# Ghostbusters (2016) is super awesome! (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 15, 2016, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965 "2016-07-15T09:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/81 "2016-07-21T00:37:27Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > > [@Leaper](#): > > > > One thing some people seem to be forgetting is that this new movie, IIRC, is NOT a remake. The original characters still exist, and the original two movies still happened. > > > > So seeing as how these are completely new characters in the same universe, what about the casting is a “gimmick”? > > Yes it is, it’s a hard reboot. Pretty much everyone who has seen it has said as much. Most of the original **actors** make cameos, but in roles completely divorced from their original characters. The thing that’s confusing people is that one of the trailers started with “30 years ago”. I heard that this movie was set in the same universe as the earlier ones before I saw it, but I looked carefully and saw no sign of that. For one thing, people would not have been as skeptical of the existence of ghosts as they were in this film. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/82 "2016-07-21T02:00:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard that this movie was set in the same universe as the earlier ones before I saw it, but I looked carefully and saw no sign of that. For one thing, people would not have been as skeptical of the existence of ghosts as they were in this film. Blame that on the marketing people; one of the trailers implied it was sequel to the original movie. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/83 "2016-07-21T03:00:41Z")
Did anyone else think that the villain resembled John Belushi? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/84 "2016-07-21T03:16:59Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Did anyone else think that the villain resembled John Belushi? Yes, I wondered if that was just a wild coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/85 "2016-07-21T05:34:27Z")
Loved it. Way better than I expected to. Especially Holtzmann. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/86 "2016-07-21T12:50:11Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Being shoehorned is practically definitive of cameos. > > As for Peck, he’s an odd choice for ‘real’ given that he’s such a strawman of the type Harold Ramis is so fond of beating up in his films. I honestly don’t think the original film would stand up to the kind of pickiness people are subjecting the new one to. The 1984 original has an absolutely dreadful protagonist played by an actor who’s phoning it in, is uncomfortably sexist, largely disconnects the key events of the third act (Peck’s interference in blowing up the containment unit doesn’t really have anything to do with Gozer’s plan to return) and has a thousand other problems. Anyone who thinks it’s a wonderful masterwork hasn’t watched it in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/87 "2016-07-22T02:19:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The 1984 original has an absolutely dreadful protagonist played by an actor who’s phoning it in, is uncomfortably sexist, largely disconnects the key events of the third act (Peck’s interference in blowing up the containment unit doesn’t really have anything to do with Gozer’s plan to return) and has a thousand other problems. Anyone who thinks it’s a wonderful masterwork hasn’t watched it in awhile. I think I have complained elsewhere that the original movie would not hold up to the level of nitpicking that the new one is receiving. When did this start? When did it become impossible for fans not to destroy what they love, approaching every new instantiation with bitter animus? Fanimus. Actually, the documentary about Ghostbusters fans on Netflix does generally feature the happy side, which was heartening to see, even if it was almost certainly intentional that people who weren’t enthusiastic about the new movie didn’t get any screen time. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/88 "2016-07-22T15:46:28Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Did anyone else think that the villain resembled John Belushi? I was thinking more of Rob Schneider. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/89 "2016-07-22T16:41:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > When did it become impossible for fans not to destroy what they love, approaching every new instantiation with bitter animus? Fanimus. Somewhere around the time we decided that ‘amazing’ and ‘awful’ were the only two things a movie could be. If a perfectly fine, but not excellent, movie is not to your pleasure then picking it apart is the only way to justify calling it a trash fire. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/90 "2016-07-22T17:29:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard that this movie was set in the same universe as the earlier ones before I saw it, but I looked carefully and saw no sign of that. For one thing, people would not have been as skeptical of the existence of ghosts as they were in this film. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > Blame that on the marketing people; one of the trailers implied it was sequel to the original movie. Within the movie - there is one line about how things get forgotten over time - I took that as a direct hint at the happenings of the original movie - that they were ‘far enough back’\* that most poeple had forgotten. Secondly, the authorities were much less dismissive - they _believed_ them - just wanted them to not cause a panic. \*Kinda like the Jedi in a new hope. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/91 "2016-07-22T17:32:56Z")
