Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
REWIND 014 - Ghostbusters (2016)
0 Plays2 seconds ago
"You guys! This is exactly how I pictured my death!"
Filmmaker Paul Feig has a new movie in theaters this week (The Housemaid), so we're rewinding ask the way back to November 2021 when we first discussed the director's work!
We discuss the cast, the writing, and the politics! Their decisions to cater to the fanboys while also making fun of them! We attack both sides of the discourse surrounding this movie, Brett has trouble articulating points and your mileage may vary! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together...mass hysteria!
If there's something strange in YOUR neighborhood, who are YOU going to call? Hopefully not us. You CAN find us on social media, though. Do that instead:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and YouTube.
- Email us your thoughts or requests to disenfranchpod@gmail.com
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky and Letterboxd.
- Check out Stephen’s new podcast with friend of the show Hope Stough - Welles University - on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever podcasts are sold!
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Letterboxd.
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram.
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including bi-weekly episodes of What Are We Watching? at https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Rewind Episode Explanation
00:00:22
Speaker
Welcome to the Disenfranchised Podcast, that podcast about those franchises of one. Those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. I'm one of your hosts, Tucker. This week's recording session couldn't come together due to scheduling conflicts, so we're doing a rewind. Something called The Housemaid is coming out this week, and according to Stephen, it's directed by Paul Feig. We've covered a lot of Mr. Feig's films on this podcast, we figured since...
00:00:49
Speaker
Our episode on 2015 Spy is still pretty fresh. We'd reach back to almost 200 episodes ago and replay the Ghostbusters 2016 episode.
Replay of Ghostbusters 2016 Episode
00:00:58
Speaker
It's one of my favorite episodes from before I became a host.
00:01:02
Speaker
We've got our year-end episode coming up next week, so until then, courage. Okay, love you, bye. If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who are you going to call the Disenfranchised Podcast? Yes, we're that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
Host Introductions & Ghostbusters Joke
00:01:25
Speaker
I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy, and joining me, as always, it's the man who puts the cool in Ecto Cooler. It's my co-host, Brett Wright. Hey, Brett.
00:01:35
Speaker
Bustin' makes me feel good, Stephen. Well, hey, what you do in your own private time behind closed doors is your own business, and I'm not going to pry, sir. Fair point. Glad we got that joke out of the way early. It was bound to happen, so I figured, hey, why did just rip that Band-Aid off?
00:01:52
Speaker
Good call. I mean, who's to say we won't return to it later on in the program? I have... No idea. it We'll make that a recurring joke episode. It'll be great. People will love it. Maybe a recurring joke throughout the rest of the podcast history.
00:02:06
Speaker
Who even knows anything? but At any rate, we are here ah because there's a movie opening this weekend, a movie, Brett, you have been looking forward to since your youth.
00:02:16
Speaker
um But ah before that movie came out, another movie came out a few years ago. Brett, what movie are we discussing today? We are talking about Ghostbusters. They added Answer the Call later. Right.
Ghostbusters 2016 Cast Rundown
00:02:29
Speaker
From 2016. Right. We are talking about the 2016 Ghostbusters, directed by one Paul Feig and written by Kate DePold and Paul Feig and starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, ah Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth, and featuring cameos by In Order of Appearance, Deep Breath, Hemsworth,
00:02:53
Speaker
Zach Woods, Ed Begley Jr., Charles Dance, Karen Soni, or Karan Soni, sorry, Steve Higgins,
00:03:03
Speaker
ah but but but Neil Casey, Dave Allen, Kate Dippold, Nate Corddry, Daniel Ramis, Pat Kiernan, Bill Murray, Michael McDonald, Ozzy Osbourne,
00:03:17
Speaker
ah Toby Huss, mike the late, great Michael Kenneth Williams III, Matt Walsh, Andy Garcia, Cecily Strong, Annie Potts, Sam Richardson, Milena Vayntra, Dan Aykroyd, who else? Al Roker, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver, and uncredited cameos by, among others, Brian Baumgartner from The Office.
00:03:43
Speaker
I'm trying to think if there's any see if there's anyone else here that I recognize who is not credited in this movie. I'm just going to call it there, although I'm sure if I keep scrolling, I'll find someone because the list of uncredited cast on IMDb for this movie is insanely long. But there you go. There is a lot of people in this movie. Oh, I'm sorry. Elizabeth Perkins, of course. How could I forget? Elizabeth Perkins was in this movie for like two seconds.
00:04:09
Speaker
ah for literally no reason. um I'm sure we'll talk about that among other things. But yes, the 2016 Ghostbusters, a movie that the internet was generally pretty chill about and didn't have any thoughts about at all.
00:04:22
Speaker
No, it went incredibly smoothly and nothing ever came of it. So I guess we're just here to talk about how completely chill it was and how no one had any problems with this movie and it was perfect film, 10 out of 10.
Personal Connection to Original Ghostbusters
00:04:34
Speaker
And it somehow never got a sequel, right?
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be just like any other episode. ah So, Brett, you, um I think it's fair to say, are a a a a devotee of Ghostbusters. Is that is that a fair assessment?
00:04:51
Speaker
i would I would put myself in that camp, although there are definitely some things that some people would maybe say keep me out of that camp, actually. Like, I don't. I don't have my own proton pack. i don't have the i don't have my own cosplay of the whole getup as much as I would love to have those things.
00:05:08
Speaker
um I don't have a whole lot of merch memorabilia. I've got a little bit, but not a whole lot. um But at the same time, it is my all-time favorite movie.
00:05:20
Speaker
I grew up loving it. Um, there's plenty of Halloween photos of me dressed up as a Ghostbuster with my real Ghostbuster backpack, you know, cause they had toys back then. Sure. Goodbye. Um, so, you know, dressed up as a real Ghostbuster for Halloween, multiple years in a row, like the home homemade flight suit and all. Uh, so like, it yes, it's, it's, it's a part of my childhood, a very big part of my childhood.
00:05:48
Speaker
It, it, if it affected my sense of humor And what I like, even just a little bit of horror there. So there's a little bit of like seeded horror stuff. it's It's definitely a horror comedy. A thing that you took ah took some time coming around to. i did, yeah. Yeah, you're right.
00:06:07
Speaker
um As as ah ah documented on this podcast. Correct. um We've got it all on. We do. And so...
00:06:19
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah, the long story short, this is a very long answer to that very short question. um Yes, I am a devoted Ghostbusters fan. i was I was trying to avoid using the word fan because of its negative connotations, particularly sure yeah the ones that we have discussed in length on this podcast, and I'm sure ones that we will continue to discuss at length in this very episode.
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Fan Opinions on Ghostbusters 2016
00:06:45
Speaker
Let's yeah, this is going to be one of those we hate fans episodes. So let's ah yeah, good, good job avoiding that word. I will try to do that as well. Yeah, ah which is why I chose devotee because again, you are you're devoted to this film. You love this film. This film holds a very special place for you.
00:07:04
Speaker
Whereas I don't think saw this film in its entirety until I was freshman in college. stayed up really, I had pulled an all nighter the night before and then gone to a couple of classes and then like passed out for a couple hours, but woke up still kind of punchy. And my friends decided, Hey, let's watch Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters two back to back.
00:07:25
Speaker
And so that was, i and I had actually, I think purchased them on DVD and Before I'd ever seen them. I was, they were on sale at target for like 10 bucks, the two pack, um, like some anniversary edition.
00:07:37
Speaker
And so I had purchased them in that two pack. And so, um, were we, Hey, looking for an excuse to watch these movies. So we watched them and, uh, I was so punchy during our watch through of ghostbusters two, that I almost passed out from laughing, um, at, at two particular scenes that just, um,
00:07:59
Speaker
that In retrospect, probably aren't the funniest scenes in that movie, but at the time, they just hit me like that that special kind of way. ah The first is the scene where Rick Moranis, who is taking a a crash course in law and is defending the Ghostbusters in court, in in his defense, uses the phrase, and one time I turned into a dog and they helped me, um which...
00:08:21
Speaker
tears. I was laughing so hard. And then later in the movie, um, when a woman's mink coat comes to life and runs down the street again, ah just intense stomach pain. I was laughing so hard.
00:08:35
Speaker
So, um, I mean, not the original ghostbusters, but you know, the sequel, um, which has its fans, has its devotees as well. um so So, yeah, um i i am not I would not call myself a devotee of the Ghostbusters, but I own all three of the Ghostbusters films up to this point, ah including this one that we're discussing today.
00:08:57
Speaker
And i have a sense of enjoyment of all of them. I i don't think there's a truly terrible film in the mix, something I'm sure will cause no contention between you and I whatsoever.
00:09:09
Speaker
Well, little bit of spoilers. i
Strengths & Weaknesses of Ghostbusters 2016
00:09:12
Speaker
After watching it again, i don't know if I would call this movie terrible. It's almost there. It's very close, but I don't think I would say it's terrible because there is a skeleton of a good movie here.
00:09:27
Speaker
We'll get into that. and And I'm not going to go out of my way to say that this movie does not have its problems. It certainly does. And I will be the first to point those out and where I think those problems lie.
00:09:38
Speaker
um But by the same token, there's a lot of really good stuff in this movie that I think cannot be ignored. And ultimately, at the end of the day, I think the good does outweigh the bad by and large.
00:09:49
Speaker
That's a little spoiler for for my thoughts and feelings on this particular movie. I'm not going to go hard and defend, you know, like, oh, this is the greatest movie ever made. Our friend Hope Lickner, it's her favorite of the franchise. i I actually told her on Twitter today, hey, buckle up. We're getting ready to to talk Ghostbusters. um And she seemed mildly concerned, but mostly just wanted to talk about how awesome Holtzman was. So, you know, I get i get it.
00:10:19
Speaker
And look, I will tell you, i will absolutely am admit Holtzman is the best freaking part of this movie. Oh, hands down. Without question. she's She's, I mean, I guess we can get into this now. She's better written.
00:10:32
Speaker
She's more enjoyable. And it feels like she was written by a different person than what wrote the rest of this movie. And I'm really confused about it. I think as the characters go, she feels the most realized. And I don't know if that's in the script. I don't know if that's in the performance. I want to say it might be more in the performance, that she just feels fully formed than the other three, ah Ghostbusters in this movie.
00:11:03
Speaker
Um, but I mean, three of the four Ghostbusters, it should be pointed out are all, uh, either SNL cast members or alum alumni. Uh, Kate McKinnon, uh, was, I believe on the show at this time. Yeah. She had been on the show from,
00:11:18
Speaker
Oh, let me check her IMDB page here. She'd been on the show from 2013. So she'd been on the show for a few years and made a name for herself through all of that. So, I mean, she's been.
00:11:31
Speaker
Nope, I'm sorry, 2012. But there you go. And is, as far as I know, still a cast member of Saturday Night Live. ah Leslie Jones had been on the show for a while as well, and Kristen Wiig had gotten her start there also. The only one of the main Ghostbusters who was not a part of SNL
Chris Hemsworth's Comedic Performance
00:11:47
Speaker
was Melissa McCarthy.
00:11:49
Speaker
um But I'm sure we'll get into Melissa McCarthy and Leslie Jones and Paul Feig and Kristen Wiig at some point in this episode. ah Because we're we just we're we're going to have to. We've got to talk about everybody, right?
00:12:03
Speaker
Yes, I have opinions. I can't imagine. Why you would have opinions on this movie. But let's let's go ahead and and start talking about the movie. Let's go ahead and get into the plot of this film because there is one.
00:12:18
Speaker
ah Let's go ahead and get into it. And that means that it's time. Yes. For the plot in 60 seconds, a segment that you and I have not had the chance to do for A month and a half at this point. It's kind of insane. I'm rusty. I don't know if I'm going to do so ah Here's the thing. if If our recent history is any indication, you don't have to worry about that at all.
00:12:40
Speaker
but um fair Fair point. Fair point. However, the coin of justice is at the ready. So for those who are just tuning in because they really want to hear our hot, hot takes on Ghostbusters, um for those of you who have not already turned it off when it's when they figured out it was wasn't going to be a unilateral unilateral hate fest. Excuse me. um The plot in 60 seconds is the part of the show where we will flip our friend the coin of justice. who will determine which of us will recount the plot of this film, Ghostbusters 2016, in 60 seconds or less.
00:13:13
Speaker
Brett, go ahead and call the coin of justice in the air. Heads. Well, it was bound to happen. It is tails. Hey, how appropriate that it's the Ghostbusters episode or the street is finally broken.
00:13:30
Speaker
The streak is finally broken. it it is Brett's turn to recount the plot. I'm so excited. I forgot that I'm supposed to pull up the timer now and set it for 60 seconds so that Brett can recount the plot.
00:13:42
Speaker
ah Brett, I have 60 seconds on the clock. You let me know when you're ready and I will go ahead and start those seconds, giving you, of course, the 30 and 10 second time limits as as we go. Absolutely. i'm pretty sure we're all set to go, man. So, yeah, let's do it.
00:13:58
Speaker
All right, then. Your time starts right now. All right. So we open on to a scene similar to the library scene from the first one, except it's worse. And then we go to Abby and Aaron, who are like parent physicists and estranged friends in New York City.
00:14:17
Speaker
And Aaron's written in a book that she's tried to hide and about ghosts. um But then finds out that the ghosts are real. And then they... get together with the Holtzman, who's like the the like the Egon archetype, builds all the stuff and then they bust ghosts and then there's one hundred subway.
