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PostPosted: July 15th, 2016, 10:34 am 
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Well, it's July 15, 2016. For better or for worse, the Ghostbusters reboot comes out today.

It's been a long, strange journey to get to this day--full of setbacks, reversals, joy and dispair. The movie we're getting is, to borrow a phrase, not the one a lot of Ghostheads wanted, but we'll see if it's the one we needed. We've seen the best and worst of the fan community in action the last couple of years, and today we find out whether our hopes or our fears are borne out.

Whatever the end result, it's been quite a ride.

When/if you see it, this is the place to talk about it now that it's out.

Spoilers allowed on this thread, so if you don't want them, quit now. :lol:

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PostPosted: July 24th, 2016, 7:24 pm 
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I watched the movie three days ago, with my mum and little brother. Suprisingly, it was hard to get three seats, the theatre was packed so we had to sit seperately from each other. As for the movie itself.... All views expressed are mine. SPOILERS AHEAD

PROS:
*Obviously, Jillian Holtzmann is THE highlight of not just the reboot, but also the year. Kate McKinnon breathes life and fun into EVERYTHING she does, she's one of America's treasures. And I am besotted with both her and Jillian. She's....they're....perfect!!
*When I watched the movie, the character that got the most laughs out of the audience was Kevin. And I was really in awe of Chris Hemsworth's acting. He can be a total blond one minute and a puppet possessed by the bad ghost next. Kudos to you, Hemsworth, you really are an audience pleaser, even when it's a character that Reddit hates.
*I was a little bit pissed that the GB16's car was called "Ecto-1," then the movie did me a great favour by destroying that car in the climactic part. There is only one Ecto-1 and that's the original. It may be a reboot and it may win me over, but NO, don't ever call the new car "Ecto-1."
*The interactions between the four women brings more life into the movie than even the best CGI and SFX ever can. This is similar to the original, where the interactions between the GBs we all love is what gives the original its spark. Mostly.
*That bust of Harold Ramis near Erin Gilbert's office near the beginning of the movie. I squealed "Egon!" When I saw it. And of course, Annie Potts' turn as Vanessa the receptionist. Love her. And Siggy Weaver near the end. She totally exuded independence and looked young as ever. And why did I just call her Siggy?! Dan Aykroyd was great too in his cameo, enjoying himself as ever in everything he does. It's always good to see Ernie Hudson as well. Bill Murray though? I wish I was the ghost that sent him flying out of the window, that's how much I dislike him for being a general ass. In fact, GB has had the potential in recent years to be famous with or without Bill Murray.
*Patty is not only their first "client," she also becomes their fourth GB. I've always liked the idea of a client becoming a GB. Plus, I love Patty.
*They actually tested their Proton toys before using them properly!!!! Yes, I called them Proton toys, sue me.
*This movie gave me a pleasant surprise with the elements of everyday reality that were injected into it. Situations like Erin's fear of being laughed at, Abby Yates' hurt at Erin, acute awareness of their monetary constraints (When finding their own HQ), the burden of keeping a huge open secret while being humiliated by authority figures in public and, most of all, being artistically inspired by others to take up the logo and group name. These are things that made me aware of my own imperfections as a creative and complicated human being. It's very unlike the original, where the GBs just immediately took on the name and logo like *snaps fingers* Now that I think about it, the original GBs had it much, much easier, even if they got thrown in jail.
*Abby getting sucked into the portal and Erin bringing her back. That was heartwarming and something I haven't seen in both GB 1, 2 and the video game. Maybe it's in the comics? All the same, lovely scene, well-executed.
*The original theme in the opening credits!!!! Yes!!!!
*The Times Square fight with all the proton toys. WOOOOW.
*It was so beautiful seeing the city lit up with "I love GB" lights.
CONS:
*Duh, the fact that it's a reboot. They didn't even think to add a Marvel-style post-credits scene where it's revealed that it was all a movie pitch that either Venkman or Stantz was making to Ivan Reitman (playing as himself).
*The fact that Jillian Holtzmann and/or Erin Gilbert didn't turn out to be the daughter/s of Egon Spengler and Janine Melnitz. I REEEEEAAAALLY want my OTP together in the comic now.
*The siren of the car. But I guess that's a good thing. You can't just make a movie that transplants women into the original plot line and call it a reboot, after all.
*To me, Abby Yates only existed to either be laughed at or to further Erin's character development, even if she did well on her own as a character in scenes such as the one where she got possessed. Or my brother's favourite, testing the Proton Pack hilariously.
*The shooting Rowan in the crotch part was funny for five seconds and then it wasn't funny at all. They could've gotten similar results by shooting him in the gut or knees, because if they shot his arms off literally, there would be no Erin rescuing Abby scene.
*Zayn Malik singing in the end credits. I don't like that guy's voice.
*Fall Out Boy sang too fast.
*Slimer's ghoul friend. It was WAAAAY too cartoonish and spoiled the effect of the movie's climax. It was still funny to see Slimer driving the car around though.
*The title confused me at the end. It's called "Ghostbusters" at the beginning, but it's called "Ghostbusters: Answer the Call" at the end? Why didn't they just call the movie GB: ATC? It's a badass title, plus calling the movie just "Ghostbusters" never truly made sense in the first place.

