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I haven't been around for a while. Maybe I missed something. Are we not allowed to talk about this movie here?

Here's the new trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMfUjDnpfRY

I guess I'm just going to cut right to it. This movie looks it takes place in the same universe as Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I know Ghostbusters isn't like incredibly sophisticated and all, but it was just a tad higher on the brow than fat-person-falling-down humor. It also seems like they're just taking the exact same story beats and hitting them like some kind of cold, mechanical, algorithmic checklist. Maybe I'm a hypocrite for overlooking that sort of thing in TFA, but not in this film.

That said, I think the hate that this movie is getting is WILDLY disproportionate to how bad it looks, even with regard to how beloved Ghostbusters is as an artifact of American popular culture. I absolutely think that's a reaction to the all-female cast. Personally, I have no problem with an all female cast, but, I'm not super into THIS cast in particular, (my own dream-team of lady Busters is more like Tina Fey, May Rudolph, Gillian Anderson, and Mindy Kaling).

I'm conflicted as to whether to not I should see this. I don't want them to make anymore Hollywood algorithm movies based on beloved franchises...but, I also want to be part of the conversation.

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Why is it that if you hate the trailers for this movie it's a reaction to an all-female cast? The movie looks like it sucks. Period. I wouldn't care what race, gender, sexual preference, blood type, hair color, weight, shoe size, car they drive, computer they use, football team they root for, political party the stars had.

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Why is it that if you hate the trailers for this movie it's a reaction to an all-female cast? The movie looks like it sucks. Period. I wouldn't care what race, gender, sexual preference, blood type, hair color, weight, shoe size, car they drive, computer they use, football team they root for, political party the stars had.

I didn't say that your hatred was necessarily in reaction to the all-female cast. I said I think the hatred the movie is getting is disproportionate to how bad it looks, and I believe that is because of the all-female cast.

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I was all for the movie because male fandom was so against it... but then the trailers came out and looked really not-funny. I really wanted this movie to be pure comedy gold, but alas it does not seem that way.

 

But most of the online anger is about the all female cast in the guise of complaining about reboots. But everyone knows nerds love to complain, but will still go see it.

 

I will say I think the ghosts look SUPER cool in the movie. But I probably will wait and watch it at home unless it is loved by people whose opinions I know I can trust.

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I will say I think the ghosts look SUPER cool in the movie.

 

The gadgets too. There are definitely some cool things going on with the special effects in general.

 

Honestly, the biggest problem isn't the female cast, it's that they don't have a Bill Murray. He made that original movie with his deadpan delivery and ability to even out the craziness that was going on with the ghosts, slime, technobabble, and Rick Moranis. So much so that when they get to the end and it's a giant marshmallow man, you just go with it because you're in Murrayland and already have a feeling of "bring it" no matter what they toss at you.

 

You replace him with Melissa McCarthy... and yeah not the same tone at all. I mean just look at the way she delivers the line:

 

I will kick the unliving crap out of you... you... and especially you.

 

Not funny in the slightest in the trailer. Now just imagine Bill Murray saying that same line. Now it's funny, isn't it? Still nothing all that clever or funny about the line iteself, but you know his twist would have made it interesting and humorous.

 

They're going for broad humor with no center. Leslie Jones has a touch of that ability, but it doesn't look like they're using her that way. I'll grant you, that's normal for today's comedies, but today's comedies are rather awful.

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I typically find the Kristen Wiig girl buddy comedies have to grow on me, and once they do they are incredibly funny/relatable.

 

And unlike everyone else, the trailer sold me on the movie.

 

I know I'll lose my nerd cred here, but Ghostbusters scared the crap out of me when I was little, and I never bothered revisiting it as an adult. I don't have all the feels about it or any expectations about what it's supposed to be beyond an action - comedy with a supernatural bent. So as far as I'm concerned, this is all fine.

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I haven't been around for a while. Maybe I missed something. Are we not allowed to talk about this movie here?

For me, it's not like feeling "not allowed" so much as disinterested. It's the Robocop effect.

 

Before you think I'm just being cute, hear me out.

