The Batman (2022) Movie Review

The Batman (2022) Movie Review) IMDB

First I want to say there are no spoilers per say in this review but I will speak about some plot details of the movie that do not give anything away. So now you know.

Let’s start off with the good. This is all about Batman the detective. It is not an action movie although there are a few action sequences. It is a dark movie. Gotham is well represented as a gritty, large city with the flavor of a merged NYC and Chicago. The cinemaphotography is very good. The acting is very good from multiple characters, and Pattinson fits as Batman IMO. All in all this a movie that everyone is flocking to see in theaters and for good reason.

Now, some of the not so good. This is a slow building plot. It is a murder mystery and everything comes together in the end, but not in a fast paced way. It would be ideal if they had cut 20 minutes from the movie (it clocks in at just under 3 hours) and they played it at 1.3X speed. I suggest cutting some of the scenes with soggy boots and very slow walking….or give us an INTERMISSION !! Half of the theater I was in got up at some point during the movie to go to the bathroom. Everyone else was probably uncomfortable. Also, skip the end credits scene.

This review is on a maze website, and that is because a maze is part of the plot of the movie. A serial killer is on the loose in Gotham. The second victim is killed in a very clever way using rats in a maze. Of course this includes a riddle as a clue. And everything else you’ll need to learn by watching the movie.

This film is definitely worth your time, just don’t drink too much before going to the theater, I give the movie a 7.5/10.

Enjoy this trailer for the movie:

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In The Tall Grass (2019) Movie Review

In The Tall Grass (2019) Movie Review) IMDB Amazon Book

By Netflix - Google, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61796066

Stephen King has written some great stories through the years, many of them have been made into movies, but not all of them successfully. How did Netflix do with their adaption of he and his son’s novella ? Let’s find out.

A man and woman are driving down the road in the middle of a vast sea of fields in Kansas. THe woman is visibly pregnant. They need to stop on the side of the road because she has become nauseous. During the stop they hear a cry for help from a young boy who says he is lost in the tall grass beside the road. Can they save him from the grass ? You hear his mother yell at them to not come in. They go in after him. And so it begins.

While there is no maze per say in this movie, the tall grass is difficult to walk through and continually makes the characters lost no matter which direction they move. Well, there are a few points in the maze like tall grass that work as anchor points - you can find that out in the movie. The couple finds out they are not alone in the tall grass, but they are having trouble leaving it no matter what methods they try.

The acting is good enough. The story is interesting. The feeling of being lost is conveyed well with the cinematography. But, overall it does not quite land in the must see category.

I give it an 6.3/10 for having a great premise that was entertaining. I bet the book is better though.

Here is the trailer for the movie:

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Grave Encounters (2011) Movie Review

Grave Encounters (2011) Movie Review) IMDB Amazon

We can thank Blair Witch Project (1999) for an entire genre of found footage movies. This allowed movie makers to make movies where the camera work is shaky to add to the realism, and people always have their cameras pointed in just the right direction. This found footage movie is about a ghost hunting reality tv show that spends the night in an abandoned mental hospital. Now, although these are television professionals they STILL have terrible camerawork as they film this mental hospital. If this was real found footage (spoiler?) there would need to be a lot of editting.

Now about the movie. It has some nice scares along the way, starting slow and with a nice buildup of a scenario where a tv production crew locks themselves in an abandoned mental hospital overnight. What could possibly go wrong ? Well, you could have trouble getting out …and the hospital could be changing, with new hallways existing where one wasn’t before….creating a maze-like trap that must be escaped from. At the end of the day - this movie works. It isn’t great, but it is worth seeing !

I give it an 6/10 for having some good scares and a nice premise.

