posted on August 31, 2009 at 7:55 pm

The wonderful Amy Dickenson of Ask Amy was kind enough to recommend my blog as her favorite resource for checking out movies.

Minow smartly distills plots and rates films with kids and families in mind. In two minutes I learned that “Brüno” uses “very strong, vulgar language” along with “extremely graphic and explicit nudity (male and female).”

Let me take this opportunity to recommend Amy Dickenson’s heartwarming memoir of three generations of strong, wise women in her family, The Mighty Queens of Freeville: A Mother, a Daughter, and the Town That Raised Them.

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Tom Clocker Interviews The Movie Mom

Posted on July 9, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Many thanks to Baltimore movie critic Tom Clocker for a terrific profile and interview.
Some selections:
Tom: You don’t have to get into too much detail since everyone can check out the full article from The Washington Post, but it seems like you are incredibly busy with your two jobs: Movie Mom, and Corporate Analyst. How do you find the time to see several movies a week, write reviews, and participate in many radio interviews in addition to your second career? Sounds like you should throw in some seminars on Time Management while you’re at it.
Nell: I never use the word “busy” about myself or let anyone else use it about me. In Washington, especially, it is often used in a macho way by people who want to make themselves seem important. Even worse, it is often used by people to explain why they are not doing things they should or would like to do. I told my children if someone says, “I’m too busy” it means “what you’re asking about is not important to me.”
It takes a lot of courage and honesty to take responsibility for the decisions about what you will and won’t do. Sometimes I miss a meeting for a movie. Sometimes I miss a movie for a meeting. But I am always clear with myself and my colleagues and family about what my priorities are. And my family comes first, always.
Tom: If circumstances ever forced you to pick one of your two jobs, and we all hope that never happens, which one would get the boot?
Nell: I’ll bet if one job ended, instead of doing the other full-time, I’d find another part-time job. I’m A.D.D. and find the feeling of going back and forth between two things both soothing and energizing!

Tom: I’m sure everyone wants to know: What is your favorite movie? And, if it is different, what is your favorite Kid’s or Family movie?
Nell: I was supposed to write a book with 200 movies and it ended up with 500, so I have a lot of favorites! But my all-time favorite is The Philadelphia Story. Other favorites include To Have and Have Not, His Girl Friday, Ball of Fire, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Music Man, Yellow Submarine, and many more!
Tom: Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring movie critics? What does it take to become successful and get noticed in a world where anyone with a computer can be an on-line movie critic?
Nell: I have the same advice for any aspiring writer — write! Learn as much as you can and write as much as you can. Have a distinctive voice and point of view. Your reviews have to be lively and informative.
I wrote more than 500 reviews before I got paid for it. Dana Stevens was an unemployed PhD who wrote reviews for her own website that were so good within a year she was writing for the NY Times and is now the movie critic for Slate. This is the best time in history for a writer because anyone can be published. On Rotten Tomatoes, all the critics are right next to each other, print and online, so if you’re good, people will read you. Anyone who has talent, courage, and dedication can make it happen.
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