Drag Me Up To Africa


Tuesday, May 26 - Up
Wednesday, May 27 - Drag Me to Hell
Thursday, May 28 - Out of Africa (1985)


We have a new Pixar, Sam Raimi's return to horror, and Sydey's Pollack's Best Picture-winning epic all on hand. If there's ever a week to envy James, this might be close. I'd wager a few people get out alive, but no promises. Pick wisely, and you should see the other side of the bridge.



Get them votes in, ya'll!

Allow me to be the first to post my predictions for the week:

Up ***1/2 - the buzz surrounding this flick has been deafening since it made its premiere at the Cannes Film Fest so I fully expect James to give this one high marks

Drag Me to Hell *** - It a PG-13 horror flick so it isn't amongst James' favorite sub-genres but it features Allison Lohman, whom James liked in both Matchstick Men and White Oleander, plus it was directed by Sam Raimi so that may tip the scales slightly in its favor.

Out of Africa *** - After seeing that this only has a paltry 63% at rottentomatoes.com, I have decided yet again to revise my votes. I actually saw this one a few years ago for this history class I was in at the time and while I don't remember much about it, I'd have to imagine that James probably likes this one somewhat (at least more so than when he first saw it) if he's agreeing to review it; this looks like one of those Best Picture winners that has since fallen out of favor with the public after the passage of many years a la Ordinary People.

Up - 3 stars
Drag Me to Hell - 2.5 stars
Out of Africa - 3.5

Goddamn, where is everybody? Normally, these competition threads would have like 4 or 5 posts within the first half-hour of being started.

Up: ***.
Drag Me to Hell: ***.
Out of Africa: ***1/2.

Up: ***1/2
Drag Me To Hell: ***
Out Of Africa: ***1/2


I don't know, Sam Raimi doesn't do middling directorial jobs lately, but then again, Spider-Man 3 proved he is human.

Up: ***1/2
Drag Me To Hell: ***
Out Of Africa: ***1/2

Oafolay, I think you mean Alison Lohman, not Jessica Alba.

Up: 3.5
Drag Me To Hell: 3
Out of Africa: 3.5

The only one I'm up in the air with is Raimi's show. The Evil Dead's are hardcore. I think he can do alright...but, I'm reserving the right to lower it down up to 1 star. I don't know...let me think about it.

But Up...I cannot wait to take my family to that one. I hope that Mr. B enjoyed it.

Up: ***1/2
Drag Me to Hell: ***
Out of Africa: ***1/2

Up: ***1/2
Drag Me To Hell: **1/2
Out Of Africa: ***1/2

I don't know about Up. That's the album where R.E.M. really started to polish up their dullness act.

Yeah, my bad!

Okay, I'm being optimistic here, so hopefully James gives as much love to "Up" as other critics are:

Up- 3.5 stars
Drag Me to Hell- 3 stars
Out of Africa- 3.5 stars

Up 3.5
Drag Me to Hell 3
Out of Africa 3

Yeah, I hope Up is as good as the critics are clamoring right now. Like Wall-E, it looks decidedly different from its norm.
On an interesting side note, I read a review somewhere that it's the only Pixar film besides The Incredibles to be rated PG because the peril they are in is pretty much real (That makes me wonder since I'm a little bit squeamish everytime with the jellyfish scene in Finding Nemo) and because also the first Pixar in which the character spill blood

Up - ***
Drag Me to Hell - **1/2
Out of Africa (1985) - ***

Up - ***
Drag Me to Hell - **1/2
Out of Africa (1985) - ***

i want up to be great, i hope it is, but i dont think its 3.5 or 4 material. just something about it doesn't feel great.

drag me to hell - well, to quote a line in the trailer, "i can make a tough decisions."

just following the herd on out of africa.

EDIT:ed's more convincing than the herd.

Up - 3.5 (looks better than Cars)
Drag Me to Hell - 3.5 (f*ck it, back to losing this week. I dig Raimi and this looks awesome)
Out of Africa (1985) - 3.0

It was nice that Meryl Streep had a farm in Afreeka and all, but in no way do I see this movie getting more than 3 stars. It's a decent film, but I think it's closer to 2.5 stars than it is to 3.

Up - 3.5
Drag Me to Hell - 3
Out of Africa (1985) - 3.5

Up - 3.5 stars
Drag Me to Hell - 3 stars
Out of Africa - 3 stars

I hope Drag Me to Hell pulls three stars off, and I can't see it getting lower than 2.5
Originally planned on the majority vote for Out of Africa, but Ed's reply about it sold me on three stars (Here's hoping you're right).

Up - *** 1/2
Drag Me to Hell - ***
Out of Africa - *** 1/2