Here is the trailer for the movie:

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The Top 12 Best Maze / Labyrinth Movies of all time

I love watching movies and I love making mazes and labyrinths. You might not think so, but there is a good amount of overlap between the two. Mazes have been popping up as plot devices in movies since they were first being made. Want to create tension for your characters ? Get them lost in a maze being chased by a villain. Sometimes characters need a challenge to overcome to get to their destination, so how about solving a puzzle or series of puzzles like a maze. Each of these scenarios play themselves out in the list below, plus a few more.

When I set out to compile a list of maze movies I never realized how great many of the movies would actually be. I created an entire movie section on this site which currently has over 70 movie reviews. I had trouble getting the list down to the 12 best, but it is clear that a few movies stand out. Many of these are available to stream for free, and for up-to-date streaming options I suggest you checkout justwatch. Let’s get to the movies !

The 12 Best Movies Containing Mazes or Labyrinths:

12. Enter the Dragon (1973) IMDB AMAZON

This classic 1970’s martial arts movie set a high standard before special effects took the genre to a new level. Considered by many (including IMDB) Bruce Lee’s best movie. it was released in the US just a few weeks after his untimely death. The movie follows Lee as he tries to infiltrate and investigate a man named Han’s inner circle during a martial arts tournament that Han holds on his island. What gets the movie on this list is the final fight scene which takes place in a mirror maze (more of a mirror room). Fighting in a mirror maze definitely raises the degree of difficulty ! SPOILER : Below is the final fight scene, with the mirror room starting around 2:45 in.

11. Cube (1997) IMDB Prime Video

6 strangers wake-up in a giant cube shaped maze that is bobby trapped and trying to kill them. They don’t know why they are there or how they got there but they know they need to try and escape. Are they making the right or wrong choice as they choose each passageway ? Only one way to find out. Now this is some maze horror ! Eventually this became a trilogy, but I suggest you skip #2 and go to the final instalment, Cube Zero if you want answers to the why and who of the Cube.

10. Dave Made A Maze (2017) IMDB Prime Video

Dave builds a cardboard fort in his living room. It looks small from the outside, but once you enter it gets much, much larger. Dave gets lost. Dave’s friends join him against his advice to stay outside. Now everyone is lost. To return to civilization they need to band together and escape the cardboard maze. Destined to be a cult classic. Also we have an appearance of a minotaur in the maze !

9. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) IMDB Prime Video

A young boy is born with a sense of smell more powerful than anyone in human history. With it he obsessively works to create the perfect perfume. Unfortunately, that includes some secret ingredients that are against the law. Of course, he finds some of these ingredients when they are lost in a hedge maze. It gets very weird multiple times at the end, but you can’t say it’s something you’ve seen before ! And that's why the movie made the list, for the original story.

8. Time Bandits (1981) IMDB AMAZON

Time Bandits is a 1981 film written and directed by Terry Gilliam. Yes, the same Terry Gilliam of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, Brazil, 12 Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This movie would best be described as a time travel fantasy film with a Monty Python feel to it. Very British. This is a movie full of imagination and fun storytelling. And about 80 minutes into the movie we have a maze ! The maze appears during a game show sequence that is a trap Evil (the bad guy) has set to steal the map from the dwarves.

7. The Lady From Shanghai (1947) IMDB Prime Video

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 ! Bonus points for making the maze so important to the story ! One of the few maze films that involves a funhouse mirror maze but is not a horror film.

6. Dark City (1998) IMDB Prime Video

Dark is definitely the best way to describe this city and this movie. An underrated fantasy sci-fi movie where a city is stuck in perpetual night. Our main character is wanted for murder, can’t remember his past, and is being pursued by some creepy guys called The Strangers. As he travels in the city, trying to find information about his life and what is happening he witnesses the cities buildings and structure changing, creating a maze of the city. We also have a conflicted doctor (played by Kiefer Sutherland) who does city experiments using a mouse in a spiral maze that is shaped like the city. And everything leads to Shell Beach. It will not surprise you that the director, Alex Proyas, also brought us the dark and mysterious The Crow.