What do I think of the movie overall? I went into the theatre nervous and came out feeling strong enough to take on the world. It stands quite well on its own as a movie, especially a Ghostbusters movie. The story was wonderfully done, the characters were mostly great and the cinematographics were quite nice. But there was no definite tie to the original (or even a scene to indicate that this is an alternate universe) and it saddens me. Well, at least we still have the IDW comic and I would feel sorry for the GB fan who hates the comic's storyline. I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars and I definitely hope to watch it again.

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PostPosted: July 29th, 2016, 5:36 am 
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I have to agree with you on most things. It did do my heart good to actually see some 'unsuccessful tests' for the new equipment and the evolution from fairly bulky (having to be rolled around on a cart) to the more or less familiar pack form we know and love.

And I can see where you're coming from in not wanting another 'Ecto-1' running around, but it makes sense in-story, and honestly, I can't really see a Ghostbuster group running around in a car named anything else.

As I watched the movie the first time, I developed a theory that all of the portals that had ghosts in them that were unable to come into the 'mortal' dimension were, in fact, windows into multiple ECU's from multiple dimensions. It would make sense that it could only be ones from the OGB's because of the proximity to the machine itself, power from the machine feeding the ghosts until they could break the barriers, the thinnest parts of the walls between dimensions that Rowan made himself. So I do believe that this movie takes place in an alternate dimension, even though it's not explicitly stated.

And on the Cameo's, it seemed to me that Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver seemed to be the only ones that were having any fun with their roles. And it turns out that Bill's character survived the fall because the book Abby and Erin wrote can actually be purchased on Amazon and has a few words from that particular character as the foreword, added after the movie came out.

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PostPosted: July 30th, 2016, 7:06 pm 
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egon901 wrote:
And I can see where you're coming from in not wanting another 'Ecto-1' running around, but it makes sense in-story, and honestly, I can't really see a Ghostbuster group running around in a car named anything else.


Guess you have a point there.

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So I do believe that this movie takes place in an alternate dimension, even though it's not explicitly stated.


One of my gripes is that there wasn't an explicit statement. It would have been comforting to have one.

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And on the Cameo's, it seemed to me that Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver seemed to be the only ones that were having any fun with their roles. And it turns out that Bill's character survived the fall because the book Abby and Erin wrote can actually be purchased on Amazon and has a few words from that particular character as the foreword, added after the movie came out.


I thought Annie Potts and Dan Aykroyd were having fun too. I couldn't tell whether Weaver was having fun, because she had a deadpan face the whole time (And I was unwilling, but impatient to go to the bathroom at the time). Also, your last sentence has me in stitches.

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PostPosted: August 1st, 2016, 4:34 pm 
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Fritz Babbles About The Movie That Isn't Called Ghostbusters III

So I've finally seen it.

tl;dr Take: I loved it!

Long, semi-snarky review to follow:

It's been twenty-seven years since a new Ghostbusters movie made it into theaters; I went and saw the last one on opening day (June 16, 1989) and while I enjoyed it a great deal, it still felt...off. I won't go into all the reasons--some of them are very well known and some of them are shared by others--but it left me very reluctant to embrace a third movie, should it come. I just didn't trust Aykroyd and Ramis anymore. Maybe Bill Murray keeping the "real" GB3 from happening was a good thing. While the 2009 video game was well-received by the fandom--a lot of fans consider it the closest we'd ever get to a third movie with the original cast--but to me it was more of a collection of set pieces mining the two movies (especially the first) for nostalgia. It retreaded the first movie's villain instead of its plot structure, but it still left me underwhelmed. (For all of its faults, GB2 at least gave us a new enemy completely unrelated to Gozer)

In 2014, Harold Ramis Crossed to the Other Side and it looked like GB3 was just as dead. Even if it wasn't...how in the hell could it possibly be any good? My favorite of the four Ghostbusters couldn't be in it, my second favorite probably wouldn't be in it either, and without their participation it just didn't seem worth bothering.