00:14:36
Speaker
one in the subway, uh, where Patty Leslie Jones's character works. Um, so she joins the team after she sees that ghost. Um, and then they hire Kevin, who's really weird, not too smart receptionist.
00:14:51
Speaker
Then they have to fight the guy who's been bringing all the ghosts and he kills himself. And he becomes a ghost. He possesses people. But they stop him. And they save New York with his portal.
00:15:03
Speaker
And Sigourney Weaver's there. And that's time. And Sigourney Weaver's there. The end. Yeah. And then in a post-credit sequence, ah they hear a voice that says, Zuul, to be continued.
00:15:22
Speaker
Question mark? Or... Maybe not, since we're talking about it on this show. um And they've decided the franchise needs to be given back to the fans because it was taken from them at some point, question mark. It was not really taken from the fans. The fans are terrible. um But yeah, so Ghostbusters, let's let's start with the with the opening scene because there are elements of that opening scene that I really, really enjoy. Now, I should say for the record that I did watch the extended edition.
00:15:52
Speaker
of this movie, because that is the edition that I own. Oh, you did see I had the option to and I was like, he's probably just watching the regular. I'll watch the regular. So I didn't know you watch the extended cut. So you've seen stuff I haven't. Yeah. So um so I don't know what's in the extended cut and what's not. Hope did tell me her favorite joke is in the extended cut. And it's the scene where ah Bill Murray's character who plays a skeptic because apparently he was the one who was always skeptical about doing another Ghostbusters movie.
00:16:20
Speaker
Wink. um is killed by a ghost and then ah they zoom in on the window where all the Ghostbusters are like lined up looking out the window at his dead body on the ground and ah Holtzman says well he wasn't Ghostbusters material which is funny it's a funny joke with context but yeah so okay that that is funny um But then they proceed to forget all about him. ah They could have actually been ah absolutely been on the hook for killing him. But that's just a plot line they've left.
00:16:48
Speaker
His ghost where in the main. Yeah. I mean, there's there's a lot of things that are picked up and dropped off. um But the opening sequence, all that to say, there's like the dialogue in the opening sequence from Zach Woods, who I know best from The Office.
00:17:04
Speaker
i As the ah the toady Gabe from the office, but he ah some of the stuff he says when he's walking through the the house ah like, oh, this grandfather clock was actually on the Titanic and was smuggled off by the owner of the house. A Romanian woman and her daughter had to give up their seats for it. like Stuff like that I found like really funny in a deeply disturbing way. Like, oh, here's where he would host parties for his wealthy friends. It was in this very room, in fact, that P.T. Barnum got the idea to enslave elephants.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah, no, I also thought that was funny. I mean, I thought on the whole... this opening scene drug on for just a little bit too long.
00:17:51
Speaker
And as the same problem as the rest of this movie has is where it, uh, I was watching this with my girlfriend and she said a wonderful joke that they, they bought out the
Comedic Style Critique
00:18:00
Speaker
lampshade emporium. because they just lampshade everything in this movie.
00:18:06
Speaker
We're going to over-explain and tell you exactly every single joke. We're going to tell you what it is. This joke means this, and we're not going to let anything be subtle. Just all the lampshades. Going to kind of hold your hand and walk you through everything that that we're doing so that you understand that this is a Ghostbusters movie in case you forgot the movie that you walked into.
00:18:28
Speaker
Yeah. and So the opening scene kind of does that. But the jokes, though, I do agree, were funny. Yeah. there and And it's that weird balance in this movie for me where you've got these jokes that are, you know, very funny, but then the story is kind of meandering and kind of taking its time. And the stakes aren't are kind of like...
00:18:52
Speaker
Set in place, but not really clearly explained until it's way too late. And then you start putting all the pieces together that have been there the whole time. And you probably could have started building this thing a lot earlier. But instead, you've opted for a longer running time because that's what Hollywood demands now? Question mark.
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah, there's there's no reason this movie should have been two hours. ah Let alone 2.15, which is the running time of the um of the extended edition. Right. And the extended edition feels like it's more of that kind of like we'll tell a joke and then we'll have like two or three lines explaining the joke we just told and then we'll get to the punchline.
00:19:30
Speaker
like the The first one I noticed, for example, is I thought i thought it was great when they're interviewing Kevin and he's and he rubs his eye through his glasses. I'm like, that's hilarious. And then they immediately explain it. Like, oh, do you know you don't have...
00:19:46
Speaker
Glass and that. and like yeah Why did you explain it? It was so funny when you didn't call attention to it. Right. Just just so the the audience knows that that's not a mistake that we did that on purpose because it was really funny. Or ah there's someone named Martin Christ here to see you.
00:20:02
Speaker
smart in christ yes smart smart in christ yes uh you don't mean martin heist do you yeah that guy and then you you points to the door and then bill murray's standing there and you're just like okay i could have done you all you had to say was smart do you mean martin heist yeah or you could have smart and smart in christ yeah him pointed oh martin heist dr heist sir like you you that You don't need all of that in between, like, let's let's kind of make this into some awkward banter kind of thing. Yes, we know Kevin is stupid. That's the point. That's why we love Kevin.
00:20:36
Speaker
Well, but, like, here's the funny thing that noticed is Kevin is not just – Kevin is written in a very interesting way. He's not just stupid, even though, that I mean, the rest of the team thinks he's stupid. He also has his own – bit of weirdness about him. Yes. That he's, he only believes in his reality and like what he perceives. Like the, the line about, uh, is and not an aquarium, it's a submarine for fish. Like that's,
00:21:09
Speaker
That's hilarious. And it's it's a joke they don't explain. It just sits there. Yeah. And it's funnier because of that. Correct. And you're like, this Kevin guy is weird. He's not just maybe a little dumb. He's weird. Yeah.
00:21:22
Speaker
And that makes him like, I don't know. Maybe he's an unintentionally nuanced character that in that way. I don't know that's intentional. but Well, and again, I think a lot of that might have to do with the performance that Chris Hemsworth is giving. And I think a lot of that is playing on the fact that if we know Chris Hemsworth at this point at all, as a performer, we know him as a superhero and as someone who is capable and competent and knows what he's doing. And so the fact that he is playing off of that so brilliantly is really, really fun because up to this point,
00:21:59
Speaker
um He has done he's in Star Trek. And then like two years later, he's in Thor. It's his first lead. He does the same year as Thor. He's in Cabin in the Woods, which is a movie you and I both unabashedly love.
00:22:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah. um And he's pretty funny in that. But he's not. I mean, that's not a role. That role in particular is not necessarily one written for comedy. Uh, he does Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman, Red Dawn, Star Trek into darkness, Rush, Thor, the dark world, black hat, age of Ultron. His first comedy is the year before this in the, in a movie we will probably cover on this podcast eventually in the 2015 reboot of the vacation movies, simply called vacation where he plays stone Crandall.
00:22:45
Speaker
Um, and I think the joke there is that he has a giant penis and If I'm not mistaken, and I think the joke is that he has a giant penis in that movie. um And then he does In the Heart of the Sea, Huntsman Winner's War, and then Ghostbusters. So this is only his second comedy and probably the first one that a lot of people actually saw.
00:23:08
Speaker
ah So most people are not really used to Thor being funny because, again, we're still – a few years off from Thor or at least a year off from Thor Ragnarok at this point. So, you know, and that's the one where we're like, oh, Thor is really funny. Chris Hemsworth really is really funny. He should do more comedies. um But like this is probably unless unless you're a ah devotee of the vacation series, this was probably the first time you saw Chris Hemsworth do something funny.
00:23:36
Speaker
um And it's kind of a revelation because he is so effortlessly funny in this. Like his delivery is just and my experience in comedy has been that comedy lies in the truth of the thing.
00:23:49
Speaker
Like if something is honest, it's funny. And so I think his performance, what makes it so funny is just how. honest he is like, he's not playing like, Oh, this is a caricature of a dumb person. He's just playing Kevin as this very honestly stupid and weird individual.
00:24:07
Speaker
And that's where, that's why it's so funny. Like it's kind of awkward and kind of um like you're, you kind of feel bad for the guy, but at the same time, you're like, this is, this works. This is really funny.
00:24:18
Speaker
And it's, it's because of that level of commitment that he has to, to the the character that he's performing. I agree. i think if if this role had been played by anybody else, it probably would not have landed as well.
00:24:31
Speaker
um Potentially, yeah. and maybe And maybe he's the one that added that nuance, you know, that adds the bit of weirdness. Yeah, could be. So, you know, i had props to him because he's probably my second favorite character by Holtzman. Same. Yeah.
00:24:47
Speaker
And it's yeah, it yeah and everyone else is kind of distant third. Like the next person would be distant third. Like it's those two are one and two pretty easily with a bullet. Yeah. um But while we're on the subject of Kevin, I would be remiss if I did not bring up the greatest joke in the world.
00:25:07
Speaker
No. What is the greatest joke in the world? My cat. Oh, yeah. Which I have named myself. and the Yes, you have. In the Zencaster recording today. It is it is it is funny. Yeah. But yeah but at the same time, they drag it on just a little. yeah That's a joke. I think you do need a little explanation for.
00:25:27
Speaker
um But I do think they take it just a little too far. But I think the idea that this guy has a dog named my cat is hilarious. Like it. What a great joke. Yeah, it is it is good. It is good. Admittedly, it is good.
00:25:42
Speaker
um But what I feel like is maybe a bit of an elephant in the room. Maybe it's not. I don't know. i've I've bounced this off of a couple of people to make sure it's not a bad take. So, okay.
00:25:56
Speaker
Bear with me. Uh-oh. You've got me worried now. No, I mean, this is why I bounced it off people before I brought it here unfettered. Sure. um So, Janine versus Kevin.
00:26:08
Speaker
Okay. in In the original Ghostbusters, which you really shouldn't be doing with this movie, like don't try to compare it to the original. was going to say, I kind of reject your hypothesis from the get-go. I know that's what a lot of shitty fans do, but I i don't like the idea of comparing these two movies because they're very different on their face.
00:26:28
Speaker
Which I'll have another point that I'll refute that in a minute. um So when you have Janine in the original movie, who is... intelligent, headstrong, independent, acerbic.
00:26:44
Speaker
And she's, she's never in the first movie, never sexualized. Maybe a little bit by Egon, but he's Egon. I was going to say there's some deleted scenes where she is, but those were scenes were deleted.
00:26:56
Speaker
Right. Um, and it is by Egon. So, yeah. Yeah. Uh, and yeah, And i I haven't seen Afterlife yet, so I don't know if that goes anywhere. um Because we still we still... If you haven't seen the movie, you still don't know who Egon married to have kids with.
00:27:14
Speaker
um But then, on the other hand, you have Kevin, who is the literal exact opposite of that character. Which is fine. i That's totally fine. You can do the exact opposite.
00:27:27
Speaker
Because maybe that's what you should be doing in a remake. Don't try to be bold into the original. But... The way that he's treated. he is He is treated as an idiot by the rest of the team, even though he's actually not.
00:27:40
Speaker
like I mean, he kind of is, but not you know we just talked about that. And he is sexualized by Aaron in particular. Yeah. And there's this thing where, like, okay, if if men sexualize a woman character, that's bad, but if women do it, it's okay.
00:28:01
Speaker
And that's that's not okay. Like, that is that is not something you should be doing. you it's It seems like a deliberate choice by the writers to say that, like...
00:28:15
Speaker
look at us, we're being different. Like, look at us, where we have an all-women team and we're gonna, you know, objectify the male receptionist.
00:28:26
Speaker
And like, look at us, we're being woke and we're doing the opposite of, you know, all the other stuff. I would say that's probably not being woke. I would say that's if, I mean, if you're sexualizing a character for laughs, would say that's probably opposite of woke, but what have you, whatever. Well, I mean, the the connotation that people use woke for a lot of the time is in this derogatory way. Like they're trying to do it on purpose, but failing like that. Sure. Most, most people that use woke are not woke people anyway. yeah.
00:28:57
Speaker
Yeah, which is really what I'm getting at. Like, it's it's that same sort of like, look, we're trying to be progressive, but we're actually not. um And I feel like that's a really bad way to have handled it. Like, because Kevin could have just been Kevin without...
00:29:16
Speaker
you know, the the line, you're a walking sexual harassment lawsuit. Like, did you really have to put that line in there? Like, come on, like just let it, let Kevin be Kevin.
00:29:26
Speaker
You don't have to, and and maybe even keep the lines from Rowan in there about, he's like muscular and he works out and all that. But like, you don't have to have Aaron, Aaron, And Abby in the interview scene, like over sexualizing him all the time.
00:29:41
Speaker
It's completely unnecessary. i agree. It is just a bad look in general. i agree. It, it, it, you and ah You can do the she's attracted to him thing without putting that much mustard on it.
00:29:56
Speaker
um Like you can like the scene where ah they're dancing after they capture the ghost and he comes in and starts dancing and she's she keeps trying to like dance up on him and he's like keeps turning away. Not because he's disgusted by her or anything, but just because he's oblivious to the fact that she's trying to do that.
00:30:15
Speaker
um Like that's a that's that's some funny physical comedy. And you can kind of have her pining for him from across the room without, again, putting that much mustard on the sandwich. Like, oh, she's attracted to him. You could have someone say, well, of course she is. Look at him.
