Game freezes ONLY in the pause menu

[FORTUNE500!]

LOVE MAX PAYNE, looks beast on desktop...anyways I have a problem whenever I pause this game for more than ~60 seconds.

If I pause this game and its for like less than a minute then I have no problems at all. However, if it's a prolonged pause (60 seconds is a guess) and then try to exit the pause menu the screen stays the same (all I see is the pause menu options), I can still hear the audio e.g Passos yelling at me or gunfire. If I try to alt+ctrl+del I have the option to bring up the task manager but my screen never shows me the manager. The screen goes like black in the main part of the screen except for the outlines of the windows, I can still see the task bar at the bottom of the screen. If I alt+tab to another window it's similar behavior like I can't click on anything except the taskbar. The taskbar is actually the only way I'm able to escape from this glitch, I have to rightclick on the MP3 icon in the task bar and close it like that.

I have tried verifying my file integrity or whatever it's called, and I've tried launching the game via GeForce optimized experience. I got the same result each time.

It's annoying that I can't pause this game.