But Ramis's mortal remains had hardly gotten cold when the first rumors came out of Sony, embodied by one oft-dreaded word: "Reboot". Before long, the rumors became truth, as "Bridesmaids" director Paul Feig had accepted the assignment but only if he could do it his way and he just couldn't imagine telling a story in a world where everybody already knew ghosts existed.

I gotta admit, to some extent, I can't help but agree with him--everybody thinking the Ghostbusters were "frauds" and "full of shit" in GB2 a mere five years after an enormous fucking marshmallow man stomped all over Manhattan was one of the creakiest parts of the movie; really, it was just an excuse for telling the whole "the Ghostbusters are out-of-work losers then convince the world they're right" story again. At least in a world where the Ghostbusters didn't exist, telling that whole story a third (or fourth, if you count Extreme Ghostbusters) time makes more sense.

Feig's other condition was that he be allowed to have an all female cast, which inevitably included Melissa McCarthy, and thus a massive misogynist internet freakout of biblical proportions was born; the low point came when the new cast, during filming, appeared at a children's ward and the trolls quickly flooded the hospital's Facebook page with some of the most vile stuff imaginable.

You: "So, okay...stop blabbing about the backstory take and talk about the movie, all right?"

Me: All righty then...

We start with a tour of the Aldridge Mansion and the spooky story of how Gertrude Aldridge went insane and was locked in the basement, died there, and rumors say her ghost has been trying to get out ever since. A candle holder falls off a shelf, and the tour guide suggests the tour group kind of hurry along...

Hah hah. Except later we see him put the candleholder back on the shelf and it has a mechanism in it that made it fall off when he pushed a button in his pocket. So totally mundane.

The ghost that then lures him into the basement and beats the crap out of him? Not so mundane.

The familiar strains of Ray Parker Jr. start up, and the Ghostbusters logo appears over New York City. Much like GB1, we then transition to Columbia University, where we meet the first of the Ghostbusters-to-be: Dr. Erin Gilbert, played by Kristin Wiig. Kristin is a brilliant physicist, and up for tenure...everything's all going smoothly until Ed Mulgrave (Ed Bagley Jr.) appears, and wants to ask Erin about something. Her book, Ghosts From Our Past. Erin can't believe what she's hearing--first she denies being involved with the book, then says it doesn't exist anymore, but Mulgrave tells her it's out on Amazon (me, I got my copy at Barnes & Noble). Erin freaks out--this could ruin her tenure. I mean, the Dean of Physics is Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), so we know he doesn't have a sense of humor.

The offices at Columbia provide our first familiar cameo, of sorts: a bust of Harold Ramis. Since Egon probably doesn't exist in this universe, I guess it's actually Cold War hero Russell Ziskey.

Erin, in a huff, tracks down her former partner, Dr. Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) who is working in a run-down place called the Kenneth T. Higgins Institute, where Abby is working with a complete weirdo named Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Abby is still very bitter about being shut out by Erin. Holtzmann likes to burn things and blow them up. She also has flatulence issues. In other words, Jillian Holtzmann is awesome.

Anyway, a deal is struck--Erin takes Abby and Holtzmann to Aldridge Mansion, to hopefully find a real ghost, and in return Abby will pull the book at least until Erin gets her tenure. We get another fun twist on an old horror movie staple when the threesome arrives at Aldridge, and ask for Ed Mulgrave. "But he died fifteen years ago!"

And then we see him "Oh, you mean Ed Jr" Fun little fake-out I thought.

We encounter our first piece of familiar equipment reincarnated: Abby's PKE Meter. It's a neat update, looking like it was cobbled together out of digital camera parts (Sony of course) and has a rotating detection system reminiscent of the RGB toy.

Soon enough, they meet the real ghost. It pukes about ten gallons of slime on Erin.

They're all ecstatic that they got video footage of an actual ghost, but then Abby goes and posts it online, the comment section from the GB2016 trailers sees it ("No bitches can bust no ghosts"), and, uh-oh, so does the Dean of Physics. Erin is now an ex-professor, and I guess, all told, Erin should be glad Tywin Lannister only fired her--having her shot, hung, stabbed, drawn, quartered, and raped by her brother fits his usual MO.

Not long after, Abby and Holtzmann also get fired: the Higgins Institute apparently has standards after all. The three women decide, to borrow a phrase, To Go Into Business For Themselves. First they gotta find a place to stay--there's a neat firehouse at the corner of Varick and Moore, but the rent is way too high; they instead end up on the second floor of the Chinese restaurant that always shorts Abby's won-ton soup of won-tons.