00:30:30
Speaker
That's all you really need. Um, you don't need to, to lay it on quite so thick, but again, I think you could say that about most of this movie is there is a tendency to lay wherever we're finding the comedy to just lay it on a little thicker than it needs to be laid on in order to oversell the joke. And of course, nothing ruins humor, like explaining humor, right?
00:30:57
Speaker
Right, exactly. yeah, That is also present in in something else I noticed. that there There are two jokes in this movie, which again brings to my original point of like it feels like this you can really tell this movie was written by two people.
00:31:15
Speaker
Like there's the wonton joke done three times. Yep. And the slime joke done three times. The wonton joke is drawn out, completely unfunny.
00:31:27
Speaker
And doesn't make any sense. The payoff is kind of funny. and I still don't agree. but Fair enough. I think the payoff is pretty when he just gives her the thing of just wontons. I thought that was pretty funny.
00:31:38
Speaker
But then you got the slime joke where Aaron gets slimed twice, like completely. And then the third callback is when it's and And this is what makes it funnier.
00:31:50
Speaker
It's just a quick one line at the end of the movie and they move on. Just that at this point, I think the slime is coming after me intentionally. Right. Yeah. They don't they don't linger on it. They don't over explain it. It's just a quick callback joke and they're back to the movie.
00:32:06
Speaker
And it's not the I'm going to yell about wontons for a couple minutes. Like it's... like I think if they had cut the wonton joke with her with him handing her the thing full of wontons, that would have been fine. But just about every minor character in this movie, um down to the, like, what? Cameo from ah Milana Vayntraub. Like, they're all improvers. Like, they are all people who did improv. you Mostly with...
00:32:37
Speaker
UCB, but probably with other groups as well. Like most of these performers are improv comedy people. And so I, and Paul Feig is a big improv comedy guy.
00:32:48
Speaker
And that's his, the school that he comes from is the Apatow school where there's a lot of improv and you kind of find the movie in the edit and there's a lot of riffing. And I think that worked on Feig's previous films. I don't know that it works for a Ghostbusters film.
00:33:05
Speaker
Um, which is ultimately, I think why you end up getting these jokes that kind of seem overdone is because those things may work on stage a little better than they might in a movie or one or two of those jokes might work better than a movie full of those kinds of jokes, which is ultimately what we end up with because of Feig's sensibility as a director.
00:33:28
Speaker
Yeah, I do know that about Feig. And yeah, I think you're right. It doesn't it doesn't work in a Ghostbusters movie. It has to work in a movie like Bridesmaids, where you can have sort of a loose script, where you don't really have to explain anything.
00:33:44
Speaker
Just let things go. Because because look, like in a Ghostbusters movie, you sort of need to explain what's going on. And... You can't just have Holtzman throw out a bunch of scientific gibberish and expect that to be all we need.
00:34:01
Speaker
Right. Which is what she does on a regular basis, which is cool. I dig that. Like they did that in the original too. Like you had Egon and Ray throwing out a bunch of scientific gibberish. Well, and that's because that's something that Dan Aykroyd really likes to write is scientific gibberish. So the original Ghostbusters script was chock full of that kind of absurd dialogue because Aykroyd likes writing that kind of absurd dialogue.
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah. So so then but then at least in in the original, which, you know, you're right. I hate saying but in the original, um it doesn't make for a good argument. Yeah.
00:34:42
Speaker
But there are some things that you compare it to, like you can't not compare it to. and Because sometimes this movie feels like somebody watched the original movie and just took like footnotes, tiny little cliff notes. And it was like, oh, that's a cool thing. I'll put that in there.
00:34:57
Speaker
And didn't really pay much attention. ah And it feels like they kind of sat down. and I think I saw, I watched a couple of the special features um for this movie. And at one point Feig says, you know, what are the things that you would be if you were seeing a reboot of Ghostbusters? What would be the things you'd be disappointed if we didn't include? Yeah.
00:35:17
Speaker
And i'm that I'm sure that goes everywhere from everything the, the the actual equipment, the the car, the proton packs, et cetera, to the jokes, so some of the jokes and the references. Like at literally at one point, know Melissa McCarthy yells to Kristen Wiig, who are you going to call? And then the TV yells ah something that's not quite Ghostbusters, but to the tune of the Ray Parker Jr. song Ghostbusters. It's like Ghost Hunters or something. Ghost Hunters. Hunters.
00:35:49
Speaker
<unk> It's, you know, you're like, OK, they're doing the thing. Sure. But then every single like music sting seems to be a remix orchestral or otherwise of the original Ray Parker Jr. song. It's almost like they didn't have an original composer. They just had a guy who remixed that song in every single scene in the movie.
00:36:10
Speaker
Yeah, which is a shame, really, because to the score, but now you know what, man, I'm going to stop referring to the original because every time I do it, I'm just like, yeah, it's not a good look. um So this is the last time I'll do it. The score of the original.
00:36:27
Speaker
It is great, but but at the same time, like it's still one of those things I have to call out because you're right, it feels like that's missing. like It's just nothing but remix and orchestral versions of the theme as if that's something we want. a Because that's the other thing.
00:36:44
Speaker
They really tried to capitalize on the nostalgia. like And I don't think that's what they should have done. I agree. So here's here's here's what I wanted to get to about refuting your point about comparing it to the original is...
00:36:58
Speaker
That's great and all if they hadn't tried to capitalize on the nostalgia of the original. That's point one. I mean, it's a thing called Ghostbusters. What do you want them to do?
00:37:10
Speaker
Just not include that stuff at all? Don't make a trailer referring to the original team. Did they really do that? They did, yes. It it played ah during while I was loading up the movie on Amazon. to It reminded me. Yeah, it's it's is this kind like was it they that says like years ago, four scientists New York,
00:37:37
Speaker
and now there's a new team Well, in – they're here to answer the call. to To help refute that point, the studio and the filmmakers didn't put that trailer together. That's the marketing group. That's a completely that's a completely separate entity, which is why there are team – so many conversations that we've had even on this show in the past about – Oh, well, you know, the marketing team got that one wrong or they clearly didn't know how to market this movie. I think this falls into that camp. Like, how do we market a Ghostbusters movie? Well, we market it on the strength of the property that people know.
00:38:11
Speaker
So that's the marketing department. I can't fault that movie for the marketing campaign. Like, I can't I can't do that or I won't. I probably can't. I can do a lot of things, but I'm not going to do that.
00:38:23
Speaker
Sure. i mean, even right down to re-releasing Ecto Cooler, which they have not done for Afterlife, by the way. What are you doing? How dare they? How dare you? i was expecting more Ecto Cooler.
00:38:35
Speaker
Fuck you, Sony. I mean, is it Sony or is it, I mean, did they not get the Hi-C tie-in? That's the question. mean, I don't know why Hi-C wouldn't have gone along with it. They have the recipe.
00:38:49
Speaker
They're the only ones that do, technically. Yeah. Have you tried any of the copycat, um, acto cooler? Um, I have, mean, it's fine, but with most copycat recipes, there's just, there seems to be something missing and you just kind of can't quite put your finger on it.
00:39:05
Speaker
Uh, it's the high fructose corn syrup. Yeah, you're right. You are, you are correct, sir. I mean, that's, that's why it'll never quite taste the same. um,
00:39:17
Speaker
According to the internet, and this is Ghostbusters news dated 10 31 21. Uh, high ah high C Ecto cooler is back as Ghostbusters afterlife promotional item.
00:39:29
Speaker
So, um, that might be something you might need to go online and try to find. Okay. But apparently they just released it. It looks like it's in cans or no, that was 2016 was the cans in the boxes.
00:39:43
Speaker
Okay. But yeah, there you go. Apparently it is back, just probably not widely available quite yet. And this was, again, like like I said, this article was released as of the time of this recording, a week ago, as of the release of this episode, three weeks ago. So...
00:39:58
Speaker
But I suppose that makes sense because they were probably worried about releasing it too early in case the movie got pushed back again. Which, I mean, you know, has given how many times Afterlife has been pushed back, it makes sense.
00:40:10
Speaker
Yeah, so that tracks. I apologize, Sony and Hi-C, for being so angry. Thank you for bringing Ecto Cooler back. I appreciate you. um
00:40:23
Speaker
But the other point to that is If you don't want to be compared to the original, maybe don't make the only non-white actor in this movie the blue-collar worker.
00:40:39
Speaker
I mean, yeah, good point. Maybe make her part of the original team. Just saying. there And there is something that – there seems to be a Force Awakens-esque quality to this movie in that the Force Awakens took everything we love about the original Star Wars – I'm talking 1977, A New Hope They took everything that we love about the original star Wars and just kind of put new characters in brought old characters back. And this movie seems to be doing the exact same thing. Now, obviously they couldn't have compared notes. One's made by Disney. One's made by Sony as,
00:41:20
Speaker
They're already like deep into production, I'm sure on Ghostbusters by the time and The Force Awakens rolls out. So there's no way they could have probably compared these two things. But the fact that they're doing almost the exact same thing is pretty telling and pretty interesting. I think like this is, I guess, what we thought a reboot was or needed to be around the midpoint of the the past decade. like, or the mid to late point, I guess, of the last decade. Like this was what we thought a reboot needed to be is we take the story. We maybe switch a few set pieces around.
00:41:54
Speaker
ah We tweak the characters a little bit so they're not exact one for one analogs. We make sure we bring everybody back. We get as many of their blessings as possible. um And then we just make the movie.
00:42:05
Speaker
Um, and I think the things about the force awakens that I don't like are the ways that it does lean far too heavily on the premise of the original movie and the parts in this movie where I'm kind of like, okay, fine. Are the parts where they're like, ah, but this thing in the original movie, let's bring this back. Like, um,
00:42:25
Speaker
don't get your beam entangled in mine. um you're You're saying don't cross the streams. I know what you're saying. It's fine. And then you, and then again, at the end, like that's how we have to defeat the thing is by crossing the streams, just like in the original movie. Well, no, they don't cross the streams at the end. She still says total protonic reversal, which feels shoehorned in. Oh no. In the, in the extended edition, she literally says we have to cross the streams. Yeah.
00:42:49
Speaker
Oh yeah. that That is, that is on the cutting room floor. She does not say that. Okay. Original. It is, it is definitely in, in the extended edition then like the, we have to cross the streams like it. And that's how they, like they do by, by crossing the streams, all four of them fire into the pit. They all cross their streams. And that's the thing that reverses.
00:43:09
Speaker
And, and again, full pull, uh, Full reversal instead of just saying reverse the polarity. Just say the nerd thing we all want you to say. Like, yes, we all know what reverse the polarity means. Just say reverse the polarity. Yeah, well, OK, so that's that's really interesting. They changed the ending in the extended cut. Or at least they cut that part of the scene in the ending. Do they not? Is that not how they defeat the.
00:43:37
Speaker
No, in in the original, they shoot the nuclear reactor on top of Ecto-1 and make that as it's falling into the pit. Okay, they do that and they they do that in this one as well. But they do it by they cross the streams first, that doesn't work, and then they shoot the thing as it falls in. So, okay.
00:43:54
Speaker
Oh, okay. Point taken. Got it. and So they do both. Yes. Okay, that that tracks with the rest of this movie. Let's try multiple things to try to end this, because we're going to drag it out.
00:44:05
Speaker
But ah but ah and again, that's kind of the but but again, the parts of this movie that I like the least are the parts where it feels overly beholden to the original when I don't feel like it should be as beholden
Nostalgia in Storytelling: Ghostbusters vs. Star Wars
00:44:18
Speaker
to the original. it feels like they're trying to please the shitty fans who are going to dislike this thing.
00:44:24
Speaker
irregardless just because irregardless is not a word they're going to dislike this thing regardless just because uh there be women busting ghosts and ain't no bitches gonna bust no ghosts yeah that that's the thing that really i think that's the thing that makes me the angriest about this movie is they knew Because if you go back and read the original like leaked emails and whatnot, this was originally conceived as purely a cash grab because they were going broke.
00:44:57
Speaker
So they they knew that they needed to shoehorn in stuff to appease the old fans while still being different enough To bring in new fans. Right.
00:45:10
Speaker
Which, to your point, is very much what The Force Awakens was trying to do. Correct. Disney's like, we spent billions of dollars on this property. We're not not going to make new movies. Hey, you know who's really good at weaponizing nostalgia? J.J. Abrams. Hey, J.J., want to make a Star Wars movie?
00:45:26
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But the fact that it's it it tries to have its foot in both worlds at the same time.
00:45:38
Speaker
And where it's like, we want to do our own thing, but I know we got a pander to these fanboys.
00:45:48
Speaker
But then at the same time, absolutely shit on those fanboys because the fanboys are the reason they have to do that. If that makes sense. Like, we don't want to have to cater to you, but we know we have to.
00:46:03
Speaker
So we're going put in the little some little jokes to make fun of you along the way. Which The Force Awakens does, too Because, yes, the the four new characters that they bring in are all different kinds of Star Wars fans. And Kylo Ren represents the toxic fanboy. Like, literally, he is obsessed with yeah all the stupidest parts of of Star Wars.
00:46:28
Speaker
Uh, or, you know, he's obsessed with Darth Vader and looking cool and he likes it for the wrong reasons. Whereas Ray and Finn are the true fans who are, oh my gosh, you know, you, um oh, you're Han Solo. And, you know, pose just kind of the guy who's heard about it. Like, yeah, I'm vaguely familiar, was familiar with star Wars. I know it's a thing that happened. You know, you've got like the different kinds of star Wars fans represented and Kylo Ren is a hundred percent the shitty fan boy.
