Escape to the Movies: The Maze Runner - Where's a Minotaur When You Need One?

[Darth_Payn]

I did not expect the change in format today, with the "script" of the video itself or the star count score. I thought that was just for video game reviews. As for this movie, I'm gonna skip this one, since as yet another young-adult-dystopia-novel adaptation, this one's out of my wheelhouse and interest. Although my brother says the troubled kids he works with liked the book.

And yeah, there is Teen Wolf TV show on MTV, and it's riding the Twilight coattails. As a guy who liked the Michael J. Fox original movie, I'm going to assume it sucks. And I'm mad at MTV for canceling Beavis and Butt-head but keeping THAT going.

 

[Triaed]

I like the text of the review and the rating system, just like in the games section

OT
A 3 minute review? I guess that is all it deserved.
I'll likely watch it with my kids once it comes out on the Movie Channel

 

[LobsterFeng]

I demand another film to be made but this time with an all female community instead of an all male community, because clearly my opinion is more important and the studios owe it to me and if they refuse I'll bash them for being sexist.

If they ever do a movie like that, people will complain about women doing bad or stupid things. They will also complain if any of the women are too skinny, too fat, too pretty, too ugly, etc. *ahem* Frozen. In general, They will have more to complain about than, "Why isn't there a movie about an all-women community?"

I refuse to believe that a bland, mediocre YA movie is the best thing in the theater this weekend. I saw This Is Where I Leave You. It was funny and realistic family dramedy. There are also: Walk Among The Tombstones, The Drop, Skeleton Twins, and Zero Theorem. Come on! Just because something isn't geek fare. That doesn't mean your audience will not be interested in it.

It probably isn't the most interesting thing in theaters right now but I'm pretty sure it's the movie that has generated the most hype for general moviegoers right now. I mean I would have been surprised if Bob didn't review this movie to be honest.

OT So is the written review thing because Bob is realizing that more and more people have become increasingly annoyed by the stuff he's putting in his video reviews?

 

[Falseprophet]

I know Bob has been padding his reviews for a while, but sticking in 1 1/2 minutes of filler in a video less than 5 minutes long is insane.

Now that Bob's review includes the text script, I decided to see how Bob stacks up against his colleagues. So I copy-pasted Bob's script into a word counter: 643 words

Next, I went to RottenTomatoes.com, looked up The Maze Runner, looked up the Top Critics (presumably they're considered the standard bearers for their format), picked five at random, and plugged their reviews into the same word counter:

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: 483
Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: 376
Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: 428
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: 806
A. A. Dowd, AV Club: 624

Bob seems par for the course to me.

 

[DaWaffledude]

I demand another film to be made but this time with an all female community instead of an all male community, because clearly my opinion is more important and the studios owe it to me and if they refuse I'll bash them for being sexist.

Jesus Christ, get off your high-horse.

As much as you might claim otherwise, you really want someone to genuinely think that, just so you can try to prove them wrong. Just think about that.

 

[Yeager942]

I would have loved to see a review of The Guest. A genuinely funny pastiche of 80's thrillers, I heartily recommend it to anyone if it's playing in a theater near you.

 

[XavierPrice]

Hasn't Bob said in the past that he hates numerical scores? This new format seems odd for him.

Also:
0:00 to 1:03- Footage from the movie
1:03 to 3:56- Actual Review
3:56 to 4:20- More footage
4:20 to 4:48- Credits, a couple jokes

I know Bob has been padding his reviews for a while, but sticking in 1 1/2 minutes of filler in a video less than 5 minutes long is insane.

I guess he didn't have much to say about this movie other than "It's okay, but sequel bait." As he said, doldrums of autumn. I expect this for one more week before we start getting the early entries into the year end rush.

 

[fnartilter]

I'm not going to watch this shlock even if it were free. Everyone would be better off watching "Lord of the Flies" the 1963 version.

 

[daxterx2005]

Everyone in the world is pumped we're getting a proper Deadpool and not another Dudepeel. Of course Bob isn't happy.

