Ghostbusters: Afterlife

[CaptainWacky]

Oh yeah, another thing, I thought it was dumb that Phoebe was totally unaware of the events of the original movie. If she's supposed to be a super science nerd she'd surely be interested in the fact that GHOSTS ARE REAL in her world. Also it acts like Ghostbusters 2 never happened, probably because there's no way anyone wouldn't know that the Statue of Liberty came to life one time.

 

[Volpone]

"Ghostbusters 2" wasn't very good so they kind of just gloss over it. As for "Afterlife," I think I said above, it probably isn't a great film. It's very derivative of the original and other things, but I was dealing with the death of my dog and it pushed my buttons in all the good ways--the misfit, finding their place and being where they're supposed to be when they're needed, the cavalry showing up when all seems lost--it was just what I needed at the time and will always feel fondly about it.

 

[Loktar]

"Ghostbusters 2" wasn't very good so they kind of just gloss over it. As for "Afterlife," I think I said above, it probably isn't a great film. It's very derivative of the original and other things, but I was dealing with the death of my dog and it pushed my buttons in all the good ways--the misfit, finding their place and being where they're supposed to be when they're needed, the cavalry showing up when all seems lost--it was just what I needed at the time and will always feel fondly about it.

Ghostbusters 2 was still better than that forgettable female Ghostbusters piece of crap movie.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Well at least Frozen Empire looks like it will tell an original story and not just rely on nostalgia bait and reused plots from the original movies like Afterlife did...



Oh.

 

[CaptainWacky]

^Seems like it's shit: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghostbusters_frozen_empire

Yes, I know "DON'T TRUST CRITICS THEY'RE TOO WOKE/UNWOKE" but even the most positive board on the internet TrekBBS is lukewarm on it.

 

[whisky]

RLM liked it better than the last one.

 

[StarMan™]

I have seen the first Ghostbusters flick several times & have vague recollections of the second.

I had a Ghostbusters badge as a kid, now that I think about it.

Anyway. As with many, many franchises trudging along in their 3rd / 4th decade (or even 6th), or IPs that have been dug up to extract 'memberberries ... it was better left in the past. I'm so over anything that's a franchise.

^Seems like it's shit: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghostbusters_frozen_empire

Yes, I know "DON'T TRUST CRITICS THEY'RE TOO WOKE/UNWOKE" but even the most positive board on the internet TrekBBS is lukewarm on it.

It really has devolved into an insufferable echo chamber. I took a break from the place and made a few posts recently, but it just doesn't interest me. There doesn't seem to be much new blood; it's always the same few people. It used to be a lot more vibrant.

"Always the same few people" he says, while posting on a board with less than a dozen people.

Difference here being I can speak my mind without someone writing an essay in rebuttal to a drive-by post.

 

[CaptainWacky]

Difference here being I can speak my mind without someone writing an essay in rebuttal to a drive-by post.

*cracks knuckles*

 

[The Tomtrek]

Okay so I liked it better than Afterlife, which isn't really saying much because I really didn't like Afterlife.

It at least tries to be it's own story and have it's own identity beyond just screaming "HEY, REMEMBER GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)???? DO YOU??? REMEMBER PROTON PACKS??? AND ECTO-1?????". The original cast are worked into the plot in a more natural way that doesn't feel like cheap cameos (like before!) and there's some pretty interesting expansion of "Ghostbusters" as a concept which is nice to see.

Which isn't to say that it's good, though, because it's not really. It's painfully average. There's like 30 side characters and about two are interesting to watch. There's a billion sub-plots, including a good ol' gay romance that isn't excplict about it so they can still make money in countries that hate gay people. The callbacks that are there don't feel annoying this time, just... pathetic? Like are people cheering for the return of Walter Peck, or The Guy Who Ran The Library?

The Peck thing is interesting because he's just doing the same thing he did back in Ghostbusters - namely having extremely valid points that are dismissed because he's an asshole about it. In the original it was "Hey maybe having a bunch of random guys use unlicenced nuclear equipment in the middle of a well populated area ins't a very good idea", and here it's "Hey maybe bringing your underage daughter to fight ghosts in ways that could actually kill her isn't a very good idea". But we're supposed to think both of those things are unreasonable!

But the worst thing is that it's just not funny. Like, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II and YES EVEN Ghostbusters (2016) are at least obviously comedy films. They sort of forgot about it here, so it's just a generic action/adventure film with Marvel-grade comedy (which is to say: bad). There's maybe two laughs in the whole thing?

So I guess I just thought it was kind of 'eh' rather than actively bad like Afterlife was.

The mini-puffs still fucking suck FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUNKO POP MINION PEICES OF SHIT I HATE YOU.