AboutNell Minow Expertise Movies, especially classic movies, current movies, family movies, and movies for families.
Experience I am the movie critic for Beliefnet and radio stations across the country. I have written about movies for USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, Parents, Family Fun, Child, Slate, and Daughters. I am the weekly movie critic for radio stations across the US and in Canada and write weekly parental advisories for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Kansas City Star. I have appeared on Fox Morning News, the ABC Evening News, CBS This Morning, and NPR, and been profiled in the NY Times, Washingtonian, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune. My book, The Movie Mom's Guide to Family Movies, was published by Avon in April 1999 and is now in its second edition. I can answer questions about movies for special interests, especially family concerns, handling questions from kids like "What do I do when he says everyone else has seen it?" to "My daughter got nightmares from a movie --how can I help her?" or "Why does my child want to see the DVD over and over?" to "What's the deal with Pokemon?" I am pretty good with trivia questions about movies, too, not as good with made-for-TV movies or miniseries. And I don't know much about horror/slasher films, sorry.
Organizations Broadcast, Online, and Washington DC film critics associations
Publications The Movie Mom's Guide to Family Movies, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, The Practical Guide to Practically Everything
Awards and Honors Roger Ebert's "Thumbs Up" award, presenter at Ebertfest and the Tallgrass Film Festival
Question I am trying to remember the name of a movie I saw on t.v. about 2/3 years ago. it was a family film, maybe made for t.v.?? It was about two young girls approx 12-14 years old. One girl was new in town, the other girl was an outcast, whose mother's boyfriend beat her. They go on an adventure to a mountain, searching for gold that a miner (who was actually a woman disguised as a man) had hidden there years ago. The outcast girl had a secret hideaway in the cave on the mountain to escape from her abusive home. In the end the truth about her abuser comes out, and the two girls are saved from him. They wind up with gold from an unknown benefactor at the end. One girl's name, I think may have been Jodi. The only actor I recognized was the guy who played the sheriff. It was a nice family movie about friendship and prejudices. I would like to share this movie with my granddaughters, if it is available on dvd. But, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name or the year of the film, or even any names of the actors in it. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Answer That movie is "Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain" with Anna Chlumsky and Christina Ricci. It is not yet available on DVD, I am sorry to say, but I hope it will be soon.