 

The original Robocop was not a perfect movie, but it was the perfect intersection of corporatist decline and high-tech gee-whizzery held together with distressingly goopy ultra-violent dark satire. In its way, the movie was brilliant, and it was especially sweet for those of us in the audience who felt we "got it," who felt Verhoeven's futurism was laden with infinite gumdrops and breadcrumbs meant just for us.

 

But then the heavy-handed Irvin Kershner sequel came out. The one that thought people liked the original because of the violence, not because of the meaning of the violence. The one that thought people appreciated the newscasts and commercials because they were just so inappropriate goofy smiley, not because of the larger message of hopeless decay they conveyed. The one that seemed to not only brush aside the feelings of loss and "less than" that come along with being forcibly resurrected in a semi-human shell, but turn them into a silly plot point that further removes Murphy from his everyman appeal and results in the birth of a supervillain. Yawn.

 

I don't even need to go into the third film or television series which were clear cash-grabs. The point here, is that by the time the remake came out, I simply did not care enough to bother, and when the heavily negative-to-mixed reviews came out, they only confirmed my suspicion.

 

Ghostbusters followed a similar path. The original film was genius in its absurdity. Memorable characters, cute story, infinitely repeatable lines, presentation and design -- and I can't stress this enough -- were absolutely brilliant (many of the audio effects still hold up today), great soundtrack and musical cues -- it was a great film. And if you are a film buff, it was even more rewarding, because the struggles that this film went through from conception to birth were insane and fascinating. Realistically, this film should have been a supernatural 1941; it had no right being as good as it was.

 

But then came the animated series and Ghostbusters II. The animated series started out surprisingly competent to be sure, but then the content was softened up and it eventually featured Slimer at least as much as the main characters (the dreaded "Scrappy-Doo Syndrome"); the film sequel was also competent, but lacked the manic goofiness and secret subtlety of the original. Vigo was OK, but Janosz Poha was borderline offensive in his "Hey everybody look at me and my funny 'other' accent and mannerisms. Aren't I funny? No really, please laugh!" role. And semi-growed up Venkman (who looked like he wished he was anywhere other than this film) was lame.

 

So... as with Robocop, I've just reached a point of over-saturation and magic-loss with Ghostbusters where I feel the whole point of its greatness has been lost and can't be bothered. And boy, the two trailers (the first was discouraging, the second looked straight-up awful) have certainly not been helpful. I know there are at least two new Ghostbusters films being made and will probably see both eventually just because, but I really couldn't care less.

 

Regarding girl Ghostbusters... obviously that is a factor for some of the hate this film is receiving -- some people bristle at anything remotely non-white male in the spotlight as being the "forced SJWification of art," and some people probably just don't like girl protags. But honestly, I've heard way more people complaining about people complaining about girl Ghostbusters than I've heard actual people complaining about girl Ghostbusters. I'm starting to suspect this reaction is a sort of defense mechanism for those who really, really want a blockbuster film with all-female leads who may be suffering that sinking "Oh ****, this film does not look good" feeling -- maybe a way of rationalizing its impending critical and box-office failure as "Dudebros just refused to give it a chance," and insulate the film from objective criticism.

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Regarding girl Ghostbusters... obviously that is a factor for some of the hate this film is receiving -- some people bristle at anything remotely non-white male in the spotlight as being the "forced SJWification of art," and some people probably just don't like girl protags.

 

Personally, I'm all for women having more good roles in our big budget movies. I'd even describe myself as sexist in that I prefer my main characters to be women and am just as happy if boys are never mentioned. I don't really keep track of the books I read, but of the last 10 books I can think of off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure that women were the main POV character in all but one, and that single exception was a split narrative between a boyfriend and girlfriend (Emery Lord's "When We Collided" if anyone's interested).

 

But, yeah, this felt like it was forced for ideological reasons and not to make a good movie from when the rumors began. Could it have still worked? Sure. But it definitely wasn't a good start to engendering good feelings or making me think that they've got this.

 

And I pretty much gave up when I saw the cast.

 

 

 

But then came the animated series and Ghostbusters II.

