PDA

View Full Version : Ghostbusters (Paul Feig)



Dead & Messed Up
07-12-2016, 05:40 AM
http://static.srcdn.com/slir/w480-h711-q90-c480:711/wp-content/uploads/ghostbusters-poster-leslie-jones.jpg

Dead & Messed Up
07-12-2016, 06:08 AM
Okay.

Mostly.

Sort of.

I don't even know.

As a huge Ghostbusters fan growing up, it was a lot of fun seeing a new take on some of the mythology, new steampunk twists on the designs. The chemistry between the cast worked well, even if the relationship between Wiig and McCarthy felt a bit half-baked and over too soon - there's an intriguing backstory to Wiig's character that never really comes back. Instead, it fills in the blanks on why she's about to make a bad decision. MacKinnon's the MVP, Leslie Jones surprised me with her relative chillness (relative because it's Leslie Jones). I was worried her "power of Patty" stuff from the trailer would be indicative of her tone, but that's the biggest she gets, and she instantly locks in during the "hangout" scenes.

Wish there was more for Neil Casey to do. He was so fantastic in Other Space (https://www.yahoo.com/tv/other-space-episode-1-into-the-great-211801697.html) as the space-faring gilled dork, and he brings fantastic presence to his underwritten scenes as spiteful nerd Rowan. There's a subtext that the film never quite threads back into the main story, where he resents being bullied for most of his life-- when he later borrows the body of Chris Hemsworth, it's the bullied triumphing over the bully, pathetic sleaze taking the power of a beefcake chunkhead, but that development just sorta hangs there.

It's a Feig movie, so there are many smaller lines that land, but he never quite builds up to a huge punchline - not in the way that the original film could confidently build a minute of straight drama and stake-raising that caps with Bill Murray announcing, "This man has no dick" or "We get this guy laid, we won't have any trouble." That's not a critical error (Feig's gonna Feig), but it's undoubtedly a comedy of the modern era, with modern rhythms (and with most of the comedy shot in singles and mediums - the four busters are rarely cooperating together in a single shot / nitpick).

Once the climax hits, the film falters, too fearful maybe of losing overseas audiences and opting for a needless Real Big Thing (Ghostbusters II similarly missed the mark with its Statue of Liberty, ehr... joke? Was that supposed to be funny?). There's also a whole lot of the heroes rolling around, using all their different weapons, and generally "being awesome." Maybe someone someday will realize just how dull being awesome is, and how much more interesting it is when heroes aren't awesome and have to work their asses off to save the day.

I'd recommend a matinee for the more open-minded to a big fat Hollywood remake, and/or for those who don't have axes to grind with Feig and his overall style. There are fun things in the movie, and I smiled through a lot of it and even laughed pretty goddamn hard at times (Chris Hemsworth's name for his pet, MacKinnon's comment on corpse utility), but the flick deflates in the final stretch. It's a missed opportunity, but a watchable and often-entertaining one.

Dukefrukem
07-12-2016, 12:21 PM
Maybe someone someday will realize just how dull being awesome is, and how much more interesting it is when heroes aren't awesome and have to work their asses off to save the day..

It feels like the list of directors that understand this begins and ends with Whedon. Imagine he directed this? The hang out scenes would be by far the best parts of the movie.

Skitch
07-12-2016, 12:37 PM
It feels like the list of directors that understand this begins and ends with Whedon.

I'd say the Russo's do it even better.

Dukefrukem
07-12-2016, 12:43 PM
I'd say the Russo's do it even better.

Nah there was no Mjolnir-like scene in Winter Solder or Civil War.

TGM
07-15-2016, 02:08 AM
Man, I tell you, I really did want to like this movie, but this was seriously bad, you guys. :\

As a comedy it falls completely flat. Only two jokes in the entire thing got a chuckle out of me, and the rest were complete groaners, with Kate McKinnon becoming my front runner for worst performance of the year so far. Like, seriously, I can't remember the last time I cringed so much at a performance, I don't know what that was supposed to be.

Everyone else did mostly fine, though the cameos from the original cast are even more gratuitous than BvS' cameos (not to mention the sheer amount of callbacks throughout, which become almost as bad as The Force Awakens). And I was particularly impressed by Leslie Jones, who I had feared was going to be the most annoying based on what they showed in the trailers, but they honestly reserved her worst stuff for there, and she's fine otherwise.

But I know this is a movie that's going to receive a lot of hate (mostly from people who likely aren't even going to see it, sadly), and I hate to jump aboard the hate train, but this movie really just didn't work for me at all. As a comedy it's a complete bust, as an action movie, well, let's just say that the big showdown in the streets between our heroes and a series of ghosts felt like one of the most tacked on action sequences I can recall in a movie. But I actually really liked the initial setup for the team coming together, and it had moments here and there where it felt like the plot might be coming together and I really wanted things to turn around for the better, but then another groaner of a joke would quickly dash away those hopes over and over again.

It's not absolutely terrible, but it's not good by any stretch of the imagination, either. And it's a real damn shame, because I actually can see where there could have been a good movie here, because there are some good ideas here, and the actors do mostly do well, even if their actual jokes rarely ever land. But this thing needed some seriously better direction all around, and Paul Feig was very much not up to the task.

TGM
07-15-2016, 02:16 AM
There's also a whole lot of the heroes rolling around, using all their different weapons, and generally "being awesome." Maybe someone someday will realize just how dull being awesome is, and how much more interesting it is when heroes aren't awesome and have to work their asses off to save the day.

