Ghostbusters (General Thread)

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Just checked out the search function, and there's no actual full-on proper thread for Ghostbusters

There's a thread for the sequels etc... but no actual thread.

Well, I've just sat down to watch the original... so starting a thread.

It strikes me the subtlety of the original's humour just in the second scene with Venkman doing his ESP experiment.

Card: Star
Male Guess: Square
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Venkman then looks at his blonde female colleague, smiles, and says "Clear you head"
Card: Circle
Female Guess: Star
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Card: Square
Male Guess: Circle
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Card: Plus Sign
Female Guess: Figure Eight
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Card: Couple wavy lines
Male Guess: Couple wavy lines

The male experimentee is almost bloody psychic, yet Venkman is a total womaniser (as we learn more as the movie goes on)... telling her to clear her head, pandering to her and smiling.
But it's the way he treats what is potentially an actual psychic for his own sexual gratification rather than the science he's chosen as his major, makes the scene and the character, well, funny.

Ghostbusters, a movie I've not watched for about 8 years... 3 minutes in and I'm loving it all over again.

Anyone wanna throw in?
Fave scenes? Nuances?

There's no actual thread for GB... which I found kinda surprising, so here it is



I'm a big fan of the original (as I imagine a lot of people are), but think it's a bit unfortunate the stature it's taken on in pop culture. A large part of why the movie works is the contrast between the special effects blockbuster mode it's working in and the irreverence with which it treats the material, pitting great cosmic forces against absolutely ordinary heroes. The fact that it's set in a living, breathing NYC gives it a lot of its resonance. A lot of movies have pulled from its template and dumbed things down (think of how many blockbusters awkwardly pile on the CGI and wisecracks), without understanding the underlying tension that makes it work. The fact that the new one wants to deal with the legacy of the original means that it's probably missing the point.



And the second part is fine, I suppose, even if it lacks the energy of the original.


I never bothered with the 2016 movie, mostly because it looked bad. The fact that it attracted some of the worst interneting I can remember didn't help things.



The male experimentee is almost bloody psychic, yet Venkman is a total womaniser (as we learn more as the movie goes on)... telling her to clear her head, pandering to her and smiling.
But it's the way he treats what is potentially an actual psychic for his own sexual gratification rather than the science he's chosen as his major, makes the scene and the character, well, funny.



I'm a big fan of the original (as I imagine a lot of people are), but think it's a bit unfortunate the stature it's taken on in pop culture. A large part of why the movie works is the contrast between the special effects blockbuster mode it's working in and the irreverence with which it treats the material, pitting great cosmic forces against absolutely ordinary heroes. The fact that it's set in a living, breathing NYC gives it a lot of its resonance. A lot of movies have pulled from its template and dumbed things down (think of how many blockbusters awkwardly pile on the CGI and wisecracks), without understanding the underlying tension that makes it work. The fact that the new one wants to deal with the legacy of the original means that it's probably missing the point.
This is part of my reservation on GB 3 being that it's probably pandering to younger audiences. Instead of remaking the original with female roles, they're remaking it with kids instead.
Then pandering to kids with the humour.

The original stands out as being Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis basically ad-libbing their way through the script and passing lines around to make the guy next to them look good. If your co-star looks good, so do you kinda thing.

GB2 was streamlined and made for the child audience, and Murray didn't like it.



Of course I love the original and GB 2 was actually the second movie I ever saw on the big screen back in 1989.

The 2016 film I’ve watched once and hated everything about it. I found the characters hard to watch and they actually wound me up. I felt like I needed to attend anger management after viewing it.

If the new movie was a direct sequel to GB3 I would totally disregard it but I must say from the trailer it looks really intriguing. I look forward to seeing it soon.



Of course I love the original and GB 2 was actually the second movie I ever saw on the big screen back in 1989.
Lucky get...

I wanted to see GB2, and my folks took me to the cinema the one weekend, and all over the place were posters for it...
I was so excited... until I was handed my ticket... for Honey, I Shrunk The Kids

Enjoyed HISTK though. It was a proper Saturday matinee at a really old fashioned theatre in Inverness (now closed sadly), and the movie had an interval in the middle too with big maroon coloured curtains that dropped over the screen.
Great experience, but I really wanted to see GB2

This is the most recent photo I can find of the old La Scala Theatre.
It's all derelict now




Actually, talking of La Scala... I saw Independence Day and the Bill Paxton movie Twister there as well



Ghostbusters is the one movie I’ve seen way more times than any other movie.

I even like 2. It’s got some ******* funny stuff in it.



The original was a high water mark of the 80s. Sequels didn't really help or add anything. Ditto for Back to the Future and Raiders of the Lost Ark. If you succeed at making a perfect movie, stop. You can't step into the same river twice, you can't step into the same story twice.

The original has a lot more in common with Stripes and Animal House than it does with it's sequels. Ghostbusters is more spirit and style than it is plot (e.g., a film in which protagonists are employed to incarcerate ghosts).



