Ghostbusters: Afterlife

[samsnee]

Ivan Reitman, Director of Ghostbusters and Stripes, Has Died

 

[Mysteryman]

So very sorry to hear this.
My sincere condolences to his family and, friends.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Oh no.

I was genuinely shocked when I read this. This one really hurt. It really hit home.

His movies defined my childhood. Afterlife is even more meaningful now. My deepest sympathies to his family.

RIP Mr. Reitman.

You'll be missed.

 

[DarkKnight88]

That really sucks.

Watching the behind the scenes of Afterlife, he looked so happy to be working with his son on this new Ghostbusters. If nothing else, I’m glad he got that experience before the end to be doing what he loved with fami paying their respect.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Aw man that's so sad.

RIP to a film making legend

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I teared up so badly at the news. Ghostbusters and GBII are two of my earliest film memories, and the first film is my favorite movie of all time. Afterlife has so much heart and is so much fun, I’m glad Ivan got to be a part of it, and it seems like it meant so much to him with his son at the helm.
Rest In Peace Mr. Reitman, you helped make a huge positive impact on so many people.

 

[BeserkerHilf]

Gasped at the news, but as others pointed out, bittersweet. Reitman is one of those filmmaking cornerstones for that informed so much of my comedic sensibilities. The man lived a good life, so I don't feel sadness, but you rarely get to look at someone's passing and wonder, in the best possible interpretation of this, "what's left to say?"

 

[samsnee]

I’m glad he got a chance to see his son direct a sequel of his best known movie. Can’t imagine a prouder moment as an artist.

 

[henzINNIT]

Aww man that really sucks. A great talent, seemed like a nice guy too. I'm glad he got to see out Afterlife as I'm sure it was a great experience. RIP Ivan.

 

[BatLobster]

Ugh, RIP Ivan. This was crappy to read first thing in the morning. As impressive as his filmography is as a whole, I can for sure say that GB 1 and 2 alone made my childhood that much happier and full of laughs. Definitely paints Afterlife in a bit of a new light for me, knowing it was such a labor of love for the two of them and Jason paying tribute to his father.

 

[DyeLorean]

This is specially sad because he has been around a lot lately with the release of GB:A. I don't think I saw as many interviews with him as in these last few months.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Aw.

You know with "Afterlife" and the family focus of the movie the franchise has shifted from what it was in 1984. In the beginning it was exterminators who smoked and fought ghosts for a paycheck.

Now with Jason directing the last movie and Spenglers family and Harold Ramis's passing it's grown into something else.

There's a family legacy and friendship behind it now.

 

[Hunter Rider]

RIP Ivan Reitman, glad he lived to see his son make a great sequel to his most iconic movie.

 

[DarkKnight88]

You know, now especially in hindsight, all the complaints about Afterlife being just for nostalgia. F-that. I’m so glad he got to see it made by his son and its release being a big hit. As other have pointed out, the entire ending has a whole new relevance even more so now. Why be cynical about it.

 

[Drizzle]

You know, now especially in hindsight, all the complaints about Afterlife being just for nostalgia. F-that. I’m so glad he got to see it made by his son and its release being a big hit. As other have pointed out, the entire ending has a whole new relevance even more so now. Why be cynical about it.

Well said. The movie isn't shy about nostalgia at all, which might have been an issue if that was the point the movie was trying to make but it really wasn't. The nostalgic stuff like Gozer, Zuul, the Stay Puft marshmallows, etc. is all window dressing. The real point of the story is made very clear in the ending.

 

[BatLobster]

You know, now especially in hindsight, all the complaints about Afterlife being just for nostalgia. F-that. I’m so glad he got to see it made by his son and its release being a big hit. As other have pointed out, the entire ending has a whole new relevance even more so now. Why be cynical about it.

Amen. The movie was clearly made out of love and for the right reasons, and feels especially special now that it exists knowing how little time Ivan had left when it was made.

On a personal note, I just so happened to have my mom over the other night and watched the film with her on 4k (her first time seeing it). She absolutely loved it. It's a great movie to share with family.

 

[Deck Rickard]

RIP Ivan. Such a shame that we lost him.

I watched this movie the other day and overall I liked it. But am I the only one who found the two adult characters to kinda be A-holes? Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon do everything in their power to make them likable but the writing fails them. Rudd is apparently the world’s worst, laziest teacher. And Coon is so vehemently opposed to science that one had to wonder if she’s an anti-vaxxer lol.

