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I was very keen to see Drag Me To Hell as I am a huge fan of the horror genre and had heard some pretty good feedback overall about the film. Starring Justin Long, Alison Lohman and David Paymer, Drag Me To Hell is surprisingly rated a PG-13 in the States, although seemed to warrant a MA 15 in Australia. Still for me, the movie worked and I had a fun time sitting back and watching Sam Raimi do his stuff.
Opening in 1969 and then moving to the current day, Christine Brown seems to be luckier than most. Having been raised in the country, she has managed to reinvent herself as a big city girl, owns a gorgeous house, has a successful Psychology Professor boyfriend and a steady job as a Loans Officer. She has her eye on a promotion to Assistant Manager although Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee) is also keen on the position and will do anything to enable himself to get the job.
Mrs Ganush, an old gypsy woman who is having trouble keeping up with her loan repayments, requests Christine to help her out in order that she does not lose her home. She is torn. Her good self would like her to help out Mrs Ganush, however in order to prove to her boss that she can make tough decisions, she has to go against her better judgement and deny any further extensions on the loan. Mrs Ganush begs for Christine to help however slightly overwhelmed by the odd behaviour, Christine calls for security which shames Mrs Ganush even further.
Leaving work alone and entering a dimly lit carpark, Christine notices Mrs Ganush's car directly across from her own. As all good horrors go, there is a struggle of life and death proportions between the two characters and Mrs Ganush snatches a button, curses it and returns it to Christine. If she thought she had been experiencing a bad day up until now, then she hasn't seen anything yet.
The premise of the curse put on her by Mrs Ganush is that in three days a demon known as the Lamia will come to collect her and drag her to hell but Christine is insistent that she will not go down without a fight. Turning to a mystic named Rham Jas (played by Dileep Rao), to help save her soul, they soon find that they are way out of their league. Requiring extra assistance to face the Lamia, Rham contacts spiritual medium Shaun San Dena who has previously faced the Lamia in another battle. Unfortunately for all of them, she lost that battle and the soul she was fighting for was dragged to the firey depths of hell.
The movie will provide enough bumps and scares to keep your horror interest nurtured and the story line provides enough impetus to keep the movie and the characters developing at a nice pace. There is some fun humour to be found within the movie as the morality tale plays out. The balance between the well developed characters and the ridiculousness of the situations put on them really worked for me and I for one was thinking to myself - Sam - what took you so long?
Voyage Review: 3.5/5
Hollywood Video are giving a family of four a chance to win a trip to Disneyland in Orlando Florida.
No purchase is necessary and the competition can be entered online. Visit here to view the full terms and conditions.
My daughter loves the animated movie Coraline so loudly announced that it is Coraline week in our house giving me about five minutes notice to organise some activities for us to do.
Thankfully Coraline.com came to our aid and we were able to button eye images of both myself and my daughter as well as create online button flowers. There was also a fun print image in which the circus mice could also spell out my daughter's name.
We sat down to watch Coraline the movie for about the tenth time and if she was a little older I am sure she would enjoy the original novel from which the film was adapted from.
We also discovered a website which featured numerous Coraline pictures to colour and set out on a counting exercise to find out exactly how many windows and doors we had in our house.
Luckily I had some buttons set aside for just such a crafting exercise and we drew some dolls and created our very own button eyed dolls and button gardens.
It is amazing what you can come up with in five minutes if you put your mind to it!
There is no doubt that this is a sentimental piece directed by Nick Cassavetes, director of the similarly sentimental movie The Notebook. But somehow you cannot fail to be charmed by the actors particularly the performances of leukemia-stricken Kate, played by Sofia Vassilieva and Anna, the engineered daughter to provide parts for Kate, played by Abigail Breslin.
Based on the bestselling novel by Jodi Picoult, many readers of the book may be disappointed by the change in the ending, although I will refrain from giving away any spoilers. The movie is based around the Fitzgerald family. Cameron Diaz is Sara, who has given up a successful career as a lawyer to care for her sick daughter. Her husband, Brian (Jason Patric), a LA based firefighter has been unintentionally relegated to second place and seems to somehow play a lesser role in the family
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Taken from the fun story, Cranberry Autumn, my daughter and I decided to bake this easy Cranberry Square recipe this afternoon as follows:
Cranberry Squares
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Classic Heartland are sponsoring a $1,000 gift card giveaway so you can show her how much you love her in time for Christmas.
This giveaway features a $500 Zales gift card, a $250 Charlotte Russe gift card and a $250 Chico's gift card
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And When Did You Last See Your Father? is a well constructed emotional film highlighting the relationship between a father and son. Based on poet and author Blake Morrison's real life relationship with his dad, it represents the complexities, I am sure, of many relationships between that of father and son worldwide.
Forever striving for your father's affection and somehow failing to consistently reach it. Trying to prove yourself to a young girl only to have your father embarrass you out of the room. Matthew Beard as teenage Blake experiences this and more. However the relationship with his father Arthur (Jim Broadbent) becomes even more complicated when Blake suspects his father is having an affair with Aunt Beaty (Sarah Lancashire). He desperately wants to understand more about his father but his questions remain unanswered driving Blake and Arthur further apart as they grow older
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This little gem of a clay-mation movie missed me when it did it's original rounds and I am glad that I finally got to view the film. Written, directed and created by Australian born Adam Elliot, he has painstakingly created a wonderful story about a young girl growing up in Australia who befriends a 44 year old New Yorker via the postal system.
Max and Mary captures a unique friendship between two unlikely characters - namely Mary Daisy Dinkle and Max Jerry Horovitz. Mary is voiced by Bethany Whitmore and Toni Collette during her childhood and grown up stages respectively and Max Jerry Horovitz is wonderfully captured by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Firstly I loved the fact that a film captured the excitement of writing and waiting for a letter. I think it is such a shame that children will do most of their communication by email as it manages to take away all the charm and essence of our personalities. I recall fondly writing to penpals abroad and waiting to see what goodies and sweets they would send me from their home countries. And as both Max and Mary have a sweet tooth they take the same enjoyment in writing and sending chocolates to one another.
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Wishlist are giving you the opportunity to win one of 30 family passes for four to see Disney's A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey.
The best 10 responses will also receive a Christmas Carol prize pack featuring A Christmas Carol Christmas Stocking, Notebook and Tin Money Box
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Comment by Michelle Sweeney
on Food Lovers Friday #2 - Summer Lasagne
Competition Queen
Always Learning
Cinema Voyage