Summer Films part 2

Terminator: Salvation:

I am a fan of all three Terminator films, I was not expecting director McG do a worthy job (of course I am still holding the Charlie’s Angel sequel against him… I mean how could you mess that up???) And I wonder why Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) did not return for this one (although I heard the studio wanted to go elsewhere but who knows with this business). Anyhow, I must admit that this is a cool looking film (I would definitely recommend it to others) but yet a very different film from the franchise as we FINALLY give the fans what we’ve been itching for since the very first movie when James Cameron gave us a glimpse of the future with the HKs (Hunter Killers) in search of humans), we were all hooked and wanted to go there immediately. As I mentioned, I liked the overall look of this film and the futuristic machines created. The mission in this film was reversed with the John Connor (Christian Bale) character now looking for the Kyle Reese character (whom is played by once again Anton Yelchin but as a much younger Reese).
***As I write this, I wonder how a teen age Reese could exist in Connor’s Present existence as he was Connor’s father. There was no scene of Connor traveling to the past in search of... And in his Present time, he is married with a child on the way…. Hmm Can anyone explain?
What I got was a film a bit light on action but heavy on style as a mysterious character (Sam Worthington, whom reminds me of Michael Rosenbaum) comes through the time portal on a mission which is revealed at the end of the film and once again those damn machines outsmart us dumb humans because within the next nine to ten years they will somehow be able to calculate our every move.
If you have not seen this fourth installment, I will not reveal any “Spoilers” (geek talk). But had I directed this futuristic film, it would consist of a hardcore “balls to the wall” war film, very similar to Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” where the Connor character has to go through “hell or high water” to find Reese in order to keep the past and present in order. My poster’s tagline would have been something like,
”Even in the Future, War is still hell”.
I wonder what would happen if (after seeing this film), Cameron decided to direct the fifth (and final) piece of the franchise, putting his spin on the future as well. Might his world consist of the military grunts similar to the group created in his “Aliens” film? One could only imagine.

Drag Me to Hell:
Although I did expect more from Sam Raimi as this was a return to the horror genre he once flipped on its end with the “Evil Dead” series the film had more than enough scares to fulfill the 90 plus minutes. But based off the film’s title (how foolish of me) I expected to a glimpse of hell but I somewhat enjoyed the ride up until SPOILER in Five Seconds (So feel free to skip past if you have not seen this film)…
Five…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
There is no way I could believe the lead character did not know she didn’t have the envelope with the button inside with as many times as she tapped it on the counter. And for the boyfriend to suddenly have in order to wrap up this “shocking” ending… That was sort of a cop out in order to get a cheap pop. And why was Justin Long’s character mentioned as a college Professor? I could maybe buy the whole “Doogie Howser” angle if explained but it had no relation to the film as a whole. He could have simply been a “teacher” and his character still would have been the same. I wonder two things…
1. Would the box office receipts be higher (which 30m is thus far from bad ) if Ellen Page had carried out her involvement with the film.
2. And if Page turning the film down gave a boost Allison Lohman’s career who has been a bit quiet

Anyhow, to round it up, some good scares but a "corny" ending...