Seriously, what was up with this scene? This was such an embarrassingly misguided sequence, I don't even know what they were thinking with this.


It feels like the list of directors that understand this begins and ends with Whedon. Imagine he directed this? The hang out scenes would be by far the best parts of the movie.

Oh man, Whedon could've worked wonders with this movie! Dammit, why'd it have to be Paul Feig?!

Mal
07-18-2016, 01:13 AM
This was such a blast from the start and did a good job keeping the momentum up, despite an obtuse choice for a villain. I enjoyed this miles more than Feig's other films, but my main gripe... I'm not sure we needed the character Kevin. Nevertheless, I felt like the film did an incredible job of not only defining these new characters but succeeding as a summer blockbuster experience.

Ivan Drago
07-18-2016, 02:12 AM
Without question, the original Ghostbusters is one of those movies that’s impossible to hate, and its legacy will stand the test of time. But this remake deserves a chance for doing something different with its concept and cast. The film’s sense of humor is the biggest flaw; ranging from well timed quips organic to each character to surface-level referential jokes, so it’s really hit-and-miss, and other times, it feels like some jokes could have gone a little further. But the new characters have a fun dynamic with each other and have their own standout moments, the cameos from the original cast are hilarious and organic to the story, the action sequences are fun and the visual effects look great…I don’t know what else anyone would want out of this other than a very entertaining blockbuster, and that’s exactly what this is.

PS. Kate McKinnon is amazing and a star in the making and her eccentric character steals the show.

Ezee E
07-18-2016, 02:46 AM
Funny how Kate McKinnon is getting raves (mostly) in America, but the European critics are saying she's the absolute worst thing in the movie.

TGM
07-18-2016, 02:55 AM
PS. Kate McKinnon is amazing and a star in the making and her eccentric character steals the show.

I'd love to see her in something else, just to see what she's actually capable of. 'Cause I can see potential there, and if she had dialed it down for this performance, I can even see this working as well. But god damn did she over-do it in this movie...

TGM
07-18-2016, 02:58 AM
I enjoyed this miles more than Feig's other films,

I'd probably watch this again before I'd re-watch Bridesmaids, but Spy was far superior to either of those, and that one is still really only just okay. Paul Feig's really just not all that great a director. :\

Ivan Drago
07-18-2016, 03:41 AM
I'd love to see her in something else, just to see what she's actually capable of. 'Cause I can see potential there, and if she had dialed it down for this performance, I can even see this working as well. But god damn did she over-do it in this movie...

I actually thought Feig's style of humor was dialed down significantly for this, whether it was due to studio interference or the PG-13 rating. He got away with a little, but it was really tame for the most part.

Skitch
07-18-2016, 03:52 AM
Ive heard pro and con on this flick from trusted sources...yet Im waiting patiently for 8s review. Been noticeably quiet, sir. Whats the word?

TGM
07-18-2016, 05:14 AM
I actually thought Feig's style of humor was dialed down significantly for this, whether it was due to studio interference or the PG-13 rating. He got away with a little, but it was really tame for the most part.

I wasn't so much talking about his style of humor in that post, rather McKinnon's over-the-top performance in particular, which could've done with some dialing down on I felt.

Stay Puft
07-19-2016, 12:43 AM
McKinnon is great but her character... is certainly lacking a bit. She really only has one or two great moments, but that's also true of the rest of the cast (Wiig's backstory, for example, which is a nice moment). The writing is the weakest link here quite easily, which is such a shame, because it drags down the very good work so many people are putting in to make this succeed. It ended up being exactly the movie I suspected it would, but with the added bonus that Feig actually stepped up a bit and did some good work (but still not great; he nails the look and feel of Ghostbusters in many places, but fails to apply any sense of style consistently, not unlike Spy). I liked how the ectoplasm and proton streams and such would pop outside of the frame, not just out of the screen when wearing 3D glasses. It actually made me jump the first time. The special effects are exceptionally well done on the whole, and the biggest compliment I can give it - even if it's just a simple gimmick - is that it helped the film stand out amongst the other blockbusters this summer. I felt like I was watching an event, that it was worth coming to the theatres to experience this movie.

Overall, I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. I'd get in line for a sequel.

But I could have done without the cameos, the incessant references to the earlier films, the routine third act, etc. Also, like Ivan said, the humor is too hit or miss. Some of it had me nearly crying, while other stuff (like Wiig and McCarthy arguing about putting the cat back in the bag) felt completely misguided and pointless and made me sit and stare with a blank expression. I think part of the problem is how incessantly "jokey" the film is trying to be. The original film takes a moment to establish a more spooky, supernatural tone, and doesn't build humor into that until Venkman is on screen, but this one goes straight to lame jokes and one liners during the mansion tour, with nothing but bit characters (Irish proof fence, etc.) and every one of those lines crashed and burned. (I was wincing in pain until about the time McKinnon's character popped up, actually, but once the Ghostbusters get to the mansion, the chemistry and rhythm really started to work for me.)

So eh it's not great but I made peace with what it would be and was surprised how much I still enjoyed it. Probably the best case scenario with this creative team. (I might prefer Spy but it's close, and it's really just typical studio stuff that brings it down, e.g. the pandering to nostalgia, which with the cameos and such was probably a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario. So I'd really like to see a sequel now that this team has been established.)