Spoiler

I’m also a little iffy on how they treated Egon. While the tribute at the end was really nice, something really irked me about having Akroyd say that a guy who died in real life can rot in hell. Also, Egon just abandoning his daughter just felt wrong, even if he did it for the “right” reasons or whatever.

That said, I enjoyed the kid Ghostbusters and the nostalgia, even when it didn’t really make sense (Marshmallow Men, anyone?). It was also nice to see Ernie Hudson showcased as the most successful of the original group, after the way they minimized his character in the original. I would definitely watch another one, though the end makes it a little confusing as to what would happen… I guess Winston is going to relaunch the Ghostbusters in NYC? But the kids are apparently still in Oklahoma?

 

[sueb1863]

Just saw this last weekend and really enjoyed it. Lots of great throwbacks to the 1984 movie, I think the use of a lot of musical cues from the first movie really added to the overall nostalgia factor. I was very skeptical about this when I first heard about it but it turned out a lot better than I expected. The kids were great, especially McKenna Grace.

Spoiler

I do wish that the climax wasn't basically a repeat of the 1984 movie. I'm also not sure why Ray didn't believe Egon when Egon told him about the coming danger. They dealt with stuff like that all the time, why would Ray suddenly find it impossible?

I see Dan Ackroyd has ideas about what they could do in possible sequels, it'll be interesting to see if they make any more movies and where they take the franchise from here.

 

[sueb1863]

RIP Ivan. Such a shame that we lost him.

I watched this movie the other day and overall I liked it. But am I the only one who found the two adult characters to kinda be A-holes? Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon do everything in their power to make them likable but the writing fails them. Rudd is apparently the world’s worst, laziest teacher. And Coon is so vehemently opposed to science that one had to wonder if she’s an anti-vaxxer lol.

Spoiler

I’m also a little iffy on how they treated Egon. While the tribute at the end was really nice, something really irked me about having Akroyd say that a guy who died in real life can rot in hell. Also, Egon just abandoning his daughter just felt wrong, even if he did it for the “right” reasons or whatever.

That said, I enjoyed the kid Ghostbusters and the nostalgia, even when it didn’t really make sense (Marshmallow Men, anyone?). It was also nice to see Ernie Hudson showcased as the most successful of the original group, after the way they minimized his character in the original. I would definitely watch another one, though the end makes it a little confusing as to what would happen… I guess Winston is going to relaunch the Ghostbusters in NYC? But the kids are apparently still in Oklahoma?

Spoiler

Greg seemed knowledgeable, so maybe we were just supposed to get the idea that he didn't like teaching summer school because he knew the kids didn't want to be there. I agree that Callie seemed a bit too hard edged and bitter, especially when she was talking to Phoebe after the jail scene. I think the problem is we don't know much about Callie apart from the fact she's Egon's daughter. What happened to her mother? Were her mother and Egon ever married?

We also never find out anything about Phoebe and Trevor's father. It's a little odd that there isn't even one line about him. I'm not sure we can even assume they both have the same father...

There's a deleted scene with Callie and Janine at the farmhouse where Callie admits she never even met her father, so Egon must have left when she was a baby or maybe before she was even born. If there's a sequel maybe we'll find out more about her and hopefully they'll round her character out a bit.

I also wonder how they'll manage a sequel, the end credit scene implies that Winston will revive the Ghostbusters' New York location, but I'm not sure how they'll get Callie and all the kids - including Podcast - to NYC. But we'll see!

 

[Prison Mike]

The nostalgia part was the best part of the movie. I wish we had more scenes with the original cast.

 

[samsnee]

I was fine with the screen time they had since they wanted to focus on the new cast. I didn’t like how they were just shoehorned in at the end out of nowhere.

 

[DyeLorean]

I love the movie as it is but I wish they would've showed up a little bit earlier, not gonna lie.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

I've always thought a streaming show would be great way to continue the franchise. Even more so than another movie.

 

[Prison Mike]

I was fine with the screen time they had since they wanted to focus on the new cast. I didn’t like how they were just shoehorned in at the end out of nowhere.

I just wasn’t a fan of turning this into Stranger Things the movie. That’s what it felt like to me with new cast.

 

[DyeLorean]

What was the alternative? A real GBIII with the remaining cast? Highly unlikely, specially with Bill Murray's unpredictable attitude. A new quartet of young-ish faces like Seth Rogen and Adam Scott? That's another GB Answer the Call misfire.
There wasn't a lot of options on the table, to be honest. They did their best with what they had. What's interesting is that it does set up the franchise to go to new places with part of the original cast.