Young Adult Month: The Divergent Series: Allegiant

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and think about it no more

It’s Young Adult Month!

We come to the end of the road for the Divergent series: The Divergent Series: Allegiant

The Divergent movies had never been box office smashes, which makes the move of increasing their budget with each release perplexing to say the least, but here we are, Allegiant had a $140m budget at its disposal, given the box office returns of the other 2 films, it would struggle to break even if it matched them, and it didn’t. The film earned $170m at the box office, resulting in a net loss and the planned follow-up instalment to be tossed in the garbage. I know there were talks of TV movies and mini-series but the actors involved in the films didn’t care and these ideas have largely been scrapped now.

Here’s the weird thing though, usually when it comes to making a 2-part movie adaptation, you film them back-to-back with a joint budget to save costs then release them about a year apart to allow for editing. This movie wasn’t released like that, and you might argue there’s a reason for it. Anyway, the film was critically panned with a dismal 12% Rotten Tomatoes Rating with an average critical score of 4.1/10, audiences too seem to have had enough, giving it only a 41% audience score with an average of 3/5

I know I’ve been pretty detailed in my synopses anyway for this series, but again, major spoilers for both film and book, as I’ll try and summarise both.

Young Adult Month - The Divergent Series: Insurgent

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and think about it no more

It’s Young Adult Month!

Yay, we’re continuing with Divergent movies. I suppose I made it clear during the last one, but I’ll reiterate. The Divergent books are overlong and bloated with character choices that don’t make any sense. The plot rips off tropes from other, better books, and there’s nothing in this series that isn’t done better somewhere else. That said, the plot of the books is fairly solid and when they get the characters right, they get it right, the dialogue is another thing entirely.

But enough about that, this is the Divergent Series: Insurgent

Pre-production for this film had begun before the first film was even out, which allowed it to release only a year later. This implies Entertainment One clearly had confidence in the success of the first one, confidence that was rewarded to an extent with Box Office Receipts. The director of the first film was still working on that film, so it was announced the new director would be Robert Schwentke, the director of R.I.P.D. (oh god, that’s not good), who went on to produce Allegiant as well (great…) With a larger budget of $110 million to work with, the film was absolutely blasted by critics, gathering a meagre 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an 5/10 average score, and an audience rating of 58% with an average 3.5/5, it earned slightly more at the box office with $297.3m, but compared to the other two franchises, Hunger Games’ sequel made more than double that with only a slightly larger budget. The Scorch Trials made slightly more but on about half the budget. But to business, what is this film really like?

Young Adult Month - Divergent

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

We’re apparently going in order of success as we enter the Divergent series

Divergent had 4 movies planned, but the 4^th movie was ultimately scrapped after the 3^rd one failed to deliver at the box office. I wish I could say I was disappointed but having read the books, all I have to say is that they are so f*cking boring!

Released in 2014, the movie made $288m on an $85m budget, making it less successful than the least successful Maze Runner movie. It’s not great news on the critical front either, with a 42% Rotten Tomatoes rating with an average score 5.4/10, but it did have an impact with audiences, with a 69% rating and 3.8/5 average score.

Sequel Baiting #2 - Nanny McPhee vs Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

When I think Nanny McPhee I think of a refined version of the Mary Poppins formula. Children who misbehave too badly for conventional nannies to deal with are taught by a stern, female, magician who uses her magic powers to induce delight and wonder as well as to teach. Where I felt Mary Poppins went wrong is by having the ultimate arc be Mr Banks’. Sure, he was stubborn, stuck up and in many ways looked down on his children but it felt like the ultimate resolution was him having a mental breakdown. Nanny McPhee focuses more on the children learning, all whilst incorporating some kind of mischief that’s afoot.

Based on the Nurse Matilda books, Nanny McPhee and its sequel, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang have both enjoyed moderate critical and commercial success. So why did it end at 2? It had the higher budget and made less money. But the question is, does that mean it’s worse than the original. Well, I’ll be judging on 6 categories