TGM
07-19-2016, 05:53 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn_vAcFGTJU

TGM
07-19-2016, 06:24 AM
Also, a trend I've been noticing, as I've been perusing both positive and negative reviews: people who liked the movie tend to like Kate McKinnon best. People who didn't like the movie tend to like Leslie Jones best.

Irish
07-19-2016, 10:16 AM
Re: that video

- Weird to me when people talk about the virtues of "art" when addressing corporate product. (And then she talks about how "art" should push boundaries while on a set dressed with Ghostbusters toys).

- Some of these people could be "reviewing" junk food and it wouldn't make any difference. "Guys, guys, guys. Don't get me wrong. I love fast food. Love it. When I was a kid, McNuggets changed my life. But now McDonalds wants to change the menu and serve breakfast all day? No. That's just wrong. It violates the spirit of everything I connected with as a child. The new menu isn't even close to the greatness of the old menu."

- Dan Ackroyd drove the production of this movie. He pushed for another sequel for years and years and it didn't happen because Bill Murray refused to do it. But a lot of fans blame faceless, mindless "Hollywood executives" for this movie and how it turned out. How did Ackroyd avoid any blowback from all quarters?

Dukefrukem
07-19-2016, 11:35 AM
I'll be honest that I dislike comic book girl... immensely.

TGM
07-19-2016, 02:40 PM
Eh, she's not the most well articulated and I don't agree with everything she says, but she often does make some good points I think.

Ezee E
07-19-2016, 11:42 PM
McDonald's Breakfast Menu during the day is great. They can't preheat the stuff, so it's always hot if you order it after 10. lol.

Sycophant
07-21-2016, 06:22 AM
But there are no McGriddles so what's even the point?

TGM
07-21-2016, 06:47 AM
But there are no McGriddles so what's even the point?

Wait, they got rid of McGriddles?! :O

Fezzik
07-22-2016, 02:09 PM
But there are no McGriddles so what's even the point?

Huh. They have McGriddles on the all-day menu here. Maybe its regional?

Dukefrukem
07-22-2016, 02:13 PM
I haven't been to a MCDonalds is 20 years so what the fuck is a McGriddle?

Edit: Googled it. Wow America is fat as fak.

Peng
07-23-2016, 02:46 PM
Liked it a fair bit. I gotta go back in Feig's filmography and watch Bridesmaids and The Heat one of these days, since his style of distinct, believable personalities and creating an air of easy-going, quick-to-laugh camaraderie is really infectious to me. Not as good as Spy, since there is a push-and-pull feeling between original plotline's obligation and the new material, so some of the film still feels half-baked. Still very much worth it just for Kate McKinnon and Chris Hemsworth though. Both exhibit totally different vibes of energy, but are always mesmerizing to watch and very hilarious.

Sycophant
07-23-2016, 06:47 PM
Edit: Googled it. Wow America is fat as fak.

Adding maple syrup to a doughy biscuit sandwich is the low point of our fallen civilization. If Thomas Jefferson were here right now, he'd shoot me in the fakking head.

Sycophant
07-23-2016, 06:49 PM
Huh. They have McGriddles on the all-day menu here. Maybe its regional?

Oh, man, lucky! I wonder if it's regional or a by-franchise-owner decision, or what. None of them I've seen between Utah and Oregon have them. It's my favorite thing a fast food restaurant makes.

Skitch
07-23-2016, 07:57 PM
I treat myself to a McGriddle about twice a year. Pure delicious candy.

Ezee E
07-24-2016, 03:43 AM
Sausage McMuffins with Egg is my last fast-food item that I can't shake. They're so good to me.

Other than that, it's pretty rare that I ever eat. And only because there's absolutely no options left, and sometimes I'd rather just be hungry, and think of the Louis CK skit about "hunger."

Dukefrukem
07-25-2016, 12:04 PM
Sausage McMuffins with Egg is my last fast-food item that I can't shake. They're so good to me.

Other than that, it's pretty rare that I ever eat. And only because there's absolutely no options left, and sometimes I'd rather just be hungry, and think of the Louis CK skit about "hunger."

You mean the meal is over when you hate yourself?

Spinal
07-25-2016, 03:55 PM
Mild nay. There's some decent laughs, though not nearly enough. Leslie Jones is funnier than I imagined she would be. I wish she was that controlled and focused on SNL. Kate McKinnon was less funny than I imagined she would be, with much of what she was doing seeming like a non sequitur. I suppose that's what she was going for, but it didn't really work for me. McCarthy and Wiig have some good moments. Hemsworth steals his scenes. It's the lame script that's to blame, and the direction that rarely gives the cast the freedom to cut loose.

I have nothing to say about McGriddles.

Irish
07-25-2016, 07:41 PM
I have nothing to say about McGriddles.

Pfft. Dude. You're Spinal. Not Spineless. Take a stand!

Also we probably need a McGriddle poll now, I think.

Skitch
07-25-2016, 09:09 PM
I ate a McGriddle today because of this thread.

Ezee E
07-25-2016, 09:48 PM
You mean the meal is over when you hate yourself?

I think there's a bit somewhere he talks about how "hungry" to us is completely different to a kid in Africa.

