Shawn Levy | the m0vie blog

Non-Review Review: The Internship

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Darren

When did Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn get so old? The two rose to fame as part of the “frat pack” in the late nineties and the early part of the last decade, with The Internship serving as a reunion eight years after their collaborative effort in The Wedding Crashers. It’s interesting to look at how radically their screen personas have shifted. The Wedding Crashers positioned the two men as teenagers afraid to grow up, while The Internship joins them as two middle-aged men with life experience to share.

There’s a sense that something’s missing here, that we skipped a crucial step in the transition from rogue youngsters to hip uncles. The Internship doesn’t feel reckless or energetic. It feels safe and comfortable. If The Wedding Crashers saw the pair joyriding in a stolen Ferrari, The Internship feels more like a cruise in the family sedan.

A brand new day…

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Aasif Mandvi, Frat Pack, Google, Internship, Josh Gad, Owen Wilson, Recreation, Scouting, Shawn Levy, Vince Vaughn, Wedding Crashers, wilson | 2 Comments »

Non-Review Review: Real Steel

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Darren

Well, at the very least, Real Steel confirms that Hugh Jackman is a bona fides movie star (as if X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t already do that). It proves that the actor can pretty successfully anchor and ground any high concept blockbuster in a charming performance, one that’s engaging and witty enough to allow the audience to overlook some of the movie’s more obvious flaws. Still, despite the rather wonderful special effects and the strong cast, I left Real Steel feeling just a little bit strange, as if I’d been watching a movie that I appreciated, but never really engaged with.

And in the neon orange corner...

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Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Boxing, Charlie, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, films, hilary swank, hugh jackman, James Rebhorn, Kevin Durand, mark wahlberg, Million Dollar Baby, Movies, non-review review, Real Steel, review, Shawn Levy, Steel | Leave a comment »

How Do Studios Decide What Movies Get Sequels?

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Darren

This is a question which has bothered me for quite a while now, because it seems like there should be an obvious answer, but I can’t really make a lot of decisions fit based on that. The deciding factor, one would assume, in any industry as to whether a product gets a continuation, a re-release, or a spin-off, would be that of box office. You imagine that the studio executives include an option for sequels in the contracts of any actors they want to stick around, and then wait for the box office totals to come in before they finally decide if they want to make the investment. However, this doesn’t always seem to be the case.