Maxim’s Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog

Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)

Written and directed by Kevin Smith (”Catch and Release“, “Dogma“) this romantic comedy starring Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express, Superbad, Knocked up etc.) and Elizabeth Banks (”Definitely, Maybe“, “The 40 Year Old Virgin“, “Catch me if you can“ and more), albeit R-rated, is a good movie to see on [...]

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On Thursday Netflix and TiVo are expected to announce partnership to deliver Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” movie streaming service to TiVo digital video recorders with HD capability. Netflix has recently gained significant ground in streaming video services via numerous partnerships hardware and content providers. For example, the alliance with LG and Samsung has resulted in [...]

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Religulous (2008)

Stand-up comedian Bill Maher, who now works at HBO, has had this documentary in mind for many years and finally it seems he could not keep his thoughts to himself anymore. He spoke about religion and absurdity of it and all the problems that come with it for a long time on his [...]

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RocknRolla (2008)

This is the first installment of director Guy Ritchie’s trilogy, also written by him.
The plot: When Russian mobster sets up a real-estate scam in London, all the underworld characters appear to get their share of the multi-million euro deal up for grabs. Some of those characters are small-time crooks like One-Two (Gerard [...]

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Samsung and Netflix today announced the deal that will allow Samsung to add streaming capabilities to their new Blu-Ray players and possibly expand the deal to include other electronics, possibly embed Netflix streaming in future Samsung TV models. The deal will help Netflix to expand delivery of movies and TV episodes over the Internet in [...]

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Incredible Hulk
(2008) PG-13
Edward Norton stars as Bruce Banner in this version of the classic comic book tale about a doctor who searches for a cure for his exotic condition, which causes him to transform into a huge green monster when under duress. Drawing closer to finding a remedy, Dr. Banner becomes sidetracked as he’s [...]

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W. (2008)

Oliver Stone (Platoon (1986), The Doors (1991), JFK (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), Nixon (1995), Alexander (2004)) directed this biographical dramedy about the current US president, George W. Bush. Written by Stanley Weiser. Starring Josh Brolin (American Gangster, In The Valley of Elah, No Country for Old Men, Hollow Man etc.) and [...]

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Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense (1984)

Director Jonathan Demma very creatively crafted this film from the footage of several Talking Heads concerts at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater.
The plot: The staging concept was developed by the lead vocalist of the Talking Heads, David Byrne, the band’s front-man. It begins with him walking out on an absolutely empty [...]

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crytal Skull
(2008) PG-13
Hollywood icon Harrison Ford returns to the role of the adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones nearly 20 years after he last donned the famous fedora and bullwhip to save the world from imminent peril. Joining Ford for this latest installment of the Steven Spielberg-George Lucas collaboration are [...]

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Body of Lies (2008) R

This spy/action flick is directed by Ridley Scott (American Gangster (2007), Num3rs, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Matchstick Men (2003), Black Hawk Down (2001)). It’s based on Washington Post columnist David Ignatius’s 2007 novel “Body of Lies”.
The plot: CIA operative, [...]

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The Happening
(2008) R
In this thriller from M. Night Shyamalan, a deadly airborne virus threatens to wipe out the northeastern United States. Fleeing from contaminated cities into the remote countryside, science teacher Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel), fight to survive and discover the truth: is it terrorism, the accidental release [...]

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The Prisoner or: How I Planned To Kill Tony Blair (2006)

This is a documentary about Yunnis Abbas, Iraqi journalist and reporter, who was once tortured by Uday Hussein for writing an article about the embargo. 5 years later as he was returning from a dance party he was arrested by American troops for allegedly planning the [...]

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Miracle at St. Anna (2008)

A.k.a. Miracolo a Sant’Anna is directed Spike Lee (Malcolm X (1992), The Original Kings of Comedy (2000), 25th Hour (2002)) based on James McBride’s novel who also wrote the screenplay for this movie.
The plot: Miracle at St. Anna is loosly based on actual massacre at Sant’Anna di Stazzema in August [...]

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Coffee And Cigarettes (2003)

Jim Jarmusch (Year of the Horse, Dead Man, Mystery Train) has shot this collage of short films over a  long period of time. The first episode, “Coffee and Cigarettes I”, came out in 1986.
In this full feature-length film he combined all the episodes he shot in Black and White over the years, [...]

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