Spinal
07-25-2016, 09:58 PM
I keep clicking this thread to hear about what you guys thought of the movie and instead I get more and more info about your fast food eating habits. Is this the kind of thing that leads people to start complaining about microaggressions? :)

Skitch
07-25-2016, 10:17 PM
I keep clicking this thread to hear about what you guys thought of the movie and instead I get more and more info about your fast food eating habits. Is this the kind of thing that leads people to start complaining about microaggressions? :)

DON'T TRIGGER ME BRO

Dead & Messed Up
07-27-2016, 06:29 AM
I feel like a fast food discussion is appropriate when discussing a summer reboot.

number8
07-27-2016, 08:41 PM
Don't worry, I'm here now.

- I want to believe that it's some kind of next-level trolling on Feig's part for the cameos by The Real Ghostbusters to be across the board the worst parts of the movie, but I know that in reality they're just poorly tacked on as fan service damage control. Bill Murray's character is dumb and his exit is the crassest, darkest joke in the movie that doesn't fit the tone (they seriously just handwaved the fact that these women should be investigated for murder); Dan Akroyd plays some kind of reject SNL character; while Hudson and Potts don't even get characters to play and feel like they got invited at the last minute.

- Speaking of trolling the fanbase, they must have at some point reworked the script specifically to do a pass that makes as much fun of the male backlash to the film as possible. Some I can see easily adlibbed ("Ain't no bitches gonna hunt no ghosts." "Safety lights are for boys.") but they really went at it with the characterization of the villain being a misogynistic nerd ("You've been bullied your whole life, now you will be the bully!"). I feel like the entirety of the antagonist's relationship to the heroes is crucially summed up by it leading up to them literally shooting him in the dick. This (on top of Hemsworth's character) seem to be aiming at a metatextual Masculinity So Fragile brand of humor, which I'm always all about, but in this case it consumed the narrative and resulted in a weak objective, because it's such a one-dimensional target to vilify. As awesome as the kaiju climax is, it's bound to seem simplistic in comparison to what the O.G. had to do to prevent the coming of Gozer.

- I agree that there's no build up to a big punchline, but I laughed a lot at the deadpan asides. It's definitely more my kind of humor. For that reason, Cecily Strong is the runaway performer of the movie for me. Almost everything her character says made me laugh pretty hard, but the restaurant scene is probably the highlight ("Oh she thinks the window is a sliding door. Oh she thinks all of them are doors. That's so sad."). Andy Garcia in that scene, too. "Never compare me to the mayor in Jaws!" That feels like a particularly Apatovian joke. I can see Rogen and Franco having that exact exchange.

- I've been thinking about what DaMU said about this team being too awesome, and I agree that it's more fun to watch heroes struggle. The toy merchandise-friendly fight scene is pretty blunt in pushing them as superheroes. As were the case with The Heat and Spy, though, I think Feig is deliberately trying to position his brand of female-led action-comedies to not be a comedy of everyman buffoonery (as one can argue the O.G. was coming from), but specifically a comedy about very competent people whose struggles are more about being believed to be competent, so that asskicking sequence seem to be his idea of a payoff. Lose some, win some, I suppose, and there's room for improvement in him being an action director, but I can think of worse things to turn the Ghostbusters franchise into than a straight up supernatural superhero comedies.

- There were quite a number of little girls in my screening (which was almost full! I guess word of mouth is sustaining this) sitting near me, and I was taken aback by how they were being unruly as toddlers tend to be before the movie, but they were raptly quiet--aside from laughing--throughout the movie. They seemed so into it, and it's confirmed when they ran out of the theater skipping and playing pretend-photon blasting. As someone who just likes O.G. growing up as a lighthearted fantasy movie but never appreciated it as a comedy classic, I don't really think this version does anything lesser or better than it. It's just another one, and it's fine. And letting any high expectations go, it's fun enough to watch Kate McKinnon lick a gun and be cool.

- Also, Kate McKinnon's performance is perfect and I don't know what any of you are talking about.

- Anyone else notice that Dave Gruber Allen was the subway ghost? Now that's a fun cameo.

Spinal
07-27-2016, 09:34 PM
My favorite joke in the movie:

The Patrick Swayze digression. Many times I've been around a group of women having a similar conversation.

Irish
07-27-2016, 09:46 PM
Those are all fine points, 8, but let's get down to the real business at hand:

How do you feel about McGriddles?

number8
07-27-2016, 11:21 PM
I don't know what that is. Is it like a Scottish undergarment?

TGM
07-28-2016, 12:10 AM
Andy Garcia in that scene, too. "Never compare me to the mayor in Jaws!" That feels like a particularly Apatovian joke. I can see Rogen and Franco having that exact exchange.

Judd Apatow is actually up there along with Joss Whedon among directors who I think could've made this material actually work. Sure, the movie woulda probably overstayed its welcome under his helm, but at least a far larger percentage of the jokes would've probably landed.


- Also, Kate McKinnon's performance is perfect and I don't know what any of you are talking about.

Calling Kate McKinnon's performance here as being perfect feels akin to calling Jesse Eisenberg's turn as Lex Luthor perfect. :p ;)

In any event, all this talk about McGriddles has seriously got me craving them. I think I'll see if the McDonald's here still has them or not...

Ezee E
07-28-2016, 12:59 AM
I'm in St. Louis this week. I would be flabbergasted if they didn't have them here.

TGM
07-28-2016, 04:15 AM
In any event, all this talk about McGriddles has seriously got me craving them. I think I'll see if the McDonald's here still has them or not...

Reporting back in, and that's a yupper! :cool:

Dukefrukem
07-28-2016, 12:29 PM
Reporting back in, and that's a yupper! :cool:

Do they serve them all day?

