Best thing to do? Don't do it all in Max. Using a post-effects program like PS or After Effects will not only save you render time, itll make your shots look even better.
When I render out my videos, I use two passes: a normal pass and a self illumination pass. You can enable a self illumination pass through the render elements tab. When thats done, I usually apply the SI pass over the main pass and blur it out by either using a fast blur of 15 or a gaussian blur of 2 to 5 and set the transfer mode to Add. Give that a try and let us know how that turns out.
That said, here is my demo reel for 2012!