The original was a high water mark of the 80s. Sequels didn't really help or add anything. Ditto for Back to the Future and Raiders of the Lost Ark. If you succeed at making a perfect movie, stop. You can't step into the same river twice, you can't step into the same story twice.

The original has a lot more in common with Stripes and Animal House than it does with it's sequels. Ghostbusters is more spirit and style than it is plot (e.g., a film in which protagonists are employed to incarcerate ghosts).
Someone summed the original up perfectly, I can't remember who it was though.
They said it was "One long, perfectly told joke"

It is too.
It's basically Murray and his pals, ad-libbing their way through the script and passing lines around to make the guy next to you look good.
The fact that everyone was doing the same, made everyone look good.

I liked GB2 though.
Sure it's kooky, and not as fun. They removed most of the swearing, and nobody smokes on screen... plus Murray's innuendos were cut down more...

But it was affected by the fact that kids latched onto the original, an adult comedy... and the studio pandered to the audience once the cartoon and toy line took off.

Murray hated the sequel because of that.
He felt the sequel was too streamlined, and the story was too samey to the original, and they couldn't play with the scenes as much and bring out the adult side of the subtle humour because they were basically making a kids movie.
This was also why he's held out for so long in making a comeback. He seems to dislike making child friendly stuff for the sake of it being child friendly.
He likes to play with his script, and be his cheeky self and you can't do that if the audience is basically 11 years old.

He even managed to throw in an insult to the child friendly movie Garfield in his Zombieland cameo.

But, rambling aside... GB2 is decent enough.
I can easily watch it and class it in the same fun genre of sci-fi comedy as the original.



Lucky get...

I wanted to see GB2, and my folks took me to the cinema the one weekend, and all over the place were posters for it...
I was so excited... until I was handed my ticket... for Honey, I Shrunk The Kids

Enjoyed HISTK though. It was a proper Saturday matinee at a really old fashioned theatre in Inverness (now closed sadly), and the movie had an interval in the middle too with big maroon coloured curtains that dropped over the screen.
Great experience, but I really wanted to see GB2

This is the most recent photo I can find of the old La Scala Theatre.
It's all derelict now

I was taken to see Ghostbusters 2 as I was too young for Tim Burton’s Batman which I was wanting to see so bad. I guess it was a good alternative.



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Funny you make this thread as Ghostbusters came up as a comparison movie in a YouTube critique video I caught recently. The guy was drawing comparisons to how subtle and efficient the jokes were relative to the 2016 release. One scene used was the elevator single-shot of Peter, Ray and Egon first powering up Ray's proton pack and the unknown risk it brings. Ray powers-up and the other two just slowly shuffle to the side in case it explodes.

A few days later I catch a series on Netflix called, "The Movies that Made Us." In season 3, I believe it was, is a go at how Ghostbusters was made and all the issues they ran into. That was pretty great, IMO. Apparently, Filmation owned the title "Ghostbusters" and wouldn't sell the rights to Columbia Pictures. They started filming two shots of each scene in case they couldn't acquire the rights. One shot with Ghostbusters branding and another with Ghostbreakers. It's a pretty great story on how they ended up with the name, along with all the other details told during the interviews.

The old 70s show (that I knew nothing about) now explains what the hell that cartoon was all about in the late 80s that freaked us kids way out.

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I remember my grandmother had a VHS of the animated version of that 70s Ghostbusters and every once in a while as a kid I’d be bored enough to put it on hoping it’d be good. It was unwatchable.



We saw the new one, not bad, but it's in a small town, not New York. The best thing about the 1984 movie is that it's such a New York movie. I'm not a resident but a frequent visitor and it's one of those movies that always reminds me of the Big Apple in a good way. I can see myself walking across the corner of 14th Street and 6th Avenue, seeing the Marshmallow Man in the distance, up in Midtown.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
There is something in the DNA of the films, for me, that only works in NY.

The hustle and bustle, the firehouse, the traffic. Afterlife kinda felt like the GoBot’ization of the franchise.

You kinda recognize the stuff, but it feels a bit off. Some of the stuff that made the original great is missing. Not saying you can’t update the franchise, but you can’t change the recipe too much. Then it’s just any other movie.




I feel ambivalent about this one. It would been better without the GB brand on it. It could have just been a sort of Goonies-type film.



The memberberries are strong with this one.
WARNING: "Stuff of Spoileration Resides Within" spoilers below
And the ghost of Egon dominates the proceedings in more ways than one. They had enough sense to not have the apparition speak, but we spend a lot of time with Egon, and I get the distinct sense that it is because they really wish they could have had Ramis were there. It's sweet and sentimental, but also a little saccharine.





There is not really a sense of menace in this one (after all, you don't want to sense that little kids are about to get ganked in a light-hearted comedy), but the original hinted that bad things could indeed happen (even though they would not).



It was cute. A sort of coda to a lost talent, but it's a bit wobbly.