The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Trailer Is Action-Packed And Harrowing

In the crowded post-apocalyptic teen dystopia marketplace, The Hunger Games is the undisputed champ. While they dropped a trailer for the latest installment, the series capping Mockingjay—Part 2, another similarly themed sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, also unveiled a new look, showcasing what these movies bring to the table. And in case you forgot, that is action piled on action. Check it out for yourself.

While The Hunger Games definitely features action, it also relies heavily on story, character, and atmosphere, among other elements, to create an expansive, well-rendered world and heroine. Reading James Dashner’s novels that serve as the source material for The Maze Runner movies, I remember not thinking much of them from a story or character perspective, but I remarked that they would probably make kick ass movies. Judging by the first movie, and this new Scorch Trials trailer, director Wes Ball and company have delivered on that front.

It’s really the pace and tempo that drive these movies, and the big action scenes and continual forward motion help smooth over any narrative gaps or weaknesses in the story. The first film focuses on Thomas (Dylan O’Brien, Teen Wolf), a young man who wakes up in a place called the Glade with no idea how he got there. Surrounded by high walls and an ever-changing maze full of monsters called Grievers, the Glade is populated by other teens in a similar state, all trying to find a way out.

The story does itself a favor by being self-contained like this, allowing the film to focus on this place and these people without having to worry about the bigger world outside just yet. You’re already engaged and familiar by the time you get to The Scorch Trials, which breaks the setting wide open. Here you, and the characters, are exposed to the world beyond the Glade, and as you can see, it’s all kinds of messed up. There’s the nefarious organization/corporation WCKD, the landscape is a burned out wasteland, and there’s some kind of vicious virus that turns everyone into monsters to contend with.

From what we see in this trailer, The Scorch Trials is basically a long string of action-packed, harrowing scenes designed to put Thomas and his friends in danger. They battle infected people, tussle with Aiden Gillen from Game of Thrones, and trek across the desolate badlands where they encounter a group of resistance fighters. There are even adults this time around (there’s really one in the first movie) and female characters (there are only two in the first: one who is barely there, and one who is barely written). This looks to have all of the things that made The Maze Runner a much bigger hit than many people expected last year, as well as providing something new in the form of an expanding world.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials hits theaters September 18. 

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5 Reasons Mad Max: Fury Road Was This Summer's Best Movie

Now that the summer has officially ended, movie fans are already amalgamating their best-of lists. And while the likes of Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Inside Out, and The End Of The Tour each enthralled and wowed for a variety of reasons, nothing quite made the critical impact of Mad Max: Fury Road.

Already hailed as one of the greatest action films ever made, Mad Max: Fury Road is now available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray, which means you can now be blown away by George Miller’s bodacious spectacle in the comfort of your own home. To celebrate this release, and for those of you who haven’t already been convinced that Mad Max: Fury Road will make a worthy addition to your shelf, here are five reasons why you should purchase it immediately, and why it was the best movie of summer 2015. 

It Really Shouldn’t Have Been Made

George Miller was given $150 million to create Mad Max: Fury Road, and it still boggles the mind that Warner Bros. actually entrusted him with so much money to create his sensational garish blockbuster that is completely unlike its peers. The previous Mad Max instalment was released all the way back in 1985, while Miller’s recent successes had only come in the animation genre. Plus it was R-rated, was shot in the Namibia desert, and took over two and half years to edit together. 

All of this possibly should have given the folks at Warner Bros. pause about funding the film, but they continued to throw money behind it, and Miller’s full vision is up on the screen. Given how many reports we hear about studio meddling, kudos must be given for allowing the writer/director space to create Mad Max: Fury Road, and one could argue that it bodes very well for their work on the DC catalog. 

It’s A Sequel That Actually Builds Upon Its Predecessors

Back in 1981, George Miller’s Mad Max: The Road Warrior did a spectacular job building upon the world created in its lower budget 1979 predecessor, Mad Max. The same could even be said for 1985’s Beyond Thunderdome, which, despite its many, many foibles, had moments of rich storytelling and legitimately showed a different side of post-apocalyptic society. It’s truly in the tradition of this series for each sequel to add something more to the legend of the titular character, and the most recent chapter is no exception.

