Directory —
Entertainment —
Blog Details for "Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog"
Maxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions BlogMaxim's Movie Reviews and Opinions BlogFun-to-read independent movie reviews and opinions. 2-5 movies are reviewed every week, whether on TV, DVD or in theatres. Subscribe to our free RSS feed to get latest reviews in your blog reader! Articles
Things We Lost In The Fire (2007) R 119min
2008-03-15 05:18:00 The plot: After her husband (David Duchovny) died in a tragic accident, Audrey, his wife (Halle Berry) is trying to piece her life together and take care of her two kids. The house is falling apart without a man in it, and she turns for help to her husband’s childhood friend Jerry (Benicio Del Toro), ... More About: Family , Lost , Drama , Fire , Things
The Bank Job (2008) R 1h 50min
2008-03-08 08:58:00 This is an excellent heist movie based on real events. Directed by Roger Donaldson (The World’s Fastest Indian, The Recruit,Thirteen Days, Dante’s Peak, Species etc.). Written by Dick Clement (Across the Universe, Flushed Away)and Ian La Frenais (also worked on the latter two movies). Starring Jason Statham. Lionsgate Films. The plot: Based on actual events of ... More About: Movies , Drama , Crime , Gangster , Thrillers
10,000 B.C. (2008) PG-13 109min
2008-03-08 02:26:00 The plot: Narrator (Omar Sharif)talks about a legend about a blue-eyes child. It’s a girl who was discovered by tribal hunters in the mountains clinched to the body of her dead mother. Her mother and their clan were killed or enslavedby the “four-legged demons”. The girl, Evolet (Camilla Belle),is adopted by the mountain hunters tribe ... More About: Movies , Drama , Action , Adventure , Fantasy
The Wicker Man (2006) PG-13 102min
2008-03-07 21:51:00 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 the car he had stopped, receives a letter from his ex-fiance Willow informing him that ... More About: Movies , Drama , Horror , Thrillers
Over The Hedge (2006) PG 83min
2008-03-06 03:03:00 ThisDreamWorks studio’s animated adventure directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrickwon several awards, such as Best Family Film at Indianapolis International Film Festival and Best Animated Film at Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards. Some well-known actors have gave their voices to the characters. The plot: A garbage-stealing raccoon RJ (Bruce Willis) is in debt with ... More About: Comedy , Movies , Animation , Cat , Adventure
Click (2006) PG-13 107min
2008-03-05 07:43:00 Not a big fan of Adam Sandler, who always plays the same character: a good-hearted childish idiot. I’d never pay $10 for the movie ticket to see Adam Sandler, but I thought if I rent a DVD for less then a $1 he’d go well with my evening cup of tea. The plot: Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is a workaholic architect who through his great work is about to be promoted to the senior partner at his construction firm. He has a wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale of Pearl Harbor, Underworld, The Aviator etc.) and two kids, a boy and a girl. He is overwhelmed by the work, and he can’t even get his head around all the remote controls in his house, so he goes out and buys a universal remote control from a strange employee of Bed, Bath & Beyond (Christopher Walken). With this new remote he can actually control his universe: rewind and fast-forward through unpleasant parts of his routine life. He loves his new remote, but soon the remote gets a mind of its own and fast-forwards th... More About: Click
My first photos of Saturn
2008-02-26 07:55:00 Well today the sky finally cleared up, and I could get to the telescope early enough after work. The moon is rising 3 hours after Saturn does today. Saturn is very far, and it looks like a tiny star to the naked eye. Even in my telescope it looks tiny. When the image if focused, ... More About: Photos
Lady in the Water (2006) PG-13 110min
2008-02-20 19:50:00 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 from the swimming pool he maintains. She turns out to be not a regular woman, but a ... More About: Movies , Supernatural , Fantasy , Lady , Water
The death of HD-DVD: Toshiba abandons HD-DVD.
2008-02-17 06:44:00 It has become known on Saturday that Toshiba will abandon its HD-DVD format,resulting in the complete victoryfor Blu-Ray by companies like Sony , MatsushitaElectric Industrial Co, Hitachi and Sharp.The format war has been going on since 2003. HD-DVD format has many advantages over Blu-Ray, but Sony and its partners had managed to attract movie studios, one ... More About: Hardware , Play , Home Theater , Death
Becoming Jane (2007) PG 120min
2008-02-14 08:19:00 Director: Julian Jarold Writers: Kevin Hood, Sarah Williams Producers: Jeff Abberley, Robert Bernstein, Julia Blackman, Graham Broadbent, Noëlette Buckley, Nicole Finnan, James Flynn, Tim Haslam, Morgan O’Sullivan, Douglas Rae, James Saynor Original Music: Adrian Johnston Cinematography: Eigil Bryld Winner of American People’s Choice Award (Best Independent Film) The plot: this is a biographical movie about Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway - The Princess Diaries, Hoodwinked!, Brokeback Mountain, The Devil Wears Prada etc.) covering a period before she became famous. He family is trying to arrange a benifitial marriage to Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox - Gosford Park, BBC’s Foyle’s War series) for her, but she likes a young poor Irish apprentice lawyer Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy - Foyle’s War, Bollywood Queen, Wimbledon, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Last King of Scotland, and most recently Atonement) and dreams of making a ...
