I watched the movie. Women CAN be Ghostbusters. But, the jokes simply must be better then "Keys?" *jingle, jingle* "See the keys? They sound and dance. Watch the keys?" right after the bad joke falls flat on it's proposed face.
And what was up with that man's whole skit as a secretary? It felt like something uncomfortable that only SNL could possibly dream up to make you unable to pin him to anything.
I rather like Hemsworth's "male ditz" role, but if it wasn't an actor as talented, I'm not sure that I'd appreciate it as much.
I thought Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy were decent, Wiig especially. Their relationship at the beginning is the only thing that feels properly grounded. Kate McKinnon on the other hand.. man, I love Kate on SNL (search for "SNL close encounter" for an MVP skit), but her character was a disaster in the movie. Maybe one of the worst parts of the movie.
The original movie had an "earnestness" in the world that the current remake lacks. The joke was that the world was 'real', these things were terrifying, and that the Ghostbusters were both earnest, yet also entirely ridiculous. The regular people reacted much like you would expect REAL people to react if these.. terrifying things that we didn't believe in started happening. I kindof liked the new Ghostbusters, in that it was "ok." Not terrible, but if it didn't have the original to back it up, it wouldn't be memorable at all. But when I got out, I felt it was somewhat... bland. The scary parts weren't scary enough, and the funny parts weren't funny enough. The villain was nerd-lord who they beat by kicking him in the balls. None of the ghosts ever had the "spooky" aspect down right. They were way too cartoon-styled to take seriously. In 1984? Those devil-dogs were FUCKING SCARY, even while chasing Louis across the street.
When it comes to the characters, Egon works as nerdy straight-man with lines like this:
Venkman: "Egon, this reminds me of that time you tried to drill a hole in your head..."
Egon, slightly peeved: "That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."
Or even Venkman saying "He slimed me." Simple, effective, subtly funny. Same with "gross," or "Egon, your mucus" in his "I'm just drawing a paycheck" sort of way. When Wiig says "the slime got everywhere. Deep, in every orifice," it feels like it goes too far. If you go wilder and more over the top with your jokes, you lose the ability to do subtle humor. The humor from the original Ghostbusters was sardonic and dry, while the new Ghostbusters was over-the-top zany. YMMV, but I prefer sardonic humor.
Going in, I was trying to give this movie a break. The only gripe I was carrying was about the toony ghosts. It was kind of funny how it took those toon ghosts for me to start bringing the grade back up.
At the first act with the abusive dead being in the basement, I was grading it to be potential A material. Maybe about 20 minutes in, I was literally groaning as the characters seemed to be developing in the wrong ways and jokes were bombing, left and right. I was even calling jokes-to-come with ease.
By the time they finally started breaking away from somewhat relating to the original and becoming their own thing, I was rating this movie at a D-. It just felt like a ton of work needed to go into it.
Alas, I felt the final act actually saved this into the 'meh' range. Yes. The ghosts were CG, Scooby Doo grade. But, I looked right past it and saw this movie finding it's fun zone, instead of remaining tedious.
However, I still had gripes with the final act. The 'Bad Guy' (I don't even care to look up his name) basically God-moded for the sake of setting up a dance scene in the ending credits. The movie should have ended right there. He turns the Ghostbusters into more puppets and everyone loses. But, oh no. Look out. (Lameness intended, here.) His Ego needs to show itself off to someone that he can handicap himself and still win. So...movie...possession of one person? That's par for ghost stuff. But, remote possession of a whole army? Never should have gone there in the slightest.
And...then...there was this whole...time traveling bit with the aging of the main characters and ... the...I...don't even know. This must have been some grand curve ball that read well on paper and got lost in the filming and/or editing process. It's there. Seems to mean nothing. Convoluted and half invisible to barely make sense. What's even the point of making grand mothers out of half your stars for any (not even gonna happen) sequels? It was like if a model train set were running in a cargo train car and then fell off the tracks a minute before the real train flew off a cliff. Could have dropped it and most likely nobody would have questioned the decision.
In my opinion, "Dog and cats. Living together. Mass hysteria." outdoes any joke to be found in the remake.
"And...then...there was this whole...time traveling bit with the aging of the main characters and.."
And... never try to show "The Other Side." It never works, and it always looks like shit.
This was another thing that Poltergeist (1982) and Ghostbusters (1984) got right, and Poltergeist 2 and Ghostbusters (2016) got wrong.
Ghostbusters (original script): Peter Venkman, Ray Stanz, and Ramsey travel through time and across dimensions busting ghosts.
Ghostbusters (budget limited): The Ghostbusters stay in New York, in our dimension, and in our time. A distinct love letter to the city of New York.
Back to the Future (original script): The Delorean drives into a nuclear blast on a test site to get the energy to activate the flux capacitor.
Back to the Future (budget limited): The Delorean stays within Hill Valley, timing the lightning bolt on the clock tower to active the flux capacitor.
Jaws(1975): My understanding is that the budget didn't let them build a shark credible enough to show throughout the movie, so the shark is usually unseen. The lurking unseen menace adds tension throughout the movie.
They were going to drive the Delorian into a nuclear test site???
Glad they dodged that bullet. Because I am reminded of another line from the movie, where Doc compares the light weight Delorian structure to the solid steel construct of Biff's ride. Something about being flattened like a pancake. Kind of think that the explosion force would destroy the car, too. After all, it's not an alien mother ship, designed to do a sun dive to absorb energy that we're talking about.
