The Batman (2022) Movie Review

The Batman (2022) IMDB

The Batman (2022) movie poster

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 Robert 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 seeing it. I give the movie a 7.5/10.

Enjoy this trailer for the movie:

If you want more Batman in a maze content check out this kids book review: Batman and Robin Walk Into a Maze...

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Grave Encounters (2011) Movie Review

Grave Encounters (2011) Movie Review) IMDB

Grave Encounters (2011) movie poster

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. If something is expensive to shoot just make the lighting dark and the special effects team can spend less money, because it is shot by a non-professional person, not a cameraman. 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 editing.

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. The group starts being picked off one by one. At the end of the day (or night in this case) - 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:

You Should Have Left (2020) Movie Review

You Should Have Left (2020) IMDB

You Should Have Left (2020) movie poster

Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried star in this horror thriller from Blumhouse about a couple that goes on vacation to the Welsh countryside to work on their relationship. They have a young daughter and as the story unfolds we learn about the couples relationship and past before they were married. The couple has a large age difference and this makes the husband suspicious of his wife of cheating on him because she always seems to be engaged with her phone instead of him. Seems like we are always on our phones these days.

Hovering over the story of the relationship is the house. Large, mysterious, and the home to that seems to defy physics with its unending hallways. And that is where the maze movie part comes in. This house feels like a maze multiple times during the movie, including in two long sequences. Something is off about the house, or is that just in their heads ?

With an ending you will see coming from a mile away, even if you don’t quite understand some of the machinations that took you there in the last part of the movie. I give it a 5.5/10.

Check out the trailer:

Us (2019) Movie Review

Us (2019) IMDB

Us movie poster

Jordan Peele knows how to make an interesting horror film, Get Out anyone ?, and this is his follow-up. It’s 1986, and a young girl wanders off from the amusement park on the beach and enters a deserted fun house. When the lights go out she tries to exit, but the mirror maze makes it difficult for her to find her way. Oh, and so does the girl in the mirror. And that’s when you know this thing is about to get sinister.

Modern day. A family of 4 takes a vacation to SoCal with another family. After a beach outing during the day where they see a tragic scene they return home to relax. That night the lights go out only to reveal a group of 4 family doppelgangers outside, but with deformations. What follows is a cat and mouse game where the doppelgangers are trying to kill the original family. Along the way we discover just how big the problem is.

So this really good movie has a maze that kicks off the plot and hurtles us into a twisted world that you will want to escape from ! It has a cast that includes Lupita Nyong'o and Elizabeth Moss and the performances are good.

I give it a solid 7.4/10. It has won over 80 awards from dozens of different groups, so if you don’t trust me, trust them !

Here is the trailer: