This is a nice movie to either review or watch on Thanksgiving [because a Macys Day parade is in it] and the movie is now out on Blu Ray including 3D and high definition blu ray. "Ghostbusters - Answer the Call" has a lot going for it. I'll try to count the ways.
Like the first Ghostbusters this is not really a scary movie, nor even much of an action movie. Essentially it's a comedy, which is greatly enhanced by beautiful special effects, a great cast and nice special features on the Blu-Ray disc.
In the USA of 2016, which seems wracked by moods of anger anxiety and self-doubt, it's refreshing to have a pure comedy--a comedy which even captures some of the spirit that used to make the USA a great country: a belief that technology, a can-do attitude and teamwork can overcome any odds.
The cast are excellent. Melissa McCarthy, one of the funniest female comedians today with a brash and frequently foul mouth, is supplemented by Kristen Wiig, who tends to be much more self-deprecating, Kate McKinnon who is perfect as the brilliant, oddball hardware specialist and Leslie Jones who is truly funny, unlike her predecessor Ernie Hudson, who played a completely straight role. The hapless secretary this time is Chris Hemsworth who usually plays a male hero but proves to be a real hoot in this comic role. Rick Moranis's tool of evil is replaced by Neil Casey as "Rowan North". "Rowan" isn't quite as funny as Moranis, but does pretty well as a sweaty custodian with dreams of revenge against the world. When you watch some of the outtakes, you realize all the main actors are quite adept at ad libbing.
This is likely only scary to some kids under the age of 10-12. There's a lot of funny sexual innuendos, but they are also delivered obliquely enough that it's likely only older teens or adults are going to catch the allusions. There's also very little in the way of swearing, no blood and no nudity. Also, no dead bodies depicted. So PG-13 seems quite appropriate.
The ghosts and other "paranormal" effects are far more beautiful than they are scary. Yes, some of them are creepy-looking. Others are amusing (just like the hot-dog eating ghost in the original). Interesting story here: when they contemplated what kind of large-scale ghosts would work in New York City, what popped into mind was the huge Macy's Thanksgiving parade balloons. They went into archives looking at very early balloon figures, back into the 1930's, and those balloons were CREEPY! It turned out they were EXACTLY the concepts the team was looking for! So when you see the large balloon shapes, almost all of them are taken directly from real parade models! [Not the "Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, of course]. Basically all they added was the fantastic lighting...
It's interesting that as computer graphics have gotten more and more real, directors are returning to anchoring as much of a movie as they can with REAL effects and using CG sparingly. Sometimes nothing else looks quite as real as a model or an actor in the right make-up. Where CG is used in this movie, a lot of attention was paid to ensuring the light reflecting on the real set matched what should be coming from the ghost...
The movie closely tracks the basic plot of the original Ghostbusters yet manages to do it without feeling like a re-tread. Some of that is because the dialog is all different, even if the general plot is similar. There's also the gender inversion in the re-make. The original had 4 guys as ghostbusters and one possessed woman [Akroyd, Murray, Ramis, Hudson, Weaver]. The remake has 4 women and a possessed guy [or two]. Basically, Wiig replicates Murray's cautious character, McCarthy replaces Akroyd's more impulsive adventurer, Jones replaces Hudson as a normal blue-collar worker who gets thrown into this mix, and McKinnon replaces Ramis's technical genius. Adding Hudson in the original always felt quite strained to me, but this film manages to add Jones in a much more credible way.
Hemsworth's "secretary" is TOO funny and has to be seen to be believed!
They managed to incorporate almost every one of the main actors from the original Ghostbusters into THIS film while still adding an all-new cast! Bill Murray has a small part as a skeptic ghost-debunker. Akroyd is a cabbie. Hudson is Jones's funeral parlour-owning uncle (and he's funnier than in the original). Sigourney Weaver makes a quick appearance as McKinnon's mentor. Old secretary Annie Potts is now a desk clerk. Although Harold Ramis passed away, his son is in this film. Ivan Reitman was a producer for the original and again for this one. Rick Moranis was offered a part, but declined, as he is now a single parent and doesn't take many roles. Some other interesting characters appear in the new film including Ozzie Osbourne (yes, really), Charles Dance [the elder Lannister from Game of Thrones, who positively drips patrician sarcasm], and Steve Higgins, undoubtedly the least-qualified character you ever saw as Dean of a college [and also the funniest].
Were the writers psychic? This movie came out last year. They have an aide to the Mayor who has a resemblance to Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina who may soon be hanging around NYC as US representative to the UN. They mention a future date at which the President of the US is "a PLANT". 5 letters, like TRUMP. Hmm...
Do I have ANY complaints about the movie? Well, just a few. Their version of Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, although higher-tech than the original, just doesn't look as good as the old one to me. A minor issue I think.
Oh and they've left VERY ample room for a sequel. In fact at the end of the film the name "Zuul" comes up!
If you think I spoiled everything, I didn't! The fun is in listening to this cast and in watching the visual feast. Also there's a heaping helping of more comedy in the "specials" on Blu-ray.
