Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog

The Hangover (2009)

Director Todd Phillips continues along the lines of his previous comedies, “The Old School” (2003) and “Road Trip” (2000).
The plot: The movie opens with one of the groom’s friends calling the bride and telling her the Doug is not going [...]

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Gomorra (2008)

“Gomorra” (English title “Gomorrah”) is a Golden Globe-nominated contemporary drama about mafia in Naples. Directed by Matteo Garrone, written by Maurizio Braucci, Ugo Chiti, Gianni Di Gregorio, Matteo Garrone, Massimo Gaudioso and Roberto Saviano based on the book by Roberto Saviano.
The plot: [...]

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The International

The plot: An Interpol agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) are trying to bring to justice a bank that had become an institution of choice for international organized crime and involved in international arms [...]

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Valkyrie (2008)

Based on a true story, Valkyrie is a historical thriller set in WWII Nazi Germany, starring Tom Cruise and many famous British actors, and directed by Bryan Singer (also directed Superman Returns).
The plot: 1943. German Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (Cruise) [...]

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Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)

Director Quentin Tarantino is a guest star in this Japanese spaghetti Western from cult film director Takashi Miike (who speaks no English, but learned a few phrases for his episodic role in Hostel).
The plot: Two rival gangs are fighting each [...]

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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 [...]

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In Bruges (2008)

In Bruges is Martin McDonagh’s (2006 Oscar winner for script for ”Six Shooter”) directorial debut, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes.
The plot: At Christmas time two Irish hit men are hiding after they did a job that didn’t go as planned - they are sent [...]

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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2006)

This award-winning picture was directed by Tommy Lee Jones, his first work as director, and based on the book by Guillermo Arriaga, an Oscar-nominated author and play-writer. Arriaga also wrote script for Universal/Focus feature film Amores Perros (2000) starring Benicio [...]

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Pineapple Express (2008)

After Seth Rogen and his buddy Evan Goldberg wrote the script for Superbad when they were 15 years old, they also were itching to write a script for an action movie, but with a twist. Nobody has done this before: if an [...]

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Running Scared (2006) R 122min

Fast-paced crime action thriller written and directed by Wayne Kramer (The Cooler).
The plot: After a drug deal had gone bad, Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker – Fast and Furious, Into The Blue), a small-time mobster, is told by head-thug Tommy ‘Tombs’ [...]

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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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The Black Dahlia (2006) DVD

A sophisticated film noir from the director of Scarface, The Untouchables, Casualties Of War, Mission: Impossible, Snake Eyes, Mission To Mars and Redacted – Brian De Palma. It’s based on James Ellroy’s Novel “The Black Dahlia” inspired by the [...]

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Road To Perdition (2002)

The plot: Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) works as a hit man and enforcer for crime boss John Rooney (Paul Newman), whom he views as a father figure. However after his son witnessed a killing he has done Rooney’s own sun [...]

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Yet another heist movie, this time – a Latino Hollywood flick.
The plot: two former thieves, a Colombian Emilio () and Alejandro, who sells pirated DVDs on the street, reunite in Los Angeles to rob the biggest and worst thief they know – also [...]

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“There Will Be Blood” based on the novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Cigarettes & Coffee, Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia, and of course several episodes of Saturday Night Live) who also wrote the script. It was in theatres [...]

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The Lookout (2007)

This movie passed relatively unnoticed at the theatres: it wasn’t aggressively promoted, and other, bigger movies were also showing.
The plot: Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was once a great high-school hockey player, but after a car accident that kill two of his friends [...]

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Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, this is the best chase movie ever!
The plot: a hunter named Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) walks on the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad in the middle of the desert somewhere in Texas and [...]

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