The New Ghostbusters - Part 10

[Kyle]

I'm curious about how people would be reacting to this movie if the original didn't exist.

I would have liked it better. One of the reasons why I don't view it more highly is because it pales in comparison to the first two. However, with that said - that would be a challenge for any similar film.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

In my 50+ years of going to theaters in several states to see all types/genres of movies....I have NEVER had the theater crowd give a movie a standing ovation....I have NEVER had the theater crowd give the screen resounding boos....I have NEVER had a complete stranger tell me how much he hates that the movie playing is a remake that ruins his childhood....I have NEVER seen a large group of the audience walk out in disgust. I have over my decades of going to the theater gone to see movies that are record breaking landmark films and little indie films almost no one has heard of....I have seen GAHDHI and PINK FLAMINGOS at the theater (in other words, I have seen quite the variety of films).....and I have not seen what you describe happening.

In MY 50 + years of going to theaters in several states to see all types/genres of movies....i have seen the audience give standing ovations to two films; Star Wars IV, and Rocky.... never seen any of those other things happen though, although if i attend a genre film on opening night, there's usually a bit of applause at the end, if the movie has earned it.

 

[TheDreamMaster]

Honestly I've decided the most negative of people aren't going to change opinions, whether they actually hated it or just want to save face. But not all, as I'm a testament to someone who hated the idea, was negative towards it for over a year, and came out of it really enjoying myself. Honestly, I'm kind of just tired of hearing about it in general now. It won't get the rewatches the originals get, but it'll get slotted in once in a while for sure, and for everyone else it'll fall somewhere between "I remember that kind of, was it any good" and "There was no third GB movie. Are you talking about the video game?".

 

[JMLZ]

My review...

Spoiler

I sat down in the theater tonight and said to myself, "Look. It may not be what you want, but be happy that you're getting more Ghostbusters. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Ghostbusters movie."

Alas, it was exactly what I expected. And, as expected, Feig was so far out of his element with this material. If he wanted to make a movie about a team of 4 women chasing aliens or something, it would have been fine. But he tried to make a Ghostbusters movie with his style of non-stop jokes and the end result was just kind of a mess. I mean even in the first 2 minutes they tried to squeeze like 10 jokes in there and I was already exhausted.

Everyone had moments in this film that worked. But overall, Wiig was kind of boring, McCarthey was loud, Jones was REALLY loud and McKinnon was on a totally different planet. I couldn't stand her performance. It was just non-stop mugging for the camera and doing weird voices. McKinnon, that might work for a 2-minute SNL sketch, but not for a 90-minute film.

The villain was so contrived and useless, and come on, Feig... Screenwriting 101 – don't have your characters talk to themselves. But Rowan lays out his whole plan (getting back at the world for being mean to him) to himself, in front of a mirror. Because Feig/Dippold couldn't be bothered to write something more creative. Hemsworth definitely showed that he has some comedic chops, but "Kevin" was SO stupid it stopped being funny. No adult man (no matter how good looking) can live that long being that stupid.

The biggest problem I had was the fact that none of this was taken seriously. And of course it's a whacky concept that should be fun, I'm not denying that. But the first movie had stakes...

Egon: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Ray: Total protonic reversal.
Peter: That’s bad. Okay. Alright, important safety tip, thanks Egon.

They made it very clear that you could die if you were hit by these proton streams. Egon says, "Venkman, shorten your stream, I don't want my face burned off!" To me, that indicates that even though it's a fun comedy, our heroes aren't invincible.

In GB16, each piece of new tech is seemingly developed overnight, and the first time they go out to use them in public, McCarthey yells, "Don't shoot Patty anywhere important!" So these proton packs can destroy an Art Deco concert hall, but don't do any damage to people? If the heroes can't be hurt, why do I care? A possessed McCarthey literally spins her head around 180 degrees, which would kill anyone, but because they wanted to do an Exorcist joke (real timely), she's just fine.

At the end of the day, this whole movie is just a dumb, colorful cartoon. And if that was the intention from the beginning, that's fine. But make a cartoon instead! Treat the property with respect, and above all, try to make a good film. Don't pander to the lowest common denominator (ie. queef jokes, dick jokes, "your mamma" jokes, "dumb guy" jokes, etc.). I know no one tries to make a bad film, but too often filmmakers and studios talk down to audiences because they think audiences just want dumb entertainment. But I guarantee if you just spend the time to craft a great script and make a great film, everyone will love it.

That's what they did with GB1, and I'd say that worked out pretty well.

C-

Nailed it! I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.

At the cinema I attended, the whole back row of audience seemed to be in non-stop hysterics while the film gave me a few chuckles, at best. It was a Twilight Zone kind of feeling, that made me wonder if the studio was paying people to go out and pretend to enjoy this film.

