I have introduced so many people to this movie, including the generation after me at work, and my son. One day my son was talking about his job and he said to me “they brought some Bobs in” and of course I knew exactly what he meant. Similarly, an old work friend was texting me and she said something about HR suggesting an intermediary for some problem and I texted “I have people skills, dammit!”
I once saw this movie described as a series of sketches linked loosely together, and I think that was meant to be damning, but not only is it correct, it is delightful.
There might be like 30 or 40 good quotes in that movie.
Enjoyable entry in the long-running space horror series. But good grief I soon lost count of the number of references/homages, dare I say it blatant copies from earlier films (primarily, if not exclusively, the first two). Some were so on the nose I was cringing slightly (‘Get away from her…you b****!’ Really?!). Still, worth a watch as it was all done well. The lead actress reminds me of another actress, but I cannot for the life of me think who that is though.
I really like this movie and would argue that this is the second-best Ghostbusters (the original being the best, of course) and does a far superior effort compared to the previous incarnation which seemed to be a collection of scenes that were built around somebody saying “Wouldn’t it be funny if…” and then trying to build a cohesive narrative on that. To me, this movie honors the original and Harold Ramis well; Jason Rietman does a good job of that as he takes over the writing and directing reins. Seeing Egon as a ghost meeting his grandchildren is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
I like Mckenna Grace as Phoebe Spengler, I can see how she is trying to negotiate her intelligence in the world while exploring this newly discovered long lost grandfather. Finn Woflhand, Logan Kim, and Celeste O’Connor are fine as the teens exploring the supernatural together and they do some fun stuff together. Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson come in at the end and help save the day, which I also feel honors the original movie, as opposed to their weirdo bit characters from Ghostbusters (2016).
Possibly the only sticking point is that the setup has Egon taking the Ecto-1 and Ghostbuster equipment and running off to Oklahoma to stop Gozer again. I find it hard to believe that Ray Stanz, in all their time working together, in all their experiences with the supernatural, wouldn’t believe him. It’s a minor critique though and it serves to get the story going.
Mandalorian and Grogu – Disney+
This, on the other hand, was disappointing. The Mandalorian series was mostly fun as it took everyone’s favorite Not-Boba Fett Mandalorian and teamed him up with a baby Yoda sidekick. Using short stories that played with samurai and old west tropes built a fun narrative and added to the Star Wars universe without needing to visit characters from the trilogies (at least for the most part). The movie feels like a condensed season of the show (because it is) and even though some fun stuff happens – there’s an Int-4 in the opening scene! – it doesn’t really expand upon Mandalorian and Grogu, their Lone Wolf and Cub relationship, or the universe. The CGI isn’t great and the believability suffers. It is fun to see Martin Scorsese as a fry cook/informant but Jon Faverau and Dave Filoni took a bit of a misstep with this one.
Just watched “Turning Point: Generation 9/11” on NFLX. An honest and moving look at the aftermath, children growing up post-9/11, the mess in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc. It’s fairly depressing, but well done.
Apropos of nothing … the best Ghostbuster movie in the franchise isn’t even really in the franchise. Ghostbusters (2016) (the one with the chicks) is hands down the funnest, funniest, best Ghostbusters movie. I will brook no dissent.
I agree, while maybe the original compares, I loved that reboot and did not understand the hate for it, it seemed yet another case of poison by incel rage as well as overt worship of the first movie, and it not just being the same… Not a popular opinion, but never really went everyone elses opinions on major franchises. I did rewatch the original (never had it on a pedestal) a couple of years ago, and didn’t find it that wonderful. Still ok.
If you’ve watched the Mandalorian series (and the Boba Fett one), I recommend the Lego parody version currently up on Disney+. It sort of recaps the series but with a lot of jokes thrown in.
Not sure it makes much sense if you haven’t seen the shows.
I started hearing about this X rated movie in high school during the mid 1970’s. It never reached theaters in my rural state.
The naughty cartoon nudity is mild by today’s standards.
Saw it on Prime last night.
Pigs are cops, black crows are hip African-Americans. There are other animals that I didn’t identify. Fritz is a horny alley cat.
My biggest takeaway is Fritz’s ridiculous attempts to fit into various counterculture groups. He spends a few days in Harlem and starts shouting dogma that he’s never studied or fully understands. The result is a riot with multiple deaths.
The most interesting theme is the same human faults of anger, violence, and cruelity are depicted in the people Fritz meets. The scenes of domestic violence were very difficult for me to watch.
Seeking enlightenment doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a good person. That’s strongly implied throughout Fritz’s journey throughout the counterculture groups.
Sex and drugs are the most consistent and universal interests. It’s sought and enjoyed by all the people Fritz’s meets. Sex revives a badly battered Fritz in the hospital.
I Recommend watching at least once. Censorship hid this film from many viewers. There were times when I thought Fritz the Cat was just a urban legend.
I do think it is a very funny movie but I also think that the whole thing was building scenes on “Wouldn’t it be funny if…” and then trying to tie the narrative to that. What if the guy who fires Wiig does a whole bit about flipping her off? What if they get their logo from a graffiti artist in the subway? What if one of them gets thrown all around by the particle projector? What if Leslie gets dropped on the floor at a concert? What if we take the original cast and make them weirdo side characters? I also felt that they should have acknowledged the original instead of ignoring it. It’s unfortunate to me because everyone in the cast was game and there are very funny parts in the movie (and I loved Kate McKinnon in it), but that could have not been a Ghostbusters and still had been funny. It’s also unfortunate that it was additionally poisoned by the incel rage. That whole narrative made it harder to critique the movie.
Basically, they decided that they needed to work in most of the original actors, the name, the car, the logo, the catchphrase, references to various ghosts etc. And once they got all those sorted out (and the set-ups to them), there was a tiny fraction of script left to fill in with actual plot.
That said, McKinnon is very good and I laughed every time at Chris Hemsworth’s coffee drinking thing, but they really should have just made their own film instead of making it a 75% homage to the first one.
The word “Ghostbusters” in the title is responsible for 90% of the funding and even more of the box office. They couldn’t have afforded most of that great cast.
They could still have done a Ghostbusters film. They just didn’t need to pad it out with so many Easter eggs there was no room for the rest of the movie.
