Amph Don't Cross The Streams! The Ghostbusters Franchise (Afterlife, Frozen Empire)

I often defend internet anonymity, however incidents like this really make me wonder if having our internet personas tied to our real life self in one way or another would make the world a better place. Both on the internet and in real life.

 

I'm not in favor of internet privacy when it comes to slander or attacks on people in public but I know that's not a popular civil liberties position to take.

 

Well, they're bound first round so they have to go the way the votes went in the primaries.

 

heh true.

 

I like this movie although it never quite overcomes it's own remakeness to it's detriment. But it's funny, the cast chemistry is solid, and there's some really cool Ghost busting scenes. Gender-swapping the leads is a non-issue because, most importantly like the original cast, they bounce of each other really well, however, it does have this odd effect of making male characters in the film either incompetent or directly antagonistic (aside from Dan Aykrod's cameo and even then he was kind of a jerk towards them). Two best castmember standouts are McKinnon and Hemsworth who do really weird and funny stuff, and Hemsworth gets to go particularly wacky in the third act. I think a flaw is something inherent in Paul Feig's style, there's a lot of "riffing" where takes seem to go on which drags the pacing down, mostly because I believe in comedy sci-fi horror you need to keep the pace real zippy so the artifice doesn't show. And while there are big laughs, I wouldn't say they come from particularly clever or memorable dialogue exchanges but mostly one liners. But the ghost scenes are great with a nice line between cartoony and moody VFX, and there's some real funny bits here and there (McCarthy at one point tries to convince the baddie to not unleash ghosts and just blanks and starts talking about soup. There's a gag with Hemsworth involving a sandwhich which is great from the start and has an amazing punchline. The ghost being summoned at the metal concert is great because the metal heads just think it's part of the show "WE HAVE SUMMONED SATAN HIMSELF!" made me laugh.). I actually like the finale for the level of spectacle but it just sorta happens to get bigger while the original had a very natural build to the Stay Puft finale. But it does look really cool here anyway.

On the plus side, very much enjoyed the fan-service moments, it opened up with someone squealing as the Ghostbusters theme kicked in which is how a goddamned Ghostbusters movie should start, dagnabit. Holtzmann also blasting ghosts to the theme song was great. The cameos of the original Ghostbusters is somewhere between fun and baffling. There's so much fan service in this movie why do they have OG Ghostbusters show up and not play their characters. But having Annie Potts growl "Waddya want?!" or Akyrod saying "I ain't afraid of no Ghosts" is good. Which makes it more frustrating since Legacy Sequels ala Creed or Force Awakens are ones that build off the old continuity and have the old actors. Someone bringing up earlier a comparison that having Shatner play a janitor in a Star Trek movie is very apt. And while I think the villain is interesting playing a disenfranchised loner trying to bring about the apocalypse, the broad strokes plot is still the same as the original, disgraced scientists bust ghosts while apocalyptic threat builds in the background, the difference is the apocalypse in the OG Ghostbusterts was set into motion decades ago. this is a fun movie if kind of pointless, if anything it's more brand extension, and sort of another addition to the pile of "inoffensive remakes of classics that aren't as good as the original"

 

For the life of me, I can't think of any good reason why this had to be a re-do instead of a continuation. There would have to be a few tweaks to the Gilbert character because the existence of ghosts wouldn't have been in dispute. Ramis' passing almost lent itself to a new team- imagine if Holzman was Egon's apprentice and his death causing the need for a new team when Rowan starts his meddling. Heck, they could have even gone the "alternate reality/JJ-Trek" route and the old Ghostbusters themselves could have opened the portal to get help from the gals. Oh well.....woulda, coulda, shoulda.

It wasn't bad, but I'd say that it was a misfire in some regards.

 

A continuation would feel better, but that concept is easily negated by remembering that that idea spent thirty years in script / production hell.

 

I remember way back in early to late 90s when they toyed with the idea of the new team comprised of Farley and then Will Smith.

 

It had some pleasant moments, but for some reason I really disliked the ghost effects. The pre CGI ghosts of the 80s had a lot more presence.

 

I disagree. I don't think the original ghosts are present at all. They're very obviously puppets, stop-motion, and animation overlays (and that extends to the proton packs as well). They're great, I love that pre-computer puppet/stop-motion aesthetic, but presence? I don't know, I think that's some nostalgia talking.

 

Thanks! I always wondered how Universal achieved a Slimer.

