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Ghostbusters


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Q: How well does it stand on it's own? Is it a complete retread of the original?

A: The story STARTS almost identical to the first film, from the opening shots to the music...and in broad strokes is very much like the original, but ends up standing on it's own fair enough. It focuses more on academia and social media trying to debunk their work, whereas the original they did more ghostBUSTING.

 

Actually--they didn't. I appreciated the reboot for having them go out on a few different calls-- they were all tied to the main story too. In the original they get spooked in the library, they catch Slimer, there's montage where they imply many ghosts are busted, then they push into the Gozer fight.

 

One reason I loved that cartoon so much was because every episode was a "call" to catch a ghost.

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When it comes to the villain, I thought he was serviceable but forgettable. His most effective use is a little spoilery, but I'll just say that the actor portraying the villain wasn't even on screen during that character's best scenes.

As cherished as the original is and as silly as the sequel is, Vigo is still the best bad guy of the whole series.

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I watched Feminism: The Movie on Saturday night (Lights Touchpaper).

 

It was quite good apart from some of the political bits thrown in which was a bit over the top. Shoot the big man ghost in the balls!! Yeah...

 

Ok so at this point someone will have quote replied and not read what I really think about the movie.

 

Kristen Wiig just felt like a mismatch in this movie. I got the feeling she was like someone's mum who's just finished her day job and then did a bit of Ghostbusting after Zumba Class. I don't know if it was the acting or just the way they made her dress. But it wasn't a good lead. She is an awesome dancer though. Loved that scene.

 

The other two were OK and had some decent moments. My daughter really liked Patty.

 

Miss McKinnon was the undoubted star of the show though. Just class and funny performance from start to finish. Really liked her character and my Daughter loved her and said she was the coolest.

 

Paul Feig is a decent director. But stil a dickhead for over-politicising this movie.

 

The story was OK. A good starting point for an Origin. The bad guy was a bit hit and miss. I was disappointed that they didn't do enough ghost-busting. They only captured one ghost and that got let out. I was a bit disappointed in them using the proton packs as weapons to explode ghosts that didn't seem in keeping. Hand Grenades?? Next movie will have McKinnon with a mini-gun or driving a tank with anti-ghost shells for sure.

 

Overall I would give it a C. I enjoyed it. It's not too taxing on the brain. I don't think it's laugh out loud funny but it has some funny moments. I'm eager to see what they do with this next time out.

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Overall I would give it a C. I enjoyed it. It's not too taxing on the brain. I don't think it's laugh out loud funny but it has some funny moments. I'm eager to see what they do with this next time out.

 

I wonder if they will have another one! Looks like it is doing really poorly so far, it had a big drop the second weekend. Most people I know have the same indifferent attitude towards it that I have have. Like, I have nothing against it, but I don't have any real desire to bother watching it, either.

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I wonder if they will have another one! Looks like it is doing really poorly so far, it had a big drop the second weekend.

 

It wasn't a terrible drop, but its 54% drop wasn't good. Its biggest problem is that it's already effectively buried. It premiered at #2 and fell to #5 this weekend (granted, just another $1 million and it would have been #3). With that much competition and the only thing the movie really had going for it was the controversy, being crowded out is deadly to its long-term chances.

 

What's really worse is that I was right about the foreign markets not saving it. To put kindly, it's performing poorly overseas. While it hasn't opened in all the major countries yet, it's opened in a large number of them, including the major English-speaking nations, and it's not going to be saved by a high worldwide gross. Not too shocking since the nostalgia for the franchise was strongest, by far, in the United States and comedies can be difficult to sell in foreign markets. It won't even be opening in China, a country that's acted as a saving throw for big budget American movies that don't do well here (see Warcraft's ridiculous numbers in China compared to anywhere else).

 

Sony did a victory lap because it beat expectations, but I might need to reinstate my "bomb" comment.

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Foreign markets don't like female driven films. Just a fact, and a reason studios don't make as many. I've talked with some studios that won't even hear pitches unless they could work for the short list of actors (generally white males) that can pre-sell overseas.

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What about Frozen? It made gangbusters internationally and was led by two CGI women.

Princesses have been Disney's most consistent product for the past 80 years. Even more than the Mouse, they're the bedrock that empire was built upon.

 

As for Frozen's overseas success, while it obviously had an awesome run, almost a third of its foreign gross came from Japan alone. A country with a long history of loving animated girls well beyond Disney's little pantheon and even the long shadow of Miyazaki's heroines. Of the Top 6 all-time box off champs in Japan, 4 of them (Spirited Away, Frozen, Howl's Moving Castle, and Princess Mononoke) are led by animated girls.

 

Basically, it's what Driver said. Animation is its own market with its own set of rules.

