Review: Ghostbusters (2016)

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad

Remember when Sony rebooted Sam Raimi’s take on Spider-Man (2002) with The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)? Their whole conceit at the time appeared to be “What if you didn’t know the story?” so they just told it again. Only everyone actually did know the story. The result was an instantly forgettable retread, useless but for the printing of money. While that may have been the whole point, it left a lousy corporate aftertaste. It took the world gargling with some Marvel Studios mouthwash (aka Captain America: Civil War) to make people excited about Spidey again.

The good news is that the mega corporation appears to have learned from their mistakes. Ghostbusters NOW does not moronically assume you don’t know Ghostbusters THEN. Sure, it’s the same story again — the Ghostbusters set up shop, refine technobabble gadgets, fight against a supernatural invasion of New York and the bureaucrats that get in their way — but writer/director Paul Feig and his cowriter Katie Dippold (who wrote The Heat together) have correctly guessed that the fun of the movie will be in the makeover. 

the ladies fighting the (undead) patriarchy

The story gets a new look, freshened up details, and most famously, four female Ghostbusters and a male receptionist in place of the original’s four men and a female receptionist; that gender inversion proved more revolutionary that any rational human might have expected because a lot of manbabies have been freaking out on the internet ever since...

Click to read more ...

Link Night

EW first pick of Jude Law as the baddie in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017).
Interview talks to Viggo Mortensen (audio interview)
The Playlist translates a controversial interview with Director John McTiernan in which he trashes Mad Max Fury Road and Captain America movies an discusses a potential upcoming project 
MTV Teo on how musicals got their groove back 
Variety Emmy breakdown by studio. HBO is still dominating the Emmys but not by the margins they use to.  
Playbill Live Musicals did well at the Emmys with Grease: Live and The Wiz Live! scoring big 

My New Plaid Pants new photos from Man Down starring Shia Labeouf & Jai Courtney 
EW TV's best comedies are... tearjerkers!
/Film the terribleness of Batman v Superman is not stopping excitement for Suicide Squad which is tracking for a spectacular August opening weekend
MNPP on the poster for Disorder (which is taking forever to hit movie theaters) 
Pajiba Ranking the men of Jane Austen by Swoon Factor from Sam Riley in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on up
Towleroad a gay version of The Bachelor is currently in production because making a mockery of commitment and true love shouldn't just be for straight people! 
New York Times interviews the new lead of Hamilton, Javier Muñoz
Pajiba recommends five crime thrillers from Korea including The Yellow Sea and Memories of Murder 

Revivals & Remakes
iTunes Trailers Howards End, one of the greatest films of the 1990s is coming back to theaters in a new restoration. It really should've won Best Picture, I tell ya.
EW Power Rangers release character posters. Very attractive cast which is useless since they have those face covering costumes
The Film Stage wonderful choice - Colin Farrell in talks for the male lead of The Beguiled remake
OMGBLOG John Waters Multiple Maniacs has been restored by the Criterion Collection, coming in August 
i09 China might not screen Ghostbusters but their name for it is wondrous 
Towleroad Paul Feig blames the studio for keeping Kate McKinnon's Ghostbusters character closeted. (SPOILER: But once you've seen the movie, you'll see that McKinnon comes through loud and proud and clear, anyway.)  

Two Questions Inspired By Ghostbusters

I'm off to a Ghostbusters (2016) screening and these questions and a desire to hear your answers suddenly struck me:

1. Which male heavy movie would you most love to see rethunk with a female heavy cast?

2. If you had a vote for Best Original Song in 1984 which of the hit single nominees would you have gone for? (They were all huge hits)

"Against All Odds" (Against All Odds)
"Footloose" (Footloose)
"Ghostbusters" (Ghostbusters)
"I Just Called To Say I Love You" (The Woman in Red)
"Let's Hear It For the Boy" (Footloose)

...or would you have chucked out the nominees altogether to have "I Can Dream About You" (Streets of Fire) "The Heat is On" (Beverly Hills Cop) "Love Came For Me" (Splash), "Together Again" (The Muppets Take Manhattan), "Almost Paradise" (Footloose), "The Never Ending Story" (The Never Ending Story), "Together in Electric Dreams" (Electric Dreams), or maybe five songs from Purple Rain (even though it won an Oscar for Song Score - more Oscars for Prince!!!