5 . Ready Player One (2018) IMDB Prime Video

Steven Spielberg directed this great movie from the best selling book. In the year 2045 a virtual reality world called the OASIS can be won by the person who can find a series of Easter Eggs hidden in the virtual world. To find the Easter Eggs you need to solve puzzles (some maze like) using details about pop culture from the past (our present). With cameos by over 120 characters this movie is one you can watch again and again and never see all the hidden cameos. Oh, and did you notice the Ready Player One logo is a MAZE ! You start from the initial R and work your way to the center of the O.

Ready Player One Logo Maze

4. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) IMDB Prime Video

In 1944 Spain a young girl escapes a world at war by escaping into a fantasy world at the center of a secret underground labyrinth. The girl meets a faun (totally normal) who takes her to the center of the labyrinth. She learns she can become an immortal princess in this fantasy world but must prove herself first by completing 3 tasks. Winner of 3 Oscars (Best Achievement in Cinematography, Art Direction, and Makeup) and over 100 movie awards. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro this movie is always ranked in the top 250 list of IMDB.

3. Prisoners (2013) IMDB Prime Video

A man (Hugh Jackman) tries to hunt down his 6 year old daughter and her friend who have been abducted. As he gets closer to the suspected abductor he finds a man obsessed with making mazes (I do not support this premise). Can he find the children in time to keep them safe ? A really tense thriller I highly recommend. Directed by the visionary Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), this movie makes the IMDB top 250 movie list of all time.

2. Inception (2010) IMDB Prime Video

At the time of this writing this is the highest rated Science-Fiction movie of all-time on IMDB. A group of thieves go into dreams to steal corporate ideas from the minds of people. This time they need to plant an idea in a CEO’s head during a dream (what they call an inception). To do this they will need to circumvent the maze of subconscious dream worlds they’ve created - a dream world within a dream world within a dream world. Sounds like that will be easy to execute. And the ending !!! Thank you Christopher Nolan for this masterpiece !

And the #1 Maze movie is…..going to be revealed after these honorable mention maze movies that didn’t quite make the cut. We have 3 horror movies, 3 fantasy movies and 2 animated movies. All are worth a look, but none made my final list beyond this honorable mention shoutout.

The Maze Runner (2014) IMDB Prime Video . A group of boys with no memory are placed in a maze.

Labyrinth (1986) IMDB Prime Video . A girl must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother from a goblin.

The Collection (2012) IMDB Prime Video A man tries to save a girl from a serial killer and his maze-like warehouse.

Us (2019) IMDB Prime Video. A young child wanders into a funhouse mirror maze during a beach vacation, where she sees herself? or a doppelganger inside…

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) IMDB Prime Video Harry must complete 3 challenges, with the third being a huge maze to win a tournament.

Tales from the Crypt (1972) IMDB Prime Video 5 strangers get lost in a maze like crypt.

Alice in Wonderland (1951) IMDB AMAZON Alice visits wonderland and finds herself in a hedge maze garden where living playing cards are painting roses.

How to Train Your Dragon (2010) IMDB Prime Video Viking kids learn to train dragons in a maze.

Maze movie posters

And the best maze movie is…

1. The Shining (1980) IMDB Prime Video

One of the best horror movies of all time is also one of the best movies of all time. Stanley Kubrick as the director of a Stephen King best selling book with Jack Nicholson as the lead character….Yes please ! A writer takes a job as a caretaker of a secluded hotel that is closed for the Winter with his wife and young son joining him. Oh, did I mention the hotel is also haunted ? As the writer’s mental state deteriorates, his wife and son try to leave but he won’t let them. Can they escape a secluded hotel in the middle of winter ? I would try using the hedge maze outside….just a thought. If you want to explore the symbolism in the film check out the documentary Room 237.

At the time of this writing most of these are available to stream online. My favorite site to check what is streaming where is Justwatch. Now, make some popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show ! I also suggest you check out the top maze movie posters of all time.

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