Young Adult Month - The Maze Runner

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:

The Hunger Games

The 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!

Because I’ve made a conscious choice to read the books from this point on, I’ve decided to change the order. The Maze Runner was a series of 3 books (I’m excluding the prequel books since they weren’t adapted) written by James Dashner and released between 2009 and 2011, and it’s Fox throwing their hand into the YA ring with the adaption of this franchise.

And it’s off to a mixed start, but with a silver lining of making over $300m on a $35m budget. Critically though, it holds a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which just barely qualifies as fresh, with an average score of a meagre 5.9/10, it holds a similar audience rating of 68%, though with a higher 3.7/5 average. These would be the highest scores this franchise gets so let’s take a look.

Sequel Baiting #8 - Bill & Ted - Excellent Adventure vs Bogus Journey

We’re going back a bit for this one, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves star as Bill and Ted. At their heart, they’re goofy comedies about 2 dim-witted boys who need to accomplish an objective with some involvement of time travel. They’re not meant to be taken seriously, but they still hold value as movies. But which of the two Bill and Ted movies is the better one. If you believe the critics and the box office you’d believe the first one, but I propose we put ‘em against each other.

But I can only come up with 5 categories, so the bonus point is dropped for this one, I know that might be upsetting but I have what I can work with. Let’s take a look at the Bill and Ted films.

Time Month - Mini Review: Synchronicity

It’s Time Month

And we’re looking at Synchronicity

Released in 2015 to say this had mixed reviews is… yeah, it’s about accurate. I really don’t have a lot of information about this one. Let’s just take a look.

Vixen (CW Seed) review

So, with the Flash and Arrow successes for the CW, they decided to take on another DC property, Vixen. Now Vixen isn’t really all that active in comics as of the New 52. She had a brief stint in the Justice League International where she was rendered comatose and her most recent mention was as potential recruit for the main Justice League. I’ve been reading the league since the DCYou and I can tell you she’s not currently a member as they’re more interested in other elements such as the dynamic with Lex Luthor as a member, the ongoing war between Darkseid and the Anti-Monitor and the various players assembled for that, not to mention the new Power Ring.

But I’m going off track. What I’m saying is, Vixen is not a high profile character among the likes of Green Arrow and the Flash. So this may be an odd choice but her power-set is largely magic based, a portion that has not really been explored before, so there’s opportunity for it. This is done is animation as opposed to live action and it’s honestly not something I have a problem with. Given Vixens power-set of calling upon powers of the animal kingdom it would take a lot of special effects to put this into motion in live action, and whilst they have managed to do a lot with the special effects in the Flash, Vixen is a different game entirely.

But of course animation isn’t cheap and the CW knows that Vixen doesn’t have the fan-base of Green Arrow or the Flash. So these animated shorts provide a sort of test run for the character, giving the basics of the character, adding some cameos from Arrow and the Flash whilst also providing a decent flowing narrative.

Because of the shorts only being 5-7 minutes long, I didn’t see the point in reviewing them individually. So let’s dig into Vixen and see whether the CW really has something here.