If everyone on MC has had one of these, I cannot be left out.

Scar
07-28-2016, 01:05 PM
Do they serve them all day?

If everyone on MC has had one of these, I cannot be left out.

I had one years ago. I was not a fan.

TGM
07-28-2016, 03:48 PM
Do they serve them all day?

They sure do. ;)

Spinal
07-28-2016, 05:07 PM
In case you're wondering, that's 19 posts about McDonald's breakfast, 16 about Ghostbusters, and 4 about both McDonald's breakfast and Ghostbusters.

Dead & Messed Up
07-28-2016, 05:18 PM
In case you're wondering, that's 19 posts about McDonald's breakfast, 16 about Ghostbusters, and 4 about both McDonald's breakfast and Ghostbusters.

Hey, I'm lovin' it.

TGM
07-28-2016, 05:55 PM
In case you're wondering, that's 19 posts about McDonald's breakfast, 16 about Ghostbusters, and 4 about both McDonald's breakfast and Ghostbusters.

This thread might be my favorite place on the internet to discuss this movie. XD

Skitch
07-28-2016, 06:13 PM
Fess up. Whats your McGriddle combo? Sausage egg and cheese all the way. It tastes weird with anything else.

Irish
07-28-2016, 06:18 PM
In case you're wondering, that's 19 posts about McDonald's breakfast, 16 about Ghostbusters, and 4 about both McDonald's breakfast and Ghostbusters.

This is possibly the tastiest thread in Match Cut history.

Dukefrukem
07-28-2016, 06:25 PM
Fess up. Whats your McGriddle combo? Sausage egg and cheese all the way. It tastes weird with anything else.

Wait. You can order it different ways?

So how many different combos do I need to try now?

Spinal
07-28-2016, 06:44 PM
Fess up. Whats your McGriddle combo? Sausage egg and cheese all the way. It tastes weird with anything else.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/new-ghostbusters-trailer-04-patty_zps6em6xgx8.jpg

THE POWER OF THE SAUSAGE PATTY COMPELS YOU!!!

number8
07-28-2016, 07:42 PM
By the way, she's a more defined character than Winston, right? I mean, there's not much there, but she's probably the one we got to know most about after Wiig's character. It's kinda weird to read criticisms that say they've regressed, when Winston was a dude who showed up halfway through the movie just looking for a paycheck and barely got any lines.

Skitch
07-28-2016, 07:46 PM
So how many different combos do I need to try now?

Sausage, egg, and cheese. :D

Spinal
07-28-2016, 08:28 PM
By the way, she's a more defined character than Winston, right? I mean, there's not much there, but she's probably the one we got to know most about after Wiig's character. It's kinda weird to read criticisms that say they've regressed, when Winston was a dude who showed up halfway through the movie just looking for a paycheck and barely got any lines.

I completely agree with this. And I went into the movie as perhaps one of the biggest Leslie Jones skeptics there is.

TGM
07-28-2016, 08:32 PM
Fess up. Whats your McGriddle combo? Sausage egg and cheese all the way. It tastes weird with anything else.

Bacon, egg, and cheese is my McGriddle of choice. :)

TGM
07-28-2016, 08:33 PM
By the way, she's a more defined character than Winston, right? I mean, there's not much there, but she's probably the one we got to know most about after Wiig's character. It's kinda weird to read criticisms that say they've regressed, when Winston was a dude who showed up halfway through the movie just looking for a paycheck and barely got any lines.

Hell, she's probably the most defined character in the whole damn movie, so I would say so.

Ezee E
07-28-2016, 08:51 PM
It doesn't have the crisp that the McMuffin has.

McMuffin > McGriddle

I ain't afraid of no ghost. (KEEPS ON TOPIC)

Spinal
07-28-2016, 09:45 PM
If, instead of going to White Castle, Harold and Kumar really had a burning desire to go to IHOP, would that be a Sausage and Egg McGuffin?

TGM
07-28-2016, 10:23 PM
If, instead of going to White Castle, Harold and Kumar really had a burning desire to go to IHOP, would that be a Sausage and Egg McGuffin?

http://www.wwe.com/f/wysiwyg/image/2015/03/EdgeFace.gif

Spinal
07-28-2016, 10:56 PM
Something must be wrong with the site. I keep refreshing, waiting for my rep points to show up and they haven't arrived yet.

number8
07-28-2016, 11:45 PM
IHOP has sausage and egg muffins? I'm not buying the premise of the joke here.

Spinal
07-29-2016, 01:25 AM
Who said anything about muffins?

Ezee E
07-29-2016, 02:11 AM
I haven't been to an IHOP in ten years (maybe 11). It was after a hard night of partying, and I threw up later in the morning. I blamed it on the eggs at the time, but in retrospect, I think it was the booze and hangover.

Sycophant
07-29-2016, 07:38 PM
Something must be wrong with the site. I keep refreshing, waiting for my rep points to show up and they haven't arrived yet.

Remedied, btw.