 

You forgot Extreme Ghostbusters, that was pretty much every 90s cliche you could find, starting with that title. Featuring goth chick, slacker guy, young black kid with dreams of going to college, and jock wheelchair guy.Extreme-Ghostbusters-Cast-1.png

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I was all for the movie because male fandom was so against it... but then the trailers came out and looked really not-funny. I really wanted this movie to be pure comedy gold, but alas it does not seem that way.

 

But most of the online anger is about the all female cast in the guise of complaining about reboots. But everyone knows nerds love to complain, but will still go see it.

 

I will say I think the ghosts look SUPER cool in the movie. But I probably will wait and watch it at home unless it is loved by people whose opinions I know I can trust.

Both trailers are horrible, the jokes were forced and not even funny. The CGI looks great, but that is the only thing good that I can say about it. I don't know why defenders of this film have to turn it into some gender thing. If the cast was male with the exact same lines, it still would be a horrible looking movie.

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I have really enjoyed the recent comic series. Other than perhaps leaning too much on Gozer for awhile, the book feels right to me. They also introduced a new team for awhile that was mainly women (and the one guy on that squad was a real jerk) and have kept those characters around in supporting roles where they get called on when things get rough. They also did a fun mini-series where the team crossed over to a parallel world where they met up with the animated version of the team. It was called "Get Real".

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You forgot Extreme Ghostbusters, that was pretty much every 90s cliche you could find, starting with that title. Featuring goth chick, slacker guy, young black kid with dreams of going to college

I didn't forget it -- never saw it, and am unable to comment. Lost interest in Ghostbusters as a franchise after the sequel came out.

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Why is it that if you hate the trailers for this movie it's a reaction to an all-female cast? The movie looks like it sucks. Period. I wouldn't care what race, gender, sexual preference, blood type, hair color, weight, shoe size, car they drive, computer they use, football team they root for, political party the stars had.

Not all Ghostbusters detractors, right?

 

Yeah, we know. It's like how not all people who hated Aftermath did so because it had gay characters. But you can't deny that the large content of hate on the internet is because men are angry about women "ruining" their childhood. There are lots of bigoted jerks who really dislike that entertainment is getting more progressive and diverse and reflecting the actual society we live in. Gasp! (And it's hilarious that men are complaining about this movie being sexist because there are four female Ghostbusters and no men -- but nothing is said about the original. 'Kay.)

 

I was never a huge Ghostbusters fan. The movie is good and funny but that's about it. I think Bill Murray's character is an awful person and not in a funny way. I don't think this movie looks amazingly good, but my husband wants to see it so I'll probably end up seeing it in the theatre. (He's a huge Ghostbusters fan, FWIW.)

 

Chris Hemsworth looks like he's going to steal the movie, ironically.

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But you can't deny that the large content of hate on the internet is because men are angry about women "ruining" their childhood.

 

It was a bad idea to begin with. I think many children and teens of the 80s hold Ghostbusters in the same way they do Back to the Future. With Michael J. Fox's career essentially over, pretty much no fan wants that franchise touched. No reboot, no new kid following Doc Brown around (boy/girl, white/minority, straight/gay, doesn't matter). That's a franchise that should remain in the nostalgia bin.

 

If they announced a reboot of that series tomorrow, trust me, there'd be an instant backlash. If they DID cast someone other than a young white guy as the Marty stand in, people would be calling it (insert the -ism) and, ironically, the studio would be shielded from their bad idea by people defending it on an ideological level instead of any sort of artistic level.

 

Ghostbusters is essentially the same. Trust me, once Harold Ramis passed away, people were skeptical of any reboot long before it was announced.

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Luckily for us-- since every studio in the world passed on BTTF and it took Speilberg bullying Universal to begrudgingly do it, Gale and Zemekis took less pay to get it made and were instead partially compensated by retaining the IP rights. Meaning, there can be no reboot or sequel without their approval or involvement and they've both said that aren't interested in letting it happen.

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Oh definitely-- Teens on Earth think they are playing a networked MMO game flying Starfighters not realizing that they are actually remote piloting drones in a real war somewhere in space. After the network connection is destroyed by Xur, Centauri has to go find the teens on Earth to come and do it live in space.

 

And MAYBE I had a pitched worked out and that's how I found out about the IP...

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