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'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' [2022]

Looks like there are lots of Strange(r) Things happening in that town.

Who you gonna call?
Call Hopper!
 
Will it have a sad acoustic guitar version of the theme played over the end credits?
 
I've read two really bad reviews of it that say it's suffocating in its fan service, and if you're not wholly, obsessively invested in it you'll get nothing out of it. It also features a character called Podcast. Presumably friends with Instagram Thread and Facebook Page.
 
I've read two really bad reviews of it that say it's suffocating in its fan service, and if you're not wholly, obsessively invested in it you'll get nothing out of it. It also features a character called Podcast. Presumably friends with Instagram Thread and Facebook Page.

The trailers and marketing materials certainly suggested that this would be so.

Currently 80% from 30 reviews, it will drop, question is by how much?

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghostbusters_afterlife

RT is obviously a blunt instrument, something can get a high percentage but most of those positive ones might be lukewarm or equivocal.
 
They've basically ripped of Stranger Things, scribbled out a few names and details and replaced them with "Marshmallow Man lol" and "Slimer rofl". It's not as if Stranger Things is all that terrific.
 
They've basically ripped of Stranger Things, scribbled out a few names and details and replaced them with "Marshmallow Man lol" and "Slimer rofl". It's not as if Stranger Things is all that terrific.

Yes, they even have Finn Wolfhardon from Stranger Things which ripped off all of the eighties including having the kids in Ghostbusters getup, who was also in IT and IT 2: Another ITeration, which also ripped off Stranger Things, even though Stranger Things ripped off the original IT.

YE SERPENTS EATS ITSELF.

endless scream.gif
 
The problem is that Ghostbusters is already firmly entrenched in culture. It made big bucks because it was light and refreshing. Today’s kids have been soaked in this sort of genre and probably won’t appreciate the novelty we experienced in the cinema a hundred years ago. They’ll probably try and cynically milk the franchise to diminishing returns as long as they can but today’s kids really deserve something of their own.
 
The problem is that Ghostbusters is already firmly entrenched in culture. It made big bucks because it was light and refreshing. Today’s kids have been soaked in this sort of genre and probably won’t appreciate the novelty we experienced in the cinema a hundred years ago. They’ll probably try and cynically milk the franchise to diminishing returns as long as they can but today’s kids really deserve something of their own.

They've been doing that since 1986 and the advent of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon. which even got it's own sequel series: Extreme Ghostbusters.

Not mention the three additional films plus games, merch etc.
 
Redlettermedia are not fans. It sounds much like what I was expecting, in the past sequels were often - just remake the first film with maybe a slight change or go bigger. There were exceptions of course Empire Strikes Back etc

Modern "lega-sequels" and prequels for that matter are too invested in the "lore" and essentially nostalgia fests. As they mention The Force Awakens did this (and simultaneously remade the original) but Jurassic World did much the same thing earlier the same year.

Spoilers throughout:

 
Ghostbusters: Afterlife: An engaging sequel to the original films. It could have gone in a Stranger Things direction with it's two tweens and two teens or it could have went more into horror territory given it's darker Sumerian Mythos and killer God Gozer (who looks like Alvin Stardust) but that's not the demographic it was after I guess, it wanted to stay with a child friendly rating. We have that old horror film staple - cornfields, invisible ghosts chasing people through the stalks. It's good to see the old ghostmobile (Ecto-1) and weapons in action again, even if the pesky kids lay waste to a town while pursuing a ghost. It's no secret or spoiler (from the trailers and cast list) that the old Ghostbusters will put in an appearance but which one will e a ghost? Good effects and even a few dark scenes but G:A has a strong line of humour running through it. Delighted to see the little mallow ghosts! Directed/Co-written by Jason Reitman. 7/10.

In cinemas.
 
I haven't yet seen it, but a consensus is appearing that this is one of the rare cases when Mark Kermode has called it wrong. ;)
 
This movie does seem to have divided fans and critics. The critics describe it as being everything I didn't want it to be, and everything I'd expect fans to hate, yet many of the fans are enjoying it anyway.
 
I haven't yet seen it, but a consensus is appearing that this is one of the rare cases when Mark Kermode has called it wrong. ;)

He doesn't like the original either, so I'm not sure his opinion counts this time.

What bothers me is, well, I read a recent article called something like "The reason Ghostbusters is beloved is because it's gross as hell", which doesn't seem to be the case with this sequel. Probably wouldn't be acceptable now, but I do remember the thrill of the original and marveling at what they were getting away with. This new one looks as soft as Mr Stay Puft.
 
I hope the stick with Ray Parker Jr's original theme tune
Don't you mean the Huey Lewis theme tune?!


https://ledgernote.com/blog/interesting/ghostbusters-theme-i-aint-afraid-of-getting-sued/

And from Wikipedia:
Shortly after the film's release, Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. for plagiarism, alleging he had copied the melody (primarily the bassline) from Lewis' 1983 song "I Want a New Drug".[5][7] The case was settled out of court in 1985 for an undisclosed sum and a confidentiality agreement that prohibited discussing the case. According to Parker there were several lawsuits at the time, because "when you sell that many records, I think everybody wants to say that they wrote the song."[7][8] Parker later sued Lewis for breaching the confidentiality agreement in a 2001 episode of VH1's Behind the Music, by reasserting Parker, Jr. stole the song. Regarding his case against Lewis, Parker said, "I got a lot of money out of that."[7]
 
I've read two really bad reviews of it that say it's suffocating in its fan service, and if you're not wholly, obsessively invested in it you'll get nothing out of it. It also features a character called Podcast. Presumably friends with Instagram Thread and Facebook Page.
Surely, Instagram Fred and Facebook Paige?
 