I'm happy/proud to say I NEVER saw the movie for some of those reasons, didn't want to waste my money... even if it was 5 dollars at the college theater :P
Yeah... the movie itself seem like those unnecessary reboots that companies try to dig into and not try... like what they did with Total Recall or RoboCop...
I didn't think the Robocop reboot was bad at all. Just the modern style of 'shaky handheld camera' motion during some action scenes and having CG to show off way too much of Murphy's insides that I had issues with. It also liked having a debate with itself about the 'But should we...' concerning the making of cyborgs that carried on a bit long.
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Who knew truth can really hurt for sure.
And what was up with that man's whole skit as a secretary? It felt like something uncomfortable that only SNL could possibly dream up to make you unable to pin him to anything.
I thought Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy were decent, Wiig especially. Their relationship at the beginning is the only thing that feels properly grounded. Kate McKinnon on the other hand.. man, I love Kate on SNL (search for "SNL close encounter" for an MVP skit), but her character was a disaster in the movie. Maybe one of the worst parts of the movie.
The original movie had an "earnestness" in the world that the current remake lacks. The joke was that the world was 'real', these things were terrifying, and that the Ghostbusters were both earnest, yet also entirely ridiculous. The regular people reacted much like you would expect REAL people to react if these.. terrifying things that we didn't believe in started happening. I kindof liked the new Ghostbusters, in that it was "ok." Not terrible, but if it didn't have the original to back it up, it wouldn't be memorable at all. But when I got out, I felt it was somewhat... bland. The scary parts weren't scary enough, and the funny parts weren't funny enough. The villain was nerd-lord who they beat by kicking him in the balls. None of the ghosts ever had the "spooky" aspect down right. They were way too cartoon-styled to take seriously. In 1984? Those devil-dogs were FUCKING SCARY, even while chasing Louis across the street.
When it comes to the characters, Egon works as nerdy straight-man with lines like this:
Venkman: "Egon, this reminds me of that time you tried to drill a hole in your head..."
Egon, slightly peeved: "That would have worked if you hadn't stopped me."
Or even Venkman saying "He slimed me." Simple, effective, subtly funny. Same with "gross," or "Egon, your mucus" in his "I'm just drawing a paycheck" sort of way. When Wiig says "the slime got everywhere. Deep, in every orifice," it feels like it goes too far. If you go wilder and more over the top with your jokes, you lose the ability to do subtle humor. The humor from the original Ghostbusters was sardonic and dry, while the new Ghostbusters was over-the-top zany. YMMV, but I prefer sardonic humor.
At the first act with the abusive dead being in the basement, I was grading it to be potential A material. Maybe about 20 minutes in, I was literally groaning as the characters seemed to be developing in the wrong ways and jokes were bombing, left and right. I was even calling jokes-to-come with ease.
By the time they finally started breaking away from somewhat relating to the original and becoming their own thing, I was rating this movie at a D-. It just felt like a ton of work needed to go into it.
Alas, I felt the final act actually saved this into the 'meh' range. Yes. The ghosts were CG, Scooby Doo grade. But, I looked right past it and saw this movie finding it's fun zone, instead of remaining tedious.
However, I still had gripes with the final act. The 'Bad Guy' (I don't even care to look up his name) basically God-moded for the sake of setting up a dance scene in the ending credits. The movie should have ended right there. He turns the Ghostbusters into more puppets and everyone loses. But, oh no. Look out. (Lameness intended, here.) His Ego needs to show itself off to someone that he can handicap himself and still win. So...movie...possession of one person? That's par for ghost stuff. But, remote possession of a whole army? Never should have gone there in the slightest.
And...then...there was this whole...time traveling bit with the aging of the main characters and ... the...I...don't even know. This must have been some grand curve ball that read well on paper and got lost in the filming and/or editing process. It's there. Seems to mean nothing. Convoluted and half invisible to barely make sense. What's even the point of making grand mothers out of half your stars for any (not even gonna happen) sequels? It was like if a model train set were running in a cargo train car and then fell off the tracks a minute before the real train flew off a cliff. Could have dropped it and most likely nobody would have questioned the decision.
In my opinion, "Dog and cats. Living together. Mass hysteria." outdoes any joke to be found in the remake.
And... never try to show "The Other Side." It never works, and it always looks like shit.
This was another thing that Poltergeist (1982) and Ghostbusters (1984) got right, and Poltergeist 2 and Ghostbusters (2016) got wrong.
Ghostbusters (original script): Peter Venkman, Ray Stanz, and Ramsey travel through time and across dimensions busting ghosts.
Ghostbusters (budget limited): The Ghostbusters stay in New York, in our dimension, and in our time. A distinct love letter to the city of New York.
Back to the Future (original script): The Delorean drives into a nuclear blast on a test site to get the energy to activate the flux capacitor.
Back to the Future (budget limited): The Delorean stays within Hill Valley, timing the lightning bolt on the clock tower to active the flux capacitor.
Jaws(1975): My understanding is that the budget didn't let them build a shark credible enough to show throughout the movie, so the shark is usually unseen. The lurking unseen menace adds tension throughout the movie.
Glad they dodged that bullet. Because I am reminded of another line from the movie, where Doc compares the light weight Delorian structure to the solid steel construct of Biff's ride. Something about being flattened like a pancake. Kind of think that the explosion force would destroy the car, too. After all, it's not an alien mother ship, designed to do a sun dive to absorb energy that we're talking about.