Ghostbusters (2016) (Post-release)

Westies14 said:

The Batman analogy always falls apart for me, as its movies were an interpretation of a long-lasting and evolving comic book character. James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Superman, they can be seen on screen in strong or weak outings and ride out the storms; the audience never feels as though they're watching the definitive version of the character and they feel more free to embrace or reject it from their personal catalogue. Conversely, properties like Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Ghostbusters are defined by their films, and it's hard to scrub the stink of a bad outing from the franchise as a whole. My skin still crawls when I think of the prequels or Crystal Skull.

Yeah, many of us might take our movies too seriously by some standards, but that comes with the territory on the RPF.

Click to expand...

But even for folks like me, for whom Star Wars is a part of my identity, I was still able to eventually reach a point where I just...stopped caring about the stuff I didn't like, and focused instead on the stuff I did like. And I found new stuff to like, too.

Really, though, the period of 1999-2012 or so was a pretty awful time to be a Star Wars fan, if you didn't like the PT. I hated it, personally. And because of Lucas' auteur sensibilities, his basic attitude was "They're MY stories, and you can suck it if you don't like the stories I wanna tell the way I wanna tell 'em." Even after my ire at the PT died down, I was still consistently incensed at his steadfast refusal to clean up the original version of the OT and release that on home media, preferring instead to issue shoddily handled transfers of his latest tinkerings.

At this time, the rest of the franchise was really floundering. The videogame side of the franchise was averaging maybe 1-2 mediocre-to-good games for every 4-5 stinkers, and some of the stinkers were truly rank (e.g. Star Wars: Galaxies). The games were mostly focused on the PT era too. The books were garbage and had been for a while.

Put simply...it felt like Star Wars had just left me behind and I was no longer able to enjoy ANY of it. Including the OT (because I couldn't find a good copy of it anywhere other than crappy laserdisc rips).

That changed for me over time. Disney bought the franchise, I gave the Clone Wars cartoon a chance and it ended up actually having a halo effect for the prequels themselves (which I still view as deeply flawed, but am less bothered by), Rebels came out, better games started popping up, and in general, I just...stopped being so damn angry about a movie franchise, however much I loved it.

Coincidentally, around this time, the rest of my life also improved dramatically, and in hindsight, I would say that a big part of what allowed me to become AS angry as I was about Star Wars was that I just wasn't as happy about life in general outside of it. Not like I was depressed or unhappy, but around the same time that I let go of my anger at the direction the franchise had taken, I found myself appreciating a lot of other stuff outside of it.

As much as I hated the prequels, my anger towards them sort of ended after seeing them in the theater. I would walk out, say "well, that's just more ****... another nail in the coffin" then just forgot about them...

It only tainted me on Star Wars in that seeing prequel stuff everywhere just made me tired of it all...

But then the prequels brought on the Redlettermedia vids which actually allowed me to laugh at how bad they were and get me back on track to enjoying the universe again.

With GB I walked out and said "well, that was... whatever", and immediately wrote it off. After GB 2 I never considered it a viable franchise anyway...

IN FACT, and I just realized this, it's EXACTLY like with Robocop!

I Loooooooooove Robocop... I love the directors cut with 150% more boardroom bloodbath shooting...

But again, I consider it a one-off, cuz I hated Robocop 2... and never saw 3. Never watched the TV show...

Then they made a new movie, I saw it, thought "meh" and never thought about it again (til now), and if anyone mentions Robocop, I only think of ONE movie, not a franchise.

So weird... Robocop is technically a franchise. :eek

I kind of feel like Turtles has left me behind, and I can't enjoy the NEWER stuff..

the new show is too goofy and filled with stupid humor and uncaring plots. the new movies are more of the same times 10.

with ghostbusters, you have to admit it's a little different.

this is the first time i can remember where a franchise actively attacked it's fan base saying, you shouldn't really be liking this because this isn't for you anymore.

I can see why some people would loose interest in being in a franchise.

NeoRutty said:

Robocop is technically a franchise. :eek

Click to expand...

I'm pretty much the same way with Robocop. I still watch the directors cut and the cartoon tons and have liked most of the comics, however the rest of it I don't, though I have seen all of it. I just enjoy the original movie and cartoon. My life wasn't ruined by the Robo remake and as soon as people started asking me at events the GB reboot news broke I told them it could go exactly like Robo did. And just like you, I forget about the remake all the time. I get reminded when I skim past it on Netflix.

Dismissing or attacking the old fanbase defeats the whole purpose of remaking an existing franchise in the first place. I find it amusing.

That flawed logic goes right alongside the respect fallacy: The studios believe these old franchises are their most valuable option financially, and yet they don't think these shows are worthy of respectful/quality remakes. It seems idiotic to me. The bean-counters pin their highest financial hopes on IP that their creative departments are treating as bottom-barrel junk.

Jeyl said:

Golden, people calling you and your fellow fans names is mean spirited and wrong. What you must understand is that the people who do all the name calling were most doing this long before the new Ghostbusters came out. You cannot blame this new movie for the bad behavior of random people you've never met.

Click to expand...

I will admit that we have been called weird dressing up in GB gear prior to the reboot. The fat shaming and cross dressing remarks are new and can be solely attributed to the reboot.

Ah but they're not looking at them like old FRANCHISES... Everyone here is looking at these franchises as the characters... and the world... and the tech... and the history...

The studios are JUST looking at BRAND RECOGNITION. The only thing they really cared about with Ghostbusters was "G-H-O-S-T-B-U-S-T-E-R-S".

They had the brand and then looked for a guy who could handle the workload (cuz whether you want to believe it or not, directing a feature this big will destroy a little bit of your humanity). They also needed an idea for the brand... and when someone pitches the idea, no one greenlighting it likely has any idea whether the idea has anything to do with the brand.

That's why I like Kathleen Kenedy... Star Wars was never just brand recognition. She hired a director who was a fan of the series, a director who even made a similar-ish brand into a Star Wars movie.

No one at Sony spent years with the Ghostbusters brand... working with the original creators for years - through the good and bad ideas. No one at Sony had any opinion one way or another which way the brand should go.

NeoRutty said:

Ah but they're not looking at them like old FRANCHISES... Everyone here is looking at these franchises as the characters... and the world... and the tech... and the history...

The studios are JUST looking at BRAND RECOGNITION. The only thing they really cared about with Ghostbusters was "G-H-O-S-T-B-U-S-T-E-R-S".

They had the brand and then looked for a guy who could handle the workload (cuz whether you want to believe it or not, directing a feature this big will destroy a little bit of your humanity). They also needed an idea for the brand... and when someone pitches the idea, no one greenlighting it likely has any idea whether the idea has anything to do with the brand.

That's why I like Kathleen Kenedy... Star Wars was never just brand recognition. She hired a director who was a fan of the series, a director who even made a similar-ish brand into a Star Wars movie.

No one at Sony spent years with the Ghostbusters brand... working with the original creators for years - through the good and bad ideas. No one at Sony had any opinion one way or another which way the brand should go.

Click to expand...

Exactly. And this, above all else, has been my biggest criticism with this film. It just seemed so...uninspired. You could see where the studio simply was delighted to be able to exploit the brand (as in the name and the logo and some of the look), but then had NO idea what to do with it. They tapped a director who was a hot property, and figured that was enough.

And now the film ends up being -- as I pretty much expected it to be -- just a movie that people will completely forget about in 10 years, if not for the attendant controversy. And maybe even with it!

The Robocop analogy is particularly apt. Legendary original, mediocre sequel, craptastic third entry, and other detritus. But when people think "Robocop" they think Peter Weller as Alex Murphy going up against Ronny Cox as Dick Jones. And that's it.

The 2010s Robocop may end up being something where people consistently say 'Oh yeah! They DID remake that, didn't they?" Same story with Total Recall. Same story with Ghostbusters.


You would think that, somewhere along the line, the people responsible for running studios would look at how these films are received and say "Maybe we should come up with some new stuff..."

goldenhawk said:

The fat shaming and cross dressing remarks are new and can be solely attributed to the reboot.

Click to expand...

Golden, that's not the movie's fault. These are bullies who are reaching far beyond any comprehensible meaning in order to make fun of others. Stop blaming others for other people's actions.

or... 'maybe we should figure out WHY these arn't working..' and 'we can't quite throw random crap together that doesn't resemble the IP we are trying to sell and expect people to buy into it'..

Case in point: suicide squad getting terrible reviews. WB is probably sitting back wondering 'why isn't this working? we tried to make it funny and liven up the mood a little'..



I find this article kind of funny ;o)

considering people think that these are the type of reviews feigbusters should have gotten if people where not being so scared of being labeled as sexist...

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/s...to-send-rotten-tomatoes-a-message-1201829631/

Riceball said:

There's also one nitpick that I had in the movie, no Rick Moranis, they got all of the rest of the primary cast to make cameos, and they even figured out a way to have a Harold Ramis cameo but they couldn't get Rick. I realize that he's pretty much retired from acting but it would have been a nice gesture to the fans if he had returned for a brief cameo, a few lines and maybe half a day's work and done!

Click to expand...

He must have read the script.

NeilT said:

Case in point: suicide squad getting terrible reviews. WB is probably sitting back wondering 'why isn't this working? we tried to make it funny and liven up the mood a little'..



I find this article kind of funny ;o)

considering people think that these are the type of reviews feigbusters should have gotten if people where not being so scared of being labeled as sexist...

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/s...to-send-rotten-tomatoes-a-message-1201829631/

Click to expand...

That article is even funnier when you remember that Warner Bros. is the parent company of RT.

They are petitioning against a site that accumulates reviews from other parties. It seems these petitioners feel entitled to their own facts.

What's next? Protesting a site for reporting a bad weekend box office?

Those people are no more entitled than some of those that posted in this thread.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/01/channing-tatum-mermaid-splash-remake

I saw this on imdb...


I never saw the original movie, so i'm not attached to it....but.....how DOES a guy play a mermaid?
sigh....

I wonder if disney has lost it in the hopes of appearing progressive. I'd think this article is trolling us, but hollywood is just crazy enough to do it

There are both mer-men and mermaids in myths and legends, so I don't see what the big deal is. Though I'm sure some people will try to make it out as some sort of reverse sexist plot.

NeilT said:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/aug/01/channing-tatum-mermaid-splash-remake

I saw this on imdb...


I never saw the original movie, so i'm not attached to it....but.....how DOES a guy play a mermaid?
sigh....

I wonder if disney has lost it in the hopes of appearing progressive. I'd think this article is trolling us, but hollywood is just crazy enough to do it

Click to expand...

Wasn't this already done in the Discovery Channel's Mermaid: The Body Found Mock-umentary?

The twist is that it's like the Mer-man from "Cabin in the Woods"

karmajay said:

Those people are no more entitled than some of those that posted in this thread.

Click to expand...

Wow. Really? They are trying to shut down a site that involves peoples income and livlihoods over negative reviews. Like, actually made a petition. And youre comparing that to people that post in this thread? On a forum!? Regarding their opinions? Trying to get your jabs in any way you can huh? :facepalm

Kerr Avon said:

He must have read the script.

Click to expand...

or they had nothing to blackmail him on since he's been out of the hollywood scene since the 90s, I think.

None of the old cast looked happy to be there, minus aykroyd, and weaver looked down right angry. not just character angry, but fourth wall breaking angry.