Young Adult Month - Maze Runner: The Death Cure

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

An angry 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!

So we finish the Maze Runner Trilogy with the Death Cure

2018 was a tough year for YA movies, 4 of them released (if you count A Wrinkle in Time, which your mileage may vary on) and 3 of them were flops, I’ll be covering all 3 of the others later this year, but for now, we look at the conclusion to the Maze Runner trilogy.

Whilst this film was successful, it did hit some production issues, including Dylan O’Brien being injured during a stunt and having to take a year off filming, delaying the film. The film hit diminishing returns upon release, whilst still successful, it made only $288m on its $65m budget. If there’s one thing Fox should be given credit for, it’s management on their budget. Overblown budgets on relative unknowns leading to financial flops are sinking films and I hope after the Disney merger, Disney still allows these mid-budget flicks to get produced. Critically, this film managed 42% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 5.1/10, only a slight drop from the last but significant enough. The audience score is weirdly better at 60% with an average 3.5/5 score

Young Adult Month - Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

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

An angry 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!

OK, here’s where all bets are off, welcome to Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. The funny thing is there’s not a lot of change when it comes to production, Wes Ball is still directing and the writer was… one of the writers for the first one (T S Nowlin, who may or not have been involved with Fant4stic, but his track record isn't great regardless) There was definite room for improvement, especially when it came to the writing but they were off to a decent start

And this film was given a larger budget to work with, $61m which means it can be a bit more ambitious. The film was successful, making $312m, but the critical reception, whilst poor to start with gets worse with each instalment, this one manages a disappointing 46% with an average 5.4/10, and a 54% audience score averaging 3.4/5

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.

Mini Review - Power Rangers: The Movie

Owing to a busy week, I haven't had time to form my Editorial on Voltron s3, so here's my review of Power Rangers instead

For all my love of action, I’ve never really gotten into Power Rangers. I was a bit young to get into it during the Mighty Morphin era (I was less than a year old) and whilst I did occasionally see ads for its subsequent, I never really thought about watching it. I’ve since caught a couple of episodes just for research and because I was bored. They’re OK, nothing more than OK.

But the ideas are what intrigue me, incorporating footage from a Japanese show called Super Sentai to drive costs down is a good idea, combined with innovative toy designs has kept Power Rangers afloat for 25 years. But what happens when you take away that element. You get the Power Rangers movies.

I’ll eventually be talking about the 2017 movie, but I felt obligated to do some preliminary reviews so I’ll be doing the first 2 outings first. First off is Power Rangers: The Movie. Released in 1995 on a $15m budget it made back $66m, making it financial success. Critically its reception is more mixed with only a 41% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

#40 Dude, Where's My Car?

Comedy! It’s great, I love slapstick, I love standup, I love visual gags, I love witty dialogue, I love sarcasm, oh boy do I love sarcasm and I love ranting about things that don’t matter. Comedy! What I don’t like is Dude, where’s my car?

Dude, where’s my car came out in 2000 and was greatly successful, earning $73m on only a $13m budget. There were actually talks about a sequel but the scripts were ultimately shot down by Ashton Kutcher, he had such greats as Texas Rangers to be in, what a success that was.

But seriously, this movie was panned by critics at its time, with an 18% rotten tomatoes and a 30 on metacritic but in recent years, and partially thanks to multiple airings on television, it’s gained a bit of a cult following. But don’t think I’m being fooled, I’m going to tear this movie a new one, let’s dive in.

TV Month - TV Retrospective: Arrow series 1 episodes 16-18

This one's both a TV Month entry and a TV retrospective

As we take a look back at Arrow, as Oliver faces up against 2 old enemies, a character makes her departure, and another makes her entry, and departure