Meanwhile, we meet the last member of our main cast: MTA worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), who is more or less happily working in a subway ticket booth until the day a creeper in a bellhop uniform starts ranting about the "Fourth Cataclysm". Patty writes him off until there's a problem on the tracks...she checks it out and gets the shock of her life, but not as big as the shock the ghost (Tony Scoleri, or is it Nunzio?) is getting. Patty understandably runs--there's probably some clause in her contract that says getting killed by someone who's already dead voids her pension plan.

So who's she gonna call now?

Back at the new GBCentral, they're hiring a receptionist: his name is Kevin Beckman and he's as dumb as a post but looks like a Greek god. Strike that, he looks like a Norse god--Thor, to be precise, because he's played by Chris Hemsworth. Abby and Holtzmann are just sort of resigned to hiring him despite his stupidity because he's the only one who applied; Erin, on the other hand, is drowning in estrogen. I can't help but be amused and a bit charmed by this--something about the Ghostbusters' resident socially awkward physics genius and the receptionist becoming potential love interests scratches a familiar itch.

Patty shows up and takes the three "Conductors of Metaphysical Examination" down to the Seward Street station, Holtzmann dragging her experimental "proton cart". Sure enough, they eventually find the ghost--along with the remnants of a strange device that they find oddly familiar. Erin gets to be the one to try and blast the ghost, but it...doesn't go well; Erin nearly gets hit by a train and loses the proton cart in the process. And all of that after she got slimed again. Even Venkman didn't have it that bad!

So after that...Patty basically recruits herself to the team and in short order between her and Holtzmann a lot of the problems encountered in the Seward Street job get fixed: Holtzmann builds a new backpack size proton cart--a "proton pack" if you will--and Patty both secures a car (believed to be a 1984 hearse) from her uncle to carry all their junk around, and four snazzy tan/grey flight suits with orange reflective striping that offer more slime protection.

This is something that the new movie did that the original didn't--we pretty much went from "Venkman, Ray, and Egon go into business" to the Slimer bust at the Sedgewick, where they're already in full "final" uniform and kit. Sure, they make it clear the proton packs hadn't been tested yet, but they're already in their "final" form. In GB2016 we see the evolution from the proton cart to the "PP-16" over the course of the movie, and Holtzmann also branches off into a few experimental variants, like the Proton Glove, the "shotgun", the proton pistols, proton grenades (Egon would be so proud), and the "woodchipper", all of which are used in the final battle (oops...spoilers sweetie...)

It's about here that a news reporter tags the team with the name "Ghostbusters". Erin hates it at first, but, of course, since that's the name on the marquee, it sticks. It's also about here that another familiar face pops up in a new way: the TV news interviews professional debunker Martin Heiss, played by Bill Murray. Having Murray as a debunker is kind of a meta joke, sinice it was his skepticism that kept the Ghostbusters off the movie screens since 1989.

The newly-christened Ghostbusters get their first case under that name--there's a problem brewing at the Stonebrook Theatre, which is hosting a heavy metal festival! Ozzy Osborne is there! The Beasts of Mayhem are there! And so is a ghost! The Ghostbusters arrive in their hearse, now called ECTO-1 and sporting a cartoony ghost logo that Holtzmann designed, from a piece of graffiti created by some punk Patty talked to during the Seward Street case. As the saying goes, Hijinks Ensue, with animated mannequins, crowd surfing (Abby only), and a ghost that looks like something from a Gwar album cover. Best news of all for the Ghostbusters--their experimental ghost trap (that looks more like a thermos than a shoe box) works! They have now succeeded in actually catching a ghost!!!

(And also at Stonebrook: another one of the same wierd devices that the Ghostbusters found at Seward Station. Hmm...)

The Ghostbusters are ecstatic--they've actually caught a ghost! Let the disbelievers disbelieve now! They get their chance to prove one wrong in short order as Martin Heiss shows up at their place of business. Erin wants to show him the ghost they caught just to watch the smug look disappear off his face. Abby and Holtzmann aren't so sure--seeing as how they'd have to get the thing back in the trap afterwards (they really need something to hold those...a "containment unit" if you will). Erin gets her way, but Abby and Holtzmann are validated too--the ghost gets away and sends Heiss doing a half gainer onto the street below. (It's not clear whether Heiss dies after this--Ghosts From Our Pasts "new" intro has him complaining about the medical bills, but the book also claims that the intro is written by an authentic ghost. It could also be another meta comment on the long-standing story that Murray would only do GB3 if he gets to die in the movie. Murray: "I knew this franchise would be the death of me")

The Ghostbusters are then taken to Mayor Bradley (Andy Garcia) and his really patronizing aide Jennifer Lynch (Cecily Strong). We get another twist on the old lore, where Mayor Lenny Clotch didn't believe in ghosts, but was ultimately convinced. Mayor Bradley knows ghosts are real--he's got a couple of Homeland Security guys here monitoring the situation--but is going to publicly call the Ghostbusters things like "frauds" and "publicity hounds" (to borrow a phrase) to keep the city from having a mass existential crisis and worse, panicking and blaming it on him. Plus, you know, ghosts can't vote except in Chicago, so why bother? The team is a little confused and disturbed by this, but are allowed to go on home.

