Maksym Chornyi’s movie blog

Three decades after finale of Quantum Leap, Sam Beckett, and Al still own a part of our hearts and have lessons to teach us

Denis Villeneuve’s memorable directorial work, Sicario, is widely regarded for its superb cinematography, evidently thanks to an iconic cinematographer, Roger Deakins

Mark Watney is a man of action, a can-do attitude who faces the challenges of alien planet and loneliness with a smile on his face and his story, though a fictional, has so much to teach us in our everyday life

After franchise’s journeys, Mission Impossible Rogue Nation takes us among other places to incredible Vienna locations, particularly to the Vienna State Opera House

We bought a zoo is a life-asserting story about loss, courage, love, friendship, support, facing challenges and adaptation with some universal lessons to learn from

The Prestige tells us a vivid story of two men, who delved into rivalry, and who paid the highest price for their obsession with being great and better than opponent

Tim Burton’s Gothic story about a strange boy with Scissorhands reveals some common insecurities we feel toward the changing surroundings and other people and can teach us how to be human

While not a movie of primary importance in Marvel Universe, Black Widow Budapest locations take us on an incredible cinematic journey across the streets of Hungarian capital

After the failed production of his first movie, David Fincher proved himself to be one of the best directors of our time and the cinematography in his ‘Seven’ deserves precise analysis for its narration and visual techniques

While most of the story takes place on the Mars surface and in the United States, The Martian filming locations are geographically limited to Budapest in Hungary

Spike Lee’s Inside Man with Denzel Washington still remains one of the best-recognized hostage-taking movies with tricky plot, multi-level characters, and an open ending

This modern spy movie with Jennifer Lawrence took advantage of using Budapest as its primary filming location, thus combining the West and the East in one story

The story of James Braddock from ‘Cinderella Man’ lives beyond the boxing topic or the Great Depression setting and rises universal themes of love, family, and friendship

While mainly set and filmed in Florence, Venice, and Istanbul, the third adventure of Professor Robert Langdon, Inferno, was mostly filmed in Budapest, Hungary

While being an entertaining movie by Chris Columbus, Mrs. Doubtfire analysis brings a powerful message to spouse and parents on how they can raise a happy family even after a divorce.

Despite the story taking us to Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Prague, most of the European sequences were filmed in Budapest and I invite you to search for The Spy Who Dumped Me filming locations

Both Carl Sagan’s book and Robert Zemeckis’ Contact movie are examples of captivating science-fiction and its key character, Ellie Arroway, is worth attention as one of the most recognized female protagonists in mass culture

The opening five-minute sequence of the Skyfall movie takes us on a memorable journey across the street of Istanbul. Let us find every Skyfal Istanbul location

Both the book by Kathryn Stockett and Th Help movie adaptation explore one of the most sophisticatedly written characters you have ever experienced in fictional stories

This historical drama The Water Diviner with Russell Crowe took great advantage of the Istanbul scenery and some of the city’s key historical landmarks

Despite comedian nature, the story of Viktor Navorski can teach us kindness to others and an ability to take life as it is, with all its challenges and setbacks

The second James Bond movie takes place in magnificent Istanbul and sixty years after the premiere, many of the original filming locations have slightly changed since filming of the 007 series

A Million Dollar Baby story of Maggie Fitzgerald and her dream of becoming a boxing champion should be studied in the context of child-parent relation with her trainer, Frankie Dunn

With the first movie set in Paris, Taken 2 chose Istanbul as a place where Bryan Mills will do everything to protect his family against the criminals

Five years from its release in 1988, the ‘Working Girl’ story is still relevant to people outside New York, in different spheres, men or women, young or experienced. The universality of the story makes Working Girl Tess McGill a reaching character

Back in 2019 I was fortunate enough to visit Southern Spain and the locations of Indiana Jones and the last Crusade near the city of Almeria

At the surface, another entertaining comedy with Jim Carrey, Yes Man appears to be a self-helping guide for seeking a balance between proactivity on the one side and staying close to people and our core values on the other

In December 2019 I walked 30 kilometers across the Tabernas desert near Almeria in southern Spain to find all key Dollars trilogy filming locations for ‘A Fistful of Dollars’, ‘A few dollars more’, and ‘The Good, The Bad, The Ugly’.

With the Fighter, David O’Russell managed to reinvent the conventional boxing drama pattern with two outstanding characters, Dick Eklund (Christian Bale) and Micky Ward (Mark Walberg)

Toward the third movie, the franchise keeps the pace of international journeys and ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ takes a great advantage of Madrid as one of its primary filming locations

The story of Eddie Edwards is a new brilliant and, in fact, underestimated cinematic reinterpretation of the underdog rise, which has lessons to teach us beyond ski jumping

The fourth movie of the Mission Impossible series, Ghost Protocol, comes back to Prague fourteen years after the first film and gives Ethan Hunt more space for action.