Sycophant
07-29-2016, 07:41 PM
I actually always go for a simple sausage McGriddle. Fast food egg patties never feel right to me, cheese doesn't seem like a breakfast food (I know), and if I'm not going to have those, adding bacon to a lone sausage patty is just carnivorous decadence. I like the neat simplicity of the syrupy buns and the savory sausage. Real tasty. (And you gotta get dem hash browns)

Sycophant
07-29-2016, 07:45 PM
So I have one (1) on-topic post in this thread: I have not seen Ghostbusters. Would go to a theater and see it if there were raves about it being funny and/or I wasn't so busy at the moment. I'll probably see it at home one day, and I'd like to give it a shot. Everything surrounding the movie is fascinating. If you poke a random commenter on a pop culture news site, there's a 50% chance you'll get the pre-scripted line "Why can't I talk about how this movie sucks without everyone thinking I'm a misogynist?" NPCs running out of dialogue.

TGM
08-03-2016, 02:12 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWROBiX1eSc

Henry Gale
08-03-2016, 03:08 AM
Haven't had a McD's breakfast in a while but I finally got around to see this movie this afternoon and I enjoyed it!

Its rhythm is a bit sluggish initially but once McKinnon, Hemsworth. and (most surprisingly considering her deeply hit-and-miss history with me) Jones come into the picture, it picks up considerably. Not as laugh-a-minute funny as Bridesmaids or Spy and certainly without the attempts at depth of the former, but Feig's action setpieces have considerably more visual zest than anything in either of those (or The Heat, which to me is just categorically weakest of this run of films from him) and the dynamic amongst the leads toggles between effortless and oddly muted, but as a group they play especially well against a parade of confrontations from characters like the ones Andy Garcia, Cecily Strong, Zach Woods, Matt Walsh and Michael K. Williams play as much as any of the honestly impressively designed ghouls.

I just thought it was a breezy, colourful, and sometimes very, very funny ride of a movie. Nothing more, nothing that'll likely have the legacy of the original on its own merits, but if further installments manage to expand and strengthen what's already here, then it could definitely have a special place in the heart of this younger generation (and also, me).

As it is, it's almost admirably quaint considering its cultural stakes. Also, McKinnon's showcase action scene gave me chills and thrills in a way very few other moments in movies have this year. The fact that it felt like it was edited down a little too much might've just been coming from me wanting every moment to linger and for that bit to just go on and on.

Would watch again, would meet back with it all with potential sequels every few years.

*** / 6.7

Henry Gale
08-04-2016, 03:21 AM
Oh also, McKinnon's showcase action scene gave me chills and thrills in a way very few other moments in movies have this year. The fact that it felt like it was edited down a little too much might've just been coming from me wanting every moment to linger longer and for the whole bit to just go on and on.

Anyway, easily the better movie where a team of misfits under the thumb of government agencies fights ancient spirits powering a big beam in the sky that I saw in the last two days. It's a shame Suicide Squad will likely make considerably more money.

TGM
08-04-2016, 03:36 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORS3CqPTgDg

Dead & Messed Up
08-05-2016, 02:01 AM
At first I was like, "Ugh, Red Letter Media," and then the Nostalgia Critic image came up and reminded me how much worse things can be.

TGM
08-05-2016, 02:03 AM
At first I was like, "Ugh, Red Letter Media," and then the Nostalgia Critic image came up and reminded me how much worse things can be.

I actually thought that was one of NC's better more recent reviews. *shrug*

RLM is almost always hilarious to me, though. I don't even agree with a lot of their reviews, but they're consistently entertaining enough that I oftentimes don't even care. :p

Irish
09-22-2016, 12:38 PM
I didn't laugh once. Huge letdown from this cast and this director, especially after something like Spy.

transmogrifier
09-26-2016, 02:02 AM
Started off kind of okay, but the actual plot is a complete waste of time, and yet another example of the bad guy spending most of the movie getting his ducks in a row in order to unleash some random weapon/cataclysmic event. It is so overused now that it deadens the entire plot; all of the sparring beforehand is pointless because (a) we all know that the promised shit has to go down at the end, so there are no possible narrative surprises and (b) it tends to preclude any personal connections between the characters and whatever gigantic event is being plotted.

transmogrifier
09-26-2016, 02:07 AM
I thought McKinnon faced exactly the same problem that Robbie faced in Suicide Squad - a game performer given shit to work with, yet the movie keeps cutting back to them in a desperate attempt to maintain a sense of off-beat humor.... and it mostly just dies. And Hemsworth is hilarious at the start until they ran the one joke into the ground over and over and over and over.

Dukefrukem
09-28-2016, 01:30 AM
This was so bad.

Henry Gale
09-28-2016, 02:04 AM
This was so bad.

Well I guess that settles it. That last argument convinced me the most.

Dukefrukem
09-28-2016, 02:09 AM
There's nothing else to say that others haven't. It was a steaming pile. Worst movie of 2016 so far for me. Nothing redeeming. The reuse of dialog was not homage. It was thoughtless. The finale was generic. Typical laser/portal into the sky with the same original fix. Most of all, it was humorless. Soulless. Who was it that said, when they couldn't think of what to say next, they just made McKinnon make a funny face? Because that was spot on.

Skitch
09-28-2016, 02:39 AM
Wait, so they reuse dialogue in a movie that doesnt acknowledge its a reboot instead of sequel? Seriously?

transmogrifier
09-28-2016, 10:43 AM
....the cameos from the original cast are hilarious and organic to the story.....

I think we watched different movies. Murray has never had a worse character to play (that I have seen) and Ackroyd is something out of a very, very broad sketch program. Potts and Hudson are just dutiful collect-the-set cardboard characters.