Taking what was seen before to extreme new levels, Mad Max: Fury Road built upon George Miller’s efforts in a more visceral and pulsating fashion, while it both semi-rebooted the character and alluded to Mad Max’s mythos. It also did all of this while taking advantage of technological advancements in cinema, which made it look slick, poetic, and luscious. 

It’s Gloriously Over-The-Top

Most modern mainstream directors try to make their characters and heroes as realistic and human as possible, but with Mad Max: Fury Road George Miller threw this approach out of the window and let it get trampled by Immortan Joe’s war party. Not only are the film’s characters wonderfully over the top and exaggerated, but their actions, interactions, and fashion are all delightfully distinctive and spectacular too. It all matches with the unbelievable and brilliant aesthetic that the filmmaker created more than 30 years ago, an it all pops thanks to truly amazing cinematography and terrifically bright and unique palette. 

In what other film/world are you going to see a cavalcade of oddly shaped weirdoes wasting water in their barren world while guzzling up fuel despite there being a shortage? And, of course, all of this is soundtracked by a deranged guitarist with fire sprouting out of his instrument! 

Simple Plot + Rounded Characters = Cinematic Triumph

Though its visuals and deranged characters may be wild and complex, Mad Max: Fury Road is still a wonderfully simple bit of storytelling. The plot is only instigated after Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa decides to turn left, and then it’s just a two-hour live action version of Catch The Pigeon.

In that ride, though, we’re brought up to speed with Imperator, Max, Nux, Immortan Joe and the five wives’ ambitions and desires – all helping movie-goers engage with the film on a deeper level and appreciate what’s going on. Each performer keeps their character both mysterious and relatable, and the increasingly bodacious action scenes are heightened because our uncomplicated rapport with them. It’s very simple storytelling that it outfitted with outlandish design, and the end result is beautiful and, in a word, mad. 

It Proves There Is Still Room For Originality In The Blockbuster

Admit it: you’ve been growing weary of the superhero machine for quite some time now. Don’t be ashamed, we all have been. That doesn’t mean that the genre still can’t prosper, but it also means that films like Mad Max: Fury Road are all the more refreshing. 

Mad Max: Fury Road not only proves/reminds us that summer, action spectacle can be created in a fresh, exhilarating, and relentless fashion, but that it can still be terrifically original too (despite the fact that it is itself part of a larger franchise). The film unquestionably looks like nothing that we’ve ever seen on the big screen before, and that element trickles down to the characterization and story and makes us really feel like we’re watching something special. It’s not exactly common for Hollywood to deliver movies that can be accurately described as just a two-hour chase scene – but that’s exactly what George Miller’s film delivers, and we’re incredibly thankful for it. 

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What we know about 'Hateful Eight' so far

Hateful Eight

Back in 2012, writer/director Quentin Tarantino once again brought his incredible skills back to the big screen with Django Unchained. Telling the story of a freed slave who goes on a mission to rescue his wife from an evil plantation owner, the movie was once again a huge success for the filmmaker, and he not only received very positive reviews, but also an Academy Award for his screenplay. Naturally, we’re only more excited for his next cinematic adventure, which will be coming soon in the form of the violent new post-Civil War drama The Hateful Eight. 

Seemingly mixing together elements of Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained, and equipping the story with a brilliant ensemble cast, the film looks like it could be something really special. But what exactly is the story in the movie, and who are the characters we will be meeting? Well, for your benefit we’ve put together this handy guide, which puts everything we know about the flick in one easy-to-read feature. Read on to find out what we know about The Hateful Eight so far! 

