Ghostbusters

According to the reviews and comments here, I was expecting a disaster of greater proportions, but that is not what the new Ghostbusters are. It is not even close to the original two films from the 80s - there is no need to discuss that. And so we're left to think of this film as a slightly misguided reboot of a time-honoured brand and an attempt at gender swapping to bring balance to the imaginary universe. There were a few jokes that worked, but for the most part, the humor was lost during their execution. As for the actors, the film relies heavily on the physical acting of Melissa McCarthy and the sassy temper of Leslie Jones, plus the fact that Chris Hemsworth, oddly enough, was quite good in the role of the dumb secretary. In short, it's one of those cases where they took too big a bite, and tried in vain to bring to the present day a classic for which that old-school look was a big part of its success. (07/30/2016)

The new Ghostbusters is very weak and below average, but otherwise its completely ordinary and as such does not deserve all the media attention it received. The fact that Paul Feig cast women in the lead roles is not the issue. The fact is that he cast actresses who, in an effort to be funny, are usually only convulsively awkward and embarrassing, they come up with nonsense when improvising humor, and they also painfully mine humor from gags that stop being funny after about five seconds. Compared to the original from 1984, Ghostbusters is worse in every way, from the level of humor, wherein clever jokes and humor with a serious face were replaced by the actors being loud, rolling of the eyes and falsetto signing to the new version of the Ghostbusters theme. Only the tricks look better today, but they don’t help the film out much. (07/27/2016)

I was really looking forward to a cheeky female thrashing, but I only got a moderately slimy and totally collapsed action movie without humor, with a burned digital visual and desperately untapped potential. I don't know why Ghostbusters seemed like a good platform for Feig for diss machismo and misogyny, because the original humorously broke the category of male heroism. But if he wanted to subvert, at least he should have done it properly. Chris as Barbie is not funny even in the first minute, and if it is a deeper concept, i.e., it has to show the viewer how stereotyping is not fun, then at least the rest of the film could work this way. But it doesn't work. The talented cast poses rather ostentatiously, the slapstick jokes fall a bit by the wayside, there is tension nowhere, and almost all of the ideas are just a poorly recycled original. The use of old veterans is uncertain rather than intelligent. The Ghostbusters built their campaign on hate, and one would like them to stoke the diss with something better than complete carelessness and zero adrenaline. Unfortunately, they're just running around with the most stereotypical crap about idiots without a guy who solves problems with a fist. P. S. If removing Chris's dance was really the most difficult directing decision, Paul has a pretty sweet life. (07/26/2016)

Sure, it doesn't capture the original film's atmosphere, it's more of a rip-off and actually a pretty bad remake, but it works when it references the original film, when beloved actors appear, and ultimately when it comes to some jokes that are actually quite well done at times. I simply enjoyed it, although nostalgia played a big part in it. (10/04/2016)

One star for Kristen Wiig's sincere effort. Otherwise lame, pointless, and dumb. Probably the most pathetic rip-off ever. A direct copy of the 1984 classic including the theme song and logo, without any invention of its own. Unless you count the character of Jillian Holtzman, and I really don't. (11/18/2016)