Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog

The partnership that Netflix and LG announced around New Year had resulted in a long-awaited product, just in time for back-to-school and Thanksgiving holiday. LG’s next Blu-Ray disk player BD300 will also be able to stream Netflix to TV-sets.

Users will be able to [...]

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After a devastating and embarrasing loss to Sony in the high definition video disk war, Toshiba ended production of its HD-DVD players, but they still found a use for their powerful upscaler. Previously, Toshiba’s HD-DVD players were capable of up-converting regular DVDs to [...]

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This is the sequel to 1998 Oscar-winning drama “Elizabeth”, also directed by Shekhar Kapur (The Four Feathers) starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen and Samantha Morton.
The plot: The original 1998 movie left us in 1555. The “Golden Age” picks up the story [...]

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“The Brave One” is a drama directed by Neil Jordan and stars Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard.
The plot: A New York woman, a radio show host Erica Bain (Jodie Foster), was brutally beaten and her fiancé, David (Naveen Andrews), killed when they took [...]

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Yet another sport farce comedy with Will Ferrel and Jon Heder. Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck.
The plot: Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite and The Benchwarmers, he also did a lot of voice overs, such as in Monster House, Robot [...]

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The Wicker Man (2006)

This is a remake of 1973 British horror movie with the same title written and directed by Neil LaBute and starring Nicolas Cage.
The plot: a motorcycle cop Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage), traumatized by the road-side death of the occupants of [...]

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Lady in the Water (2006)

M. Knight Shyamalan, the creator of “The Sixth Sense”, wrote, directed and starred in this fantasy movie based on the book he wrote for his own daughter.
The plot: an apartment building superintendent Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues a woman [...]

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It has become known on Saturday that Toshiba will abandon its HD-DVD format, resulting in the complete victory for Blu-Ray by companies like Sony, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, Hitachi and Sharp. The format war has been going on since 2003. HD-DVD format has many advantages over Blu-Ray, [...]

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Toshiba slashed prices to its HD-DVD players again this week. Now the entry-level Toshiba HD A3 player has suggested retail price of just $150 – very close to what regular DVD players sell for, while medium and top players, HD A30 and HD [...]

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After Warner Bros. decided to commit to Blu-Ray and stop releasing their movies on HD-DVD in May 2008, the HD-DVD camp has been reduced to just Universal Studio and Paramount as far as Hollywood studios go. The latter has an “escape” clause in [...]

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Toshiba marketing executive Jodi Sally told the audience at Consumer Electronics Show (CES) HD DVD remained the best technology, but acknowledged the Warner Bros announcement on Friday took her by surprise.

“It’s difficult for me to believe when all the pundits declare that HD [...]

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Hot Fuzz (2007)

This is a surprisingly very funny cop-buddy comedy from creators of Shaun of the Dead (2004), director Edgar Wright who co-wrote thr script with Simon Pegg, who starred as main character in both movies. There are no big special effects, but [...]

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Toshiba HD-A35 HD DVD player

As I promised when I wrote “Who is winning the format war: Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD“, I am reviewing Toshiba HD-A35 HD DVD player.
Why HD DVD and not Blu-Ray? Despite a seeming stalemate between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD in the war [...]

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In the middle of holiday season, electronics seem to be one of the gifts of choice. HD TVs are almost half cheaper then a year before. Cable and Satellite compete for HD content viewers. Rental companies offer movies in high definition. When DVD became [...]

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