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Ghostbusters Afterlife


Darth Krawlie
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The whole wave of nostalgia movies/shows can be so hit or miss. Even inside individual movies. In Rogue One when they run into the pig nosed guy on Jedha is really bad and one of the worst uses of call backs/fan service you can see. Then the use of Red and Gold leader is about perfect. In TFA you have alot of quicker sort of throwaway ones. The "chess" game popping up on the Falcon,, Finn coming across the remote Luke trained aghainst. These are so quick they have almost zero affect on anything but too many of them can become too much. In general I like when the nostalgia isn't just a wink to the audience but also affects the characters and/or story. When Artoo plays the "Help me Obi Wan" message for Luke in TLJ is perfect cause its nostalgic for us and also for Luke and it actually spurs Luke on in the story. In Creed when Rocky gives Adonis the red, white and blue trunks reminiscint of what Apollo work in Rocky its perfect cause again its nostalgic for us, for the characters and also has an affect on the characters. 

When it really is just "memba this, memba that" it gets old quick. 

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23 hours ago, Tank said:

That was definitely part of it. Forced nostalgia is awful. It's such a fine line. I don't think it shouldn't exist, but you have to know how to use it. Look at SW. Why do all the winks and nods in the ST ruin it, while Mando and R1 work amazingly? For me, Afterlife did it the bad way.

Also, I HATE coincidences in movies. It's weak storytelling. So many things happen in this movie just because the story needed them to. The first time Phoebe puts on a proton pack and there just happens to be a ghost next door? The only person who cares about Ghostbusters happens to be her teacher? The demon dogs escape and have an entire town of people to choose from and pick the two adult characters? I hate when things happen without logic or reason for the story, and only because the story requires them too.

Worse than coincidences, is when a movie breaks its own rules/logic. Why did the PKE meter only sense Egon? Why was Egon not effected by the super ghost trap at the end? And as a couple of you pointed out, why would the team not believe Egon when he was right about everything else? I also can't stand it in horror or horror adjacent films that destroy logic by escalating too quickly without recourse. Phoebe, Podcast, and Ant Man free a ghost, then just go about their business. Stranger Things sees shit down in the mine, it flies past him, and then he acts like nothing ever happened.

Probably the biggest thing for me though is that as far as storytelling goes the script makes a major mistake in that there is no conflict. We get TOLD Gozer is coming back, okay cool. But no one ever has anything really go wrong that we feel. Okay, mom is poor and sad about her dad, but they never sell it.

I absolutely HATE the term Mary Sue. It's an anti-feminist criticism that comes from bro-critics when they can't handle a female lead character in their nerd fantasies. Rey and Captain Marvel were not Mary Sues. Phoebe though... the girl never makes a wrong choice, never fails at anything, knows how to do everything, is right about everything, never loses anything to fight to get back, and never changes a single bit. I don't mind a little girl being the her, but imagine if she was more like one of the Stranger Things Kids, or Elliot from ET, or Mikey from Goonies. Kids should be a bit of a mess and always adapting in fun ways.

And okay, I lied there is one thing I think is even a bigger sin being committed with this movie: it wasn't funny. Sure, there were a few chuckles and guffaws, but tonally and structurally, it was NOT a comedy. Given that the original is, I find this to be unforgivable. Structurally speaking, every movie follows the same sort of 3 act structure, but the way you build on that varies from genre to genre. Afterlife was written in the Star Wars / Marvel style. It was an adventure movie with big set pieces, with a lot of light hearted goofy characters who face big moments. A comedy, like say the original GB, is written around ACTUAL JOKES. Every scene in a comedy is built around at least 3 set ups and punchlines. Afterlife didn't do that, and I have a big issue with sequels who decide to not tonally match the original. 

I'm not a total monster, I liked things here and there. Podcast stole the movie for sure.

I havent seen the movie, but the thing in your last paragraph is why I have no interest. The trailers seem so reverential towards the original movie, when the original movie itself was completely irreverent. It makes no sense. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just watched this with the fam, my boys totally loved it. I enjoyed it too. I did enjoy 2016 Busters as well, but 2016 was definitely not the tone of the originals… the difference there being mostly in the style of comedy, I think. On that tone thing, like Tank said, this new one isn’t really the tone of the originals either. It flirts with it, there are many moments where it hits it and moments where it is it’s own thing. If you liked the originals, this is a continuation of OG Busters. Afterlife is not perfect, but it is definitely worth a watch, if you’re on the fence about it.

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We watched this on Thursday evening now it’s available on Sky. Thought it was great fun!

I was 7 or 8 when the original came out so perfect age to get spooked and then enjoy rewatching over the years. 

This new one had lots of nice nostalgic moments as well as giving the new cast plenty to do. Easy option to repeat the big bad from the first film, but I didn’t really mind that. 
Very enjoyable watch and would recommend to fans of the originals.

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  • 1 year later...

Bumping this.

I am alone with my boys (5/6 yo) this week. 

We were looking for something to watch and I see Ghostbusters (the original) on HBO.  I was 5 or 6 when I saw it.  I loved it so much I actually had to buy a 2nd tape bc I watched teh first one so much and was a ghostbuster for 4 straight Halloweens.  We watch it--they love it.  They see there is a G2.  I haven't seen it since I was 9--but I don't want to see it again.  I remember this movie (I had a moderate interest in seeing it) and sell them on watching it.

They love it.  I love it.  After what happened with my mom a few years ago I don't have any family left outside of my immediate family-right before all of that happened my grandpa, who I considered my dad, passed away and I miss him so, so much.  I am in tears.  The nostalgia hit so hard.  Maybe it was the scenario in which I saw it--I don't know--but this movie was incredible. 

The boys are picking out Ghostbuster toys...

100/10.  My favorite movie since RotK. 

This caught me COMPLETELY by surprise.  I wasn't prepared for this. 

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