Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog

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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Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire is drama co-directed by brilliant directors Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later and more) and Loveleen Tandan (Vanity Fair, Monsoon Wedding etc.) based on Vikas Swarup’s novel with the same title. I had no idea what the movie [...]

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Transsiberian (2008)

The plot: An American couple, Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer) take a 7-day train ride from China, where they completed  a church humanitarian mission, to Moscow on Trans-Siberian railroad. On the train they meet another young couple, a Spaniard Carlos (Eduardo [...]

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Taxi To The Dark Side (2007)

Director Alex Gibney’s “Taxi To The Dark Side” won 2008 Oscar for Best Documentary.
The plot: “Taxi To The Dark Side” focuses on the story of an innocent Afghani taxi driver who was tortured to death by U.S. forces [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Apocalypto (2006)

Apocalypto, 3-Oscar-nominated drama is written and directed by Mel Gibson and produced by his company, ICON Productions and distributed by Touchstone Pictures.
The plot: Before conquistadors arrived in America, the Mayan culture was already in decline. The priests convinced people that the solution [...]

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Persepolis (2007)

Persepolis is a political film describing life in Iran over the past 40 years in the form of… animated story.
The plot: Marjane Satrapi, director and writer of the movie, uses the comic and now the cartoon to tell the story of her [...]

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In The Valley of Elah (2007)

This crime drama is based a true story by Mark Boal and published in Playboy Magazine. Written, directed and produced by Paul Haggis (Letters from Iwo Jima Crash and Million Dollar Baby) and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, [...]

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Iron Man (2008)

We tried to see this movie on Friday night, but it was sold out. On Saturday night we got in after standing in line for half an hour and watching commercials and trailers for another 25 minutes. Was the movie worth [...]

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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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This Vietnam War drama was written and directed by Werner Herzog. The movie is vaguely based on Dieter Dengler’s book, “Escape From Laos”. The actual Dieter Dengler died just before the movie came out of ALS – Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Herzog previously filmed [...]

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This is the story of creation of CIA through the eyes of one of the agents, who through his loyalty and patriotism quickly raises to the top. Directed by Robert De Niro, his first attempt at directing since 1993 A Bronx Tale, and starring Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, John Torturro, De Niro himself, Joe Pesci and others. In the end his limitless loyalty and blind patriotism destroyed his life and his family.

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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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Anyone can use archive footage and narate it with dramatic voice and music, but this documentary feels like a college-grad’s essay. Worth watching but don’t expect much.

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This movie was a big hit in Europe. I was on vacation in Paris at the time it came out in theatres, and every Parisian movie theatre that I passed by was showing it. I have not seen this movie advertised in Prague [...]

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The Last King Of Scotland (2006)

*** May contain spoilers ***
The plot: Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy), Scott, graduated from medical school and randomly picked Uganda to practice his skills. He arrived in the poor, but beautiful country just in time for Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) to [...]

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