Muppets from Space (1999) Movie Review

Muppets from Space (1999) IMDB

Muppets From Space movie poster

Who is your favorite Muppets character (other than Kermit) ? For some it is Animal, Beaker or Grover, but for me it is Gonzo. And if you are like me, then this is the film for you because this Muppets movie stars Gonzo in the lead role closely supported by Rizzo the Rat. You still get doses of Kermit, Fozzy, Miss Piggy, Animal and all of the other characters you know and love. Plus this wouldn’t be a Muppet movie if there weren’t cameos by people like Hulk Hogan, Ray Liotta, Rob Schneider and David Arquette to name a few. And of course as you will hear in the trailer below, it is full of musical numbers set to feel good classic songs !

This story is all about Gonzo looking for his long lost family. What is Gonzo exactly ? Could he be an alien ? This movie explores that along with a few side stories that make it fun for the whole family. As far as mazes go, during a key scene Rizzo the Rat gets captured by the bad guys and gets put into a cage with lab rats. I should have said “spoiler” before that. My bad. Anyway the lab rats are put into a rat maze during the next scene, and that’s why this movie is a maze movie, or at least a movie with a maze scene.

Will this movie change how you feel about anything important in your life ? Will it make you you think differently about the world and your place in it ? Could this be a film that 30 years from now critics look back on fondly as a masterpiece that slipped thru the cracks ? No, no and no. But feel free to let the kids watch it and be entertained for awhile. You might even hear a few laughs every now and then.

In my opinion of the 9 Muppets movies that have been made this is middle of the pack. I rate it a solid 6/10.

Check out the trailer:

The Maze Runner (2014) Movie Review

The Maze Runner is a 2014 film based on the first book from the 5 part best selling book series by James Dasher. Let’s see what this movie is all about.

The Maze Runner (2014) IMDB

The Maze Runner (2014) movie poster
The Maze Runner (2014) Movie Poster - into the maze

So you wake up with no memory of your past trapped with others just like you in an enclosed environment (Seems a bit Cube ish yes ?). Well, not completely enclosed. They are surrounded by very high stone walls that contain a maze which you need to solve in order to escape. You get the chance to solve the maze each morning when a large door opens but the maze is patrolled by cyborgs. That same door closes each night, and if you get stuck in the maze overnight, you die. You don’t know why you’re there or who put you there. Escaping the maze seems like the right move…run. So that is the premise and set-up for the movie.

Although the reviews of this movie are average, I found the movie to be better than that. It isn’t a movie that is going to win any awards…checks….except a few from the MTV Movie + TV Awards, but the story was interesting and kept my attention. I tend to like sci-fi post-apocalypse movies and this is definitely that.

If there is a weakness of the movie it is the why. As the movie unfolds and the group begins to learn what is happening the why of the maze becomes complex….but a bit meaningless. But that is why we have sequels and additional books, because the maze running story is just getting started.

Now we have time for a sidebar. The movie posters for this movie are excellent, as are the posters for the sequels. As a person who makes maze artwork daily these are really good design. If you want to explore this topic more check out my lost of The 10 Best Maze Themed Movie Posters.

I would rate it a strong 7.4/10 despite a non-ending. You’ll need to keep watching the sequels to get the answers you need.

Check out the trailer:

The Maze (1953) Movie Review

The Maze (1953) IMDB

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, called Gerald, who moves into a castle that has an adjoining hedge maze. It seems his uncle has died and left him the large castle and the servants that come with it (we should all be so lucky). Gerald’s ex-fiancé, Kitty, travels to the castle with her aunt to see why he broke off the engagement with a letter. Gerald is acting strangely and has aged since she last saw him. Kitty and her aunt try to figure out what has happened to Gerald.

The hedge maze is key to the story and plot. 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. Overall, the atmosphere and tone of the movie is well done and the acting is fine. Unfortunately, the problem with the movie comes in the final act with the big reveal which is disappointing and makes no sense. Maybe we can get AI to remake the last 8 minutes of the film ??? I would compare this to an M Night Shyamalan film that has a nice premise but misses the landing.

Random note: There is an Intermission just over 49 minutes into this 80 minute film. Can we all agree that we need these to come back for today’s 3 hour films ? Who can sit in a theater that long without a break ?

You can give the full movie a watch at the link below. From a historical note the very first 3D color movie came out April 10, 1953, Vincent Price‘s The House of Wax. This film followed shortly after in July of the same year, or as it says on the movie poster “3 DIMENSION” but was filmed in black and white. A few slight changes and this may have been historically significant.

I would give this a 5.7/10.

You can watch the entire movie here:

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) Movie Review

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) IMDB

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) movie poster

The Man With The Golden Gun is the ninth James Bond film and the second (out of 7) starring Roger Moore. The plot revolves around a professional assassin with a golden gun who charges a million dollars per kill. Christopher Lee plays the assassin, named Scaramanga who trains against other assassins in a room that is set-up like a fun-house, and which includes multiple mirror mazes (we learn all of this in the opening sequence that James Bond films are famous for!). 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 are a few options in a list that I started, then kept expanding as I went). 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 ? 007 does some investigating and follows clues around the world from London to Beirut, Macau, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

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”. He plays a servant to Scaramanga in the film. Also important is the Bond girl, played by Britt Ekland who had a nice run of movies at this time of Get Carter (1971), The Wicker Man (1973) and this film (1974).

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 still get the idea !

I give it a 7/10.

Check out the trailer: