Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) - Good CGI and young actors in strained dose of apocalypse

11/19/2020

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) - Good CGI and young actors in strained dose of apocalypse

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An apocalyptic, sandy metropolis and a group of youngsters walking through it, on this poster for Wes Ball's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Thomas and a group of other boys and one girl, who have eloped the maze, smell something fishy on their new prison guards from WCKD, and they break free to discover a post-apocalyptic world!

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is written by T.S. Nowlin (Phoenix Forgotten (2017)), based on the same-titled 2010 novel by James Dashner (The Eye of Minds (2013)), and directed by Wes Ball (The Maze Runner (2014)). It is the 2nd film in the Maze Runner trilogy.

The young actors look remarkable unaged, despite the film claiming that 4 years has passed since the first film, (only released a year before.) The tone is the same in the teenage-fantasy horror/action/adventure, which is probably hard to connect with for most people who aren't teenagers. Fun or real thrills or surprises are lacking here; and the simple setup of an evil science class of people seems like near-nonsense.

New cast-member Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Godless (2017, miniseries)), returning star Dylan O'Brien (The First Time (2012)) and Co. meet scary zombies in the neat, CGI-driven world, and a depraved nightclub owner who stays open during the day. Whether everything here serves a deeper political meaning is hard to deduce. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is technically well-made but not really a good film.

Wes Ball: The Maze Runner (2014) - O'Brien breakout, well-made YA nonsense

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 61 mil. $

Box office: 312.2 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.11 times its cost)

[Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials premiered 1 September (Sao Paolo, Brazil) and runs 131 minutes. Development of the film began before the release of the first Maze Runner in 2014. Shooting lasted 94 days and took place in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, from October 2014 - January 2015. The film opened #1 to a 30.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent 2 more weekends in the top 5 (#3-#5) and grossed 81.6 mil. $ (26.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 29.5 mil. $ (9.4 %) and France with 25.3 mil. $ (8.1 %). A concluding, again successful film was made and released as Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) by Ball, with O'Brien back. This was Ball's next film. O'Brien returned first in Deepwater Horizon (2016). Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is rotten at 46 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (6-24)

11/19/2020

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) - Good CGI and young actors in strained dose of apocalypse

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