00:46:55
Speaker
um Which is why so many shitty fanboys hated the Last Jedi is because he is saying all of the things like that. They're like, well, I don't ah I don't like why are you saying you need to burn Star Wars down? That's not OK.
00:47:12
Speaker
And he's like, you know, you understand that's the villain, right? Like that guy you thought was so cool in the first one. He's the bad guy. You're not supposed to agree with him. You know that, right? Okay. It's just more subtle in Star Wars. I hadn't made that connection until just now. Right. But no, that's ah it's 100%, again, which is why it feels like this movie is cribbing from like Force Awakens so hard. Maybe there was a leak. Maybe someone at Sony got a copy of the script and was able to like kind of like crib from it a bit. But it it definitely feels like it's of a piece with The Force Awakens to me. At least this past what this most recent watch through, I couldn't get that idea out of my mind.
00:47:52
Speaker
And given the shittiness of both Star Wars and Ghostbusters fans. I don't know. It feels very much of a piece. Yeah. No, you're you're right. That makes a lot of sense. and But it's just I wish they could have been more subtle about it like Star Wars instead of.
00:48:08
Speaker
But then again, for the millionth time, lampshade. Right. I was going say this movie is if you're wanting subtlety, this is not the movie you're going to get subtlety from.
00:48:19
Speaker
No, not even a little bit. No. um But he is he is hold on. i have more notes moving on to the other part of my notes. Brett. So Brett did not come with a full out agenda for this episode, but he has basically we've been teasing this episode from the beginning. This has been an episode that Brett has been prepping himself for from the beginning because Brett is someone who has historically not liked this movie, but not for the reasons the shitty fans have liked this movie.
00:48:53
Speaker
So he's he's made a lot of notes to be able to articulate his argument um so as not to come off as a shitty fanboy, because, look, Brett has no problem with the fact that women are the lead of a Ghostbusters movie.
00:49:07
Speaker
That's not the problem Brett has with this movie. No, and honestly, I was stoked about it. When I sat down in the theater to watch this movie for the first time, I was like, hell yeah, all women team. Let's see what they do.
00:49:18
Speaker
This going to be great. Three of the four of these women are pretty funny. Not Melissa McCarthy. ah And let's see see what happens. And I was real disappointed. And it had nothing to do with the fact that they were women.
00:49:35
Speaker
Which is why Brett has such extensive notes going into this episode. Yeah, because that's that's something I've mentioned before. When you say, and because we've attacked the Ghostbusters fans, I'm about to go for the other side right now. So brace yourselves.
00:49:49
Speaker
um Because the reason i have I have to defend myself, because the other side of this whole Ghostbusters 2016 argument, is that if you don't like this movie, period,
00:50:03
Speaker
You are a misogynist asshole. Period. um those that Those are two sentence fragments. Whatever. It's meant for emphasis. and um There's no descriptors. It's fine.
00:50:17
Speaker
You get it. I do. ah Like. And you do editing for me all the time. You know my grammar is terrible. um I do. You edit the podcast. I edit the stuff that gets typed. It's fine.
00:50:31
Speaker
Yeah. we this is This is why we're friends. Yeah, we match yourself all together. Correct. um But like, so I have to defend myself so hard to be like, no, i this movie is bad for legitimate reasons, not for misogynistic asshole reasons.
00:50:50
Speaker
But it became almost like like a badge of honor for people to say, I like this movie. They're like, I like Ghostbusters 2016, and that makes me a better person than you misogynist asshole fans out there.
00:51:07
Speaker
um And you can see that in the reviews for Afterlife, where they will go out of their way to say, well, ah the fanboys got their movie back and it's just a bunch of nostalgia bait.
00:51:26
Speaker
And, you know, they're the reason that 2016 failed and I hope they're happy now. And it's like really vindictive shit that like, just take the movie on its own. Right. Like you don't, it doesn't have to be this like feminist war.
00:51:45
Speaker
it I mean, I get it. Fans are shitty. Fans are bad. We talk about this all the time. mean This is the very nature of fandom that we've been against from the beginning of this podcast. Like it's kind of one of our I mean, at this point, like it's a drinking game, like Stephen and Brett talk shit about fandom. OK, take a shot.
00:52:03
Speaker
yeah I mean, at this point, it's it's on the it's on the disenfranchised bingo card. It might as well be the free space. you're You're drunk after the third episode.
00:52:15
Speaker
It's bad. like And here's the thing, guys. ah You people that are out there like harshly defending 2016, you're just as bad. I'm just going to come out here and say it. If you are staunchly defending 2016 without...
00:52:29
Speaker
without any sort of reason to back it up. If you're just attacking afterlife because 2016 failed because of the fanboys, you're just as bad as those fanboys. Like you're allowed to not like what you don't like, but if you're just going to come at people because you disagree with them and for no other reason,
00:52:53
Speaker
You are just as bad as they are. Right.
Balancing Critique & Fandom Opinions
00:52:55
Speaker
So, I mean, so there's there's there's a nuance here that, you know, yes, you can like a movie. You can like this movie. That's fine. I kind of like this movie. I think this movie is a lot of fun. um Is it my favorite Ghostbusters movie? No. Is it my favorite movie of all time? No.
00:53:12
Speaker
um But i would still defend this movie while admitting that it has problems because at the end of the day, i enjoy it. You know, I like I think it's a fun movie. I think it is worth its it i'm I'm glad that it got made.
00:53:29
Speaker
Um, but there are bad faith arguments being made on both sides, I think is the, is the point that you're trying to make. That is what I'm getting at. Yeah. Sometimes I'm not the best at articulating a point.
00:53:39
Speaker
I'm helping. I'm long time listeners know that that's why I have Steven to go. Wait a minute. He's not actually, don't cancel him yet. Please let me explain what he's trying to say. So, so if I mean, a bad faith argument is a bad faith argument, no matter what side of the argument you're on, is is essentially the point that's being made. So, so yeah, I mean, we had our our our good friend, Hope Lickner, I'll invoke her again on our Dune episode a couple weeks ago, and she went on um about Ghostbusters um during that Ghostbusters 2016 in particular about that. And there were things, yeah, that she, on that episode, admitted like, yeah, okay, so...
00:54:16
Speaker
Yes, this is the case. This is the thing. I recognize the arguments that most people have. It doesn't matter. I still love this movie. And that's fine. You can wreck it. You can love a movie without being shitty. You can dislike a movie without being shitty. The point we want to make is don't be shitty.
00:54:36
Speaker
Like what you like, don't be a dick about it. Like that's our, that's one of our two mantras. The other is don't be a fan, just like stuff. And again, because of the toxicity that seems to come with fandom, the fanaticism, the, the embroiling your entire identity in this one thing you like such that whenever anyone says anything bad about it and honestly marvel fans are getting getting to be this toxic like you can't say anything bad about the thing without you know raining down an entire legion of of attacks on you um that's bad
00:55:13
Speaker
That's shitty. Don't do that. Like the thing you like. It's okay to like a thing. It's okay not to like a thing. And you can dislike something. And we can still have and a discussion about why you like it and I don't or vice versa without being shitty.
00:55:31
Speaker
and That's what adults do. And I mean, a lot of times it comes down to that on this podcast where Brett and I will have a disagreement and we... We eventually at the end of the day realize we're friends and it doesn't really matter. We can disagree. We can have differences of opinion and still be friends and not be shitty one to another. And, you know, it goes, it goes extra for people on the internet too. i think you're more inclined to be shitty to someone who you have ah no ability to meet or talk with in real life ever.
00:56:01
Speaker
um Don't, don't be shitty online or otherwise. That's, it's really, ah and it's so easy these days to be shitty. It's the power of anonymity. It is. But it's it's so easy these days to be shitty in just about any context. um just we're We're just asking that you please not do that thing and instead choose to be not shitty instead.
00:56:23
Speaker
That's all we're trying to say. Yeah, just either side of the argument you're on, whether you like 2016, whether you hated 2016.
00:56:31
Speaker
whether you're on the fence about 2016, just like, you know, like it, don't like it. It's fine. Don't attack other people. Cause this, this is a rare situation where you have the toxic fandom,
00:56:45
Speaker
And then you have the other side, because we don't always get to hear the other side, because it doesn't always exist, at least not as vocally as it seems to be for the 2016 Ghostbusters. but Because I get where the other side is coming from, right? like you know You don't see something like this a whole lot. It feels it feels easy to point fingers at, because there was such a...
00:57:08
Speaker
a vitriol toward this movie before it even came out just because there were women in the lead roles. Like there was such a vitriol for this movie that it's easy to point fingers at the subset of people that were so vitriolic and so hated and were so vocal about that hatred and the reasons behind their hatred on the internet before this movie even came out.
00:57:34
Speaker
And could that have played a a part as as to why we didn't see a s sequel to this movie? im I am convinced it did play a role in the same way that we talked about the shitty Star Wars fans who boycotted Solo because they didn't like The Last Jedi.
00:57:47
Speaker
Like it's that same shitty nerd fan behavior. and I mean, if you don't like a thing, that's fine. Don't see it. Or if you don't think you'll like a thing, that's fine. Don't see it.
00:57:59
Speaker
If you see a thing and you find out you don't like it, that's fine. You're allowed to not like a thing that you've seen. But, you know, and and there's there's ah there's such a thing as discourse.
00:58:11
Speaker
And sometimes the discourse can be positive. Overwhelmingly, it's not. You can have a conversation with someone about a thing that you disagree with without it turning to shit. Without being so vitriolic.
00:58:25
Speaker
Yeah, but silver lining to all of this, to that point, sort of, is the people that
Inclusivity & New Audience Impact
00:58:34
Speaker
did go see it and the the little girls and the women who were introduced to the Ghostbusters for the first time, who were inspired by them, just like I was inspired by the original team, who you know cosplay as the new team, you know who are just as big of fans of the franchise as I am.
00:58:54
Speaker
oh and that's that's really that's heartwarming to me and i can always appreciate this movie for at least doing that and it's it feels good that that is a thing that came out of this like um you know maybe they'll go back and watch the original ones maybe they won't it doesn't really matter they're They're fans, fans, quote unquote, just just like I am.
00:59:22
Speaker
They like ah ah a property just like I do. And it pains me to even think that there are probably people out there that would say they're not real fans.
00:59:35
Speaker
And I would summarily punch them in the face. That's, I mean, that's that kind of gatekeepy bullshit that nerds really seem to love to do.
00:59:46
Speaker
i mean, that's the gatekeepy BS that like makes ready player one. So just effusively cringe is the fact that that whole book is built on the idea that there are true fans and not true fans. um Like that's what that whole thing is about. And so, right. Just, if you like a thing, guess what? You're a fan.
01:00:08
Speaker
Yeah, and be content in the fact that more people are coming to the franchise. More people are coming to this thing you love. Why would you not... look i Get it. There's a lot of Rowans out there who, like, you were bullied your whole life. you have never known a day of peace because you're constantly bullied because you're weird. But, like...
01:00:30
Speaker
Why would you – because when I was growing up, I always wanted more people to talk to about the stuff I liked, and there were not enough, and I was the weird one. Like, I just want more people to talk to about the things I love.
01:00:43
Speaker
Why would you not want more people to talk to about the things you love? Like, I just – I don't understand. Why do you have to, like, covet it and, like, it's mine? Like, just – Gollum the shit out of it. My precious, you can't have it. It's weird. I don't understand that mentality and it pisses me off. Well, and it's it's it's a It's a pride thing.
01:01:02
Speaker
It's, well, I was there first. It's a, it's a, it's a priority and a superiority thing. I was there first. I liked it from the beginning. I liked it best. You know, I liked it before you even knew what it was.
01:01:15
Speaker
um And, and that, again, it's that kind of gatekeepy BS that has really kind of defined modern nerd, uh, nerdity, nerddom, nerddom. I like nerddom, nerddom kind of defined modern nerddom to the extent that, um, like the, this should be like a golden time for nerds because the stuff that nerds grew up loving. And I include myself in that group is everywhere. Like superhero movies are like the number one kind of movie being made. That's awesome. Um, you know, like Dune is the number one movie in America as we record this episode. That is awesome.
01:01:56
Speaker
Um, you know, we're getting a fourth Ghostbusters movie. That's pretty cool. Like all, like it, it's targeting not just nostalgia, but the nostalgia of nerds in particular is kind of where Hollywood seems to be going for ideas right now. And so it's kind of a great time to be a nerd, um But we still have to find a way to let people know that we were there first and that we loved it best. And that breeds a level of toxicity. Like, yeah, I have been a fan of certain things for a very long time. Like I was a fan of Plastic Man before I even knew who Plastic Man was.
01:02:34
Speaker
Like, i love Plastic Man. He's my favorite superhero. You tell me you love Plastic Man, too. I'm like, great. I don't start quizzing you on who Jack Cole was and what your plastic man was created. And what are all the, all the names of all the sidekicks that plastic man has had throughout his run. I don't care. If you tell me you like plastic man, I am glad to find a fellow plastic man lover.
01:02:56
Speaker
That's, that's it. You know, that's what I was getting at at the beginning. Like I feel like because I don't have my own proton pack and my own flight suit and I don't have a whole lot of merch that there are people out there that would say I'm not a real fan. Fuck that.
