He didn’t write it, he adapted it for the screen.
What worked for me with the original was a combination of factors:
[ol]
[li]The world itself felt gritty and real, like “Lovecraft comes to '80s New York”[/li][li]Aykroyd’s goofy earnestness and Ramis’ deadpan delivery helped to sell that reality[/li][li]Murray was the cynic, acknowledging the absurdity of what was happening and the ridiculous jargon coming from Ramis and Aykroyd[/li][/ol]
In short, it was a kind of grounded absurdity with very dry comedy running throughout. The Staypuft Marshmallow Man, for example, is absurd–and the characters acknowledge this—and yet it’s still treated as a very real threat.
The sense I get from the reboot is that it’s weightless and almost like a cartoon. There’s no real, credible drama on which to hang the comedy. The result is insubstantial, like new Simpsons vs. classic Simpsons.
If I’m wrong, I’ll gladly give it a go, so once someone sees it, let me know. I’d rather be wrong about it than right.
It will be as good as any remake would be. I expect Leslie Jones to steal the show. Kids are gonna love it the way they loved the first one, it’ll sell some merchandise, maybe received better on video than the big screen, you’ll have to watch the classic channels to see the original after this.
Let’s not nitpick. He wrote the script, which was based on the novel by Somerset Maugham.
Yeah all this “I’m not afraid” stuff… it’s “I ain’t fraid of no ghost!”
Which is called adopting a work for the screen.
Which is a subset of script writing.
To continue the hijack, The Razor’s Edge was one of those rare films that was much better than its source material - the screenplay removed the buffer of the narrator and a lot of pretentious faff, which resulted in much tighter storytelling. Pity that the weak point was Murray’s acting - serious period drama is definitely not his forte.
To be honest, in hindsight I’m not convinced his shtick in the original Ghostbusters has dated well either. The whole “doing goofy stuff with a can-you-believe-this-shit? insouciance” thing isn’t as charming as it once was.
But I’ll probably wait for the new film to hit television.
I’m the one person who largely hasn’t been paying attention to all the Ghostbusters stuff. Is this pretty much a straight remake, or is it a new story set in the Ghostbusters “world”?
Did they use this one 
The blatant sexual harassment certainly isn’t.
I believe it’s the second but don’t know if it’s in actual continuity with the first films (i.e., I don’t know if anyone is saying “remember thirty years ago when…?”)
I don’t have strong feeling of attachment towards the original (fun film, good film, but nothing I feel a need to defend) but the trailers for this one haven’t make me so much as crack a smile. If that’s the fault of the trailer-makers, they need to fire whoever approved those trailers. God knows I’ve seen enough trailers for shit movies that made it look good that making a trailer for a good movie look good shouldn’t be that difficult. No, I don’t care about what trailers looked like in 1986 – it’s not 1986 any longer and hasn’t been for a long, long time.
Anyway, I’m sure I’ll see it eventually when it’s airing six times a day on basic cable.
I’ve never seen her in anything- haven’t seen a single episode of SNL since she’s been a cast member- but she absolutely cracks me up in the Ghostbusters trailers. I mean, seriously cracks me up. Looking forward to figuring out what she’s all about.
Wait…They TALK???
It’s a remake. The first trailer started with, ‘30 years ago…,’ which muddled things a bit, but it’s a straight up remake. New York has never seen ghosts before in this story.
The trailers looked really bad, but I couldn’t put my finger on why until I saw a YouTube video review that described it perfectly to me (which matches a lot of what you say, Lobot).
In the original, the characters in the movie weren’t “in on the joke” of being in a movie about ghosts. you could argue that with Rick Moranis character, but still…
The reviewer’s voice is kind of screechy, but here’s the part I’m talking about https://youtu.be/u-Pvk70Gx6c
I think it’s tied into the same reasons I hate most Adam Sandler movies where he talks in a stupid voice. That’s an instant red flag for me that the movie is guaranteed to suck (IMHO) .
She’s all about doing crazy impressions. Her Hillary Clinton expresses the barely concealed sense of deeply unhinged entitlement, her Angela Merkel taps into the German sense of insecurity of arguably the most accomplished leader in Europe, and her “Woman from a small village in Russia” is…well, it captures what it is to be Russian, e.g. freezing, hungry, and hoping to be eaten by wolves. And her impressions of Justin Bieber and Ellen DeGeneres are so spot on you have to take a hard look to confirm that it is not the actual targets.
I would die a happy man in a comedy threesome with Kate McKinnon doing crazy impressions on one side and Anna Chlumsky making insane faces andyelling profane insults on the other.
Well, they sort of babble on about hairstyles and kitten heels and so forth. None of it is very important unless they say something like, “I’d like to learn to drive a car,”, “I’m tired of being in the kitchen all day,” or “I’m pregnant!” And now they’re getting all uppity and wanting to be in movies with their clothes on and everything. There should be a constitutional amendment preventing this sort of thing.
Stranger
I used to watch the old The Ghost Busters.
I think it was pretty good. How about:
-
Ghostbusters Receptionist: “WE GOT ONE!” (rings bell)…
Ghostbusters vehicle (license plate ECTO-1) veers out of building with siren and lights working…
and the theme tune kicks in
-
Bill Murray “I’m the Chairman of the largest paranormal removal company in America”
-
Bill Murray “This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions!”
Dan Ackroyd “Real wrath of God stuff - fire and brimstone coming down from the sky!”
Bill Murray “Human sacrifice … dogs and cats living together” :eek: -
The possessed Sigourney Weaver writhes seductively on a couch “You want this body?”
Bill Murray “Is this a trick question?!”
Shit, I never knew the crappy cartoon was a remake, down to the [del]monkey[/del]ape…