Maxim’s Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog

War (2007)

The plot: Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) is an FBI agent from Asian crime division seeking revenge for the murder of his partner (John Lone) and his family. Although his 3 year-long quest for vengeance cost him his marriage, he doesn’t stop looking for a mysterious and illusive assassin called “Rogue” (Jet Li), who [...]

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Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Mexican director Guillermo Del Torro, who is familiar to American audience for directing Hellboy and Blade II, has written and directed “El laberinto del fauno”, which in 2007 has been nominated for Oscar in six categories and won in three: Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Cinematography and Best Achievement [...]

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Yours truly stayed up all night to watch and make pictures of the Lunar eclipse.
It was gorgeous! I took my 15×60 binoculars, Canon 20D camera with tripod and 300mm zoom image-stabilizing lens, and went out to the warm summer night. The eclipse began a little later then predicted. At 12:52am there was nothing but a [...]

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Zubeidaa (2001)

Bollywood’s Shyam Benegal directed this low budget, but beautiful film. Although the film flopped on the big screen, mostly due to low profile of Shyam Benegal, it gained quite a cult when it was released on video.1951 (around the time of decolonization?). The movie begins with a Zubeidaa’s (Karisma Kapoor) funeral. The rest of the [...]

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The Time Machine (2002)

This adaptation of H.G. Wells’s classic is a big departure from the novel. Here an inventor living in New York is trying to go back in time using his invention to save the life of his girlfriend – because he’s in love and he has a guilt complex about her death.
This [...]

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The Lost City (2005)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***
A film by Andy Garcia starring himself, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray and Elizabeth Peña – quite a constellation of stars. It begins in 1958 in one of pre-revolution Havana’s (though film is shot in Dominican Republic) club’s room. We are witnessing a typical “fathers and sons” conflict. The family is torn by [...]

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Black Dog (1998)

I must have seen this movie a 100 times already, but I can watch it more. It’s one of my favorite movies along with Rush Hour (1), The Police Academy (1) and Lethal Weapon (1). And probably the best movie the dirty dancer Patrick Swayze was ever in. It’s just as cheesy as [...]

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The Sentinel (2006)

Michael Douglas is playing a Secret Service agent who was credited with saving president Raegan’s life, and the beautiful Kim Basinger is playing president’s wife. Michael Douglas (don’t remember the name of his character, Pete I think it was) is to protect the First lady. And they have an affair that probably [...]

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Superbad (2007)

No matter how bad or filthy the jokes is, the key to its delivery is perfect timing. And this movie is super bad! It’s full of sexual humor, the F word was said hundreds of times, and even the closing credits have cartoons with cocks as the main characters – very crude but [...]

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Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005)

A struggling actor/comedian Albert Brooks, played by a comedian Albert Brooks (The Simpsons Movie, The in-laws, Doctor Dolittle, Taxi Driver, Real Life, Lost in America etc.), receives a letter from the State Department. First he thinks he’s going to jail for checking out Al Qaeda website on [...]

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Silent Hill (2006)

Based on video game, which I haven’t played. Since I’ve seen other game-to-movie adaptation I didn’t expect much. “Doom”, for example, was a really bad movie. It’s about a woman, Rose, has a sick daughter, Sharon, who has seizures and nightmarish dreams about a city of Silent Hill, and who’s also sleep-walking. To help her, Rose takes [...]

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Monster House (2006)

Starts with music typical for horror movies and the image of the fall. Liefs all turn brown and red. Probably middle of October, which implies that Halloween is soon. Oh, yeah – that’s what kids say: Halloween in one day. One of the kids, DJ (Mitchel Musso) notices that the owner of the [...]

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The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (2005)

I love the Douglas Adams’s book (the 5-part trilogy). It was not easy to read, but it was hilarious. The twisted logic, the irony and the wild imagination in every story of the book – so funny. And yes, Earth does get destroyed (Don’t Panic!) by the Vogon demolition fleet - [...]

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Brokeback Mountain (2005)

It’s been two years this the “Gay cowboys” movie came out in theatres, and the subject has been bread and butter of movie critics, stand-up comedians and late night TV show hosts. And, to be honest, I was trying to avoid this movie, just like I was trying to avoid the “Million [...]

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Delicatessen (1991)

This movie is directed by Jean-Pierre Jeonet, same guy who directed “Le Fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain” (aka “Amelie” in US release), which was so big in Europe and which I love so much. So I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Netflix had added Delicatessen to my “Recommended Movies” list. Apart from [...]

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Rush Hour 3 (2007)

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are back for the third installment of the cop buddy comedy (hasn’t this summer been good for all sorts of threequels?) and they are after Chinese triads this time – in Paris! And, on top of everything, they have to save the life of a mysterious nightclub [...]

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Letters From Iwo Jima (2006)

Clint Eastwood directed this Oscar-winning war movie, which in many respects is a sequel to “The Flags Of Our Fathers”, or to be more precise, the look at the same events from the other side of the battlefield. It was released in January of 2007 – a time when vast [...]

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Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple (2007)

I was a big fan of these BBC series when they were broadcast on TV in the 80s. When I was a kid I was hungry for all sorts of detective stories, especially of Agatha Christie’s books. I’ve seen TV version of Miss Marple produced in other countries, by who’s [...]

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The Fountain (2006)

The Fountain is a very strange and moody movie, with weird visuals that reminded me of “The Night Watch” introductory sequence, Peter Gabriel’s “Growing Up” tour visuals, Andrei Tarkovsky’s original 1972 “Solaris” and a more recent “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. More of “Solaris” then anything else. In “Solaris” the people on [...]

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The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

We tried to get into the theater for an 8PM show, but it was sold out so we had a dinner and went for a 10PM show, which already was forming a line outside the theater. After waiting anxiously through almost half an hour of commercials and previews, the movie began.
The [...]

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