Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) Movie Review

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) IMDB

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2015) movie poster

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth Harry Potter movie/book in the series of 7 (8 movies since the last book was broken into 2 movies), so this marks the halfway point in the series.

This movie revolves around a wizarding tournament called the Triwizard Tournament which brings foreign wizarding schools to Hogwarts to compete. Harry is selected to compete in the tournament despite not putting his name in the running for the spot. To win, competitors must compete 3 tasks. The first 2 tasks involve a dragon (a great part of the movie) and a lake rescue. But I review any movie that contains any maze or labyrinth, so let’s get right to the maze portion of the movie: Harry and his other competitors are stuck in a hedge maze for task 3 of the tournament. This is a very active hedge maze that seems to be alive, which Harry must escape to move forward. I feel like I don’t need to say spoiler before I mention he does escape and there are many more books and movies. Overall it is an interesting scene.

So how is the overall film ? If I am being honest, each of the Harry Potter films is good and worth seeing and this is no exception. What really stands is the creative and interesting world that JK Rowling created in her books. The director here, Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco) did a nice job bringing the story to the big screen. I would give it a 7.5/10.

Here is the trailer for this film:

Dave Made A Maze (2017) Movie Review

Dave Made A Maze (2017) IMDB

Dave Made a Maze movie poster

How many times have you sat down to watch a movie and you already know the story because you have seen it before. Take the body swap movie genre. If you have seen Freaky Friday (any version) you have a good idea what will happen in The Change-Up, 18 Again, Prelude to a Kiss, The Hot Chick and Face/Off. The thing about Dave Made a Maze is that this is a story you probably have never heard/seen (I certainly can’t think of this story in another movie). I used the website bestsimilar to find the movie most similar to this plot and it spat out Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). For me, a unique concept is what makes this a good movie. So what is this movie about ?

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 decide to 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 fort which is a large maze. The creativity in the story and the low budget but interesting sets are what makes this movie special. Yet, the low budget sets made of cardboard are key to the entire plot of the movie and make complete sense. You haven’t seen this, and maybe you don’t THINK you want to see this, BUT YOU NEED TO SEE THIS. Destined to be a cult classic circa 2035. Possibly 2037. I also appreciate that the runtime is a quick 80 minutes. No extra fluff, no un-needed scenes, just fun scenes to push the plot forward.

The director of this film, Bill Watterson has only 3 directing credits to his name, and this is the only full length film. I think we need a sequel for this one with Bill directing. I learned later that he is from Cleveland, Ohio, where I live most of the year. Maybe that’s why I enjoy this humor so much.

I give it a 7.5/10. You can find this movie streaming for free on many websites.

Check out this fun trailer. You will get a hint of one of the characters that pops up in the maze/movie.

Cube (1997) Movie Review

Cube (1997) IMDB

Cube maze poster

Today I want to review the 1997 classic sci-fi mystery movie Cube. Any time I sit down to watch a movie I am always looking for a unique story concept and Cube has just that.

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 ! And yet the story really resolves around the mystery and the science fiction of the space they are in. I do not know if this is the first movie with this concept, but I believe it is the first big one to use: x # of strangers wake-up in X place and do not what how or why they are there and must overcome x. Cube created a new genre, much like the classic Groundhog Day created a genre of time loop movies and Night of the Living Dead created the reanimated cannibalistic zombie movies. The original Saw (2004) film starts with 2 strangers, House of 9 (2005) starts with 9 strangers, Unknown (2006) has 5 people, Shadow Puppets (2007) has 8, Nine Dead (2009) has 9 and the list goes on. Cube found a plot device that works and has been copied many times since. For this movie I give it a 7/10. Definitely worth seeing. This is great psychological horror.

This movie is part of a trilogy that includes:

  1. Cube 2 : Hypercube (2002) IMDB

  2. Cube Zero (2004) IMDB

and

This film was remade by a Japanese director in 2021, with Japanese actors and a new twist that would require a spoiler alert. Cube (2021) IMDB

Here is a trailer for the original movie:

The Collection (2012) Movie Review

The Collection (2012) (IMDB)

The Collection (2012) movie poster

The Collection is the sequel to the 2009 movie The Collector, each directed by Marcus Dunstan. The movie posters for the 2 movies are almost the same so you may have seen one movie but might not be sure which one.

After escaping from a serial killer known as The Collector a man is sent back to the serial killer’s hideout to rescue a kidnapped girl. The only problem is that hideout is a booby trapped maze he needs to get thru to save the girl. And by booby trapped, I mean Saw levels of pain and creativity. Can he save her in time ? If I told you I would need to write spoiler and then give you the answer. But I didn’t so you’ll need to watch this on your own to get the answer.

If there is one thing I disagree with the critics on is that this movie is more poorly reviewed than the first installment The Collector. I completely disagree. While that movie is fine, this sequel is a much better movie. I give The Collection a 7.5 / 10. The movie can be found on streaming for free and it is only 82 minutes ! They edited out all of the boring parts and were left with a nice tight movie. See this movie and enjoy the carnage !

UPDATE: After years of “development hell” it seems that The Collector 3 appears to be back in development. I will be watching for updates. It also has initial artwork that suggests the movie poster will be a similar version to parts 1 & 2.