Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog

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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Taken (2008)

This action thriller is directed by Pierre Morel, who is mostly known for his work as cinematographer (War (2007), Love and other disasters (2006), The Transporter (2002)). Of course, a French director could not make an action movie without the best French [...]

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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 [...]

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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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Stop-Loss (2008)

This Paramount Pictures’ Iraq war-themed drama shot in Texas and Morocco was directed by Kimberly Peirce (writer and director behind Boys Don’t Cry) and written by her and Mark Richard. Starring Ryan Phillipe, Timothy Olyphant (Catch And Release, Live Free or Die [...]

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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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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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Children Of Men (2006)

The plot: in the alternate near future women stopped getting pregnant and giving birth – on the entire planet. Societies are collapsing, and only Britain has maintained some sort of order by introducing strict military control everywhere. Illegal immigrants are [...]

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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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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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A clone of “Clear and Present Danger” set in Saudi Arabia in present days. Not very deep, but the action and suspense of the second half of the film is quite good. The film makes the point is there’s more to the price of oil then Dollar amount, but it’s more of a background, a set up for another Hollywood movie.

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3:10 to Yuma (2007)

It’s nice to see the revival, or a come back, of the Western genre. I have seen the 1957 version, and not 50 years later this remake brought Elmore Leonard’s short story back to the screen. Watch the trailer.
The [...]

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