How this managed to get "Certified Fresh" at 75% on Rotten Tomatoes is something I'm very interested to know. It's like they're giving this movie a handicap or something.

 

[JMLZ]

I'm curious about how people would be reacting to this movie if the original didn't exist.

Without the original, this would be better received because even if it's just a mediocre film (which it absolutely is) it still would have set a precedent for world building that would leave anticipation for potentially, a much better sequel. The Ghostbusters lore is fascinating, and it's fun to explore story possibilities.

Unfortunately for GB2016 that's already been done by GB84, and done much better.

 

[jmc]

And not very many things are getting to $200 this summer. Hell, a lot of the "sure things" are barely going to get past $100 mil. It is entirely possible that the legs on Ghostbusters can save it.

This isn't some $200 mil tentpole here.

Whatever the opening weekend number is it's going to be deemed a success, this despite its nearly $150m budget. Sony is going to spin this as a win one way or another, regardless of what the actual figure is going to be. You can better your bottom dollar if this was any other $150m movie a $40-50m opening weekend would be enough for the film to be considered a failure.

 

[GuestStar2004]

I been asked recently if i am seeing the movie and i just dunno, can't figure out if its worth it or not.

The only reason I'd think about seeing this is because of love for ghostbusters but when it sounds like the nostalgia might be the worst part of it... hmm...

 

[GuestStar2004]

I'm curious about how people would be reacting to this movie if the original didn't exist.

If the original didn't exist then this would be a unique original idea but because its in the shadow of the original i imagine it feels like a child trying to live up to its parents legacy.

They really should have made this in continuity with the Original, it would have felt less like they rebooted continuity just to use everything from the original so its technically a remake but with different characters and a gender gimmick.

 

[samsnee]

My review...

Spoiler

I sat down in the theater tonight and said to myself, "Look. It may not be what you want, but be happy that you're getting more Ghostbusters. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Ghostbusters movie."

Alas, it was exactly what I expected. And, as expected, Feig was so far out of his element with this material. If he wanted to make a movie about a team of 4 women chasing aliens or something, it would have been fine. But he tried to make a Ghostbusters movie with his style of non-stop jokes and the end result was just kind of a mess. I mean even in the first 2 minutes they tried to squeeze like 10 jokes in there and I was already exhausted.

Everyone had moments in this film that worked. But overall, Wiig was kind of boring, McCarthey was loud, Jones was REALLY loud and McKinnon was on a totally different planet. I couldn't stand her performance. It was just non-stop mugging for the camera and doing weird voices. McKinnon, that might work for a 2-minute SNL sketch, but not for a 90-minute film.

The villain was so contrived and useless, and come on, Feig... Screenwriting 101 – don't have your characters talk to themselves. But Rowan lays out his whole plan (getting back at the world for being mean to him) to himself, in front of a mirror. Because Feig/Dippold couldn't be bothered to write something more creative. Hemsworth definitely showed that he has some comedic chops, but "Kevin" was SO stupid it stopped being funny. No adult man (no matter how good looking) can live that long being that stupid.

The biggest problem I had was the fact that none of this was taken seriously. And of course it's a whacky concept that should be fun, I'm not denying that. But the first movie had stakes...

Egon: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Ray: Total protonic reversal.
Peter: That’s bad. Okay. Alright, important safety tip, thanks Egon.

They made it very clear that you could die if you were hit by these proton streams. Egon says, "Venkman, shorten your stream, I don't want my face burned off!" To me, that indicates that even though it's a fun comedy, our heroes aren't invincible.

In GB16, each piece of new tech is seemingly developed overnight, and the first time they go out to use them in public, McCarthey yells, "Don't shoot Patty anywhere important!" So these proton packs can destroy an Art Deco concert hall, but don't do any damage to people? If the heroes can't be hurt, why do I care? A possessed McCarthey literally spins her head around 180 degrees, which would kill anyone, but because they wanted to do an Exorcist joke (real timely), she's just fine.

At the end of the day, this whole movie is just a dumb, colorful cartoon. And if that was the intention from the beginning, that's fine. But make a cartoon instead! Treat the property with respect, and above all, try to make a good film. Don't pander to the lowest common denominator (ie. queef jokes, dick jokes, "your mamma" jokes, "dumb guy" jokes, etc.). I know no one tries to make a bad film, but too often filmmakers and studios talk down to audiences because they think audiences just want dumb entertainment. But I guarantee if you just spend the time to craft a great script and make a great film, everyone will love it.

That's what they did with GB1, and I'd say that worked out pretty well.

C-

You just saved me $15. The Exorcist joke sounds horrible.

 

[Kanon]

4TH UPDATE, Saturday 1:10AM: Sony/Village Roadshow’s female Ghostbusters has slowed in its weekend estimates from some of the hyper projections we saw on Friday, now heading toward a $45M weekend opening after winning Friday with a $17.1M gross.

