Ghostbusters 2016 Movie Review
FEMALE YouTubers Alachia Queen and Zoe/Wrapped Up In Film posted their video reviews. They and I think alike. – Paul
During the fight with Rowan outside the hotel supposedly in Manhattan. There are several shot of a WOOLWORTHs Store which are defunct in the US, Obviously this was filmed in Australia where Woolworth still exist.
Thank you for the review. 🙂
Someone once described the movie as feeling like pure fan-fiction: I’d say that sounds about right…
“Only me and my four high school friends saved the day! Everyone else is a DUMMY! I’ll make my boyfriend Jimmy Jr. dumb and the secretary because he broke up with me, that’ll show him!”
i get you! but i personally loved the movie tbh
You are right on the money! While I didn’t hate the movie I felt it was full of missed opportunities. I too felt hopeful during the first scene because it felt like Ghostbusters but then, sadly, the movie went downhill after that. I didn’t have a problem with the plot involving the lay lines. In fact, I found myself actually enjoying the film when it wasn’t derailing itself in attempts to be funny. I also agree that the jokes ran too long even some of the genuinely funny ones. The original and even the sequel didn’t attempt jokes as such just humorous reactions. They wisely played it straight but slightly over-the-top. Venkman’s function was simply to roll his eyes at Ray’s over enthusiasm and Egon’s stoicism as if he wanted the eggheads to think he was the coolest kid in class when in reality he was a fraud that was out of depth and he knew it. Venkman’s insecurity is where a lot of the humor of the original comes from not from comedy setups and payoffs. There was no one in this film to fill that function. It was a quartet of believers with a can-do attitude trying to over come as the screenwriters overstacked the deck in front of them. It’s not enough that they’re dealing with a subject matter that many find dubious but then there’s a villain with a plot to destroy the city and then there’s a city government that would like to shut them down. Talk about belaboring the point! Okay, I get it! But that’s one too many in my book. I found the leads likable enough and I don’t want to get into gender politics and whether this all-female cast is progressive or simply reactive (although it feels more like the latter than the former.) While Holtzmann seemed to be the stand out character I didn’t find Gilbert’s character so bland as she was underwritten. There’s still a need for a straight character in the dynamic just a better written one. Kristen Wiig did a fine job with what she was given but she kind of came across as an accountant rather than a physicist. Also it was a tow cable she clipped around her waist not a fire hose during the climax but that’s a minor quibble and since I didn’t catch that the barrier somehow moved inside the lobby of the Mercado it’s a wash. Anyway well done in-depth review!
In retrospect, I realize the original was also stacking the deck with the inclusion of Walter Peck and the EPA’s interference but considering the titlular characters were operating with unlicensed equipment that subplot seems reasonable and less intrusive than simply stating the characters are drawing too much attention to themselves.
The Times Square scene was filmed at a hangar outside Boston, so not in Australia. The possessed Kevin at one point talks about Times Square as it used to be, and he and the ghosts transform it into an amalgam of the scruffy Times Square of the 1970s and early ’80s. Not surprisingly, the giant Sony sign of this time frame dominates the set and represents self product placement by the studio.
Hence large movie posters for Bruce Lee’s Fists of Fury and Boris Karloff in Isle of the Snake People, both from the early ’70s. There were still Woolworth stores in the US in that time frame.
This sorta time travel was one of the scenese in the film. The Macy’s parade was neat, too. But as the reviewer pointed out, why were the balloons physical, and why didn’t the parade goers attack?
Does anybody actually know why they didn’t hire industrial light & Magic again to do the special effects work so that at least those wouldn’t have looked so bad? I know that it’s not because Disney owns them as they still do work for other studios, such as the recent tmnt film.
Well Paul, I thought that the reboot was pretty good. But not better than the original 1984 movie. And I really do love the opening Ghost Corps logo at the beginning of the film. Nice logo. 🙂
Some people took this movie wayyyyy to seriously it was entertaining and funny and a good remake. Graphics were cool.. Its GHOSTBUSTERS ppl. Geezzzz
Let’s face it: the remake of Ghostbusters is a very bad movie. And I don’t think that there will be a sequel with such a poor box office.
The sequel would have even smaller box office because a lot of people went to see this reboot
“against all odds”, to see if it’s any good. Sorry, it wasn’t.
PS. Thank you Paul for the honest review,
PPS. Paul, you said you liked “scene with Patty and the mannequin in the hallway”? C’mon it’s a rip-off from Silent Hill movie!
I enjoyed the movie immensely. Actually think it could benefit with an extended cut , as did appear a bit chopped. The f/x had a ‘real ghostbusters’ vibe and thats a good thing in my book.
Answered: ‘He-man’ in the antispam test, thought spook central would allow. (spoilt little yuppie larvae!)
Hey, Paul. Did you know that there’s an extended version of the movie, that now available on Digital HD right now? Are you gonna update your review?
I know about the extended cut. I’ll write about it when I review the Blu-ray and DVD in a few weeks. The physical disc doesn’t come out until October 11th.
This review is about the movie as I first saw it theatrically, so it’ll stay regardless.
— Paul
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