Martian Child (2007) PG 108min
2008-02-13 08:10:00 This is a feel-good drama starring Hollywood sweethearts John Cusack and Amanda Pete based on a novel “Martian Child ” by David Gerrold. The plot: a widowed science fiction writer, who writes about Mars, decides to adopt a child. He picks a 6-year old who claims he’s from Mars. A series of events happen that make the ... More About: Drama
Movie Review: Rescue Dawn (2006) PG-13 126min
2008-02-04 23:33:00 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 Dieter’s story a documentary in 1997 entitled “Little Dieter Needs to Fly.” The plot: This is a fictionalized account of the real-life U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), who was shot down during secret reconnaissance mission over Laos and captured by North Vietnamese. He then organized a band of POWs (including Duane W. Martin) for one of the most daring escapes from the Laotian torture camps, Ban Houei Het Pathet Lao Prison in June, 1966. The good: descent acting and the story was rather inspirational. Herzog conveys the state of mind of prisoners and their life in the prison, their relationship with guards, their health and moral state and why they decided to pl... More About: Movie , Movie Review , Review , Dawn , Rescue
Movie review: Away From Her (2006) PG-13 110min
2008-02-04 03:23:00 This movie is a debut as a director for young Sarah Polley, based on short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” by Alice Munro. The plot: A man (Gordon Pinsent) who’s wife Fiona (Julie Christie/Stacey LaBerge) loses her memory due to Alzheimer’s, has to commit her to institution. He has to cope not only with not being able to live with her after 40 years of mariage, but also with the fact that she got emotionally attached to another mute and disabled patient at the institution and seemingly forgotten her husband. She begins to care about her new friend like of her own patient, which makes Grant, her husband, very gealous, but he’d do anything to make her happy. The summary: this movie is old man’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, without the sci-fi, but lovely for the sacrifices the main character had to make to make his wife happy. Another similar film in recent memory was “The Notebook”, where the story also moved ... More About: Movie , Movie Review , Review
Movies to see this weekend (Jan 18, 2008)
2008-01-18 00:24:00 Opening in wide release: Cloverfield (2008 ) PG-13 84minA going-away party in Manhattan is interrupted when a mysterious, giant-sized monster launches an attack on New York City. With camcorder in hand, a small group of friends make their way out into the chaotic streets, scrambling to stay alive. Mike Vogel, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Michael Stahl-David, Odet ... More About: Movies , Weekend
Movies to see this weekend (Jan 11, 2008)
2008-01-10 10:37:00 Opening in theatres: The Bucket List (2007) |PG-13|97 min Two terminally-ill old men escape from the cancer ward and go on the road trip with a to-do list of things to do and places to visit before they die.Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman star. Director Justin Zackham. Comedy/Drama/Adventure. Warner Bros. First Sunday(2008 ) | PG-13 | 96 min Durell (Ice Cube) and ... More About: Movies , Weekend
Shaun Of The Dead (2004) R 1h 39min HD-DVD
2008-01-10 08:43:00 I wanted to watch this movie again after seeing Hot Fuzz for the second time and I wanted to see the work of same team of actors and director Edgar Wright again. The plot: Thirty-something slacker electronics salesmanShaun (Simon Pegg) has no clue what to do with his life or with his relationship with girlfriend Liz (Kate ... More About: Movies , Dead , Nick Frost , Shaun of the Dead
Netflix and LG announce partnership to stream movies to HDTV
2008-01-03 23:31:00 Netflix has been offering its customers to watch movies instantly on their laptops or media center PCs for quite some time. Users can install a small ActiveX plugin in their Internet browser and watch many of Netflix’s 90,000 titles in the proprietary viewer. The movies could not be downloaded and saved as a file for ... More About: Movies , Netflix , Stream , Hdtv
Movies to see this weekend (January 4, 2008)
2008-01-03 08:44:00 Opening in theatres nationwide: One Missed Call (2007) PG-13 87min - Remake of the Japanese horror film “Chakushin Ari” (2003). A woman witneses her friends die a gruesome deaths, and these deaths have one thing in common - the victims received phone calls from their future selves with date and time and describing details of their ... More About: Movies , January , Weekend , 2008
Movies to see this weekend (Dec 21, 2007)
2007-12-20 05:34:00 This is going to be a great week for movie goers: with a long weekend ahead, there’s a great movie for each day of the week! Opening in theatres nationwide: Charlie Wilson’s War (2007) R 97min - Comedy/ Drama/ Adaptation/ Biographical. Based on the true story of how Texas congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), knownfor beingan alcoholic ... More About: Movies , Weekend
My first photo of Mars