Quentin Tarantino

Fittingly, The Hateful Eight will be the eighth feature film of writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s incredible career (counting the two Kill Bill halves as one), but it’s a project that almost didn’t happen. While the filmmaker was doing behind-the-scenes work on the film back in early 2014, a draft of the screenplay managed to leak online. Claiming that he was personally betrayed, Tarantino said that he was going to shelves his plans for the film, and would instead consider possibly just publishing it. 

During a long drawn out lawsuit with Gawker that was ultimately dismissed, Tarantino hosted a special one-night-only stage reading of The Hateful Eight in Los Angeles. At the time, it seemed like it would possibly be the only time a Quentin Tarantino-directed performance would be held, but that changed after the reading when it was reported that the writer/director was still working on the script. 

In the summer of 2014, it was revealed that the production was back on, and that Quentin Tarantino was starting to put pieces of his cast together. Filming began back in January, and The Hateful Eight is now in post-production. Sadly, The Weinstein Company, which is handling distribution on the project, has not yet announced a release date for the film. 

H8ful story

Based on an original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino – just like all of the director’s other films – this new project is set in the years just after the Civil War, and begins with a bounty hunter (Kurt Russell) and his bounty (Jennifer Jason Leigh) making their way through Wyoming during winter on their way to a town called Red Rock. Along the road, they wind up meeting two strangers, but this is only the beginning of the story. Eventually, a blizzard forces the group off the road entirely and into an establishment called Minnie’s Haberdashery. This location is actually already filled with four other individuals taking shelter from the storm – some with darker tales than others. As the night goes on, tensions flare, and in true Tarantino fashion, blood will be spilt. 

John Ruth: "The Hangman"

As noted during the plot synopsis, Kurt Russell character is one of the first we meet in the narrative, and his name is John Ruth. As you probably could have guessed, he earns the nickname "The Hangman" because he’s a bounty hunter who’s pretty damn good at bringing people to justice. The Hateful Eight will actually be the second time that Russell has had the opportunity to work with Quentin Tarantino, as they previously collaborated on the Death Proof half of the double-feature Grindhouse. Russell was originally going to have a role in the writer/director’s Django Unchained, but wound up leaving the production. His part wound up being absorbed by Walton Goggins. Russell is a missed presence in any movie he’s not in, so it’s great to see him working with Tarantino once again. 

Daisy Domergue: "The Prisoner"

Throughout his career, Quentin Tarantino has made a habit of making surprising casting choices and getting them to pay off in major ways. When it comes to The Hateful Eight, one can pinpoint Jennifer Jason Leigh as the production’s most interesting castmember. There was a time when a rumor was swirling around that the part of Daisy Domergue was going to go to Jennifer Lawrence, but that was debunked when Leigh got the part in October of last year. She begins the film as John Ruth’s captured prisoner, heading to Red Rock to face punishment for the crime of murder. Whether or not she will actually get there is a very reasonable question. 

Major Marquis Warren: "The Bounty Hunter"

Major Marquis Warren is one of the two characters who John Ruth and Daisy Domergue wind up encountering on their little misadventure, and he will be played by the one and only Samuel L. Jackson. The character has been described as being an infamous bounty hunter himself, though he also made a name for himself as a soldier fighting for the union. The Hateful Eight will be the fifth time that Jackson has had the opportunity to work with Quentin Tarantino as a director – and the truth is that they make magic every time out. From his Oscar nominated turn as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction to the detestable Stephen in Django Unchained, it’s been proven time and time again that the two men work incredibly well together 

Chris Mannix: "The Sheriff"

While it’s not entirely clear if John Ruth and Daisy Domergue wind up encountering the aforementioned roadside strangers together or apart, but in addition to Major Marquis Warren, the duo will also be running into Chris Mannix – played by Walton Goggins. He’s a Southerner who has moved out to the west and claims to be the new sheriff in town… though whether or not he can be trusted is evidently debatable. As mentioned earlier in this guide, The Hateful Eight will be a reunion between Quentin Tarantino and Walton Goggins, as they previously had the chance to work together making Django Unchained. That, however, was a very small role, and hopefully this one will be a bit more significant. 

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