Chinese Zodiac (2012) Movie Review

Chinese Zodiac (2012) IMDB

Chinese Zodiac (2012) movie poster

Jackie Chan. Welcome to the maze party. If you are looking for a movie review for Sap ji sang ciu, you are also in the right place. This is an adventure movie where Jackie tries to find and collect 12 bronzes of the creatures of the Chinese zodiac. It is also a comedy (allegedly). What you get is a rarely funny, martial arts heavy movie with a weak premise, and average acting. In other words a typical Jackie Chan movie except in this one he is not a cop. You know I’m right.

What makes this movie part of my site is a scene early in the movie where Jackie is acquiring a bronze and while escaping he makes his away outside into a hedge maze full of dogs that don’t seem to like him much. Can he escape (or is the movie over after 24 minutes?) . SPOILER: he does find a way out so the rest of movie takes place outside of the maze. The movie may have been better had it stayed in the maze. Here is a screengrab of the escape (pretty cool maze, and large).

Chinese zodiac movie hedge maze scene

The execution is weak of this premise. See this only if you love Jackie Chan.

I give it a 5.3/10.

Check out the trailer:

Cursed (2005) Movie Review

Cursed (2005) IMDB

Cursed (2005) movie poster

Our first werewolf movie that has a maze in it (but not our last). We have plenty of horror maze movies, although most of them are terrible. Of course the best maze movie of all time is a horror flick (do you know which movie it is ?). This is not that movie.

We have an early 2000’s flick that includes a lot of actors that you are familiar with, like Joshua Jackson, Jesse Eisenberg and Christina Ricci. And if you are a fan of Arrested Development (who isn’t ?) you get Portia de Rossi, Judy Greer and Scott Baio ! This movie revolves around young adults that have an encounter with a beast, later they find it was a werewolf, and struggle with the ramifications, like are they becoming werewolves ? We have a typical teen movie with angst and a bit of a mystery of who is a werewolf. Eventually we have a scene that takes place in a maze of mirrors where we get a showdown between our characters and a werewolf.

Unfortunately, this movie showed the transformation from person to werewolf using the special effects available at the time. Not very special. Overall this movie is not very good despite a cast that I thought could do better. This is Bizzarro Twilight.

I give it a 4.8/10.

Check out the trailer:

Dungeons & Dragons (2000) Movie Review

Dungeons & Dragons (2000) IMDB

Dungeons & Dragons (2020) movie poster

I am in the process of watching a lot of movies. Like, a lot of movies. Possibly a record breaking amount of movies ?? Dungeons and Dragons, a fantasy movie from 2000 based on the game was next on the list to watch. It is a typical quest fantasy movie and because of the D&D theme we have a cast of characters that will remind you of a Lord of the Rings movie, i.e. elves. orcs, dragons. Part of the quest involves our main character needing to solve a maze to get a prize. It is called a maze multiple times, but actually feels more like a dangerous obstacle course. It feels like something Indiana Jones would go through except with interested spectators.

As far as fantasy movies go the only fantasy I had while watching this one was that it would soon be over. This is a rough movie even if you look past the horrible special effects. Jeremy Irons plays the bad guy in this one, but he could not save this movie.

I give it a 3.8/10.

Check out the trailer:

Flowers for Algernon (2000) Movie Review

Flowers for Algernon (2000) IMDB

Flowers for Algernon (2000) movie poster

Any movie that starts with a mouse running through a maze is going to get a good review from me. The movie is of the made for TV variety and is based on the best-selling, award winning 1966 novel of the same name written by Daniel Keyes. This is the second movie made about the book, with the first being Charly in 1968.

The story revolves around an intellectually disabled man who undergoes a surgery to try to make him a genius. Along the journey we see how people interact with our main character Charlie Gordon based on his mental capacity, and Charlie deals with everyone else as his intelligence changes and he understands his past more clearly. Matthew Modine does a nice job in his role as the main character and the supporting characters are good also.. Overall, while this does not have (nor need) a big budget to be successful, the movie is well made.

This is a good family movie and I suggest every teen read the book.

The movie has many maze scenes which is always a good thing for me ! I give it a 6.8/10.

Check out the trailer below which features Algernon in the maze !

Or just go ahead and watch the whole movie at this link on YouTube.

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