 

[Raika]

Am I the only person who was seriously expecting Tusk this week?

 

[Lunar Templar]

Everyone in the world is pumped we're getting a proper Deadpool and not another Dudepeel. Of course Bob isn't happy.

who cares, as long as they get Deadpool right this time he can be pissy about it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You lost me at "teen angst."

 

[Macragge scholar]

After watch this review, I guess I wouldn't go to the cinema until november. Also, I am really looking forward for some movie that is completely original, even bring more insight on the "In public domain" stuff, like what the Fables do.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Saw a trailer for this and thought "yeah, this is them apologising to Kaya Scodelario for not giving her The Hunger Games".

Meh. She was the worst thing about S3 and 4 of Skins anyway.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Everyone in the world is pumped we're getting a proper Deadpool and not another Dudepeel. Of course Bob isn't happy.

I am hoping for a great movie out of that one, but I'm going to stay cautiously optimistic... We've been burned before.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I know Bob has been padding his reviews for a while, but sticking in 1 1/2 minutes of filler in a video less than 5 minutes long is insane.

Now that Bob's review includes the text script, I decided to see how Bob stacks up against his colleagues. So I copy-pasted Bob's script into a word counter: 643 words

Next, I went to RottenTomatoes.com, looked up The Maze Runner, looked up the Top Critics (presumably they're considered the standard bearers for their format), picked five at random, and plugged their reviews into the same word counter:

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: 483
Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times: 376
Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: 428
Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: 806
A. A. Dowd, AV Club: 624

Bob seems par for the course to me.

I appreciate the numbers, but my point was more that the video seemed artificially padded. If he wants to write a review, that's fine, but adding in footage for no reason related to his actual review (I think it's just a slightly cut commercial, rather than a specific display of any of the points he was making) feels like cheating to me. It served no purpose in terms of his actual review, it just saved him from putting out a video of slightly more than 3 minutes in length.

I don't mind him saying, "The movie is alright, nothing special or worthy of much talk one way or the other" and using that as a springboard to talk about the sudden surge in YA dystopia movies, or how studios are fumbling around trying to find the next big star to replace the Harry Potter kids, or just anything tangentially related (as he has done previously). I watch Escape to the Movies to listen to MovieBob talk about movies, not to spend a good quarter of the video watching a truncated commercial.

 

[Brennan]

Everyone in the world is pumped we're getting a proper Deadpool and not another Dudepeel. Of course Bob isn't happy.

I'm up for a Deadpool movie as much as anyone else here, but you gotta admit, the "comedy" in that clip was pretty cringeworthy. Not just bad jokes, but really awkward timing as well.

I wouldn't at all expect that to represent the actual movie though (if there will in fact be one), since the clip as I understand it was just an FX text reel. Meaning it was probably written and directed by the FX guys rather than actual writers or directors.

 

[Revolutionary]

I really feel like this shows doesn't need scores, I know marketing data wil tell you that people like scores. But as a loyal viewer I think it detracts from the review, I prefer qualitative reviews over arbitrary numbers.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Noooo! I was looking forward to your review of Tusk.

Am I the only person who was seriously expecting Tusk this week?

I was also hoping for Tusk, as an Intermission article if not the video review.

 

[Muspelheim]

It lookd mediocre until I heard "cliffhanger ending" FUCK THAT! A while ago I watched the Golden Compass on TV and it was fine (so it before, but somehow being in Spanish made it a bit better than in English) and It was watchable until the "Oh yeah, there's no ending cuz franchise" which obviously didn't happen, and all my GF said was "OH FUCK THIS MOVIE" and that was about it.

I get that these studios gamble on the "let's hope teens watch this shit cuz *other franchise* made it" but at least give your shit movie a proper ending if you don't actually know if you're gonna make it to the second one, that at least gives it a chance to be a good experience on its own... Fuck The Golden Compass.

I pretended that the aeronaut cowboy got drunk and crashed the airship. If they were too busy building a franchise to make an ending, it's best to make one up yourself.