Dukefrukem
09-28-2016, 11:50 AM
Wait, so they reuse dialogue in a movie that doesnt acknowledge its a reboot instead of sequel? Seriously?

Yeh. The stuff you clearly remember from the first movie:

mass hysteria
Total protonic reversal
Cross the streams

And that's used exactly in this movie. I'm not even counting the other shit. Like, asking the bad guy to be a "cute ghost" which is supposed to be homage to "I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us. Mr. Stay Puft"

Or McKinnon doing her best Egon by trying to remember this line and failing miserably. "Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."

Or the constant references to the untested "unlicensed nuclear accelerator" on their back.

Dukefrukem
10-11-2016, 06:51 PM
Anyone else notice how this movie has a mysteriously high RT score?

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghostbusters_2016

or that they renamed the movie to "Answer the Call" for the Blu-ray release, hoping to sell more?

Gittes
10-11-2016, 06:53 PM
or that they renamed the movie to "Answer the Call" for the Blu-ray release, hoping to sell more?

Are you just telling us this as an FYI or do you think there's a problem with this?

Dukefrukem
10-11-2016, 06:55 PM
You answer my question first and then I'll answer yours.

Gittes
10-11-2016, 07:14 PM
First, I'm not sure what you're really trying to say there, but I'm not fond of the conspiratorially-worded query because…it's ridiculous.

As for the second question, yes, I know. You got it somewhat wrong, though. It's not some desperate, last-ditch attempt at making more money. That's actually been the title since the theatrical release, I believe. Feig insisted on having the onscreen title read "Ghostbusters," but Sony needed something that would prevent confusion for future release platforms.

Spinal
10-11-2016, 07:22 PM
http://io9.gizmodo.com/nope-ghostbusters-has-not-suddenly-gotten-a-new-title-1786062339

Spinal
10-11-2016, 07:23 PM
73% doesn't seem outrageously high for a fairly innocuous action comedy. I've seen worse. Like Up at 98%. That's nuts.

number8
10-11-2016, 07:24 PM
I'm not sure why the RT score is mysterious? It got a lot of good reviews.

Gittes
10-11-2016, 07:37 PM
I didn't laugh once.

Also, I know we just concluded one kerfuffle and I'd hate to ignite another, but: wow. I get that everyone's sense of humour varies and all. It's just...the idea of someone sitting plain-faced through this entire movie almost defies belief. Nary a chuckle nor a chortle?!

TGM
10-11-2016, 07:47 PM
Also, I know we just concluded one kerfuffle and I'd hate to ignite another, but: wow. I get that everyone's sense of humour varies and all. It's just...the idea of someone sitting plain-faced through this entire movie almost defies belief. Nary a chuckle nor a chortle?!

While I personally did chuckle a couple times, I can totally see how someone can come out of this one without a single laugh to be had. The humor in this movie is very hit or miss, and it's either gonna work for you, or it's just flat out not, not too dissimilar from other "love it or hate it" sorta polarizing movies.

Irish
10-11-2016, 08:02 PM
Nary a chuckle nor a chortle?!

Nope.

Ezee E
10-11-2016, 09:16 PM
If it's anything like the preview, I might go heh a few times at Kate MacKinnon or Wiig, but eyeroll a whole lot more.

Watashi
10-11-2016, 10:11 PM
It's not a good, but not because of the cast. The storytelling is tiring, the third act a CGI bore, and it tries way to hard to stay close to the original without being its own thing.

Kate McKinnon is a treasure though.

Dukefrukem
10-11-2016, 11:12 PM
First, I'm not sure what you're really trying to say there, but I'm not fond of the conspiratorially-worded query because…it's ridiculous.

As for the second question, yes, I know. You got it somewhat wrong, though. It's not some desperate, last-ditch attempt at making more money. That's actually been the title since the theatrical release, I believe. Feig insisted on having the onscreen title read "Ghostbusters," but Sony needed something that would prevent confusion for future release platforms.

The answer to your question is NO. I don't remember "Answer the Call" being on any trailer or any poster or mentioned anywhere before the Blu-ray was released.

And for the record, I didn't laugh once either. I can't even remember a scene where I could lie and say I laughed.

Gittes
10-11-2016, 11:30 PM
I didn't laugh once either.

OK.

number8
10-11-2016, 11:44 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JD-H-NbQx0

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WbKm0NAFMMM/V6khm09Q3SI/AAAAAAAAJ9I/99Wxf7Px6lQMw20tvHuoRrcsHawTux oaACLcB/s1600/ghostbusters-poster-lg.jpg

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rBwaBsPVKu0/V3CSnsOL4LI/AAAAAAACWa0/wTnHBv1QLaYjp1dz2E73jDo8Cm3mPB lCgCLcB/s800/Melissa%2BMcCarthy%2BGhostbust ers%2Bbillboard.jpg

To be fair, I think people thought it was the tagline.

Gittes
10-11-2016, 11:48 PM
The answer to your question is NO. I don't remember "Answer the Call" being on any trailer or any poster or mentioned anywhere before the Blu-ray was released.


I breezed past the first part of your post, which, looking at it now, I don't understand. My question to you presented two choices and your answer is "NO"? So, it was neither? I was just wondering if it was just an FYI (like, "hey, did you notice this?") or if you have a specific problem with the title? You seemed to be saying that the title represents a kind of damage control maneuver on Sony's part, but I don't think that's the case.

I mean, did you check out the link Spinal posted? That title was always part of the game-plan, so it wasn't a last-minute change — and even if it had been, that's no big deal, right?