Yes, that three-day is a record for director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy (easily beating the $39.1M opening of their B.O. high The Heat), however, considering what Ghostbusters cost at $144M after rebates (and before an estimated $100M global P&A), a number of rival sources consider anything in the $40M range to be a mediocre start for this reboot. Anything north of $50M is ideally safer.

“It’s not a bomb,” said one non-Sony executive today, “a bomb would be an opening in the $20M range. However, a start such as this really puts more pressure on overseas delivery.

Ghostbusters‘ overseas rollout is splintered with English speaking and Brazil going this weekend, and Russia and Japan in two weeks. Ghostbusters is such an antiquated property, and hit the overseas market in the 1980s when the theatrical infrastructure was quite nascent. Couple this with the fact that none of Feig or McCarthy’s headlining titles have eclipsed $200M overseas. As the rule goes with American comedies, if you make as much as domestic at the overseas box office; that’s as good as it gets.

http://deadline.com/2016/07/ghostbusters-weekend-box-office-1201787149/

 

[Mikelus]

I don't care about this movie, but I can't help laugh after all the trolling from some fanboys with their "you're ruining my childhood!" hysterical bashing. The main reason it got good reviews is because critics nowadays seem to like stupid jokes and cartoonish, superficial characters and these movies being "fun" to them, while other movies, much better than this one, get mixed or negative reviews, is not fair, but that's our world. This should serve as another example that fans can bash a movie all they want, but most people don't care, the Transformers movies are crap, but they're still here unfortunately. But I don't see this franchise having a future, the opening weekend is ok but not great for its budget, the original Ghostbusters only made two and the second one was a failure, the TMNT sequel flopped, so there are reasons to think history could repeat itself.

 

[Neno_Kos]

The lower the better. For sake of the world.

 

[NosfeRomas]

I hear the manhate is strong with this one. Not just taking jabs at men, that can be funny, actually, it can be really really funny but its so overdone that it reaches the point of hating in favour of rubbin girlpower in your face.

And the review is by a woman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0_Ke1-mYA

 

[bluejake01]

I hear the manhate is strong with this one. Not just taking jabs at men, that can be funny, actually, it can be really really funny but its so overdone that it reaches the point of hating in favour of rubbin girlpower in your face.

And the review is by a woman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0_Ke1-mYA

There are only a small handful of reviews that say that, and I honestly feel like they have to be doing a lot of projecting their own bias to have come to that conclusion.

 

[TheCommissioner]

and that really isn't a problem, im sure men will survive, I have read a few mea culpa reviews from some out there

basically I was wrong, this movie is ok

im 37, i saw the original in theaters, I saw this last night, it stands on its own and its funny

and plenty of movies are awash in testosterone, whats wrong with one (or a few) that take us manly men down a peg or two?

 

[psylockolussus]

This was fun Chris Hemsworth was so cute in the movie. I liked how they made him dumb in the movie and the credits... he was fun! My favorite in the movie is definitely Leslie Jones' character and Kristin Wiig's character was pretty funny too. I like the action towards the end, can't remember the name of the actress, the blonde one, but she kicked ass. Liked the part towards the climax between Kristin/Melissa.

Some parts from the trailer that were funny didn't seem funny in the actual film, because of the editing and I really wish they didn't cut the scene from the second trailer (the one with the actor from MadTv) which made me lol. But over-all, this was pretty fun, the pacing was sometimes off and some of the jokes didn't work but this is a decent movie. I'll give this a B!

And good thing, I finished the credits and there was a post-credit scene which a lot of people from the theater that I went to missed.

 

[TheCommissioner]

the blonde actress is Kate McKinnon, who is one of the most gifted comedic actresses Ive seen and is currently helping to carry SNL these days

 

[The Chris]

There are only a small handful of reviews that say that, and I honestly feel like they have to be doing a lot of projecting their own bias to have come to that conclusion.

Yeah i think the man hate statements are a little overblown just because who didn't exactly come off as a goofball here at some point? Plus its Feig comedy anyway (pg-13 style). The dumber somebody looks the funnier (for me anyway). Quality wise this is the surprise of the summer so far. Thought the trailers were awful but i thought the girls and Feig delivered.

 

[terry78]

Apparently those comments they were reading in scenes with the Youtube clips were actual real world ones from the movie trailers, is what I read in another story.

 

[Ozbridge]

Whether or not Sony decides to go on with the sequel doesn't only depend on the box office though, there're other factors being involved: DVD/ BR, merchandise, fees, cultural impact (there'll be a whole new generation seeing this), critical reaction, potential to improve from the first film, etc.

That being said I think it's unlikely that there'll be a sequel though.

