Movie Review – The Internship

What more do you need for a joyous evening

‘The Internship’ is a kind of a film which you can watch any time of the day, with anyone and still be not disappointed with it. It’s a kind of film, even if you don’t want to put an effort to watch, you don’t end up regretting. It’s a kind of film which I typically attribute as a ‘K TV film’ if it had been a Tamil film, a pure no nonsense no brainer worth a watch on a lazy day. With a stellar cast and a moving screenplay, it works as a joyous watch or to say in a lighter vein, an absolute guilty pleasure.

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It was a pleasure to watch Owen Wilson. What a great actor he is. Thanks to ‘Midnight in Paris’, he was noticed and given more respect. Till that time he was at max seen a funny sidekick to other actors, but thanks to ‘Midnight in Paris’, he got accreditation for his performance. His performance, more so, the opening act itself was enough to induce the joy of ‘Midnight in Paris’. Not comparing both the films, but only very few actors can be as charming on screen like him. It was pure joy.

William “Billy” McMahon (Vince Vaughn) and Nicholas “Nick” Campbell (Owen Wilson) are people in sales who think they’re big shots but in actual terms, are losers. After losing the job and trying to make ends meet, they apply for an internship at Google. It’s a riot from there on. The movie was quite personal to me thanks to my training days in Infosys. And not sure how Google were okay for this movie, which looked like a ridicule than tribute. Wonder if they had used the same campus or was a set put up.

The movie had some genuine laughs and may be some ‘meh’ moments. But it’s not really a movie which you can criticize it for being meh. Billy wasn’t as interesting as Nick but was given more screen space. May be Owen Wilson was good enough to underplay and do his role to perfection. Especially his dinner date with Dana Simms (Rose Byrne) which was lovely. Rose Byrne was a beauty with brains ain’t it.

Other actors were stereotypes specific of their region and didn’t make much impact. Obviously the bar scene was the high point of the entire film and as expected an emotional scene happens post that. The good thing was that, even though typical, the scene actually worked. It made me forget that I was watching a film and got me into the movie. Post that, as expected, their sales experience helps them secure a win in a dramatic fashion.

Movie Review – Real Steel

Boys and their toys

Having known the outline of the story, I wasn’t much into the film as it looked like just a time pass movie. But with time one comes to know how difficult it is to make a proper time pass movie without boring even for a minute. ‘Real Steel’ is one such film. It’s a product of sincerity. Whatever you do, do good kind of film. Something studios and our directors have to learn while making commercial films.

‘Real Steel’ works on the fundamental level right from the casting to story. The story is basic but with an actor like Hugh Jackman, everyone looks up to a film. He charmingly associates himself with the character of the film and does wonders. I think this film would work more for 90s kids who got high on WWE and Centurions. Just think of Centurions going on for wrestling. Is there a greater sight than that?

The movie doesn’t mince with words or tries to be philosophical. In fact, the very idea of why the robots started to fight was uttered in a dialogue by Charlie (Hugh Jackman) to Max (Dakota Goyo). No lengthy Batmanish dialogue. No questioning the morality. No talks about machines overtaking humans. And thankfully no storyline with the machines getting brain of their own. That’s the most irritating thing out of the lot. Thankfully what’s called a formulaic story works best for a film which executes the formula in real life scenario the best.

It’s just an extension of your real world. Where video games come out with a huge toy. Thankfully it doesn’t develop a mind of own, kill its owners and end up having a human vs robot fight. It’s all plain and simple. Like how you’ll be invested in play station. You’ll be invested in playing in the ring here. It’s all good. The time period too was not too far when it got released so there is a certain make believe. The world has evolved only as much as not being shocked at seeing a giant robot on streets but with every other aspect it’s fine. The world goes on as usual.

Like Charlie says, people have got tired of normal boxing as there are less bloodsheds so the machines up the ante. That kind of works for us too. When we see two machines fighting, we can keep the morality aside and watch them engage in a dueling gruel. The hits are real and the gore is glamorous. The clanking of metals and the big monsters design and all come very handy. Satisfies the boy in you in a big way. Without going the jarring transformers way.

Hugh Jackman seemed to have mastered the art of dad and son/daughter films. He has kickass chemistry with younger ones. It’s the same here too. The emotions are taken straight out of library template so there is no surprise there. But it works like a charm. And the boy does a decent job too. There are no needless romantic scenes and tear jerkers but the movie is spiced up to the right amount where one goes emotional and bang goes the next scene. Keeping the formula intact, the movie delivers what’s necessary pitch perfectly.