Grown Ups

You'll Laugh till You Cry....and Then Some!

I had high hopes for this movie and it didn't disappoint me! Anything with the words "Happy Madison" in the opening credits has to be good.

I mean seriously, combine Happy Gilmore, The King of Queens, Dicky Roberts, Duce Bigalo, and Caretaker - how could it not be funny? This movie featured five of the funniest men in hollywood as well as a great supporting cast (which included Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and others).

The movie opens with the fab five playing basketball as middle schoolers in the final seconds of a championship game. The youngsters who played Sandler, James, Rock, Spade, and Schnider as kids actually somewhat resembled the actors they were playing as children.

Twenty of so years later the fab five is forced to return to their small New England town to morn the death of their beloved basketball coach. Lenny (Sandler) is a sucessful, wealthy, hollywood agent with a fashion designer wife (Hayek), three bratty kids and a nanny. Feeling ashamed, her tries to keep his good fortune secret from his friends. Eric (James) has a wonderful wife and two great kids but can't let his friends know that he's currently out of work and not as sucessful as he pretends. Kurt (Rock) tries to hide the fact that his pregnant wife works all day while he stays at home cooking and cleaning. Along for the ride is his rude, crass mother in law who tries to blow his secret. Hopeless romantic Robbie (Schneider) disgusts his friends by bringing his much older wife along. They are soon joined by his three daughters from three previous marriages (two of them gorges) which distracts his friends, including Marcus (Spade), a playboy who never grew up. After the funeral, the five friends and their families head to a lake house for some fun and catching up - and that's where our story begins.

Many hectic adventures follow, starting with the fab five rowing to a nearby island to spread the coaches ashes and ending with a basketball rematch against their old rivals, who are still bitter about the loss so many years ago. The game ends with Lenny teaching his son a lesson in humility. Eventually everyone secrets come out of course, but the best scene is when the fab five leads their kids down a lake trail to an old rope sing hanging over the lake. "You see a rope and a lake and that doesn't make you wanna go nuts?" Lenny asks his kids. Eric volunteers to try it out but just as he's soaring over the lake he get scared and forgets to jump off, crashing onto the hard, rocky ground below and crushing a bird. The fun continues at a water park where we get to see Adam Sandler do a flip off a zip line and land in the water!

If your among the thousands who loved The Benchwarmers, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Blades of Glory..ect, give Grown Ups a try. Anyone who's looking for a laugh will not be disappointed!

5 Stars

Alice in Wonderland

Not Gonna Lie..............Surprisingly Enjoyable

Knowing Disney, I didn't expect to be impressed by Tim Burton's adaption of Lewis Carroll's classic children's story. I was, however, very pleasantly surprised. The special affects are good, the acting was great and it stayed moderately true to the original story. We all know the story of course, Girl (Alice, if case you hadn't figured that one out) falls down a hole chasing a rabbit that no one else can see, meets a crazed hat maker, a lunatic rabbit (not the same one she followed), two short fat twins who love to argue with each other, and a slew of other oddball characters. In this version, a young Alice tells her father of a strange dream she had, involving all the wonderland characters. "Have I gone mad?" she asks him, to which

he replies "Yes, I'm afraid so. Your entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret - all the best people are" Years later, Alice's father is gone, and her mother is anxious to marry her off to a rich noblemen. While visiting a candidate's home, Alice spots a rabbit in a waste coat - the very same rabbit she saw in her dreams years before. She chases it, falls down a hole and ends up in "Wonderland" a strange place ruled by the evil Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Alice soon meets "Chesh" a vanishing cat with a very big smile. He takes her to the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and March Hair, two oddballs stuck in a time wrap cause of a fight the Hatter had with time. The Hatter tells her of the White Queen, the true queen of Wonnderland who was dethroned by her sister the Red Queen. Alice also learns that she must slay the dreaded "Jabberwocky" and defeat the Red Queen. Thinking it is all a dream, she agrees, only to discover that her visions of Wonderland years before were no dream but a memory. This film has it all, action, romance, humor and even some life lessons. An all around great film for families!

3 1/2 Stars

The Blind Side

Year's Best Film - Robbed at Oscars

OK, this was definitely the best film of the year. It may in fact, be the best sports film since The Natural, not even joking! While so many film makers had fallen asleep at the wheel someone seized the moment and recaptured what sports movies should be about. Star Sandra Bullock gives the performance of her career with outstanding performances by a great supporting cast. The film (named for a football play) tells the true story of Michael Oher, a over sized African American teen raised in the streets who is spontaneously taken in by a wealthy Memphis couple (Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock) who send him to their children's private school and teach him about football. Michael is primarily silent at first but gradually regains his voice. He eventually becomes a football star, earns a scholarship and 4 years later he's an NFL first round draft pick. Better than ANY sports move from recent years this movie will steal your heart and leave you cheering. Despite what the trailers and posters sometime suggest, this movie is not about football, or street gangs (although both those things play key parts) it's about one main thing – family. Many movies have been robbed at the Oscars over the years, but none worse than The Blind Side. It should have won best picture, best actor, best supporting actor, best screenplay and best director as well as best actress ( thank God it won that one). No one should miss this movie. Films like it don't come around as often as most people would like. I hope the real life Michael Oher cried while watching it, I definitely would have had I been in his shoes. He should be a roll model for us all. Someone who society and even his own mother had given up on who still rose to the top with the help of two people who put everything on the line because they believed in him, more than he believed in himself. There were plenty of people along the road who tried to push him back down but he overcame every obstacle and rose to the top. A true underdog story, this movie shouldn't be missed.

4 1/2 Stars