At home, they're stewing, but then Erin starts to put everything together. They map out all the recent ghost sightings and realize that they're forming a pattern: ley lines crossing at a great big "X" at the Mercado Hotel. And when they look up the Mercado's web page, sure enough, there's the creeper Patty saw in the subway: maintenance man Rowan North! (Neil Casey). They rush to the Mercado, and we get another cameo: the front desk is being run by Vanessa (Annie Potts; not as cool as her old job, but at least it isn't food service or housekeeping, right?)

They rush to the basement to confront Rowan, and the full horror of his plan is revealed: using information from Erin and Abby's book (which is why the tech seemed familiar to them) he's been building psychokinetic capacitors at spots on the ley lines, weakening the barriers between Earth's plane and the spirit world--there are all sorts of creepy ghosts swirling around in mirrors just waiting for the final capacitor to be fired up. This is the freaking ginormous one Rowan has built in the hotel basement: he feels like he's been ignored and put upon his whole life but in fact he's better than everyone else, so he's going to Make Them Pay!!! Then it gets really bizarre--the sound of police sirens causes Rowan to commit suicide by electrocuting himself in his own gizmo!

The Ghostbusters are "fake arrested" and have to deal with more patronizing scorn from Lynch, but, again, everything's fine now, right? Rowan's Evil Scheme was stopped, and at least the gals in grey weren't really arrested, right?

Except...the PKE Meter left behind when the Ghostbusters were "fake arrested" starts to spin like mad...

Erin, pissed, goes home and discovers she's taken Rowan's copy of Ghosts From Our Past with her, and starts to page through it. It's filled with crude drawings of Rowan's revenge fantasy...

Her blood goes cold. There's a drawing of Rowan electrocuting himself.

It was all part of his plan

Things go from bad to worse: Rowan is now a ghost! He possesses Abby and tries to destroy the Ghostbusters' equipment; he fails when Patty literally smacks him out of Abby. ("The power of Patty compels you!!!") But no time for celebration: Kevin chooses exactly the wrong time to drive up and show off his new homemade Ghostbuster uniform and ECTO-2 motorcycle (proving once again Kevin is a well-meaning screw-up: the real ECTO-2 is a mini-helicopter) and thus providing Rowan with a new body to possess (let's face it, lots of empty room in that head) and wheels!!!

Erin, unable to reach the rest of the team (because possession and fight) instead tries to tell the Mayor what's going on. It doesn't go well. He so is the Mayor from Jaws, but it doesn't help that Erin really is acting like the crazy person the Mayor's office is treating her as in public.

Well, from there things escalate quickly: Rowam goes back to the Mercado, fires up the gizmo, and the Fourth Cataclysm starts--the mirrors shatter and the city is inundated with ghosts. In movies past, they would be playing Mick Smiley's "Magic" or Glenn Frey's "Flip City" at this part. The three Ghostbusters (minus Erin) make their way to the scene and are attacked by spectral parade balloons, including a demented Uncle Sam and a very familiar looking one--the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! Mr. Stay Puft lands on them, pinning them down.

Oh, and during all this Slimer showed up and stole the car. I guess he couldn't find a bus. Bad Spud, bad!!!

Erin, meanwhile, gets a ride from a cabby played by--update your Cameo Bingo Cards now!!!--Dan Aykroyd. The cabby's obviously read Abby and Erin's book (that would be the in-universe explanation) because he spouts totally correct ghost terminology. Since Aykroyd is basically the man who started the ball rolling on this franchise, and is a real-life paranormal enthusiast, I thought this was a fun touch.

Anyway, Erin shows up and saves the other three by stabbing Stay Puft with a Swiss army knife Holtzmann gave her earlier in the movie--the Stay Puft balloon vanishes like one of Holtzmann's farts. The Ghostbusters are together! Rowan watch out!

The police and the army, meanwhile, show up at the Mercado, and Rowan uses his fabulous new powers to make them perform a dance number that was thankfully mostly cut and put into the closing credits.