As opening day approaches, Feig can’t help but think about the stakes of making a $150 million movie. “A movie like this has to at least get to like $500 million worldwide, and that’s probably low,” he says. “But the thing I care about most is the industry looking for an excuse to say, ‘See, a tentpole can’t be carried by female leads’ ” — three of whom are over 40. “I cashed in all my chips,” he says. “I had to use every chip to make this happen. And if this doesn’t work, I will probably have to go back to movie jail.”

I don't think that 500M is the bare minimum for Sony to greenlit a sequel (though it might be the money the movie needs to make to get back its budget). I think maybe it's just a number Sony threw out to scare Feig as an excuse to not make a sequel. The "have to go back to movie jail" quote made me feel kinda sorry for him (he only gets 4 small movies under his belt so maybe he isn't a big name in Hollywood yet) until I read somewhere that he got like 10M from writing/ directing/ producing Ghostbusters.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I'm curious about how people would be reacting to this movie if the original didn't exist.

This wouldn't exist, no one would boo or hiss at it.

 

[Mike_D202]

I hear the manhate is strong with this one. Not just taking jabs at men, that can be funny, actually, it can be really really funny but its so overdone that it reaches the point of hating in favour of rubbin girlpower in your face.

And the review is by a woman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ0_Ke1-mYA

Spoiler

There IS a lot of man-hate in this thing. I don't think there was one positive male character in this entire thing, even the cameos were negative on screen.

-Kevin is hired based on his sex appeal, he's VERY dumb. Borderline ******ed.

-Bill Murray's cameo is a jerk debunker

-Dan Aykroyd's cameo is a snooby cab driver that ignores Kristen Wigg's warning

-Ernie Hudson's character rolls up in front of the firehouse and starts *****ing his niece out about losing the previous car

-Rowan gets shot in the balls with proton streams

-Sigourney's cameo shows up at the end talking to Kate McKinnon's character about how warning labels on the gadgets, says "Warning labels are for boys."

I'm sure I missed a few.

 

[Saint]

I didn't expect much from the trailers, but this turned out to be really fun and I'd love to see a sequel. Some stuff didn't work; Holtzman jokes only landed about 60% of the time (but when they did land they landed hard), the ghost plot--and in particular the third act--weren't fully formed, and there were some boring spots. The characters, though, are really enjoyable, most of the jokes are funny, and the film has a pretty good understanding of what makes a Ghostbusters film.

It doesn't approach the heights of the classic original. I think the cast and crew here could have made a better movie--and I hope they'll get the chance to.

The tears of the internet grubs who whined about the all-female cast taste pretty sweet right now. I especially enjoy the complaints about how men were represented in the film. There really isn't any problem, but it's hilarious to hear people complain about that without a hint of irony. Gee, no one could ever know what it's like to have their gender poorly represented in film, right? No one could possibly understand how that makes men feel.

 

[Kanon]

I don't think that 500M is the bare minimum for Sony to greenlit a sequel (though it might be the money the movie needs to make to get back its budget). I think maybe it's just a number Sony threw out to scare Feig as an excuse to not make a sequel. The "have to go back to movie jail" quote made me feel kinda sorry for him (he only gets 4 small movies under his belt so maybe he isn't a big name in Hollywood yet) until I read somewhere that he got like 10M from writing/ directing/ producing Ghostbusters.

They are reporting a 140M budget and 100M in marketing, so double of that is close to 500M, but yeah, the sequel depends more of the reception and acceptance, to see if the market wants more GB or all female teams even if it fails to reach that goal.

 

[bluejake01]

I didn't expect much from the trailers, but this turned out to be really fun and I'd love to see a sequel. Some stuff didn't work; Holtzman jokes only landed about 60% of the time (but when they did land they landed hard), the ghost plot--and in particular the third act--weren't fully formed, and there were some boring spots. The characters, though, are really enjoyable, most of the jokes are funny, and the film has a pretty good understanding of what makes a Ghostbusters film.

It doesn't approach the heights of the classic original. I think the cast and crew here could have made a better movie--and I hope they'll get the chance to.

The tears of the internet grubs who whined about the all-female cast taste pretty sweet right now. I especially enjoy the complaints about how men were represented in the film. There really isn't any problem, but it's hilarious to hear people complain about that without a hint or irony. Gee, no one could ever know what it's like to have their gender poorly represented in film, right? No one could possibly understand how that makes men feel.

Won't anyone think of the men? Won't anyone rush to their defense? How long must men be the victims of being portrayed in film one dimensionally?

When a bunch of old white women start trying to legislate your agency and rights over your genitals then you can complain about sexism, boys. When women are the stars and the focus of 90% or more of the major Hollywood movies, and men are constantly relegated to background and tertiary characters, with no subtlety or dimension, then you get to *****.