 

Some thoughts that I also posted on another thread:

The leads - I thought they tried too hard to be funny, they do have some chemistry, but the humour didn't work for me. It was like it was being forced in every scene. One of the charms of the original is its effortless in its comedy, it just flows and doesn't seem like its trying too hard to be funny, in this new version it does. McKinnons inventor character I didn't like, too odd and again too forced. Although I did like her inventions. I hate to say it, but Jones seems to have some lines and things she says and does that seem like they were written from an old Hollywood stereotype 70 years ago. Hemsworth plays a bumbling idiot, but I liked him in it.

The plot - We have a guy planting devices to summon ghosts, which is good, and he wants to lead the ghosts on earth. Not sure why. I suppose it could be argued its no better or worse than the original, but it seemed a bit rushed.

The cameos and nods to the original - near enough everyone appears in this, but all as different characters. Its unnecessary I feel and in a strange way is demeaning to them, especially Sigourney Weavers and Bill Murrays, I thought they were taking the p**s with those 2. Its distracting having them all in it, and pointless I'd say as well. Even the stay puft man has a cameo, slimer too. Whilst Rick Moranis doesn't appear (not that I noticed) Wiig does pay homage to his running through the streets like a mad man as she similarly runs through the streets telling everyone to get out of the city. We get some similarly constructed scenes and settings when compared to the original, maybe to its detriment.

The ghosts - in the main very good, especially the first 2. The dragon in the concert took it to Scooby Doo movie levels and I didn't enjoy that.The end special effects were good but having ghost balloons and a Mrs slimer just did not work for me at all.

Overall it was OK, not as bad as I expected, but far from being great either. I'd give it a 5 out of 10. It tried too hard to be funny and tried too hard to give a knowing wink and say "hey did you just see who that was" to the audience and squeeze in as much stuff from the original as they could. I'd also say that it could have been better if they'd been more different to the original movie.

 

Sony could lose 70 Million on Ghostbusters. Still hasn't opening in the last remaining countries showing the movie, but it's been predicted that the film will most likely not hit the 300 million break even mark.

The predicted earning is 225 million.

 

I know one of the studio execs or producers said in the wake of a somewhat tepid opening that they were still absolutely doing a sequel, but it just never found its legs and that is a pretty big splotch of red ink on its bottom line. Gotta wonder if the sequel and the proposed "GBCU" concept are all out the window at this point or if they'll retool and re-think and still press forward. I know they had an animated film and a new animated series on the table.

 

Not surprising news, unfortunately. Still an utter shame though. The movie was fine, I've certainly seen worse movies get sequels in the past (Here's looking at you Paul Blart: Mall Cop), and I was looking forward to seeing this cast in a movie more confident to move on and do its own thing.

Sony's put too many eggs in this basket to throw it out the window after one dud. From what I understand the animated movie is still happening, it's just been moved forward on the slate. I'm sure they're also taking a closer look at the project Channing Tatum had all lined up for them.

The whole 'cinematic universe' adventure smacks of misunderstanding what people love about the original movie, but I'm holding onto the slim hope of seeing more material with Kate Mckinnon in whatever this franchise's 'Avengers' moment is going to be.

 

I'd say you're right. There's also too much potential still there and an inexhaustible good will around the original film to help buoy new projects. I'm not sure we'll see a Ghostbusters 2.0 part 2 (though a strong showing on the various on-demand and home video platforms might nudge it back into the light), but I'd say Sony still wants to try and mine this property with Reitman fully at the controls.

 

Although the ghosts did look " cartoonish " at times, the 3D was GREAT!

 

I think Sony will make more Ghostbusters ... stuff. Animated movie and TV series will probably be a thing to keep the brand alive. Sony needs brand franchises they can put out without having to crawl to Marvel with Spider-Man to get it hype. But I don't think we'll ever quite get closure on that "What is Zuul?" post-credits Easter Egg.

If I had my druthers, whatever they were, you'd take the Gozer-is-an-alternate-universe hopper concept (mentioned in the first flick) you take the new Ghostbusters and dimension hop over to the O.G. Ghostbusters universe and you do a team up, thereby dropping the odd not-playing-our-characters cameos from the remake and then getting the sorta sequel / reboot stuff so we can see the original crew show up and properly pass the torch.

 

So, yeah, if you stuck through the credits the final title credit for the film is "Ghostbusters: Answer The Call" and now on home video it will have the subtitle "Ghostbusters: Answer The Call"



hahaha, Hemsworth's dim secretary making gun hands. Was that on the poster? Why was it not on the poster? Him being dopey is gold.