The cast are all excellent. Melissa McCarthy, definitely one of the funniest female comedians today with a brash and frequently foul mouth, is supplemented by Kristen Wiig who tends to be much more self-deprecating, Kate McKinnon who is perfect as the brilliant, oddball hardware specialist and Leslie Jones who is truly funny, unlike her predecessor Ernie Hudson who played a completely straight role. The hapless secretary this time is Chris Hemsworth who usually plays a male hero but proves to be a true hoot in this comic role. Rick Moranis's tool of evil is replaced by Neil Casey as "Rowan North". Rowan isn't quite as funny as Moranis, but does pretty well as a sweaty custodian with dreams of revenge against the world. When you watch some of the outtakes you realize that all the main actors are quite adept at ad libbing.
This is likely only scary to some kids under the age of 10-12. There's also a lot of funny sexual innuendos, but they are delivered obliquely enough that it's likely only the older teens or adults are going to catch the allusions. There's also very little in the way of swearing, no blood and no nudity. Also, no dead bodies depicted.
The ghosts and other "paranormal" effects are far more beautiful than they are scary. Yes, some of them are in fact creepy-looking. Others are amusing (just like the hot-dog eating ghost in the original). Interesting story here: when they contemplated what kind of large-scale ghosts would be in New York City, what popped into mind was the huge Macy's Thanksgiving parade balloons. They went into archives looking at very early balloon figures, all the way back into the 1930's, and those balloons were CREEPY! It turned out they were EXACTLY the concepts the team was looking for! So when you see the large balloon shapes, almost all of them are taken directly from real parade models! [Not the "Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, of course]. Basically all they added was the fantastic lighting...
It's interesting that as computer graphics has gotten more and more real, directors are returning to anchoring as much of a movie as they can with REAL effects, and using CG sparingly. Sometimes nothing else looks quite as real as a model or an actor in the right make-up. Where CG is used in this movie, a lot of attention was paid to ensuring the light reflections on the real set matched what should be coming from the ghost...
The movie somewhat closely tracks the basic plot of the original Ghostbusters yet manages to do that without feeling like a re-tread. Some of that is because the dialog is all different, even if general plot is similar. There's also the gender inversion of the re-make. The original had 4 guys as ghostbusters and one possessed woman [Akroyd, Murray, Ramis, Hudson, Weaver]. The remake has 4 women and a possessed guy [or two]. Basically Wiig replicates Murray's somewhat cautious character, McCarthy replaces Akroyd's more impulsive adventurer, Jones replaces Hudson as a normal blue-collar worker who gets throw into the mix and McKinnon replaces Ramis's egghead. Adding Hudson in the original always felt quite strained to me, but this film manages to add Jones in a much more credible way.
Hemsworth's "secretary" is TOO funny and has to be seen to be believed!
They managed to incorporate almost every one of the main actors from the original Ghostbusters into THIS film, while still adding an all-new cast! Bill Murray has a small part as a skeptic ghost-debunker. Akroyd is a cabbie. Hudson is Jones's funeral parlour-owning uncle (and he's funnier than in the original). Sigourney Weaver makes a quick appearance as McKinnon's mentor. Old secretary Annie Potts is now a desk clerk. Although Harold Ramis passed away his son is in this film. Ivan Reitman was a producer for the original and again for this one. Rick Moranis was offered a part but declined, as he is now a single parent and doesn't take many roles. Some other interesting characters appear in the new film including Ozzie Osbourne (yes, really), Charles Dance [the elder Lannister from Game of Thrones] who positively drips patrician sarcasm, and Steve Higgins, undoubtedly the least-qualified character you ever saw as Dean of a college [and also the funniest].
Were the writers psychic? The movie came out last year. They have an aide to the Mayor who has a significant resemblance to Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina who may soon be hanging around NYC as US representative to the UN. They mention a future date at which the President of the US is "a PLANT". 5 letters, like TRUMP. Hmm...
Do I have ANY complaints about the movie? Well, just a few. Their version of Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man, although higher-tech than the original, just doesn't look as good as the old one to me. Minor.
Oh and they've left VERY ample room for a sequel. In fact at the end of the film the name "Zuul" comes up!
If you think I spoiled everything, I didn't! The fun is in listening to this cast and in watching the visual feast.
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From the manufacturer
Ghostbusters makes its long-awaited return, rebooted with a cast of hilarious new characters. Thirty years after the beloved original franchise took the world by storm, director Paul Feig brings his fresh take to the supernatural comedy, joined by some of the funniest actors working today – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth. They’re here to save the world!
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Ghostbusters
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WHO YOU GONNA CALL????? THE BEST REBOOT THERE EVER WAS!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2016
Not only was this the best film franchise reboot i have ever seen, but it is also the best reboot the Ghostbusters could have while not being a continuation! i loved it and did not think i was going to at all!!! grew up on gb1 and 2 and real ghostbusters.... met dan aykroyd when i was 12 and he told me about the gb3 script which excited me but never got made :(this movie takes ghostbusting to the MAX!!! the lingo, the equipment, the style - its all there times 100! how could we think this movie was going to be bad when ivan and dan had a huge part in helping out! if you are still on the fence go see it and you will be surprised!!!my 8 year old daughter loves the first 2 but loved this one also!we need a sequel Sony!!!! lets keep it going this time and not wait 5 yearsyours truly, one of the biggest ghostbuters fans there isALSO - shout out to Sony for being the first company to release a 4k/3d blu ray combo!!! Shame on all of you other companies!!! Why the hell are you selling us a 4k/reg blu ray combo when theres a 3d version out there!!?!! Looking @ you warner bros!!!!! (Batman v superman)OG SWISS FROM THE DOGG POUND GANGSTAS!!! CHUCHHHHH
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2016
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