Aloha! It’s time once again for Weekend Movie Alert! This time around, we take a look at Pixar‘s “Up” and Sam Raimi‘s “Drag Me To Hell”.
Okay, listen. You and I both know Pixar is awesome. They’ve been consistently awesome since “Toy Story”. They are, in fact, so awesome it makes me worry with each succeeding movie they put out, ’cause how long can this awesome streak of awesome movies awesome? I mean, last?
“Up” is the story of a retired balloon salesman who’s turned his house into a makeshift flying vehicle, and has set off on the adventure of his dreams. Unfortunately, he has an accidental companion, a chubby little Boy Scout who was on the premises when the thing took off. The trailer looks like a lot of fun, in the grand tradition of adventures like “Big Trouble In Little China” or “Buckaroo Banzai”, in the sense that goofy things just happen, without the need for overexposition.
But is it any good? Will this be the one that spells the beginning of the end of the Pixar Dynasty? Check out the trailer below, then go see the movie and let me know.
Next up, “Drag Me To Hell”, by Sam Raimi, the guy who gave us two great Spider Man movies before the WTF of the third. Those of you too young to remember Evil Dead may not know he used to be known as a horror movie guy, and this flick looks like his return to the genre.
The story features a young woman who denies an old gypsy woman an extension on her mortgage loan, and is cursed as a result. The movie deals with her attempt to survive, and hopefully remove the curse. While not the most original plot (see “Thinner”), one of the hallmarks of a Raimi movie is in the way he develops his story. He’s never been the most flashy director, there aren’t any crazy cinematographic stunts to be had, but Raimi takes his time with his characters and gets you involved in the story, where other filmmakers just treat their characters as nothing more than cannon fodder.
If you’re in the mood for a solid horror thriller, check out the trailer below and decide for yourself if it looks like a … hell … of a time. I’m so sorry; these things just kind of sneak up on you.