 

 

 

Foreign markets don't like female driven films.

 

I didn't feel like the headache of mentioning that.

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Sony did a victory lap because it beat expectations, but I might need to reinstate my "bomb" comment.

This is what I find just funny about that whole thing:

 

On the one extreme, you had the hope of it being comparable to the original (which most people never thought it realistically could ever do). The highest expectations ever. Then, on the other extreme, the impact of all the controversy, horrible trailer, likes/dislikes ratios, online comments, etc...painted the picture that it was nothing more than total garbage (which most people thought it wouldn't really be THAT bad). The lowest expectations ever. This allowed the movie to land in a strange sort of "middle ground". And honestly, with that wide of a gap, how can it miss? The most ironic part is that all the negativity, controversy, etc gave the movie a huge safety net to land on.

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Overall I would give it a C. I enjoyed it. It's not too taxing on the brain. I don't think it's laugh out loud funny but it has some funny moments. I'm eager to see what they do with this next time out.

I wonder if they will have another one! Looks like it is doing really poorly so far, it had a big drop the second weekend. Most people I know have the same indifferent attitude towards it that I have have. Like, I have nothing against it, but I don't have any real desire to bother watching it, either.
I'm pretty sure I read online somewhere that Sony has already confirmed a sequel. Personally, I graded it a B-, (probably the highest anyone is willing to grade it) and I still stand by that...but I wouldn't say it was sequel-worthy. So I bet it will be bad.
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I'm curious, and not nitpicking - why do you think this movie was over-politicized?

They played the feminism card a bit too hard. Shooting the man-ghost in the balls, the Twitter hatred scene, the incompetent male mayor, and whatever they did to Thor's character. He was the dumb-blonde male made to show the nerdy women's intelligence off because he can't answer a phone and looks nice. They were just the highlights.

 

Now I'm not stupid and I've seen the 'bimbo' stereotype many times in movies with the shoe on the other foot. It was a nice parallel in that respect. However I didn't feel like the movie needed it. In fact they made Thor worse than Janine Melnitz. Janine could answer a phone ffs.

 

The one but I really loved was the Twitter bit. My goodness they were entitled to that. But if you're going to take the bull by the horns and say Women are just as cool as men, you don't need to stoop to previous levels and dis the other sex.

 

My more recent female heroes include Hermione Grainger, Katniss Everdeen, Alice (Resident Evil) and Rey. I didn't think they needed a subtext to make them just as cool as male counterpart heroes.

 

There's plenty to enjoy about this movie but Feig was doing this shit on purpose and he deserves a kicking for it. Prick.

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I'm pretty sure I read online somewhere that Sony has already confirmed a sequel.

 

I wouldn't put much stock in that. No way the studio head is going to announce that they're burying a franchise they were trying to launch on opening weekend. Heck, even Fantastic Four's sequel had a release date for awhile after it was released.

 

I'm sure the studio actually WANTS to make more films in the franchise, which means that I wouldn't be shocked if it happens. But on a purely rational basis, it's tough to justify without a sizable budget cut for the next film.

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If only we had a movie that starred dudes that did dude things, and women were just eye candy.

But this film was about women who did dude things... think about it!

 

I did make the point about stooping to a level that just wasn't required!! Yes It only seems fair that there should be more of these movies to even the score... but it's not meant to be about point scoring. It's meant to be about equality. Show us you're better than the dumb men who ran Hollywood all these years and gave Tank a job is all I'm saying.

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If only we had a movie that starred dudes that did dude things, and women were just eye candy.

But this film was about women who did dude things... think about it!

 

I did make the point about stooping to a level that just wasn't required!! Yes It only seems fair that there should be more of these movies to even the score... but it's not meant to be about point scoring. It's meant to be about equality. Show us you're better than the dumb men who ran Hollywood all these years and gave Tank a job is all I'm saying.

 

1. There are no "dude things."

 

2. I honestly didn't get any male bashing out of this movie. Maybe I'm biased, though. The only incident was the scene where they read online comments, and come on, that happens. Kicking the ghost in the balls - meh, that kind of stuff happens in male-dominated action movies, too. The women never acted like men were inferior, even Kevin. Was the male mayor supposed to be bumbling? I just thought he was a politician. *shrug* I mean, really, the only time the movie brought up the criticism that "women shouldn't be fighting ghosts" was during the comments scene. The rest of the time it was just ridiculing them for believing in ghosts, period.

 

Now, I did think the movie was political, but in a subtextual way. For example, commenting on women not being taken seriously in scientific fields. I also appreciated the fact that they embraced Patty into their fold even though she's not a trained scientist and never made it seem like she was stupid because of that.

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