01:03:10
Speaker
Yeah, fuck that. like No, that's not true. No. I've always wanted one, and I'm honestly considering taking out a loan to buy the official one that Hasbro is currently producing. Okay. um But still, I don't have one right now, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to afford that one, even though it is ridiculously cheap and it is screen accurate and professionally made by Hasbro.
01:03:33
Speaker
um But, yeah, i I'm not any less of a fan just because I don't have all the cool shit that you guys do. Right. And that's – yeah, i just the fact that that is a metric of someone's love for a thing.
01:03:49
Speaker
Like, I don't – again, i don't don't be a fan, just like stuff. Because again, there's that level of toxicity, right? That this is my thing, not your thing. How dare you pretend to like this thing that I have liked for longer than you? It's it's a really shitty attitude to have. And i've i've've on the other side of that, I've seen people go, you know what?
01:04:09
Speaker
ah There's this property that I've loved for a long time. I don't like what the producers are doing with it right now. So I'm done. I'm done with the thing. And I've done that to to a degree. Like, I'm not the the Star Wars fan that I used to be. They're not. And I kind of after the the late the Disney Plus announcement from last year, which we talked about or a couple of years ago, which we talked about on on a solo episode, I'm like, you know, Star Wars, I'm kind of kind of done with Star Wars, but I still love the stuff that I love.
01:04:37
Speaker
Like I still love the original trilogy. I still love The Last Jedi. I still love Rogue One. Like I have, Star Wars will always be an important thing. It's just not as important to me as it once was. And part of that is the fact that you know They seem content to want to keep going back and doing things they've done before in other media. And um I was never that invested in that that section of the fandom. Other people are, and they're very excited, and I'm happy for them. But I would rather they push forward and tell new stories, which it doesn't seem they're particularly interested in doing.
01:05:09
Speaker
And that's fine. And i I kind of feel the same way about Star Trek. I'm like, well, cool. But Star Trek has for the last 30 years just been prequel stuff. Like I don't like prequel stuff. And that's again, that's me.
01:05:21
Speaker
That's my personal preference. And again, you can step away from something without complaining on the Internet to anyone who will listen why you're stepping away from the thing that you loved for so long. um I've only ever talked about it on this podcast or if someone's asked me point blank about it. um Why? Because.
01:05:38
Speaker
It's nobody's business why I like and don't like to the extent that I like and don't like the things I like and don't like. Yeah, it's it's this desire to let someone know in hopes that maybe they'll listen to you, I guess, is really what it is. Yeah.
01:05:55
Speaker
that they, I just want to be heard. Like, I've loved this thing forever and you're taking it in a direction I don't like. Please change. Please. i i i don't know what I'm going to do without this thing. Please change it. Please. But then, so then the problem comes about where and And fans have certainly recognized this.
01:06:14
Speaker
they There has been this very bad precedent set, and it's been set by people like um Warner Brothers. It's been set by people like Sony, that if the nerds are loud enough and hateful enough and vitriolic enough, the studios will listen to them and change the thing back to the thing they wanted. Yeah.
01:06:36
Speaker
And it's it's more of that shitty fan behavior giving them giving into those shitty demands. We saw that with the Snyder Cut. And to a lesser extent, we see that with Ghostbusters Afterlife.
01:06:50
Speaker
There are these course corrections that happen based on fan reaction and fans know this. And so they're like, well, I'm going to boycott X, Y, z because I want them to give me the Snyder verse now. So I'm going to boycott every Warner Brothers movie that that comes down the pipeline from here on out because they won't give Zack Snyder. baby him be bb Yeah. And I, you know, and I'm left thinking if the writing of this movie had been better, you know, and if you may be,
01:07:19
Speaker
Paul Feig hadn't been the director or maybe if he had been a little bit more you hands on. um Basically I'm saying, if this movie had been better and I had really liked it, I would probably be upset.
01:07:33
Speaker
That there is an afterlife coming out, that there is that course correction. Because I would be sitting here going, well, I want sequel to that one. Like, can I see where that one goes? Because, I mean, they mentioned Zul at the end. I want to see this team fight Zul and see what they do with that. Yeah.
01:07:48
Speaker
Is it a different thing here? Is it the same entity across dimensions? Like, let's just let's dig into that. Because, yeah, yeah i mean. Potential for some cool lore there. Exactly, which they did in the comics. like There's a whole Ghostbusters multiverse in the comics, which just goes to show how much writing changes because i absolutely loved this team in the comics because the writing is so much better. Right. um So it's just it's all about the writing. It has absolutely nothing to do with...
01:08:16
Speaker
Anything else. um And and ah
Script & Editing Analysis
01:08:19
Speaker
the script is one. The script and the editing, I think, are my two biggest problems. That and Feig's reliance on, quote, finding it in the edit, I think, are my.
01:08:28
Speaker
i So I guess kind of those three things in tandem. The edit suffers because he's trying to find the movie. The script suffers because they're using it as a template rather than as the script.
01:08:41
Speaker
And Feig is kind of the one masterminding it all. So i I would say those are my my problem areas where I think the movie struggles the most. But I have nothing against any of the performers. I think all the performances are really solid. And honestly, if there's a reason I like this movie, if there's a reason this movie works at all, it's those performers. Like it's Kate McKinnon as Holtzman. It's Chris Hemsworth as – as Kevin, it's Leslie Jones as Patty to a lesser extent. It's Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy as Aaron and Abby respectively. Like the behind the scenes machinations are the things that I, that kind of leave me cold and the way this movie was constructed and put together. But there's some really like the ghost effects are amazing.
01:09:28
Speaker
Like I think the, the effect work in the last third of the movie is really strong. um Like, I really like it. No, they're not practical. And yes, I kind of wish they had been, but they still look really cool.
01:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, I agree with that. um Which, backtrack to the point I was going to make. Sure. um Sorry. Really quick. Really quick. Sorry. Well, one tangents. They happen. We do. um ah Just because, like, the sequel, like, a sequel to this movie would look like maybe that's how you Maybe that's how you could have course corrected, but done it in a way that in a Por que no los dos situation, where you create a multiverse, where Zool has attacked this new team.
01:10:14
Speaker
Maybe they find a way, Holtzman in particular, um who has somehow created a portal that sends ghosts to Michigan. ah it's like Sorry, Lansing. ah could you know find a way to create a multidimensional portal to bring on the old team. So you have the old team and the new team, and they exist together.
01:10:34
Speaker
It's a thing that can happen. Which I think if that had happened in 2018, when they were also releasing Into the Spider-Verse, would have seemed a lot more novel ah than doing it now, where everything is multiverse now. We've because the MCU has now embraced the multiverse after Loki. Like it just seems everyone's doing the multiverse thing. And so to do that now would just be too little too late, I'm afraid.
01:11:00
Speaker
Sure. But I mean, you know, they probably this that that theoretical multiverse movie would have been coming out around this time. Yeah. If you follow like probably the timeline, that would have happened because you would need sequel to this maybe a couple of years after this one.
01:11:16
Speaker
And then the third one comes out into the Busterverse. But at least you've already set that up in the sequel so that it doesn't feel like you're just doing the thing that everyone is doing. Now, granted, you know, it it gets kind of exhausting when everyone's doing the same thing and you're like, oh, great. Now we've got another cinematic universe to keep track of.
01:11:37
Speaker
Wonderful. Fantastic. Like, it's it's mentally exhausting, which is part of the reason I'm not as... you know, all in on Marvel right now is because it like three, four movies a year and I got to keep track of the TV shows and a multiverse. And oh my gosh, it's exhausting to have to keep up with all this stuff.
01:11:54
Speaker
So. Yeah. Yeah. I don't mind as much. I think it's all cool, but. Sure. and I've always been a multiverse fan in the whole, like from like a long freaking time ago. like i mean, same. Yeah.
01:12:07
Speaker
I've always been a fan of what ifs and difference in it, the butterfly effect and all this other. It's fascinating to me. So I love the multiverse stuff. Let me back that up a little bit. I love crossovers. I love when thing I love from this property and thing I love from this property meet up.
01:12:23
Speaker
I love that. I think that's really cool. The thing I that that has always kind of made me a little crazy and made my head spin a little bit is when we've got, OK, we've got all these different timelines. We've got this guy from this timeline, this guy from this timeline, this guy from this timeline, and this guy from this timeline and this guy from this other universe, this other dimension where this, this, this and this happened. And that's why he's different. And they all come together. And that's when I'm like, OK, slow down. I need to sit down for a second.
01:12:49
Speaker
Like i I was a DC fan forever growing up. And the minute I jumped off is the minute they're like, you know what? We're bringing the multiverse back. Suck it, bitches. We're bringing the multiverse back. And I'm like, I nope, not going to do that.
Ghostbusters Multiverse Possibilities
01:13:02
Speaker
So like that was that was when I jumped off the DC bandwagon for a while is when they just fully embrace the multiverse. And I'm like, I i need to lay down. Sorry.
01:13:13
Speaker
It's like in in comics specifically, it's a lot to take in because they're just. But I mean, the way Marvel does it, it's also a lot to take in, you know, like, again, you've got there are like eight different Marvel titles that came out MCU titles that came out this year, like in 2021. Yeah.
01:13:33
Speaker
which is a lot of titles to try to keep track of and to keep everything straight. And again, I was someone who followed the MCU cinematic universe for the full 11 years they were operating operating. Like I was all in and after Endgame and with the introduction of the multiverse, I'm just kind of like, I need to lay down.
01:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, it is admittedly a lot. ah But again, that's just me. Yeah. And if you like that thing, That's totally okay. Yeah. And really, if you like it, if you like the premise for this theoretical three ghostbuster ghostbusters, ghostbusters, 2016 trilogy, uh, go read the IDW comics.
01:14:15
Speaker
Uh, they did it in the comics. They're pretty fun. Yeah. You, you not only get the original 1984 team, you the 2016 team. You get the real Ghostbusters showing up. You get the extreme Ghostbusters showing up.
01:14:28
Speaker
You get Ghostbusters teams from like the original NES video game. That's really weird.
Iconic Characters: Stay Puft & Slimer
01:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, all the little 8-bit characters. The little 8-bit Ghostbusters. It's hilarious. It's great. um Yeah, go read that if you're interested in this sort of into the Busterverse thing.
01:14:43
Speaker
But... ah So anyway, back to the ghost effects. I thought, yes, also very good. I felt... Like they really, again, shoehorned in, stay puffed. Don't really know why he was there. He, well, I thought that was the first time I saw it. I'm like, this is really bizarre, but the way they bring him in, I think is actually kind of funny because he's a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. And they usually do that with popular characters or advertising characters.
01:15:14
Speaker
um And so as an advertising icon for Stay Puft Marshmallows, it makes sense that he would have been a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Yes, you are correct.
01:15:25
Speaker
Had they said that Stay Puft was a brand in this universe at all the rest of the movie. The only reason you know that is because he's a mascot in the original. Sure. And again, that's one of those like, again, what are you going to be disappointed if you don't see it?
01:15:40
Speaker
Stay Puft. Now, Stay Puft is not necessarily a super well-established brand in the original Ghostbusters either, but you need to do some kind of table setting if you're going to bring the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man back here other than just like, hey,
01:15:54
Speaker
See the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man? We brought him back. I mean, they brought back the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man for the Ghostbusters video game because they know how iconic that image is to Ghostbusters.
01:16:07
Speaker
Yeah. And he's in the opening of the real ghostbusters and he has no reason to be there. And they fought him multiple times in the comics too. Like it right for some reason, stay puffed is this recurring form of gozer that keeps coming back and they don't really know why this form of gozer keeps showing back up over and over again. i blame Ray probably.
01:16:28
Speaker
um But Gozer and Zoola have a whole family in the ghost world that just had, or, you know, you, you killed my brother slash sister, whoever. Sure.
01:16:40
Speaker
So they come after the team. Um, these Ghostbusters lore again, go read the comics. Uh, yeah, Brett, Brett, big fan of the comics. I read a lot of that run. ah I stopped, I think either in the middle of, or just after the end of the Busterverse crossover event. Yeah.
01:17:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's really good stuff. Yeah. um But, and then on that same token, i was originally of the mind that Slimer also felt shoehorned in.
01:17:14
Speaker
But this watch through, I'm like, i mean, I guess it's not really shoehorned in just because he he sort of plays a decent decently slightly medium-sized part in the end of the movie. I mean, he is... he's Again, it's one of those things that's so iconic. You can't not include it.
01:17:34
Speaker
No. And then they give him a lady Slimer too, for some reason. Which is, I mean, don't reason for that. That is not. My wife, we were watching it earlier earlier today and she goes, okay, but.
01:17:46
Speaker
but why is there a lady slimer now? And I'm like, I honestly, I don't know. He drives off in the Ecto one and then literally comes back with a lady slimer and a bunch of ghosts hanging out of the car. Like they don't do anything to set that up. You're just like, Oh, okay. I guess there's a lady slimer now. Okay.
01:18:03
Speaker
Um, doesn't make any sense. I don't like it. Um, but you know, i mean, Slimer again is, is an iconic enough character. They, they made him the team's unofficial mascot in the cartoon show.