The Ghostbusters are kicking butt and taking names, and Holtzmann gets this "Matrix" scene where she uses her proton pistols to immolate ghosts in slow motion, and finally they reach Rowan. "Give us back our terrible receptionist!!!' Abby yells (I think it was Abby). Rowan complies, because he's tired of Kevin anyway, and then we have a new version of the "Choose and Perish" dilemma. Patty suggests something little and cute; Rowan complies by turning into the Ghostbuster logo, then from that into the ghost that danced at the beginning of the intro to every episode of The Real Ghostbusters, then...well, I guess they decided they just couldn't do a Ghostbusters movie without a kaiju-sized critter stomping around. Rowanzilla literally bursts out of the Mercado and starts stomping taxis, churches, and anything else he can.

As a Ghostbuster from a different universe once said in a similar circumstance: "This looks extraordinarily bad."

At this point, they shoot Rowan in the dick.

Image

But Rowan's a ghost, and really really tough, so this doesn't do much other than to further annoy him.

So we're down to the wire here. So I guess it's time to cross the streams, right?

Well, to their credit...no.

Crossing the streams wasn't ever mentioned in this movie. I will still assume it's "bad" until told otherwise (I think the novelization mentions it if I heard right) but it doesn't come up here: because it's not part of the solution to the problem. Egon mentioning it to Venkman was basically setting a really dangerous Chekhov's Gun on the wall. This movie's Gun came when Holtzmann mentioned that the stuff on ECTO-1's roof rack could be as powerful as a hydrogen bomb. Too bad Slimer stole it, right?

Well, just about then the ECTO-1 comes careening into the battle scene, Slimer at the wheel, Lovely Slimette in the passenger seat, and a bunch of drunk looking ghosts literally hanging on for dear un-life. The Ghostbusters herd it into position at the portal, open fire on the roof rack, and BOOM!!!

(I know plenty of people will be happy that they blew up the 2016 ECTO-1. At least it's a more heroic "death" that just breaking down)

The portal reverses, all the ghosts including Rowan are sucked in, but he tries to get the last laugh by grabbing Abby as he goes. Erin quickly latches a tether to her belt and goes in after her...she abandoned her friend once, she's not doing it again. The other two Ghostbusters pull them back into the Earth plane...their hair's turned white (kinda like Ray in "The Hole In The Wall Gang") but they're safe. Heck, just like in "The Brooklyn Triangle" and a lot of EGB episodes, the destruction caused by Rowan is erased and everyone's fine! Candy and teddy bears fall from the sky!

Well, not really. There's a few little bits of wrap-up; Holtzmann gets a scene where, after acting weird for the entire movie, she has a sorta genuinely sentimental expression of friendship to the others. The Mayor's office is of course badmouthing them in public, but in private are extremely grateful and are willing to give them anything as an expression of that gratitude.

Anything?

We next see the Ghostbusters moving into their new headquarters, the firehouse at Varick and Moore. It just somehow seems like the perfect place to have a Ghostbuster team stationed, doesn't it?

And then we get our final two cameos: Ernie Hudson is Patty's Uncle Bill, who's trying to find out what they did to the car they lent them; and Sigourney Weaver appears as Holtzmann's mentor, Dr. Elizabeth Gorin, meaning that all of the important characters from the first two movies were represented by their actors (albeit by a bust in Ramis's case).

(I probably would have done something like this: maybe switch Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts' cameos; except instead of Holtzmann's mentor, Potts's character would be Holtzmann's mother. Mrs. Holtzmann would say something like "Your father would be so proud of you, Jillian!" and they turn and look at a framed picture the late Dr. Holtzmann Sr--who would, of course, be represented by a picture of Harold Ramis.)

Then the final teaser: Patty is listening to a tape, and asks the others "What the heck is Zuul"?

So how did I feel about it?

I liked it a great deal. The characters played off each other well, and unlike the two classic movies we actually felt like we had four Ghostbusters instead of three Ghostbusters and some other guy who gets ignored way too much. Leslie Jones wasn't left off any of the promo posters, as far as I know. That's one way the new movie exceeded the originals, and brought to mind the animated Real Ghostbusters series, which always treated Winston as an equal to the other three. I expected to love Holtzmann, and I did, but I think the surprise was how much I liked Patty--I sometimes think she may actually be my favorite of the four new characters. Erin was very much the POV character of this movie, and as I said I was somewhat charmed by her puppy love for Kevin. It seems weird to say that Melissa McCarthy was the one who made the least impact on me, but playing a less loud and obnoxious character than usual is a good change for her (something I've also heard said about Leslie Jones)

Rowan worked for me: a resentful creep who feels like he's better than everyone else, and since the world won't acknowledge her superiority The World Must Pay!!!

Will I buy the Blu-Ray/DVD? Hell yes. Would I watch a sequel to this movie? Hell yes.

