The Maze (1953) Movie Review

The Maze (1953) IMDB Prime Video

The Maze (1953) movie poster

When we discuss maze movies we have to include The Maze from 1953 for 2 main reasons: 1) The title is The Maze so it definitely qualifies 2) The movie starts with shots of the hedge maze that is central to the entire story. That story is of a Scotsman who moves into a castle that has an adjoining hedge maze. There is only one rule for the maze - do not enter it. Which means of course you are going to enter it. I’m sure everything will be fine…right ? I mean the rule was just meant to be a recommendation.

You can give it a watch at the link below. And from a historical note, the very first 3D color movie came out April 10, 1953 from Vincent Price, The House of Wax. This film followed shortly after in 3D in July of the same year.

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) Movie Review

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) IMDB Prime Video

The Man with the Golden Gun movie poster

The ninth James Bond film and the second (out of 7) starring Roger Moore. A professional assassin with a golden gun charges a million dollars per kill. He trains against other assassins in a room that is set-up like a fun-house, which includes multiple mirror mazes (and in the opening sequence !). If you want to train against other assassins who better to train against than James Bond ? (Léon, John Wick, Ray, The Jackal, Jef, Vincent and Jules, The Bride, Vincent, Nikita). I made a strong case for a few others, but James is still probably in the top 10. Is The Terminator considered an assassin ? I’m getting off topic.

Can Bond find the man with the golden gun and spoil his current plot that revolves around solar energy ?

I want to give a shout out to one of my favorite actors from the 70’s and my childhood, Hervé Villechaize. If you do not know the name you probably know him from his catch phrase on a late 70’s tv show “the plane, boss, the plane”.

As far as James Bond films go, this one is entertaining and worth a look. It falls firmly in the middle of the pack The cool gadgets that were fun in 1974 are less cool today but you get the idea ! I give it a 7/10

The Lady From Shanghai (1947) Movie Review

The Lady From Shanghai (1947) IMDB Prime Video

The Lady from Shanghai movie poster

Rita Hayworth plays a vixen that gets director/actor Orson Welles mixed up in a murder plot in this film-noir classic. They find themselves caught in a fun-house mirror maze in a key plot moment that involves gunshots…if they can find what they are shooting at ! One of the few maze films that involves a funhouse mirror maze but is not a horror film. Also a film that doesn’t just contain a maze, but uses it in a major way to move the plot and story forward (like The Shining). A very solid movie. 8/10.

Labyrinth (1986) Movie review

Labyrinth (1986) IMDB Prime Video

Labyrinth (1986) movie poster

Jim Henson, Lucasfilm and David Bowie collaborated on this classic fantasy movie. A teenage girl is angrily babysitting her younger baby brother and she wishes he would be taken away. The Goblin King grants the wish and takes the brother in a classic case of be careful what you wish for. Her only way to get him back is to solve a Labyrinth in 13 hours or her brother will permanently become a goblin in this weird fantasy world. Includes a wonderful tribute to MC Escher and tons of interesting puppets courtesy of Jim Henson, along with some musical numbers from David Bowie. I give the movie a 6.5/10.

Enjoy the MC Escher scene below, featuring David Bowie singing “Within You” along with the movie trailer below that.