Links: Danielle Brooks, Shark Movies, Ghostbuster Themes

The Ringer "True confessions of Shark," the star who invented the blockbuster (Ha!)
IndieWire calls The Shallows the best shark movie since Jaws. Wow... but then, on the other hand, are there any good shark movies since Jaws so maybe that's not such high praise?
Buzzfeed has a long gripping read about director Karyn Kusama's tough journey from Girlfight (2000) through two studio disasters and on to her new film The Invitation (2016)
TFE... which we reviewed in April, icymi
YouTube the new Ghostbusters theme song "Ghostbusters (I'm Not Afraid)" by Fall Out Boy is basically a cover with some new flourishes including Missy Elliott so it won't be Oscar nominated (or even eligible) like the original tune from 1984

 

US Magazine there's a Golden Girls Cafe opening in NYC but "cheesecake" isn't the menu headliner so fire everyone. (If you read the fine print it's actually a restaurant in honor of Rue McClanahan... but they're really pushing it as a Golden Girls Cafe so they need to step up their menu game)
Variety This Euphoria movie cast gets better and better: Eva Green, Alicia Vikander...and now Charlotte Rampling? And it's got a female director and a great cinematographer (Ex Machina's Rob Hardy). Be still my (frost-bitten) heart 
Slate rips apart 2016's sequels as anti-storytelling, pro-branding. Yes. 
BeSpoke Redmayne awww a little precocious 8 year old who loves Stephen Hawkings and "Eddie's Marilyn movie" got to meet her idol Eddie Redmayne  
NY Theater in case you want a headstart on NEXT SUMMER's Tony Awards - lots of potentially exciting shows opening in the next 11 months including revivals of Falsettos, The Little Foxes, Hello Dolly, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Janet McTeer as the Merquise de Merteuil and Liev Schreiber as her partner-in-love-crime Valmont

Quote of the Day
Today Show Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black, The Color Purple) says: 

My career is a Crayola box now!"

I demand remakes of Blue Angel, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Foxy Brown, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon all starring this fine actress. LOVE HER SO MUCH. Hoping Emmy notices her soon for Orange is the New Black. 

Uh... Try 'Movie of the Year'

iTunes rental deal this week is Todd Hayne's Carol, our #1 film of 2015. It's only 99¢ so there's no time like the now if you've been putting it off. (If you're into buying digital copies of things -- I am not. I need physical copies as digitial is too ephemeral and as soon as there are technology updates or you get a new computer suddenly you lose things -- there are a ton of great deals on LGBT movies at iTunes under their Pride month label)

Visual Index: Best Shots from Ghostbusters (1984)

With the new riff on the ol' Ghostbusters property nearly upon us, what better time to look back at the original comedy smash? While the film's comic tone and dialogue are well remembered its visuals are less often discussed. The film was shot by the Hungarian cinematographer László Kovács. He logged a lot of quality time in the romantic comedy genre (What's Up Doc?, My Best Friend's Wedding, Say Anything...) but made his name in the 70s on scrappy, famous and/or ambitious pictures like Five Easy Pieces, Shampoo, New York New York, and Paper Moon.

Without further ado, let's see what the Hit Me With Your Best Shot club thought of the look of this picture and what slimy memories this revisit stirred up...

GHOSTBUSTERS
Directed by Ivan Reitman. Cinematography by László Kovács. 
Starring: (in order of billing) Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Sigourney Weaver,
Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton & Ernie Hudson.
Click on the 12 images to read the 15 corresponding articles

Bill Murray. What does make him tick?
-54 Disney Reviews 

The look on their faces tho... 
-Daniel Laferriere *first time participant*

Grown white men have their fun while the rest of the world cleans up their mess...
- Bennett Prosser *first time participant*

A good old fashioned 80s Improvement Montage, complete with a song that is either brilliantly awful or secretly genius...
-Scopophiliac at the Cinema *first time participant*

It arguably has endured as a beloved classic precisely because the people in it are so full-heartedly human.
-Nebel Without a Cause

 I'm well aware that this is nobody's idea of a scary movie...
- Antagony & Ecstasy

it’s fun to see things pop in and out of frames, especially when the frames are static. It’s almost like seeing a painting being disturbed...
-Coco Hits NY

 It’s useless to try to deny my love for her and it’s inescapable that my best shot features her...
-Magnificent Obsession 

Bill Murray's chemistry with everyone... and I mean everyone in the movie.
-Movie Motorbreath

The images of Sigourney keep getting richer and sexier as the insanity mounts
-The Film Experience

We Need to Talk About Dana Barrett’s Apartment.
-FilmMixTape

Recreating the Exorcist as a screwball comedy date...
-Bohemian Cinema Salon *first time participant*

The movie doesn't really get interesting, narratively and visually, until midway when Weaver's character gets possessed by the spirit of Zuul.
-Sorta That Guy

Most of my favorite shots are when the movie embraces its crazy and over the top nature.
-Wick's Picks *first time Best Shot participant!*

Ghostbusters is a perfect '80s blockbuster version of the classic 50s monster B-movies...
-Dancin Dan on Film

NEXT WEEK: Joe Wright's adaptation of Ian McEwan's Atonement (2007) with James McAvoy, Keira Knightley & little Oscar nominated Saoirse Ronan. [Keira Knightley Voice] "Come back to me it."