The Moneyball movie is generally misinterpreted as an icon movie for business development ideas rather than a more complex story about mastering failures and rejection

By replacing the United Kingdom with the Czech Republic, the Casino Royale movie took great advantage of James Bond Prague locations, set to pretend to be London, Miami, and Venice

The Green mile is one of the most cited and appreciated movies of all time and its characters deserve a grounded, insightful analysis as they have so much to teach us

Blade II was one of the first Hollywood projects set its production in the city of Prague in the early 2000s and several locations are still accessible and slightly changed after two decades

Whether some find inspiration in this story and others are frightened by its villain character, Whiplash characters test the line between ambitions and making sacrifices for success

While the story takes us to Paris, Budapest, and Transylvania in the 1880s, the indeed Van Helsing filming took place mainly on locations across Prague in the Czech Republic

The story goes far beyond a pure entertainment nature and its leading characters lead us through a story of finding a balance between work and family, keeping your own truth and helping other people

I was fortunate to visit Prague, Czech Republic, and to identify every major Eurotrip filming locations across the city, which acted for Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, and Berlin

The filming crew of The Bourne Identity successfully turned the city of Prague into the cinematic Zurich, Switzerland, and the French heartlands. Jason Bourne Prague locations scene-by-scene

More than thirty years after the premiere, ‘BIG’ family movie by Penny Marshall still has so much to teach us, especially the grown-ups

The very first Mission Impossible with Tom Cruise spends half of the story in Prague, the Czech Republic, within many remarkable filming locations throughout the city

This comedy from the 90s indeed has so much to teach us even today, especially in regard to putting high value into what we have in our lives. Mr. Destiny deserves two hours of your life

The filming crew of ‘Bridge of Spies’ took great advantage of Berlin not only as a key story site but also as a primary filming location

Bourne Supremacy took great advantage of Germany and particularly Berlin as the key filming location. Let’s study Jason Bourne Berlin locations

The Truman Show still gives us a strong metaphor of the modern world, with all its addiction to mass media and the ‘altered’ versions of ourselves, and Truman Burbank has become an iconic character to look at. Let’s go deep into The Truman show character analysis

Despite its extended geography, the 2004 adaptation of ‘Around the World in Eighty days’ was mostly filmed in Berlin, Germany.

Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival stands out among the notable sci-fi movies of recent years and has pretty much to be discussed in regard of narration, scenery and characters

Apart from the conventional interpretation of Forrest Gump, I would deepen into the character analysis of every one of three main characters and their sense of purpose. Forrest Gump characters analysis

The unexpectedly brief yet emotional epilogue of ‘Me before you’ movie brings us to Paris, France, with all its romantic aura of the French capital

The morality of the ‘Green Book’ story goes way beyond just facing the prejudices, social or racial. The friendship of the two key characters inspires confidence in human relations at large.

While it is Venice that has become been memorized in minds of the audience, the Tourist Paris locations complemented the story with a number of landmark sites to visit

David Fincher uses a variety of visual means, such as camera and space, lighting, and color temperature, to make an accent on his principal characters in Gone Girl

Character analysis of one of the brilliant pieces of modern philosophical dramas in cinematography: American History X

A walking cinematic tour across all main sites where ‘Midnight in Paris’ by Woody Allen was filmed. The spiritual heart of France in cinematic perception of Midnight in Paris filming locations

The story of Interstate 60 personifies the journey that each of us should early or later take to suit one’s existential coordinates

Looking back into movie history, Phil Connors from Groundhog Day has blazed a trail among the most debated cinematic characters of all times

National Lampoon’s European Vacation has made its place in history as one of the best travel movies, and this time they came to blend in the crowd of French people in Paris.

Sophisticatedly detailed walking tour across the Da Vinci Code Paris filming locations with the history of the places and Robert Langdon’s journey in finding the truth

An iconic-like Shawshank Redemption character analysis has so much to offer with it’s cult-favorite characters: Andy Dufresne and Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding

Jason Bourne franchise has taken us across dozens of locations in Europe and the Bourne Identity Paris locations have their own cinematic atmosphere

Let’s deepen into the character of Richard Kimble, a semi-iconic movie protagonist from ‘The Fugitive’ movie with Harrison Ford

My incredibly detailed walking tour along the BEFORE SUNSET filming locations in Paris, France. Richard Linklater’s romantic masterpiece and its second chapter.

One of the best sci-fi movies of recent years worths being thoroughly examined and explained through the lens of three main characters: MOTHER, DAUGHTER, and WOMAN.

