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Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)


Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director Shawn Levy Rating:9.0/10 (1 vote) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by TylerMirage on February 18th, 2016:Find all reviews by TylerMirage
Shawn Levy seems to be viewed with ambivalence amongst movie-fans. Are his movies major flops? No. Are they astronomically successful? No. You never really see his name trotted out during awards season, and conversely, his name never really has mud thrown on it. He and his work are just kind of...there. Granted, I enjoy his work. The "Night at the Museum" trilogy is simple family fun fare, "Real Steel" was enjoyable and even "Date Night" and "Cheaper By the Dozen" weren't without their charms.

Despite the overall meh-ness of his work, there's no denying that he really loves what he does. This is the second commentary of his that I've listened to, and it's quite evident by the level of detail he goes into and enthusiasm he shows that he really enjoys his work. Rarely are there moments of dead air*, and he'll talk about everything from the location work, characters, outtakes, VFX, etc.. He runs the gamut of topics.

One thing he pointed out during the commentary was just how good of a runner Ben Stiller is ("second only to Tom Cruise"). And man, he's right. It's weird to think it, but Ben Stiller is a phenomenal sprinter, ha ha.

Another interesting item to note is that Levy reveals that he turned down the offer to direct the first "Night at the Museum" multiple times. He states that he was hesitant because he wasn't sure if he could suddenly change gears to a big-budget effects-filled movie.

*Although there aren't many moments of dead air, Levy is (unfortunately) one of those directors that on occassion will pull the "I'm going to stop talking so you can hear this joke/listen to this piece of score"-act. This is a pet-peeve of mine for commentaries. If I wanted to listen to the joke or listen to the score or watch the movie, I'd watch the friggin' movie. Which I have. I purchased this movie on DVD or Blu-Ray. Now I am deliberately listening to a filmmaker's audio commentary about said movie, which by definition means that the filmmaker will be talking OVER the movie. I'm listening to the commentary so that I can specifically hear you talk about it, so stop with the whole "Imma' stop talking and let you enjoy this"-thing.