2007-12-17 06:33:00 This weekend I tried to photograph Mars . This is a perfect time to make pictures because Mars is in the opposition and closest to Earth as it’s ever been in the past 130 years or so. Around midnight it’s roughly overhead and the Moon sets by that time - it’s light won’t interfere and when ... More About: Photo
Movies to see this weekend (Dec 14, 2007)
2007-12-14 06:55:00 Opening in theatres (wide release): Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) - Comedy/Kids/Family- Three chipmunk brothers, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are adopted by a man named Dave. I Am Legend (2007) - Action/Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi - A brilliant scientist (Will Smith)may be the only survivor of the virus in the city of New York and may be the entire planet. ... More About: Movies , Weekend
Who is winning the format war: Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD
2007-12-11 01:31:00 In the middle of holiday season, electronics seem to be one of the gifts ofchoice. 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 media of choice 7-10 years ago and replaced VHS, DVD players were ... More About: Hardware , Xbox , Blu-Ray , Home Theater , Format
The Golden Compass (2007) PG-13 113min
2007-12-10 08:41:00 A major disappointment. The script by Chris Weitz (”About a Boy“)is based on first story ofPhilip Pullman’s 1995 bestselling (in UK)trilogynovel, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass. The plot:The story is set in an alternative world where people’s souls manifest themselves as animals (a.k.a. “daemons”), a 12-year old orphangirlLyra (Dakota Blue Richards) isat the center of it.A ... More About: Movies , Nicole Kidman , Drama , Action , Adventure
Movies to see this weekend (December 07, 2007)
2007-12-07 12:32:00 Opening in theatres: The Golden Compass (2007) - Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, and Ian McShane star in a movie based on Philip Pullman’s novel, an exciting fantasy adventure set in an alternate world where people’s souls manifest themselves as animals. An organization known as Gobblers kidnapped a child, and 12-year-old girl Lyra (Dakota Blue ... More About: Movies , Weekend , December
A Good Year (2006) PG-13 114min
2007-12-07 10:42:00 Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Numb3rs, Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Company, Tristan and Isolde, Orpheus, Kingdom of Heaven, Matchstick Men, Hostage, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, Gladiator and many many more) directs this adaptation of Peter Mayle’s best-selling novel (screenplay by Marc Klein), following the romantic misadventures of an ... More About: Comedy , Movies , Drama , English , Romance
Mr. Bean?s Holiday (2007) G 90min
2007-12-06 09:53:00 The plot: Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) wins a trip to France in his church’s ruffle. On the way from Paris to Cannes he manages to miss his train, separate Russian boy Stepan (Max Baldry) fromhis father,film director EmilDachevsky (Karel Roden) who was also heading to Cannes, get a part in theyogurt commercialdirected by Carson Clay(Willem Dafoe), ... More About: Comedy , Holiday , Germany
Awake (2007) R 84min
2007-12-03 08:09:00 This movie from the first seconds seemed to be a hospital drama ala “ER”. It began with a message: “Every year 3,000,000 anesthesias are performed. One in 700 people ends up awake during the surgery - a condition known as “anesthetic awareness” when patient is paralyzed but is still awake”. So it appeared that at ... More About: Movies , Drama , Jessica Alba , Romance , Thrillers
Hairspray (2007) PG 117min
2007-12-01 09:12:00 A number of stars are cast in this musical comedy: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Jerry Stiller… Directed by Adam Shankman. Lesslie Dixon wrote the screenplay for the movie. John Waters was the author of the original 1988 screenplay. The plot: 1962. Moderately obese and rather short, but cute Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), ... More About: Hairspray
SiCKO is out on DVD today.
2007-11-08 20:10:00 Michael Moore’s next documentary is comparing highly profitable healthcare industry to other countries’, and HMO horror stories told in a humorous and satiric way, pretty much Michael Moore’s trademark style he used in previous movies such as Fahrenheit 911. George W. Bush, John Graham, Richard Nixon, William Maher and others star as themselves.If you liked this post, buy me a beerShare This More About: Today , Sicko
Shrek The 3rd comes out on DVD and HD-DVD on Nov. 13th
More articles from this author:2007-11-08 19:43:00 Shrek The Third comes out on DVD and HD-DVD on Nov. 13th The 3rd installment of Shrek’s story directed by Chris Miller and Roman Hui is about Shrek becoming a hair to the land of Far, Far Away. He doesn’t feel like giving up his swamp, so he recruits Donkey and Puss in Boots to install Artie as the new king. Prince Charming is plotting coup d’etat. DVD and HD-DVD features include Artie’s yearbook, Shrek’s guide to parenthood, Lost scenes, Technology behind Shrek, Goofs, Learn to Donkey Dance, Make your own video and more.If you liked this post, buy me a beerShare This More About: Shrek 1, 2, 3, 4 |
|