He doesn't like the original either, so I'm not sure his opinion counts this time.
I don't know what Kermode thought of Ghostbusters when it was first released, but I saw his review of the new one the other day and he said the original hasn't aged well. As it happens I saw the original a couple of weeks ago, and from the start I lamented that no-one seems able to make cinema like that anymore. It's aged phenomenally.
 
I don't know what Kermode thought of Ghostbusters when it was first released, but I saw his review of the new one the other day and he said the original hasn't aged well. As it happens I saw the original a couple of weeks ago, and from the start I lamented that no-one seems able to make cinema like that anymore. It's aged phenomenally.

I saw it about ten years ago and thought the same, and I don't think it was the nostalgia talking. I do know that Hadley Freeman's book on 80s Hollywood cinema, Life Moves Pretty Fast, includes a fantastic chapter on Ghostbusters and why it's her favourite movie. She had me convinced, it's well worth tracking down.
 
Seems making one for the fans pays off, a friend of mine whose judgement I trust saw it and liked it a lot.
 
Seems making one for the fans pays off, a friend of mine whose judgement I trust saw it and liked it a lot.

It hasn't done fantastically - though there's Covid and I don't think it was released in China (there's a blanket ban on "ghosts" though I dare say they fast and loose with this when they want to), so it depends what you mean by payed off. It was a lot cheaper than most blockbusters, including the previous one, which was a wise move.

The previous one was also "for the fans" in that it was, more or less, a bear for beat remake of the first. The actors were female which caused some outrage amongst "fans" which unfortunately the studio decided to weaponize, making everything a lot worse.

The whole "for the fans" mentally nauseates, to be honest people identifying as "fans" of things is increasingly sickening. I'm not talking about people liking or loving things, if people enjoy things, good for them. I'm talking about people defining themselves as fans of pop culture ephemera. For fuck's sake are people's lives so empty and are their souls so shallow that they must tribally identify with what are commercial products? Wearing these simultaneously as a badge of honour, a shield against the World and a weapon to attack it with?

It gets addressed in the video posted above and they point out that this new film is less for Ghostbusters, this new movie and those like it, is less for Ghostbusters "fans" and is more for people who love the idea of Ghostbusters fandom - grown men (sometimes women) fetishizing the toys and details. They even placed a ghost that was originally as toy in this. The tiny Staypufts nauseated me, "oh look there's a reference to the original but tiny and cute!" Baby Yoda, only worse.

If children enjoy this film then good, I wonder how many will see it and how many of those are dragged in by parents in their 30s to 50s because it's what they enjoyed when they were kids? Can't kids have they're own pointless crap to distract them from the numbing terror of existence, or must they inherit dad's bullshit?

I'm not arguing with you GNC, I just used your post as a jumping off point. I ultimately like, probably love the original and have some nostalgia for the sequel but the original was lightening in a bottle and clearly not replicable. I also hate this nostalgia baiting, reference heavy, pandering crap that modern mainstream cinema has become.
 
And breathe.

Flogging a dead horse has become the business model for popular culture, I'm afraid. Well, not so much flogging it as reviving it with electricity and watching it stumble back into reanimated life.
 
And breathe.

Flogging a dead horse has become the business model for popular culture, I'm afraid. Well, not so much flogging it as reviving it with electricity and watching it stumble back into reanimated life.

At this point the poor horse has been flogged into it's constituent atoms, which are being further flogged.
 
Look on the bright side, for the past couple of weeks the number one movie in the UK has been House of Gucci, which isn't a kids' film and isn't based on a franchise. It is possible to break this mould!
 
The whole "for the fans" mentally nauseates, to be honest people identifying as "fans" of things is increasingly sickening. I'm not talking about people liking or loving things, if people enjoy things, good for them. I'm talking about people defining themselves as fans of pop culture ephemera. For fuck's sake are people's lives so empty and are their souls so shallow that they must tribally identify with what are commercial products? Wearing these simultaneously as a badge of honour, a shield against the World and a weapon to attack it with?

It gets addressed in the video posted above and they point out that this new film is less for Ghostbusters, this new movie and those like it, is less for Ghostbusters "fans" and is more for people who love the idea of Ghostbusters fandom - grown men (sometimes women) fetishizing the toys and details. They even placed a ghost that was originally as toy in this. The tiny Staypufts nauseated me, "oh look there's a reference to the original but tiny and cute!" Baby Yoda, only worse.
Pop culture / music culture / architecture etc has long included nods of respect to or influence from the past.

An example is Tarantino, his films crammed full of both obvious and subtle references to previous films.

Many Reggae songs are updated reworks of 1970's songs, themselves reworks of 1960s; songs.

Hip Hop is full of MCs rapping a couple of bars' worth of lyrics from a song that influenced them, then adding their own lyrics.

A large chunk of central London is built with ancient Greece and Rome in mind!

There are many hundreds of youth sub cultures with their own fashion, slang, danced and music.

There are hundreds of people who define themselves by the football team they support.

Lots of people long to belong to a group - it's hardwired in many people, my guess from thousands of year ago when we lived in small groups of 30 or for defence and sharing resources.
 
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