Did I enjoy it as much as the originals? No in the case of GB1. GB2's a little harder...I still like the original characters better. There were some brilliant moments in GB2. But on the other hand, GB2 also contains the most cringe-worthy scene in all of Ghostbusters lore in my opinion, and GB2016 didn't make me cringe even once.

My score: four Whacko Jacko Slimers out of five
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PostPosted: August 1st, 2016, 8:04 pm 
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Fritz wrote:
(I know plenty of people will be happy that they blew up the 2016 ECTO-1. At least it's a more heroic "death" that just breaking down)


I thought I was the only one who was happy about that. And I only hated the car because of its name. Also, despite what I said, I'm actually glad the "un-American" siren was not the same one as the original.

Quote:
(I probably would have done something like this: maybe switch Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts' cameos; except instead of Holtzmann's mentor, Potts's character would be Holtzmann's mother. Mrs. Holtzmann would say something like "Your father would be so proud of you, Jillian!" and they turn and look at a framed picture the late Dr. Holtzmann Sr--who would, of course, be represented by a picture of Harold Ramis.)


Make an Apocrychal '16 fic about it, pretty please? 8-) Also, I couldn't help thinking that Annie's cameo looked a lot like a slightly older IDW Janine. The hairstyle especially.

Also, my headcanon: Jillian Holtzmann is Egon and Janine's daughter, but dyed her hair and used Holtzmann as a pseudonym so that Egon's success wouldn't overshadow her own work.

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Then the final teaser: Patty is listening to a tape, and asks the others "What the heck is Zuul"?


I missed that one. Dammit :-o

Quote:
Erin was very much the POV character of this movie, and as I said I was somewhat charmed by her puppy love for Kevin. It seems weird to say that Melissa McCarthy was the one who made the least impact on me, but playing a less loud and obnoxious character than usual is a good change for her (something I've also heard said about Leslie Jones)


It warmed my heart to see that they had carried the receptionist/physicist love angle into the movie too. And I totally agree about Abby, cos like I said, I only felt that she was just there to further Erin as a character. Maybe it's because, as you said, Erin is the POV character and not a Venkman expy. Which is something else I liked about the movie: No Venkman shenanigans from the four of them.

Quote:
Did I enjoy it as much as the originals? No in the case of GB1. GB2's a little harder...I still like the original characters better. There were some brilliant moments in GB2. But on the other hand, GB2 also contains the most cringe-worthy scene in all of Ghostbusters lore in my opinion, and GB2016 didn't make me cringe even once.


YES. It's so much better than GB2. I didn't care that Dana had a baby or that slime was giving New York bad vibes or that the GBs were out of business at the start, it was THE cringey part that soured it for me too. TV Tropes would refer to that as a "Romantic Plot Tumour."

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PostPosted: August 6th, 2016, 12:07 am 
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Wow, it's been a long time since I last logged in, but commenting on the new movie seems like a good way to come back to the board.

What I liked:
- the cameos
- the evolution of the equipment as the movie went on
- Slimer

What I disliked
- Some of Kevin's scenes made me wonder why the hell they keep him on. In the stinger they outright said that they could disconnect his phone line and he probably wouldn't notice. Janine would likely roast him alive for such incompetence.

Now, on Slimer. Careful, this opinion is influenced by the Nostalgia Critic's review. Slimer acted far more like John Belushi than in any previous appearance, as he was not only pigging out on food like the classic Slimer, but he stole a car (the Ecto-1!) for a joyride with some friends and pick up chicks. I fully agree with the NC that if the movie's rating had allowed it, they'd probably have showed him doing lines of coke off his girlfriend's belly.

At first, I was worried that Patty was going to be a cookie-cutter Sassy Black Woman, and was pleasantly surprised that while there were a few moments of that, she came across far more as the sane, down-to-earth member. She refused to go into the mannequin room during the concert bust when they all knew there was a ghost around that might possess one (and what do you know, it did).

If I was to have this cross over with Fritz's fanfic timeline, I'd have one of Jillian's experiments go sideways as a result of ghostly interference and have them interact with GBNY while Egon and Jillian (perhaps aided by the Twins) cobble together a way to send them back. In the meantime, the others might go on a bust with GBNY to compare and contrast methods. And of course, Egon and Jillian would probably be comparing the equipment of the two groups and maybe pinch a few ideas they each like. After all, I can easily see Jillian deciding she likes the more compact Ghost Trap their counterparts use, and maybe taking a copy of the Containment Unit's blueprints as well, while Egon...

Actually, which pieces of equipment developed by Jillian would Egon want to adopt, if only to look into the concepts? The only thing I can come up with would be taking Jillian's pistol design to update the Mark 3 Proton Pisol with a more ergonomic, user-friendly design that's heavily upgraded under the hood. Mark 3.5? I know Fritz's stories have the Mark 3 retrofitted in 2004 to have the extra settings of the Mark 4 packs, but this could be a true upgrade.