01:18:15
Speaker
I mean, yeah, there's, there's a reason that he became as inextricably linked. I think they put him in Ghostbusters too, right? Just because he had become such a, a part of the, didn't he make like a small appearance in Ghostbusters too? Am I remembering that correctly?
01:18:33
Speaker
Yeah, he makes ah he makes two appearances. One, he's eating out of the trash and Lewis finds him and scares Lewis. And later they call back to that when Lewis is heading to the museum and has to catch a bus, which Slimer is driving. Okay. to it To which Slimer tells him to come on and Lewis says, all right, but I hope you got your license. and And we basically get callbacks to kind of both of those both of his his appearances in Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 because in the first Ghostbusters he pops out of a hot dog cart which is where we first find him here and then what does he do he starts driving the Ecto-1 so he's eating and he's driving those are the two things that Slimer does.
01:19:15
Speaker
That is a very fair point. You have made a very interesting connection I had not made. Look at that. So there you go. Again, was that intentional? I don't
Fan Reactions to the Reboot
01:19:23
Speaker
really think so. i i have I have to think it was, again, just because of how beholden this movie seems to to the original the original text for the reason of appeasing these aforementioned shitty fanboys.
01:19:36
Speaker
Sure. While also at the same time, a lot of the cast going, please don't compare us to the original or not the original. Right. And rightly so. um You know, because if you look at Holtzman as a female Egon, I mean, they wear glasses and they do the inventing, but that's about where the similarities lie, because in terms of personality, they couldn't be more different. Right.
01:19:57
Speaker
Right, exactly. i mean, yeah, yeah she sure, she's the Egon of the team, but like she's not like Egon at all. Right. and you know Other than that, other than like you said, she she builds the things, and she's weird. ah but Yeah, and wears glasses. Because I'm sure Egon could think of at least five things to do with a cadaver today.
01:20:21
Speaker
But... Right. You know, he never he never mentions that. Sure. ah So. And, you know, and Abby seems to be the Ray analog, but seems to...
01:20:34
Speaker
lack a lot of his just unbridled enthusiasm for for for ghostbusting, which and maybe that's part of why I think this doesn't work is that no one really seems to have that much enthusiasm for doing the thing except for Holtzman. Holtzman seems to have the most enthusiasm for what she's doing, which, again, maybe is why Holtzman is the character we're compelled to the most.
01:20:55
Speaker
But like there there are moments when they're they act really excited, but you at no point are you like, well, this is clearly the thing that they've been waiting for all this time. Like when you see um Ray freaking out like, oh, we've got actual physical contact, you know, in the library in the original film, it's not, you know, there's there's no real line drawn there.
01:21:16
Speaker
um There's also no real Venkman because again, the thing that works about the original Ghostbusters that makes that movie work as as well as it does is Bill Murray's entire attitude toward that movie where he, the entire film, he's just acting like he has somewhere better he needs to be. And can we please get this over with? I've got, you know, I've got stuff I need to take care of.
01:21:41
Speaker
And, and it works because, know, he's bill murray like not everyone can pull that off and thankfully for this movie no one's really trying to pull that off like you get the kristin wiggs character i guess is the one who is most reluctant about joining the ghostbusters but at no point does she feel above it all like even though she's working at a legitimate college you're not like oh well clearly she's above all this it it it always seems kind of put on the to my Janine point earlier, she's also the only character that like maybe over sexualizes the other gender at some point, but true but yeah. And that, but like still it's like, it's very minor. Like she does it. Sure.
01:22:22
Speaker
But it's not to the extent that Vankman did it. Like, yeah. Vank, Vankman is, is, is Peter Vankman problematic? Yeah. Yeah.
01:22:34
Speaker
i think I think that goes without saying, honestly, and we it's about time we as we as Ghostbuster devotees admitted it. Sure. ah Because there was that whole discourse about ah why he had a bunch of drugs on him to drug Dana. She got possessed. like quiet open them Why? Can we talk about that real quick? Back off, man. He's a scientist. No, i that's indefensible. i'm sorry i'm I'm sorry I said that. Wrong callback to that movie. Sorry.
01:23:05
Speaker
That's fine. um But look, even you did it. Even you had to compare it to the original. like It's just something you have to do. But again, at certain points I think at some point it it because it's because of how beholden this movie is to to the original text and how much fans wanted it to be beholden to the original thing. And I think the major complaint, other than that you know no one with a vagina can bust a ghost, is the idea that it's not the thing that I love when I was a kid. Like there, there seems to be this desire for these reboots to, to recapture the magic that we felt as children when we first saw the thing.
01:23:48
Speaker
And I think that's chasing that high is what I think leads to shitty fans. Yeah. Because there's this thing that you love and you loved it so much and it's your favorite thing and you're very protective of it. But ultimately, you would love a reboot just as much if it made you feel like you were a kid again. And that is too tall an order to place on a piece of fiction at the end of the day.
01:24:12
Speaker
Agreed. 100%. Which... which just Just goes to to my other point. like The fact that that did happen with this movie for some people, that this this was their first introduction to Ghostbusters. and they They get to capture this feeling.
01:24:31
Speaker
Maybe it's sad that maybe you know the fan the the little girls that saw 2016 and now are seeing a new Ghostbusters movie come out and go, oh, it's Ghostbusters. I want to go see Ghostbusters. And then they're getting... something entirely different. They're getting kind of the Ghostbusters from our era, not the Ghostbusters from theirs. Yeah. And so ah kind of, I kind of feel very upset for them. I do too. Yeah.
01:24:54
Speaker
Because again, and this is something that most people can't really reconcile in their heads. Um, there are people that really love this movie. yeah Um, there are people for whom our, our friend hope is one of them. This is their favorite Ghostbusters property.
01:25:08
Speaker
And that's okay. Yeah. jane because Just because you don't like it doesn't mean they can't. Right. but and And admittedly, and I hate admitting this, I can't wrap my head around that take. Like, I'd love to just pick Hope's brain sometime.
01:25:23
Speaker
I hope. You're probably listening to this. I'd love to pick your brain sometime about why you think this is better than the other. Well, why do you think this is better than the original. I'm a Ghostbusters 2 defender.
01:25:35
Speaker
But, you know, now i'm now saying that something is better than something isn't necessarily a reason why it's your favorite of a thing. I mean, those are two different. Those are two different points to make.
01:25:46
Speaker
Fair. OK, that's a fair point. Which I guess when you put it that way, it makes it easier for my brain to comprehend. Sure. Because it's a preference thing. Right. So that makes more sense. But I would still love to hear ah your opinion, Hope, on why it's your favorite thing.
01:26:04
Speaker
Well, and I, when I've talked to her about it in the past and, and I, like I said, I'm sure hope will be more than happy to share her thoughts with you. I, I don't know why I feel that way, but something tells me that she's not going to be shy about sharing what, what she feels with you. Um, but you know, she's like, it's funny people doing funny shit. Like why, how, how do you not love that? So, you know, I get it.
01:26:28
Speaker
Yeah.
Comedic Tropes & Social Context
01:26:29
Speaker
But you know, your, your, your mileage may vary on that take. So. I, I, yeah. And it does.
01:26:39
Speaker
But that's fine. You're allowed to like it. Yeah. It's okay. It's, it's okay to like a movie. It's okay to like this movie. And if you do like this movie, I'm really glad you like this movie.
01:26:49
Speaker
I, I like it too. Yeah. You i don't know, is I mean, I've, I've pretty much gone through all of my notes. Sure. Um, I think the only, the only other note I had was the fact that The ah whenever a physical gag is done, it is done to the ah more overweight members of the cast.
01:27:13
Speaker
That's yeah, that's a little problematic to me. I mean, that that's always been a comedy trope. a You know, fat person fall down equals funny. And as as a person with ah of a substantial size. um Yeah, I've always kind of had a problem with that. I've always kind of had an issue with that. And I mean, it's been to the extent that like guys like John Candy didn't take certain roles because speaking of people who are almost cast in the original Ghostbusters um didn't take roles because he felt like they were.
01:27:48
Speaker
belittling him. um Like he almost didn't take stripes because there's that, the, the, the mud wrestling scene. And he was like, I mean, they're just making fun of the fat guy. And he's like, I think his acting teacher had to like sit him down to be like, no, this would be really good for you. There's some value to this. You should, and it helped make his career.
01:28:05
Speaker
um But I mean, making fun of the fat guy has been a comedy trope for years. And you would think by 2016, you would hope by 2016 that we were away from that.
01:28:17
Speaker
But people still find it funny when large people fall over. I don't understand why. But it it is. It's like it's fat phobia. Just call it what it is. It's fat phobia. Like you have to look a certain way. You have to be a certain weight. Yeah.
01:28:34
Speaker
And if you don't, you are a joke. That's really what it is. Which is um ah bad. It's a bad take. It is.
01:28:45
Speaker
It very much is. And I think that you could sum up all of the things I don't like about this movie into one scene.
01:28:58
Speaker
And that is when Patty falls off the stage at the rock concert. So that one is a larger, larger person falling down and then proceeds to call out maybe why they didn't catch her. Honestly, that line, for whatever reason, that line hit really well for me. Like, I don't know if it was a race thing or a woman thing, but I'm mad as hell right now. Like, I thought that line was great.
01:29:24
Speaker
I mean, again, your mileage may vary, but I thought that was hilarious. ah They crammed that scene into every single trailer and commercial. So I don't remember if it was funny the first time I heard it, but it definitely wasn't funny the 30 millionth time I heard it. Sure, sure. um And again, i it it's hard to fault the movie for the problem of the the the marketing team. The things the marketing team decided were the things that needed to be in the trailer.
01:29:50
Speaker
Well, sure. But still, marketing team aside, it's a distillation of all the things I don't like. It's right's the bigger person falling down. It's over explaining the joke. It's lampshading why this is supposed to be funny. And it's it's it's the it's the only non-white person in the cast yeah calling attention to the fact that it's it could be a race thing. like Which is the only time that is actually done in the movie.
01:30:17
Speaker
It is, which good for them for, you know, not, you know, only doing it once, I guess. You could have not done it at all. That'd
Ernie Hudson's Ghostbusters Contributions
01:30:24
Speaker
have been great. Sure. But, but, uh, Hey, you know, and again,
01:30:30
Speaker
Maybe you could have made her a part of the original team, maybe swap some people around. But that's, you know, it's whatever. i like I like her in that role because i I like her energy. I think her energy fits that role really well, personally.
01:30:43
Speaker
But, you know, again, does it have to be the the the blue collar person? No, probably not. But again, i i think her energy matches that character really well. Because honestly, I think you take that energy and put it into the Rey role. Like, I think that works great. Like, she could be enthusiastic and very, like, over the top about all the ghost stuff.
01:31:02
Speaker
I think that would have worked really well. But instead, you know, her uncle's got to be Ernie Hudson. so Which, I mean, i i did love that. Like, here's the thing.
01:31:15
Speaker
I have such goodwill for Ernie Hudson. Yeah, me too. Like just as a performer. um And I talked about this a lot when we were on Slay Away with Enola, past and future guest Enola Lugosi. I talked a lot about the fact that Ernie Hudson pretty much got the short end of the stick on the original Ghostbusters because they had a they had written the role for Eddie Murphy. He turned it down to do ah maybe Beverly Hills cop, um which was going to be a starring role for him. um So he wasn't able to do Ghostbusters. So when they hired Ernie Hudson and he read the script, there was a lot of stuff there for him to do. And then by the time they actually brought him on, There was significantly less stuff in the script for him to do. A lot of his characters, lines and beats and moments had been given to other characters throughout the the rest of this the the set. And he complained about it to one of the writers of the script, Harold Ramis. And Harold just kind of laughed it off and said, oh, well, you know, it's Hollywood, which um seems kind of like a shitty thing to do.
01:32:21
Speaker
Not to speak ill of of The Departed, but still doesn't seem like the best thing, the the best way to go about doing that. But, you know, that and and so it's it's something that Ernie Hudson doesn't talk about a lot. But if you can read kind of an interview or two with him, like talking about...
01:32:38
Speaker
ah kind of his experience on the first Ghostbusters. I think some of that's kind of telling. But I've got such goodwill in my heart for Ernie Hudson that literally anytime Ernie Hudson shows up in anything that I'm watching, my immediate reaction is, hey, it's Ernie Hudson.
01:32:52
Speaker
Like, I just I love that guy. if it It could be Twin Peaks, The Return. It could be The Crow. It could be any number of things that Ernie Hudson is. It's this movie. Literally, he gets out of the car at the hearse at the end of the movie. I'm like, hey, it's Ernie Hudson.
01:33:05
Speaker
And yeah know I'm just, I'm just always happy to see Ernie Hudson and I don't even care about the context. I love Ernie Hudson. Yeah. And, to To clarify a little bit further, Ernie Hudson has never said a bad word about Harold Ramis. No. he's no he's never He's never said he's like, he never held that against him. or no No, no, no, no, no. So, you know. And Ernie Hudson seems acutely aware that this is the movie that kind of, that the original Ghostbusters is the movie that kind of made his career. Like he seems very aware of that. And and of if anyone is going to show up for a Ghostbusters thing, Ernie Hudson's usually going to be the first one to sign on.
01:33:42
Speaker
He usually is. Yeah. Which, which is great because he's the one I think that recognizes like he was the one, like all the other guys couldn't be bothered to like audition for the Ghostbusters, the real Ghostbusters cartoon. Ernie Hudson wanted to play Winston in the Ghostbusters cartoon. And the only reason he didn't was because none of the other actors were going to be. And so they're like, well, we can't have you be the only guy from the movie. So no.
01:34:08
Speaker
ah The story I heard was they said he sounded too much like Ernie Hudson and they they didn't they didn't. I mean, it's
Potential for More Ghostbusters Content
01:34:15
Speaker
it's kind of this. But it's the same idea. You know, if if they had gotten someone to play Peter that sounded just like Bill Murray and someone to play Egon that sounded just like Harold Ramis and someone to play Ray that sounded just like Dan Aykroyd, they probably wouldn't have cared that Winston sounded just like or that Ernie Hudson sounded just like Winston. If they if he wasn't the only character that wasn't going to sound just like the character from the movie.
01:34:38
Speaker
Right. Which the irony being that the guy that played Peter sounded too much like Bill Murray and they recast him later. That's not why they recast him. It's because Bill Murray, Bill Murray complained to somebody at a party. Why do I sound like Garfield?
01:34:51
Speaker
um And so they, they recast him based on a offhanded comment that Bill Murray made at a party to somebody. um That was why they recast him. Well, that's conflicting stories. I've heard. ah Mine comes from Maurice LaMarche himself.
01:35:06
Speaker
So, oh, well, I guess that's probably the more accurate one then. I don't know where yours comes from, but mine was the one as told as told by Maurice Lamarche, who, again, does not blame Bill Murray for his friend Lorenzo Music getting fired from the gig. ah Because, again, he's like, I don't know the context. I wasn't there. it was an offhanded comment made it a party. But, you know, a word got back and that Bill Murray wasn't happy. And so Lorenzo Music got the boot.
01:35:32
Speaker
And but I mean, you still got you've got Maurice LaMarche, you've got Arsenio Hall was the one who they finally got to play Winston. um The the immortal Frank Welker ah like that voice cast was still pretty stacked for what it was.
01:35:48
Speaker
Yeah, no, it absolutely was. So. And I know I watched the shit out of it as a kid. so Yeah. Now, i you know what? A great vehicle for the for this Ghostbusters team from the 2016 movie, give them their own animated series.
01:36:04
Speaker
That would be cool. I would watch that. I would, too. Will that happen? No. No, of course not. No. i think I think we have seen, outside of the comics, I think we've seen all we're going to see of this team, which is tragic because I i love...
01:36:20
Speaker
i I like this team and I love the potential of this team. Like I want, I want more of
Equipment Consistency Issues
01:36:26
Speaker
this team. I want more of this group, but again, outside of the comics, I will probably never get it, which is a bummer.
01:36:32
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I like that this was, they really tried to go more of a, ah ah for lack of a better term, prequel route. like They don't have all this established equipment yet, and Holtzman is developing it as they go. Right. um To that point, I'm not a fan of, like, they seem to waffle back and forth on whether they're going to capture them or just...
01:36:59
Speaker
I ionize them, um kill them, basically. ah which I mean, there's connotations there. ah they they seem to do a lot more of one and not a lot of the other.
01:37:12
Speaker
Yeah. Especially when they're like, um, at the beginning of that final fight, big fight at the end when like they're using the regular proton stream and they're just like throwing them around. Like you guys don't have traps. What are you doing? Right.
01:37:26
Speaker
Um, But then you break out, you know, the proton grenades and the whatever those like gun whips that Holtzman was using, which are freaking cool. Maybe my favorite piece of tech in the movie. where the it says let Let me say, even I will admit that like that scene with the orchestral Ghostbusters version of the Ghostbusters theme behind it is the most badass scene in this entire movie. It's so cool.
01:37:51
Speaker
it's so fucking cool. And I wish it was in a different Ghostbusters movie. Because it's it's just... It's everything I wanted in a new Ghostbusters. This is like it's is new tech and a new character doing something really badass with the technology.
01:38:07
Speaker
And I'm very upset that it's not in a better movie. yeah um But yeah. So and had a problem with that. It's interesting...
01:38:19
Speaker
Because there there's there was a story arc in the comics where a different team steals the Ghostbusters tech, but it's slightly different and they just make the ghosts disappear. They don't, kind of the same way, they don't capture them.
01:38:35
Speaker
um And that arc culminizes in all of the ghosts that they made disappear or ionize were actually just dissipated for a while and all of them come back at the same time.
01:38:47
Speaker
Because it's energy, right? Energy yeah isn't cannot be destroyed. It has to go somewhere. Yeah. um So, um yeah. And that's and and that was a really cool thing. And that guy eventually ends up joining a different like sub team of Ghostbusters after the original team gets sucked into another dimension. But that's a whole thing. The Chicago branch, right? ah Something like that. Yeah.
01:39:10
Speaker
So, yeah, it it kind of bugs me that that they don't really stick to one specific way that their busting equipment works. But that's a nitpick, I guess, really. i mean, day compared to some of your other complaints, it seems a little more nitpicky. yeah But I mean, here's the thing. um It's not I don't think it's a bad thing to want consistency.
01:39:35
Speaker
in the films that you're watching, like, um, you know, the rules of a universe make are important because they determine what you can and cannot do. So if you set something up that it has to be this way in act one, and then you blatantly refute that again in act three, then your rules mean nothing, which means that your movie like is without, I mean, it may, it basically means your, your movie is badly written at the end of the day.
01:40:00
Speaker
um So, I mean, yeah, I mean, rules matter rules and the consistency with which you adhere to those rules is important. um So, I mean, I, it might seem like a small rule, but it's still one of the rules that we're playing by. And those, those matter, those are important.
01:40:17
Speaker
So I'll, I'll, I'll give you that one.
Original Cast Cameos Analysis
01:40:21
Speaker
um But yeah, so, so Ghostbusters 2016, do we want to talk about any of the other cast members that we've not really addressed so far?
01:40:30
Speaker
Um, i don't think so, no. I mean, the the rest of the cast, honestly, is mostly just cameos. Like... Nobody sticks around in this movie for very long other than the main cast. Let's talk about that. So the beginning of this movie, we are introduced within the first, I would say, 10 to 15 minutes to characters played by Justin Kirk, Charles Dance, um Elizabeth Perkins.
01:40:54
Speaker
And those are the main three that I really want to touch on, because those are all actors that are big enough, with the possible exception of Justin Kirk. who is one of those like, oh, that guy was on a TV show, right? Like he worked with Paul Feig on Weeds um to where you're like, oh, well, that guy will clearly stick around for the rest of this movie. Elizabeth Perkins is done after her initial scene. Like you get the sense that maybe – Kristen, like Justin Kirk was like cheating on Kristen Wiig with her maybe, but at no point is that explored or touched on or elaborated upon whatsoever. um
01:41:29
Speaker
Charles Dance has like a brief like talking head segment later in the movie alongside Steve Higgins, who plays the dean of Higgins University, which I thought was really funny.
01:41:40
Speaker
Um, probably not an intentional joke, but like maybe one of those things, like it's called Higgins University. What if we got Steve, get Steve Higgins to play this guy? And they probably knew Steve Higgins and just called him up Higgins. Like I'm not doing anything tomorrow afternoon. Let's do it. Like all of these, you get the idea that these people maybe spent a day,
01:41:57
Speaker
Maybe two on set. But like you expect like there to be more to these characters and and more story with these characters. And then there's not like Justin Kirk shows up later to try to be like, but why are you being a Ghostbuster?
01:42:11
Speaker
And she's like, i can't talk right now. I have to go bust ghosts. And like that's that's that scene. Like, why is that in the movie? Why is this character in the movie? Like they're characters in service of nothing else but to make people go, oh, I know who that is.
01:42:25
Speaker
ah Point of order. None of that's in the original. Oh, really? Okay. So this is all extended cut stuff then. The stuff with... the stuff with Because I'm sitting here going... Who?
01:42:36
Speaker
What? why so you don't Maybe there was a relationship with who? You don't mean... Kristen Wiig's boyfriend, Justin Kirk, doesn't show up and it does not play a role in the movie at all? No.
01:42:47
Speaker
He's not there at all. Because that's why I'm sitting here going, wait, she had a boyfriend? Or like maybe he's a colleague or something. Let me check the... ah but butpa she doesn't interact with anybody else at the college that she worked for other than the the dean. Oh, you know what? He is uncredited. So he might just be an extended cut thing.
01:43:06
Speaker
Uh, yikes. Um, okay. Weird. Um, so then, yeah, this is, these are all complaints I have with the extended cut. Then why do you need to add that in the movie? If you're not going to add in the full story arc for that. Okay. That interesting. Um, okay. Then let me ask you this.
01:43:23
Speaker
since we can't use any of that material that we just talked about and that's all getting cut from the episode. Um, is it I don't care, whatever. Um, but um, what did you, how did you feel about the cameos from the original cast from the cast of the original ghostbusters? So we've got cameos from, uh, Bill Murray,
01:43:43
Speaker
We've got cameo ah from Dan Aykroyd, from Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and Sigourney Weaver. All five cameo. And there is a bust of Harold Ramis in the movie as well. That's his quote-unquote cameo because he had passed away a couple years earlier.
01:43:58
Speaker
um Some of them feel shoehorned in. give me for Give me an example. Dan Aykroyd's in particular. Dan Aykroyd's probably the worst one. Dan Eckerd's is absolutely the worst one. um Because it just it makes a whole lot of no sense. you know He knows what kind of ghosts are around. and then absolutely That I thought was kind of funny. Like, oh, what are you talking about? It's a that's a class five apparition. This is nothing.
01:44:23
Speaker
Like, I thought that was kind of funny. But then he, of course, has to say the thing. So, yeah, it's the I ain't afraid of no ghosts and driving off for me where I'm just like, OK, fine.
01:44:34
Speaker
Yeah. Like ray did none of the other, none of the other cameos do that sort of well, Annie Potts is sort of does. Yeah. The, what do you want? Yeah. The, what do you want? Yeah. is But like, so I will admit that like hers feels shoehorned in, but I also just love her and Janine so much that I was like, I just love this cameo. I don't care if it feels shoehorned in. Well, and I feel the same way about Ernie Hudson's cameo. Like I, yeah, it feels shoehorned in, but I love Ernie Hudson so much that I'm like, I don't care. I'm just glad Ernie Hudson's in a movie and is getting a paycheck. Yeah.
01:45:03
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. Hooray, Ernie Hudson. you You get that money, buddy. And I think I would have liked Bill Murray's more had they not just used his character as a cameo. Like, you've got that whole subplot of the mayor wanting to, like...
01:45:22
Speaker
make them out to be fraud so the public doesn't find out about ghosts being real. A way overqualified Andy Garcia in that role, by the way. Way overqualified. oh Absolutely. ah But like, why wouldn't like you, it's right there in front of you. Why not put those two things together? You have this guy who wants to debunk them.
01:45:42
Speaker
Why not? Put those characters together through line. Like you've got a ah nice, like really tight through line. Instead, you just throw Bill Murray's character away. Literally. Literally. Yeah. Chuck him out the window. Literally. Yeah. And then, uh, and then just forget about him.
01:45:59
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, I'm just now thinking of how overqualified Andy Garcia is ah for that that cameo as the mayor. But I also really love the don't compare me to the Jaws mayor ever. Like, I i love that line. That's so and his delivery on that is perfect. as It was really good. Yeah. Like, look, some of the jokes in this movie are good. they yeah It's not an unfunny movie.
01:46:24
Speaker
It's just not a consistently funny movie. i went I went into this rewatch thinking I'm not going to laugh at all. I remember hating everything about this movie. and I was laughing in the first three minutes of this movie. like i I was like legitimately having a good time.
01:46:40
Speaker
yeah the Yeah. The jokes in the opening are funny. and then and i Yeah. And a lot of lot of Kevin stuff makes me laugh. Yeah. Kevin's good. Holtzman's great.
01:46:52
Speaker
Yeah. Holtzman always good. Now, at the beginning of the movie... Like, I know I'm in the minority here, okay? I don't find toilet humor funny. Especially queef jokes.
01:47:05
Speaker
so But I know I'm in the minority. Everybody's like, you know, farts are never not funny. And I'm like, are they? So, I mean, i get that. But, like, it's just the lowest common denominator of humor. Sure. And it's...
01:47:17
Speaker
Holt's better than that. i am on the way I think the way that she doubles down on it is what I found really funny. is It wasn't the fact that there was a fart. It was the fact that she was like, well, what if I told you it came from the front?
01:47:28
Speaker
Really? I can do it on command if you want to. like The way that she kind of doubles down on it and like the delivery that Kate McKinnon is giving there, I think turns that into something funnier than than it might be otherwise.
01:47:40
Speaker
But again, that's me. Your mileage may vary. Your mileage may vary. um What did you think about Sigourney's cameo? And Sigourney's cameo. I mean, if you flesh that out in a sequel, I think I think it's a fantastic role. I think it's really cool. um And it feels like something that might have actually been fleshed out in a sequel.
01:48:01
Speaker
Yeah, I really think you get her to come back for a sequel and she is absolutely there helping Holtzman to develop the containment unit and other stuff. And and like of the people that seemed like it it felt like Ackroyd Hudson and Weaver were like really excited to come back and do Ghostbusters stuff again. Murray's always the guy you have to convince. Like Ackroyd was like, hey, you want me to consult on the script? I do the tech stuff really well. Like, let me know what you want to do. Anything you want me to do, I'll do it.