An incredibly detailed cinematic guide across Angels and Demons filming locations in Rome, based on a book of the same name by Dan Brown

The driving force of the movie makes an incredible sense in viewer’s own inner world, reflecting the experience of Walter Mitty and adopting to ourselves

A cinematic walking tour along the National Lampoon’s filming location in Rome. The European vacations of the Griswold family, particularly in Italy.

An unlooked-for inspirational romantic story of the Passengers movie correlates with SCI-FI origins and a space odyssey by those ‘lost in space.’

A detailed self-help walking tour along the Roman holiday movie filming locations in Rome. All locations then and now, seven decades after the premiere

Charles Morse from The Edge movie grants us one of the most sophisticated and intelligent characters in movie history, and his power of doing is worth the Edge character analysis

Let’s walk along the streets of Rome to reveal The Man from UNCLE 2015 filming locations, hidden-and-open in the very heart of the ancient city

A detailed guide across Inferno movie locations in Florence, Venice, and Istanbul. Robert Langdon is on his way to save the world

An incredible true and dramatic story of the firefighter squad of Arizona comes to be one of the best drama movies of the past few years. Only the Brave story deserves attention

Let’s walk along with the main Hannibal filming locations in Florence, where a new movie on Hannibal Lecter was filmed in 2000. A rare walking tour for movie enthusiasts

DEUTSCHES FILMMUSEUM (German Film Museum in Frankfurt) is an impressive eye-opening experience that could be characterized as the must-see place for all who have a passion for movies

Let’s deepen into the rhetoric of Ex Machina, one of the best SCI-FI movies of the recent years and try to find the answer what it is to be human

A detailed enthusiastic walking-and-water tour along with the main The Tourist filming locations. Famous Venice sites, where The Tourist movie was filmed in 2010

Enthusiastic movie walking tour along the Casino Royale filming locations in Venice for your personal travel with photos, map, history of the historical sites.

Detailed movie and psychological analysis of the Good Will Hunting movie and defining the protagonist by means of his social environment: Sean, professor Lambeau, Skylar, Chuckie and his friends

An enthusiastic walking tour along the main Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade filming locations in Venice, Italy. Indy and Marcus arrive in Venice, Hotel Danieli, Barnaba Church, the Grand canal and the boat chase scene

A walking route along the center of Munich, covering the sites associated with Arnold Schwarzenegger and two years of his life within Munich back in 1966-1968. An apartment, Universum, Gym, walking on the streets.

Scent of a Woman analysis presents two memorable characters in movie history. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade and Charlie Simms gave us one of the most prominent monologues ever acted

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall autobiography book points out delicate issues of Arnold’s personal life and can be characterized as one of the best memoirs of our times

A detailed scene-by-scene analysis of who was the killer in Scream 1-4 movies by Wes Craven, with detailed research of who acted as a Ghostface

Pirates of Silicon Valley has become famous as the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates movie, which tells the story of two profound visionaries of the digital era.

Tony and Susan book and Nocturnal Animals movie by Tom Ford are both exceptional piece of Art with strong emotional involvement and deserve a detailed analysis of difference between the novel and the Nocturnal Animals movie

All 20 Before Sunrise filming locations, a famous romance movie by Richard Linklater, with Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julia Delpy) walking across Vienna

The best movies about slavery, racial segregation and Racism in United States ever made, among the dozens of existing ones – fictional and historical-based

An emotional book ‘The Reader’ by Bernhard Schlink and almost a perfect movie adaptation both highlight the burning after-war issues and reveal two fictional, still involving characters

Maybe the most prominent post-apocalyptic book and movie—The Road by Cormac McCarthy and its 2009 movie adaptation with a remarkable father and son relationship

My personal top-7 of the best movies of 2017 released of all genres, based on more than 150 movie premieres that I visited that incredible year

The hostage negotiation movies reveal our deepest emotions of vulnerability and some of the stories proclaim the altruistic motives of the crimes

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Museum in Thal, Austria, is a place of great motivation, connected with Arnold. I visited it in September 2017 and am delighted to share that trip’s details

Significant romantic book “The Light Between Oceans” by M.L. Stedman describes love and betrail on solitude Janus Rock island near Western Australia

Famous and important science fiction book The Martian by Andy Weir about surviving on Mars and movie by Ridley Scott

A book by former FBI agent Joseph Pistone about his undercover life within American mafia in New York as Donni Brasco and the famous Donnie Brasco movie with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. How accurate is the movie.

Let’s try to analyze all the facts, hints and clues to answer frequent question Who was the killer in Basic instinct by Paul Verhoeven with Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas?