Ghostbusters Afterlife (2021)

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shevek
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Surprised nobody had anything to say about this.

I finally 'found' this movie, and boy was it a great way to spend Xmas Eve and end the year.
This movie and No Way Home are the two best flicks of the year.

Shill press hates this movie because there is too much 1980s fun, and too much fan service.
That's what makes it great for us who actually like to watch movies, be entertained by familiar escapism, and even cry a little.

They had great 'casting diversity' (1980s-style) in this movie without making a big deal out of it or trying to make any statements
at all. The actress McKenna Grace who plays Phoebe is extremely well-composed, and is the heroine we need for these times.
She loves the science! Definitely has a bright future in the business.

A solid recommend.

And now to the things that SHF folks might specifically enjoy about the movie: if you liked the super-hot "90s bad girl" costume Olivia Wilde wore in Psylocke, you will like the "80s androgynous hot villainess" tight costume she wears as Gozer. You get to see quite a bit of it. It's pretty similar to the original costume from Ghostbusters I, but Olivia is more stunning than the original actress, Slavitza Jovan.

Which brings me to an interesting point. The movie makes a point of initially saying that Gozer is neither a "he" nor a "she" in the actual script. But yet - they have 1) an actress playing the part, and looking extremely female (see photos); 2) an actress (the regal Shohreh Aghdashloo of The Expanse) doing the voice; and 3) a third actress doing the CGI movements: dancer Emma Portner, who was Elliot Page's spouse until recently (filed for divorce), and is "she" on her imdb. Plus, in the script itself, Gozer is never referred to as "they" or even "it", only as "she" (by the old Ghostbusters guys themselves, and they would know). Hence,
Gozer is female. Period. It looks like the Reitmans tried to satisfy everyone, and they definitely did the best they could.

I really hope we see some tight-spandex Gozer cosplay in the next upcoming Con season!
Maybe someone (Axel Braun, or an indie SHIPper?) will even make an XXX version where she gets serviced by both the Keymaster *and* the Gatekeeper?
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Visitor
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Gozer manifests in different forms in each appearance and we got lucky. As Egon said, "It's whatever it wants to be."

Choose the form of your destruction.
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argento
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Olivia Wilde is very interesting! :yes:
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batgirl1969
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I love Shevek's xxx idea, have Gozer meet Mr Stay Hard Marshmallow man, leaves em covered in hot thick sticky marshmallow cream!!!
Damselbinder

"Shill press." Christ almighty

From what I understand - and to be fair, I am just putting what other people have said, I've not seen the film myself - people's objections were that it wasn't funny enough, it didn't have enough of its own sense of identity, and the characters were weak.

The way RLM described it was "not a film about Ghostbusters, but a film about the idea of liking Ghostbusters." Which, from the marketing material, I can well believe.
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shevek
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Damselbinder wrote:
2 years ago
"Shill press." Christ almighty

From what I understand - and to be fair, I am just putting what other people have said, I've not seen the film myself - people's objections were that it wasn't funny enough, it didn't have enough of its own sense of identity, and the characters were weak.

The way RLM described it was "not a film about Ghostbusters, but a film about the idea of liking Ghostbusters." Which, from the marketing material, I can well believe.
I stopped watching Half in the Bag years ago, and finally also weaned myself off Friday Night Tights a few months ago. At this point, it's sufficient to just know what one or two reliable Youtubers think whom I tend to follow, and jettison the rest as too predictable, and I do mean "both sides" of the critical coin: both the corporate boot-lickers *and* the inveterate contrarians who whine incessantly but never create anything original themselves.

RT was 62 critics (barely squeaked through) but 95 fans. I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of all three of these critics, though:

[It] relaunches the franchise with a mostly funny and solid offering. Hearkening to the great movies of the 80s, this film follows a group of very capable and hilarious kids who save the world from destruction. - Chicago Reader
The film's main appeal is not what it appropriates from other Ghostbusters pictures, but that it's a nostalgic nod to the Spielbergian family adventures of the same period. - Observer (UK)
Jason Reitman's Ghostbusters: Afterlife is what one gets when a franchise finally throws in the towel and gives its fans exactly what they've been waiting for all along. - Jewish Chronicle

It's a return to 80s-style filmmaking and storytelling, and that's what makes it good. You can certainly disagree whether that's the kind of thing mass amounts of people want to see nowadays, but the style and purpose is clearly evident.

Anyway, just check it out for some hot Olivia.
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shevek wrote:
2 years ago

I stopped watching Half in the Bag years ago, and finally also weaned myself off Friday Night Tights a few months ago. At this point, it's sufficient to just know what one or two reliable Youtubers think whom I tend to follow, and jettison the rest as too predictable, and I do mean "both sides" of the critical coin: both the corporate boot-lickers *and* the inveterate contrarians who whine incessantly but never create anything original themselves.
I watch Thorias Unlimited. He does some good reviews. I also stopped watching Half in the Bag. They seem "tired". Critical Drinker is another I watch.
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shevek
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Mr. X wrote:
2 years ago
I watch Thorias Unlimited. Critical Drinker is another I watch.
Agreed, as well as Clownfish, and Lack of Entertainment (Romanian TVee's second channel).

It's pretty funny how salty the corporate sites are that the new limited Ghostbusters "Ultimate Collection" Blu-Ray set, which comes in a lovely "ghost trap" case, only contains three movies (I, II, and Afterlife) and ignores the 2016 reboot.
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The one thing that irked me about the 2016 Ghostbusters is they billed it as some "all woman" production. There is a pic put out for marketing the movie that showed the whole cast, crew, everyone who worked on the production in these bleachers with the stars down in front and they were all women. They Bragged about it being an all woman production.... except for the one person who had all the power, money, and control... Paul Feig. A guy.

This is why I hate men like this. They reek of "Hey ladies, great job... but we all know who really made this happen... wink wink"
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Mr. X wrote:
2 years ago
The one thing that irked me about the 2016 Ghostbusters is they billed it as some "all woman" production. There is a pic put out for marketing the movie that showed the whole cast, crew, everyone who worked on the production in these bleachers with the stars down in front and they were all women. They Bragged about it being an all woman production.... except for the one person who had all the power, money, and control... Paul Feig. A guy.

This is why I hate men like this. They reek of "Hey ladies, great job... but we all know who really made this happen... wink wink"
To the credit of the 4 actresses, they have not had a public temper tantrum like Feig when the 2016 movie was not included in the box set.
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I checked this out, was better than I expected.

Not brilliant, and it had a bad case of looking like it ran out of money in the final third. Like, badly out of money, like the final battle cost a tenner kind of badly.

The plot up until things really get all ghostbustery was great, then it was kind of a series of fan servicey things that went nowhere much. Feel like they needed to do this movie ten years ago, the original lads are ancient now bless 'em.

The complaints that it wasn't funny are fair enough, the kid who plays Egon's granddaughter is uncannily good in the role, but she's not got the comedy chops of peak Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray because almost nobody does. They even give her this schtick that she makes bad jokes all the time and it's like, when you're having to have a character straight up telling jokes in a movie, and it's still not funny enough, that's a problem.

So, I mean, it's not great. I did like that they wrapped up the whole Gozer storyline though.
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The movie doesn't suck but I wouldn't say it's great either (IMHO) ... I thought that actress was kind of familiar, until I finally realized she is the blonde little girl from Young Sheldon tv serie :D

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I bought the blu-ray sight unseen and experienced some buyer's regret.

As a quirky Weird Science movie, it's OK.

As a Ghostbusters Movie, it's not nearly funny enough. Ghostbusters 2 had more memorable lines.

Also, it's not really an ensemble movie like the other Ghostbusters have been. Ellie is the center of the movie, and all of the other characters play second fiddle. Finn Wolfhard's character gets particularly badly treated: it's like he's only in the movie because his feet can reach the pedals of Ecto-1. When the ghostbusting gets started, they push him to the side, so that he can have the weakest romantic subplot ever. Their mother also gets shorted by the script. Does she even have a job? She's basically there to be Paul Rudd's girlfriend. And Annie Potts shows up for one scene and disappears, despite apparently living in the same small town.

The final act redeems the movie to some extent, as we get a lot of feel-good moments, ghost Egon, and the return of the original Ghostbusters. But it's not enough, and the storyline with Annie's family being broke and without prospects doesn't get resolved.
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It wasn't that bad, but it takes a long time to get interesting. The best scenes are in the credits where they bring back references to the original movie. Ernie Hudson gets some revenge for his part getting cut in the first movie and not being in the second. Annie Potts get more in the end credit scene and a deleted scene. I doubt she lived in that town and just was the only one in contact with Egon.

The movie has some funny lines, but most are dark humor from summer school class watching Cujo to ,mom asking Ellie to pick the lock.

The mom is single, out of work, broke, and has been abandoned by her father. Her life is summed up in one line, "You're a mom. You don't have a life."
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Olivia Wilde wasn't Psylocke. Olivia Munn was Psylocke.
And I wouldn't say it relaunches the franchise. It's more like a loving goodbye.
Not that we won't see more attempts to break spirits under the trademark brand, but they'll basically be starting from scratch.

The first half *drags*. They weren't developing characters so much as reiterating their quirks in case we missed them the first two times because that was the only levity available. It might have been better if trimmed to be a heartfelt serious-lore story and not plumped toward matching the comedic tone of the original. I don't know that you can take a cast of youths and deliver the same energy as you got from master comic actors at the top of their game.

It was enjoyable enough, better than was strictly required, but some of the audience pandering felt bolted on and I was left tasting the artificial sweetener.

Now on to Beverly Hills Cop 4.
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