Movie Review The King's Daughter

The King's Daughter

Directed by Sean McNamara

Written by Perry Berman, James Schamus, Vonda N. McIntyre 

Starring Pierce Brosnan, Kaya Scodelario, William Hurt

Release Date January 21st, 2022

The King’s Daughter thrives on being the kind of movie Hollywood doesn’t seem to make anymore. It’s a family friendly, mid-budget, romantic adventure that earnestly evokes similar fare from the 80s and 90s. Blockbuster culture and the Marvel Movie Revolution had seemingly killed movies like The King’s Daughter but here we are. And, even more surprisingly, time has been kind to this genre. The King’s Daughter feels like a breath of fresh air at a time when the smog of blockbuster culture has held a chokehold on the big screen. 

The King’s Daughter stars the delightful Kaya Scoledario in the title role of The King’s Daughter, aka Mary Josephe, say it with a French accent so it doesn’t seem plain. Mary is a spirited child who believes she was an orphan because she grew up in a convent. Mary is unaware that when she was born her mother traveled to the convent to give birth in secret and unfortunately died in childbirth. Why did she decide to deliver in secret? Because the father was King Louis the 14th (Pierce Brosnan) and mom didn’t want him to know about the child if it wasn’t a male heir to the throne.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) 

Directed by Wes Ball 

Written by T.S Nowlin 

Starring Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Aiden Gillen

Release Date January 26th, 2018 

The problem with the first two movies in The Maze Runner franchise was simple mediocrity and blandness. The films weren’t terrible, they weren’t poorly made; the movies’ just didn’t leave much of an impression. The expansive, bland but handsome teen cast was too large and not well developed enough as individuals to be memorable and lead Dylan O’Brien wasn’t bad either but the script did him few favors.

Now that we arrive at the final movie in the franchise, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, we get the first genuinely bad entry in the series. The Death Cure is an utterly moronic and misguided action movie that relies heavily on you remembering the two previous movies which may not have been terrible but were far from memorable. And on top of the homework the producers expect you to do in order to follow the plot; the film is 2 hours and 25 tedious minutes long.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure opens with an incredibly poorly staged action sequence. Our hero Thomas (O’Brien) and his allies are attacking a train owned by the evil, post-apocalyptic corporation WCKD, pronounced Wicked. I assume the evil corporation is called Wicked just in case the audience is dumb enough not to realize who the bad guys are.

Thomas and his team are here to rescue their friend Minho (Ki Hong Lee) whose name changes at least seven times throughout the movie, depending on which character is talking. I’m not kidding; at various points in the movie, Minho is called Minnow, Mean-Ho, and Meano. My best guess is that his name is pronounced Min-Ho but I can’t be sure about that. I spent a good deal of time considering the name because I had little else holding my interest.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal.