Ghostbusters (2016)

David: Who ya gonna call? DoubleFeaturePreachers! Happy 50th Blog Post Shannon!

Shannon: I’m so excited that we have made it to 50 blog posts! It’s crazy. So what did you think of the newest Ghostbusters movie? I for one thought it was great.

David: I don’t know if I can go all the way to great… but it was good. I think they did a good job at keeping the tone of the movie the same as the originals, with lots of tongue and cheek, mile a minute humor. I also thought the casting was good overall, and there were some other things I really liked. But, whenever you are remaking material, you have to retread (a lot - something I’ll hit more on later), and when you retread, sometimes it gets a bit dull. But, overall, I enjoyed it yes.

What were your favorite parts?
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Shannon: I just thought that the humor was great for majority of the movie. I have only seen the original movie once, so I don’t remember that much about it. The cast I thought was good, the four working together had chemistry and were able to play off of each other with their jokes and different character  

personalities. I also like that they incorporated Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver, even if it was only for a couple minutes. Obviously, I liked Kevin… he was the funniest to me. There was one line that he had where I was literally laughing so hard that I was about to cry… which I don’t think ever happens during a movie for me. What about you? Did you have a favorite part? Or a least favorite part?

David: My favorite part (and probably least favorite) part, was something that I stated before. They did a great job of paying homage to the original, including cameos by Sigourney Weaver, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Akroyd (among others). That was really cool, because it shows how on board the cast was. However, it also made me a bit sad. There were scenes that were well-done (I really enjoyed the opener) as remade copies, but, there were others that just seemed hollow and done out.
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The internet made a big, big deal out of the female cast for this movie. I for one, loved the decision. I thought it meant that they were taking the franchise in a different direction, branching out to make movies that were a bit more dangerous to make (ie, not necessarily a remake, but a reboot). But, instead, I feel like the collective talents of the ladies involved were wasted. Sure, they all had scenes where they shone brightly, but overall, it felt a bit lackadaisical. Alas, we may never know what the movie could have been, because they got too excited by the franchise of it all.

A little known fact (at least among those that I talked to) is that originally Sony was planning a Ghostbusters shared universe, much like the Avengers universe. But, they messed it up, the same way that they messed up Spiderman when they tried to remake him so soon after the original trilogies. When you remake movies, and include the exact same scenes as the first one, it leads the audience to be a bit bored. I know you stated it had been a while since you had seen the first one, but do you have any thoughts on this?

Another question is who was your favorite Ghostbuster? Was it Kevin? ​

Shannon: I did notice the similarities of this movie and the original movie, but I wouldn’t say it was so similar that it was boring. I feel like the background of the storyline was more of a man trying to connect the two universes, this wasn’t in the original right? Or am I totally forgetting that aspect? I don’t know who I would pick as my favorite Ghostbuster. I really like Kristen Wiig, but I also really liked Kate McKinnon because she was freaking crazy. Yes, Kevin is my favorite character, but can you count him as a Ghostbuster? I’m not sure I would even though he calls himself one the entire time. Do you have a favorite Ghostbuster?

David: Kate McKinnon’s Jillian Holtzmann had some of the best parts of the movie (though the fact that she plays a character on one of the shows my son watches (Nature Cat! On PBS) made it hard to focus on her completely in character for the first few scenes). Equal parts smart, sensitive, and altogether manic, she embodied a lot of what I loved about Ghostbusters. However, at times, I felt that the entire movie developed into a lot of smaller SNL sketches. From one perspective, this makes sense, as there are several connections to SNL. I think that may be why I enjoyed parts of the movie more than others, because I am/was a huge SNL fan. I think it has been a lot of teenagers’ gateway into adulthood, and it helped usher me into a more mature level of comedy than I had been used to, as well as getting my current events through Weekend Update.

That being said, I liked the other characters as well. I really loved that they seemed to give each character a moment (something else that they took from the current superhero blitz). And oh, Chris Hemsworth. Finally worth a damn in something that wasn’t Thor. It was enjoyable to see some of the same blank stares and comedic deliveries that he uses in Thor, but consistently.

Did you stay to the end of the credits for the final scene?

Shannon: DAMMIT THERE WAS ANOTHER SCENE??? No… I wish I would have known this. I stayed for a lot of the scenes at the beginning of the credits, but once they started rolling I left. What happened in this scene? Did they set up for another movie or was it just something to keep you in your seats until the rolling credits were over?

To touch on your SNL points, I did notice a lot of the parts reminded me of SNL. I’m not the biggest fan of that show so those parts weren’t my favorite. The mayor’s assistant, I didn’t like her at all and didn’t really find her very funny. Man, I wish I would have stayed during the credits! Gah!

David: It wasn’t much of a scene. Basically, Holtzmann was working on something, and Patty was listening to the EVP machine. Then she asks, “ What’s Zuul?”. If you recall, “Zuul” was the bad guy from the original movie. So they have set themselves up for a sequel, if this one makes enough money.

I agree. I thought the mayor and his lackey was pretty boring. That is kinda my point about this movie - some things were great, other things weren’t, leading to an overall just… good.

What did you think of the effects, particularly in the final scene? I for one, can’t get enough of Holtzmann in this scene.

Shannon: I thought some effects were good and some not so much. I really like the proton guns and all the inventions that Holtzmann made for their ghostbusting adventures. The ghost themselves, not so much. The whole thing reminded me of Scooby Doo with the way that they were being portrayed. Though I know that the slime aspects are part of the original movie, I still don’t understand why it’s in there, is it just for comedic purposes? The final scene was alright, I thought it was cool the way that they “closed” the portal and when Erin went into the vortex after Abby. Do you have anything else you want to touch on David?

David: That is an excellent comparison to the Scooby Doo ghosts. Kudos for you Shannon. I really liked the guns too. I thought they did a good job of updating the tech and throwing enough jargon in there to make it sound believable. Along with what you said, the slime is pretty much only for comedic purposes. The first slime out is pretty awesome though, and the segway to the internet viral video is good too. I don’t have anything else to touch on besides to make a general call out and say that I really enjoyed the movie, but we need to at least attempt some originality every once and while. I’m going to give the new Ghostbusters a “B”. What’s your rating Shannon?

Shannon: I think I’m going to give it a “Loved It.” Go see it folks!

David: As always, thanks for reading. 50 posts in and still going strong!