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PostPosted: December 16th, 2018, 8:46 am 
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This movie aired on UK TV last night. As I said a couple of years ago, the trailers made it look very much like something I wouldn't enjoy (phrase it any other way and someone inevitably seems to think you're trying say that no one else should enjoy it either :roll:), so I've waited this long to watch it.

And yeah, I didn't like it. The humour didn't appeal to me (in fact I found it rather annoying), and I didn't engage with anything else in the film.

I really, really didn't want gender to be an issue, but I call four deliberate references to female parts (yeah, I counted - two of each :P) an issue. I found it unrealistic, unnecessary and therefore nothing but a big red arrow pointing at the fact that we're following female protagonists. I don't have anything against female protagonists, of course - it's the arrow I object to. Then there's the double standard. If Kevin were a woman and the Ghostbusters (not just Erin) men, the interaction and characterisation would be so unacceptable as not to have been made in recent years, nor even conceived. A ridiculous woman bumbling around the office, and the guys murmuring to each other, 'We'll never find one as pretty as her'? I don't think so.

Fritz wrote:
Crossing the streams wasn't ever mentioned in this movie. I will still assume it's "bad" until told otherwise (I think the novelization mentions it if I heard right) but it doesn't come up here: because it's not part of the solution to the problem.


Weird. Somehow, the version I watched did mention this, and it was attempted. Okay, it was phrased differently ('Don't let your beam get entangled with my beam', and I simply can't remember the overcomplicated explanation of every particle of your body exploding at the speed of light), but there it was; and they attempted it during the climax, at which I seem to recall I made some kind of nasal sound. It didn't work (or not nearly well enough), but they didn't die either. I guess it was meant to be some kind of subversion of/homage to the original, but I don't suppose anyone really wanted to see that... and apparently not everyone did?! :?

Well, this was longer and rantier than I meant it to be. Basically, it was a just a movie and I didn't happen to like it.

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PostPosted: December 16th, 2018, 4:16 pm 
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I agree with EGBFan, and indeed we discussed the movie at length after watching it last night. Two other points particularly struck me that I'm going to mention. I didn't like the inclusion of a "Ghost Master" type of human antagonist, and I thought it was far too easy to defeat all the ghosts without trapping them in the build-up to the final action piece. With all that hand-to-hand fighting the pilgrims and stuff, the ghosts just seemed to dissipate and disappear - kinda flies in the face of any established ghostbusting rules, including the rules that this reboot had already started to establish for itself!

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PostPosted: December 17th, 2018, 10:03 am 
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EGBFan wrote:
Fritz wrote:
Crossing the streams wasn't ever mentioned in this movie. I will still assume it's "bad" until told otherwise (I think the novelization mentions it if I heard right) but it doesn't come up here: because it's not part of the solution to the problem.


Weird. Somehow, the version I watched did mention this, and it was attempted. Okay, it was phrased differently ('Don't let your beam get entangled with my beam', and I simply can't remember the overcomplicated explanation of every particle of your body exploding at the speed of light), but there it was; and they attempted it during the climax, at which I seem to recall I made some kind of nasal sound. It didn't work (or not nearly well enough), but they didn't die either. I guess it was meant to be some kind of subversion of/homage to the original, but I don't suppose anyone really wanted to see that... and apparently not everyone did?! :?


I think it may have been added to the Blu-Ray cut and it's possible that that was what was shown on UK TV. It was in the novelization, which means it was probably in the script at some point. I have trouble with the thought I would have missed something that *notable* in the theatrical cut, but of course I can't 100% discount that either.

Quote:
I didn't like the inclusion of a "Ghost Master" type of human antagonist,


Eh...it could have been done a lot better. But I had to admit it was something that hadn't been done in a GB movie before. That's the tightrope a reboot (or even a sequel) always has to walk: try something not done in the original and people complain about it being "too different", but stick too close to the "formula" and they get called derivative. (GB2 for example slavishly repeated GB1's plot structure beat for beat, but at least Vigo was nothing like Gozer) :|

Quote:
and I thought it was far too easy to defeat all the ghosts without trapping them in the build-up to the final action piece. With all that hand-to-hand fighting the pilgrims and stuff, the ghosts just seemed to dissipate and disappear - kinda flies in the face of any established ghostbusting rules, including the rules that this reboot had already started to establish for itself!


Yeah, I can agree to some extent.

With 2 1/2 years of perspective, I can admit the movie had a lot of problems. But I still had a blast seeing a Ghostbusters movie in the theater.

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