The Happy Madison Marathon (2025)

Pixels (2015): "Misinterpreting footage of ’80s arcade games as a threat, aliens unleash Pac-Man, Donkey Kong et al on Earth ... There’s a certain thrill to seeing humans face off against Frogger. If only as much care had been put into the living characters as the pixelated ones."   ( Wiĺiam Thomas, Empire) GIVE ME THE FACTS! Starring:  Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage Directed by:  Chris Columbus UK release date:  August 12th 2015 Trivia tidbit:  "The female lead is named Violet Van Patten. This is a trademark of Adam Sandler where the first and/or last name of his character's girlfriend starts with "V": Virginia Venit in Happy Gilmore (1996), Veronica Vaughn in Billy Madison (1995), Vicki Vallencourt in The Waterboy (1998), Valerie Veran in Little Nicky (2000), and Vanessa in Big Daddy (1999)." Rich's rating:  3 out of 5 SHOW ME THE TRAILER!

 Always on the hunt for some form of themed movie nights, I was at a loose end following the culmination of the 2024/25 NFL season. I found myself on the look out for films that (a) I could easily slot into a schedule, (b) I knew that I would enjoy and (c) I could easily obtain. As someone who constantly revisits the works of Adam Sandler (despite the bad reviews, I have never looked down on them as many others do), it made sense to dedicate a weekly night to Happy Madison, Sandler's production company. Upon further thought, this choice proved even more apt given that 2025 sees the release of two brand new movies to Netflix in the form of the Amy Schumer vehicle "Kinda Pregnant" and the hotly anticipated sequel to "Happy Gilmore", set to land in February and July respectively.  So in the absence of NFL and the need for a comedic tonic to end my weekends, may I introduce "Happy Madi-Sundays". 53 movies in total including 6 double bills to make it work. ...