Tuesday, January 4, 2011 | By: Slacker Mom

Movie Review: Too Many to Count

So many movies, so little blog time. With the craft shows over for now and Christmas behind us, we've had a lot of free time to catch up on our movie watching. We've seen some really good ones lately so I thought I would give you the condensed version of my movie reviews.

Calendar Girls stars Helen Mirren (love her!) and Julie Waters as lifelong friends who are members of a stuffy ladies' society. When Waters' husband dies of cancer, they get the idea to create a calendar to raise money to buy a new sofa (or "settee" in Brit speak)for the waiting room at the hospital. The twist is that they will appear nude on the calendar with only strategically placed pastries or watering cans to cover their bits. It's based on a true story and it's sweet, sad, hilarious and touching. (****)

Repo Men Rated R for good reason, this one stars Jude Law and Forrest Whitaker as the titular repo men--only these men don't repo cars or tvs, they repo organs and other transplants. In the future, if you have a bum knee or a weak heart, it can be replaced with an artificial one--as long as you keep up with the payments. Law is one of the best at his job until an accident forces him to get an artificial heart. Life falls apart around him at this point until he can no longer make those payments. There's plenty of blood and fighting before and after Law goes on the run to avoid being reclaimed. I'm not usually one for sci-fi but it was interesting. The twist ending, however, left me disappointed. (***)

The Back Up Plan stars Jennifer Lopez as a woman who gives up on finding Mr. Right and goes through artificial insemination---just before she meets the man of her dreams, played by Alex O'Loughlin. This guy could be THE ONE, but how does she explain to him that she's pregnant? Predictable, funny, sweet---everything a good rom com should be. (***)

Despicable Me: Steve Carrell is Gru, supervillain. In an attempt to steal the moon and one-up an annoying new villain named Vector, Gru adopts 3 little girls to aid in his evil plan. He, of course, is not fit to be a father while the 3 little orphans can't help being anything but adorable. Needless to say, there will be some Grinch-ish redemption before all is said and done. I loved this movie--so cute, so funny and Carrell is great as Gru, reluctant father. (****)

Toy Story 3: These movies just keep getting better and better. In this final(?) installment, Andy has grown up and it's off to college for him, where childhood toys are not welcome. What will happen to the Woody, Buzz and the gang? I can't give anything away except to say that it won't just tug at your heartstrings, it will give them a mighty good yank until you're weeping at the sight of a stuffed cowboy doll and a plastic spaceman. (*****)

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