Bill Murray's Involvement
01:48:31
Speaker
Um, whereas Murray's like, I don't know. And then like, there's a, there's a scene in one of the, um, special features where he's like, um, you know, i was, I was initially concerned about not coming back, but then it felt like to not come back would be to be doing a disservice to these really great women who are doing this, this, this movie. And it felt like it might be bad luck if I didn't. So I want to I want to give them all the luck in the world. So I'm coming back to do this. Like it just kind of felt like, yeah, I'm Bill Murray and I i need to not be as ah as as walled off about doing this particular thing as I might otherwise be.
01:49:09
Speaker
Yeah, which seemed to have happened a lot more after Harold Ramis died. I think so. Yeah, I think he – they had a falling out of some kind on Groundhog Day. I don't know the specifics of it, but I think it affected Murray's willingness to do anything of else Ghostbusters related. I don't ever think he was as really on board with the Ghostbusters thing as a lot of the other people involved were.
01:49:31
Speaker
ah he He feels like a hired gun. He feels a bit like a w ringer in the first movie. And then he kind of comes in to the second one out of an obligation. But because he's so baked into the conceit, you can't really do one without him.
01:49:44
Speaker
So like most of the scripts for other Ghostbusters properties ah that existed in the interim time, spoilers, if they included him at all, he like dies in the movie as a way of trying to coax him into doing it. Well, yeah, but we won't ever ask you to do it again.
01:49:58
Speaker
Somehow forgetting that this is a Ghostbusters movie and um ghosts, literally ghosts. Well, yeah, that wasn't that that was his stipulation for a long time. was like I'll come back and do it. But you got to kill me off and I got to be a ghost. It's the Harrison Ford Han Solo thing.
01:50:13
Speaker
Yeah, which is I'm convinced the only reason Harrison Ford did The Force Awakens is because spoiler, they kill him at the end, which is something he wanted to happen after Empire Strikes Back. He's like, can you kill me? And George Lucas is like, no, absolutely not.
01:50:27
Speaker
Like, damn it. And then they get him to come back for a Rise of Skywalker. Yeah, I always forget the name of the last one because it's so bad. He literally only does that because of Carrie Fisher because Carrie Fisher died. i'm I'm convinced that's the only reason he does that.
01:50:41
Speaker
Exactly. Oh, I'm 100% sure that's why. Otherwise, he would have been like fuck, no. Yeah. Didn't you kill me off? well How am I coming back? It doesn't make any sense. So, but yeah. So, I mean, but yeah, there you go. Ghostbusters 2016, a movie that we had some thoughts about, apparently. This is ah long for a yeah for a standard you and I episode, man.
01:51:03
Speaker
Well, no. this So, I wonder, we should make this a habit of doing like... our one attack the fans episode every year. This is, this is, this is twenty twenty one solo. Yeah, it kind of is. Yeah. What fandom are we coming for next year? Tune in to find out. it um My, the way Marvel fans are going, it might be you might be decent. You fanboys too. Who even knows?
01:51:28
Speaker
And we haven't, we haven't even talked about the box office yet, Steven. No, I know. I got it pulled up right here. ah So this movie opens July 15th, 2016. That is the week of my birthday.
01:51:40
Speaker
And ah Ghostbusters opens at number two. In its opening week, it garners in its for opening weekend $65.3 million. It will go on to gross million of $229 million.
01:51:56
Speaker
domestically and another hundred and one million internationally for a worldwide box office total of two hundred and twenty nine million dollars overall um so nothing to nothing to sneeze about there ah seems like a pretty good return on investment and yet because fanboys suck we will not get a sequel to it despite the fact that it grosses over 200 million worldwide well and also apparently because paul fig spent way too much money on uh the military dance number at the end
01:52:31
Speaker
ah Which I thought was really funny, but I mean, I can. Yeah, that makes sense. That that is kind of one of those. How do you pull that off kind of things? um I also want to shout out ah Michael, the late, great Michael K. Williams, one of an actor who I think was never given a chance to truly show what he could do after The Wire, which if you've not seen The Wire, he is incredible in The Wire, ah playing one of the all time great television characters, Omar.
01:52:58
Speaker
But ah never really got a chance to shine in film the way he did in that show. um But playing a very thankless role as a um as a Homeland Security officer. But every time you cut to his face during that dance number, he looks appropriately freaked out the whole time. And that's the thing that I'm just looking at that number and like completely completely.
01:53:20
Speaker
in disbelief of is that every, the look on everyone's face is sheer horror during the, yet their body's doing all this like really fun stuff. And it, it, I love that dichotomy that cracks me up.
01:53:31
Speaker
Whereas I'm like, really a third dancing scene in this movie. Do we really need this right now? That's the third one's the one you need, man. Cut the first two, that last one. Incorrect. But your mileage may vary. Um, it opens number two, uh, in, in the number one spot is the secret life of pets. Um,
01:53:50
Speaker
which in its second weekend has grossed an additional $79 million dollars for a total worldwide or total domestic gross of $231 million dollars so far. In third place, down from number two the week before, is Finding Dory in its fifth week.
Box Office Performance & Sequel Challenges
01:54:07
Speaker
It's earned – Over 450 million by this point ah in fourth place down from number three, a movie we will get to talk about on this podcast one day. I will make sure of it. The Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson, Legend of Tarzan, a movie that does not exist.
01:54:26
Speaker
um is in ah the number four spot. And rounding out the top five is a ah little comedy called Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates. What if Mike and Dave needed wedding dates?
01:54:37
Speaker
and then Sure. And then rounding out the top ten, you've got The Purge Election Year, Central Intelligence, The Infiltrator. What if there's an infiltrator? ah The BFG and Independence Day Resurgence. I feel like we've covered another 2016 movie.
01:54:54
Speaker
recently enough because a lot of those entries feel very familiar to me they do oh you know what it was it was Train to Busan Oh yeah, you're right. Which means that this is as good a time as any to plug our Patreon, uh, Patreon.com. Segway. Well, i mean, we got to double back and do some more stuff too, but, uh, disenfranched or, uh, patreon.com slash disenfranched pod, uh, for Halloween this year, a few weeks ago, we, Brett and I sat down and did an audio commentary for our favorite zombie movie, train to Busan.
01:55:26
Speaker
Um, so, uh, if it's, that's available at the $5 level, We've got if you listen to our Dune episode a couple weeks ago, Hope ah teased our next big Patreon show, which is also coming up for patrons at the $5 level. Maybe we'll read.
01:55:42
Speaker
reconnoiter a few things, make, uh, make maybe another level or two for patrons. Who knows? We're still discussing some things, but that might be on the horizon as well, but there's some exciting stuff going on. And right now, at least if you want the most out of the Patreon membership, that $5 level is the one for you. So, uh, disenfranch or patron.com slash disenfranch pod to see all the cool stuff. Uh, and actually just a couple of days ago, as of this recording, uh, we had our, um,
01:56:11
Speaker
top five distant five tries, our top five superhero teams. And then a few days ago, as of the release of this episode, we've also released our top five Thanksgiving dishes as well. So there's a couple of, uh, episodes distant five tries up there waiting for you as well. Not to mention the ones that we put together last month. So it's, it's, there's, we try to put some good content up there for you to make it worth your while. Cause again, we, and if you're, if you are a patron and you want to see something,
01:56:40
Speaker
Let us know what you want to see and chances are pretty good. We might do it. So there you go Hashtag good content. Hashtag good content. um So this movie, the Tomatometer score on this one is a 74% certified fresh on on Rotten Tomatoes. The critics consensus Ghostbusters does an impressive job of standing on its own as a freewheeling, marvelously cast supernatural comedy, even if it can't help but pale somewhat in comparison to the classic original.
01:57:12
Speaker
Your mileage may vary on that take. Yeah, very much so. i was going to say, I know Brett does not agree. i am more inclined to agree. Although again, I don't completely agree. ah The meta score on this one is 60, which is based on mixed or average reviews from 52 critics.
01:57:30
Speaker
And the letterboxd score on this is a 2.5. point five Brett, out of five stars, how do you rate the 2016 Ghostbusters?
01:57:42
Speaker
I'm going to be generous and give it two stars. Okay. Whereas I went up from my previous rating of two and a half or of two stars to actually give it three. So that gives us about a two and a half average for this episode, um which is not bad. Like I said, i I like it. I'm generally favorable on this. I think the good outweighs the bad. um which is not to say that there is no bad at all. There is some I've, I've shared most of it here, but at the end of the day, i I really like the performances. I like what this movie is trying to be. And, and, you know, I've got enough goodwill for the members of the cast and those computer effects are pretty awesome at the end that I'm, I'm generally on board with this movie. Is it my favorite? No, but will I watch it again? Yeah, probably.
01:58:28
Speaker
Yeah, and to to my rating, it's not as bad as I remember thinking it was. there Like I said, there was a so there is a skeleton of a good movie here.
01:58:39
Speaker
Most of the performances are great. There are some legitimately funny things.
Humor & Audience Reactions
01:58:44
Speaker
But overall, on the opposite end, I think the bad outweighs the good. right ah So there you go. So ultimately, we like similar things. It's just, you know, our mileage may vary.
01:58:58
Speaker
um Wow. Maybe yeah to if if you're listening to this episode, go ahead and re-listen to it and take a shot every time one of us says that. Yeah. You're probably drunk by now. Right. if If this is your second listen and you've taken that that advice, you are shmammered at this point. But just in case you aren't, your mileage may vary. Your mileage may vary. Your mileage may vary. Your mileage may vary.
01:59:21
Speaker
don Don't kill these people. Your mileage may vary. um All right. So that is our much teased, much ballyhooed, much delayed Ghostbusters 2016 episode. What are your thoughts on the movie? ah Feel free to reach out to us and let us know. You can find us on ah social media, Instagram, Twitter, Letterboxd, and Facebook at disenfranchpod. Shoot us an email if you'd rather communicate with us that way, disenfranchpod at gmail.com.
01:59:55
Speaker
ah We do want to thank our good friend Tucker for composing our theme song. We've not been thanking him enough, but he deserves all the thanks in the world for composing not just this theme theme song, but ah both the theme song for Diss in Five Chised and the upcoming Unenfranchised show, which we have dropping on Patreon next month.
02:00:14
Speaker
ah He composed the themes for all of those, and he's done a great job on all of them. And the, and the the spooky version of our theme he did for spooky thought. that found like Yeah. I mean, he's, he's done so many themes for us and, um, just because he's a fan and a friend and, we can't thank him enough and we don't thank him enough. So Tucker, thank you. Uh, I know you're listening. So thank you. Um, but, uh, you can find me, your host, Stephen Foxworthy on ah Twitter, Instagram, and letterboxd at chewy walrus. Brett, where can we find you on social media?
02:00:46
Speaker
ah You can find me on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd at sus, S-U-S, underscore, warlock. Fantastic. So that is our episode again. Check us out on ah Patreon, patreon.com slash distantfranchpod to see all the cool stuff that we're dropping there. Also, if you have the opportunity and you have not done so yet, please, please, please, please ah hop on to...
02:01:11
Speaker
um Apple podcasts and leave us a nice five-star rating and review. Um, not, don't just give us five stars, but you know, tell, tell the people why you like us too. It doesn't have even have to be that long. Um, but just let us know, let, let people know why you like us. Let us know what you like about what we're doing as well. Uh, cause we'd love to hear from you. Um, and we thank you very much for doing that. Those of you that have, uh, we appreciate it and we will never stop appreciating it.
02:01:36
Speaker
It could just be two words. Just podcast good. You don't even have to or write anything. Not even necessarily in that order. You could just say good podcast too. I mean, you know. Or you could do two other words like cool guys or or guys cool.
02:01:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that just good pod. Yeah. is that it's the Adam driver meme where he's I don't want don't know what movie it's from, but is he takes a bite of soup and he goes, good soup.
02:02:03
Speaker
because Good pod. Just do that. It's great. Or or or you you could even just just I like. I like that's also a good one. that That'll work. I like at any rate. um Thank you so much for listening. We do appreciate you guys. As of the time of this recording, we just cracked 2000 downloads. So we're we're excited about that. And we're excited to keep going and bringing you guys um more of this podcast that we are entirely flummoxed that people listen to and enjoy. But thank you so much for listening to and enjoying it. We we really appreciate it. And we really appreciate that you do. So thank you.
02:02:40
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Closing Remarks & Listener Engagement
02:02:42
Speaker
We love you all. We do. We do. And thank you for making it to the end of our third episode in a row that's over two hours long. Yeah.
02:02:53
Speaker
Hashtag good content, baby. Hashtag long content, baby. at any rate, this has been disenfranchised podcast. Join us next week for our Thanksgiving spectacular. ah Boy, how you have a feeling next week is not going to crack two hours because I can't imagine us wanting to talk about that movie for that long.
02:03:13
Speaker
But you'll have to if you haven't figured out based on the clue on social media yet, you'll have to stay tuned. ah Tuesday, I'll drop the. ah the tease on that one, but oh boy, it's a doozy.
02:03:24
Speaker
Um, so until next time when Brett and I subject ourselves to, ah what could be a new low for this podcast in terms of movie movies, we've covered, uh, I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy. And for my cohost, Brett, right.
02:03:39
Speaker
And myself, you know what? I think Boston does in fact, make me feel good. But what I do behind closed doors is my own business.
02:03:54
Speaker
Thank you.