Neo Tokyo (1987) Movie Review

Neo Tokyo (1987) (IMDB)

Neo Tokyo movie poster

This Japanese animated movie is a trilogy of stories, with the first called "Labyrinth labyrinthos” where a young girl and her cat escape into a odd world they get to through a large clock. The world has flashes of long hallways and pathways that make it seem like a maze, but things tend to transform quickly in this fantasy space. We also get a big top and lots of clowns. The point of the story ? I’m not really sure, but everything looks great. The second story is about a racer, and the last story is about a man working with construction worker robots. To me, the last story feels more relevant today than back in 1987 as AI and robots become more and more advanced.

Overall everything looks great, but it is a bit weird and the first 2 stories are lacking.

I give it a 6/10.

Qala (2022) Movie Review

Qala (2022) (IMDB)

Qala movie poster

Today I bring you another movie that had an unexpected maze show up in it. It comes to us from Netflix and is a Bollywood drama about a talented female singer. The good news for those of you who hate subtitles is that this is dubbed into English ! Our main character, Qala, is a talented singer who is always having problems from a dominant mother. The story revolves around singers making music, but the mood is decidedly dark with the cinematography featuring shadows and dark settings. The story involves jealousy and familial relationships. Early in the movie we have a scene that caught my attention where out main character goes outside into the garden of her house into a maze (she visits again later in the movie). Here is a screenshot of the maze:

Maze from Qala 2022 movie

Overall this movie is worth a watch.

I give it a 6.5/10.

A Chump at Oxford (1940) Movie Review

A Chump at Oxford (1940) (IMDB)

A Chump at Oxford movie poster

I never thought I would be reviewing a Laurel & Hardy movie or this website, but I was pleased to find that this movie might contain a maze in it. This is a typical Laurel & Hardy movie where they have an uncanny ability to escalate the simplest of situations into chaotic disasters. You get tons of gags, physical comedy, and misunderstandings. The comedy is more timeless than you would think for such an old movie.

As far as the maze scene, I can confirm that this is a maze movie. Once at Oxford, about 20 minutes into the film a student gives them directions (long directions) through a hedge maze to get to the deans house. It goes about as well as you think it would for these 2. Here is a screenshot of the maze.

A Chump at Oxford hedge scene

I give it a 7/10.

Land of the Pharaohs (1955) Movie Review

Land of the Pharaohs (1955) (IMDB)

Land of the Pharaohs movie poster

This movie is about a pharaoh, Pharaoh Khufu who is planning for his second life after his death. He wants to be buried in a pyramid, surrounded by his many treasures, that is grave robber proof. So this is an estate planning movie. Can you imagine if in modern times when a person passed away they were buried with all of their valuable things instead of leaving an inheritance. The pharaoh has a captured architect design a pyramid that uses a labyrinth combined with blocked passageways to trap and block grave robbers. Now you just need to build the pyramid ! And that is the bulk of the movie, the building of the pyramid. There are thousands of extras, great orchestral music, huge sets, and dramatic acting - everything you would expect from this type of movie except the 3+ hour runtime (it is only 1 hour, 46 minutes). Overall it was a solid movie.

I give it a 6.4/10.