In the real world, it’s only been thirty years, and the events of those movies are so extraordinary (a fifty-foot tall marshmallow man? the Statue of Liberty walking down Fifth Avenue?), I can’t imagine that people forgot. Plus, as I said, the skepticism would not be there. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/92 "2016-07-22T18:16:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I think I have complained elsewhere that the original movie would not hold up to the level of nitpicking that the new one is receiving. When did this start? When did it become impossible for fans not to destroy what they love, approaching every new instantiation with bitter animus? Fanimus. That’s the downside of reboots. The upside is that they have a built-in fan-base, they don’t have to go out and create a new one. The downside is that the built-in fan-base will be hyper-critical, and have an automatic tendency to compare the reboot with the original - and if isn’t better, to be vocally disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/93 "2016-07-22T18:36:33Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I think I have complained elsewhere that the original movie would not hold up to the level of nitpicking that the new one is receiving. When did this start? When did it become impossible for fans not to destroy what they love, approaching every new instantiation with bitter animus? Fanimus. > [@Holden McNeil (24 August 2001)](#): > > The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another. So at least since then; what have you been doing the past 15 years? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/94 "2016-07-22T20:46:43Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I didn’t get the sense they were stomping on the original at all. Rather, it had a feeling of “Here’s this amazing universe we totally fucked up with Ghostbusters II, it’s time to build more into that universe!” And anyone who says this movie RUINED everything, I would like to refer them to that terrible movie Ghostbusters II, which had like, _one_ joke. Did no one like Ghostbusters II except me? I loved it, better than the original in fact! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/95 "2016-07-22T22:03:16Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > So at least since then; what have you been doing the past 15 years? Yeah, but eventually they got to be bigger assholes than me. That’s where I draw the line. > [@YogSothoth](#): > > Did no one like Ghostbusters II except me? I loved it, better than the original in fact! I recently saw it again, and I forgive it for being inferior. It’s actually got a lot of funny bits and it was nice to visit the characters again. That business with an animated Statue of Liberty giving all of New York the big happy makes my jaw ache with the need for sarcasm. But after decades I have revisited the issue and I’m glad Ghostbusters II exists. Especially as the 2009 video game makes its plot developments important to the overal Ivo Shandor storyline. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/96 "2016-07-22T23:27:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In the real world, it’s only been thirty years, and the events of those movies are so extraordinary (a fifty-foot tall marshmallow man? the Statue of Liberty walking down Fifth Avenue?), I can’t imagine that people forgot. Plus, as I said, the skepticism would not be there. Yeah, that makes about as much sense how **War of the Worlds** (the TV series) had the general public suffer from mass amnesia about the “Martian” invasion (w/ WWII levels of destruction) that happened 35 years prior in the move. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/97 "2016-07-22T23:41:57Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Yeah, that makes about as much sense how **War of the Worlds** (the TV series) had the general public suffer from mass amnesia about the “Martian” invasion (w/ WWII levels of destruction) that happened 35 years prior in the move. Just imagine INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE having gone the same route. “Your father was a great pilot, the first man to bring down one of the aliens.” “One of the what, now?” “Aliens. He punched one out, said ‘Welcome to Earth’.” “Does not ring a bell.” “They blew up the White House!” “Sounds familiar.” “Really?” “No.” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/98 "2016-07-22T23:48:04Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > I think I have complained elsewhere that the original movie would not hold up to the level of nitpicking that the new one is receiving. When did this start? When did it become impossible for fans not to destroy what they love, approaching every new instantiation with bitter animus? Fanimus. First, it’s _not_ a new installment in the series, it’s intended as a replacement for the original movie. It _does not function_ as a movie about a post-Ghostbusters world - Wiig’s character wouldn’t be thrown out of her job for believing in the paranormal in the world established by the original, where the city cheered the Ghostbusters on as they went to fight Gozer the Gozerian. The movie wants to have its cake and eat it too - it keeps taking things from the original to try to play on your nostalgia but refuses to conform to the needs of being a Ghostbusters sequel. Even the style of comedy is wrong for the series - the story of the original does not need to be enjoyed ironically, and works as a serious movie about intelligent, witty people in a weird situation. The new one is Melissa McCarthy starring as Melissa McCarthy in a Ghostbusters costume. Second, the creators of the original movie didn’t try to sell it with “If you don’t like this movie you’re a communist and you hate small business!” Marketing as a substitute for a quality product is bad enough when your marketing strategy is not “Stir up bigotry!” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/99 "2016-07-23T00:37:46Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > First, it’s _not_ a new installment in the series, it’s intended as a replacement for the original movie. The word I used was _instantiation_. It means the making of an _instance_, or an _instance_ that has been made. It’s range of meanings overlap but little with the word you used, _installment_. The new Ghostbusters doesn’t not replace the old one any more than the old Hercules TV show replaced the ancient mythology of Hercules. Nor did the Disney movie called Hercules replace the TV Show or the actual ancient legends. They exist along side the older _instantiations_. All continue to be available to be enjoyed or reviled on their own merits as you see fit. Nothing has been replaced. > [@Grumman](#): > > It _does not function_ as a movie about a post-Ghostbusters world - Wiig’s character wouldn’t be thrown out of her job for believing in the paranormal in the world established by the original, where the city cheered the Ghostbusters on as they went to fight Gozer the Gozerian. And then, unless you’re going to argue against including Ghostbusters II in the cannon, they were sued out of existence and reviled as frauds in spite of the finale of Ghostbusters. > [@Grumman](#): > > The movie wants to have its cake and eat it too - it keeps taking things from the original to try to play on your nostalgia but refuses to conform to the needs of being a Ghostbusters sequel. It was never intended to be a sequel. It was intended as a variation of the theme of Ghostbusters. That is permitted. The entirety of our culture for as long as we have records consists of creating variations on what has come before. > [@Grumman](#): > > Even the style of comedy is wrong for the series - the story of the original does not need to be enjoyed ironically, and works as a serious movie about intelligent, witty people in a weird situation. The style of comedy from the second movie was different from the style of comedy in the first movie. The style of comedy in the beloved cartoon was different from the style of comedy in the movies. The style of comedy in the cult classic West End Games RPG is different from the style of comedy in either the movies or the cartoon. Yes, they are using a different style of comedy. I’m certain other people are bitching, on the contrary, that the new movie leans too much on aping the comedy of the first one. We’re all living in a world of comedy created by the original Ghostbusters. We’re allowed to vary it from there. > [@Grumman](#): > > The new one is Melissa McCarthy starring as Melissa McCarthy in a Ghostbusters costume. I’ll let you in on a secret. The original featured Bill Murray just being fucking Bill Murray in a Ghostbusters costume. > [@Grumman](#): > > Second, the creators of the original movie didn’t try to sell it with “If you don’t like this movie you’re a communist and you hate small business!” Marketing as a substitute for a quality product is bad enough when your marketing strategy is not “Stir up bigotry!” The film-makers didn’t make it about sexism. Sexists did. The film-makers had to cope with weirdly shrill attacks from piping dickholes with undisguised pathological sexual animus. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965/100 "2016-07-23T02:46:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > The film-makers didn’t make it about sexism. Sexists did. The film-makers had to cope with weirdly shrill attacks from piping dickholes with undisguised pathological sexual animus. I have to say, though, that I’m feeling a bit grateful to the abovementioned piping dickholes at present. Because I just saw the movie and really enjoyed it, and I probably would **not** have gone to see it if the whole sexist/racist hatefest hadn’t made it something of a matter of principle. I’m not a big fan of scary movies even with comedy thrown in, and I remember finding the original _Ghostbusters_ scary in parts back when it was released, even though I also enjoyed it (but not so much that I bothered to see any of the sequels). But while watching the movie tonight, I suddenly remembered that I was thinking the exact same thing about it that I’d thought while watching the original and had forgotten about: “This is fun and _different_, instead of being just a movie like all the other movies”. So, well done MRAs and racists for making such a fuss about a movie that I might not otherwise have seen but am very glad I did! (Now that I think of it, the same thing happened with _Mad Max: Fury Road_, which since I never saw any other of the _Mad Max_ movies wouldn’t even have pinged my must-see radar if it hadn’t been for a bunch of internet trolls saying EWWWW GIRRRRRRLLLLLZ, but that one turned out to be very good too! :)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ghostbusters-2016-is-super-awesome-spoilers/759965.md?page=6)