If you saw the film in theaters, you may have noticed the end credits clearly refer to the movie as Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. And there’s a very simple explanation.

[…]

Reitman corroborates the studio’s decision. “[The title’s] just to differentiate it,” he said. “First of all, the 1984 movie is out there all the time. It’s on television every day. And it’s even in movie theaters, so the studio felt it needed some kind of subtitle to differentiate the versions.”

transmogrifier
10-12-2016, 01:31 AM
I thought it was the tagline. I also think the RT score accurately reflects the genuine reaction to it.

transmogrifier
10-12-2016, 01:32 AM
It's not a good, but not because of the cast. The storytelling is tiring, the third act a CGI bore, and it tries way to hard to stay close to the original without being its own thing.

Kate McKinnon is a treasure though.

All true... except the McKinnon bit.

Skitch
10-12-2016, 03:55 AM
Also, I know we just concluded one kerfuffle and I'd hate to ignite another, but: wow. I get that everyone's sense of humour varies and all. It's just...the idea of someone sitting plain-faced through this entire movie almost defies belief. Nary a chuckle nor a chortle?!

Making no judgement about Ghostbusters 2016 here, but I dont think thats far fetched. Theres PLENTY of beloved comedies that dont make me laugh. Dumb and Dumber is about a 2 smile film for me. Something About Mary, zero.

Edit: the RT score seemed to reflect my perception of the films reception. Maybe a smidge high at 78, i wouldve guessed about 70.

Irish
10-12-2016, 04:36 AM
Wait, where are you guys seeing these numbers?

I load the page and it says 72% for everybody, and 59% for top critics (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ghostbusters_2016) (which makes more sense to me)

transmogrifier
10-12-2016, 08:08 AM
Yeah, 72 was what my comment was based on.

Gittes
10-12-2016, 12:05 PM
Making no judgement about Ghostbusters 2016 here, but I dont think thats far fetched. Theres PLENTY of beloved comedies that dont make me laugh. Dumb and Dumber is about a 2 smile film for me. Something About Mary, zero.

My wording — "almost defies belief" — was not meant to convey an actual denial of the possibility that someone might sit through the entire movie and never laugh. I thought McKinnon and Hemsworth were hilarious and the funniest parts of the movie, so I was just expressing my own enthusiasm while also confirming that there wasn't any sign of mirth whatsoever (like, say, a half-suppressed laugh of some kind).

Now that you have me thinking about it, I'm realizing that I actually don't think I've sought out a comedy that didn't make me laugh at least once. I can't think of a single example of a no-laugh situation. The closest instance would be…23 Jump Street, maybe? Even that seems like a bad example, though, because I do recall laughing at several points.

Dukefrukem
10-12-2016, 12:44 PM
I breezed past the first part of your post, which, looking at it now, I don't understand. My question to you presented two choices and your answer is "NO"? So, it was neither? I was just wondering if it was just an FYI (like, "hey, did you notice this?") or if you have a specific problem with the title? You seemed to be saying that the title represents a kind of damage control maneuver on Sony's part, but I don't think that's the case.

I mean, did you check out the link Spinal posted? That title was always part of the game-plan, so it wasn't a last-minute change — and even if it had been, that's no big deal, right?

I meant it as a hey did you notice this? No big deal. A little weird to me. But yes, a little bit of damage control. That's the way I saw it.

Dukefrukem
10-19-2016, 12:57 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4LDlBCkA2g

Dukefrukem
10-21-2016, 02:05 PM
This should have been the movie


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8hfSKLU9vs

Skitch
12-15-2016, 10:34 PM
Finally saw this.

Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones >>(a hundred more greater than symbols)>>McCarthy and Wiig.

I laughed out loud at several places and got a bit choked up when Wiig went to save her friend. Genuinely entertaining stuff.

When the big bad was holding on the the buildings trying not to get sucked back to wherever, I thought they were going to shoot his arms in pairs of two. Laughed my ass off at the crotch shot, and I really really really hope that was aimed directly at the douches who said it was wrong to make an all female ghostbusters. Hilarious.

I'm bummed I missed it in 3D, because I heard it was used to outstanding effect. Has anyone seen the DC? I wanted to go theatrical first since DC is like 134 minutes.

number8
12-16-2016, 01:23 AM
Yeah, I rented the DC when I rewatched it. The most significant things cut were Justin Kirk as Wiig's boyfriend, and a minor plot point where they get bad press because Wiig assaults a guy harassing and insulting them (this actually explains why they randomly separated in the third act of the theatrical cut). Other than that it's just longer takes of the same jokes, with more funny banter.

Skitch
12-16-2016, 02:37 AM
(this actually explains why they randomly separated in the third act of the theatrical cut).

That was the most blatant wtf is happening thing. Huh? When did they split? Was i not paying attention?

Pop Trash
12-31-2016, 02:48 AM
This was painful.

Dukefrukem
06-04-2017, 06:57 PM
"[Ghostbusters] made a lot of money around the world but just cost too much, making it economically not feasible to do another one. So that’s too bad. The director, he spent too much on it. He didn’t shoot scenes we suggested to him and several scenes that were going to be needed and he said, ‘Nah, we don’t need them.’ Then we tested the movie and they needed them and he had to go back. About $30 to $40-million in reshoots. So he will not be back on the Sony lot any time soon."

Hah

Sycophant
06-04-2017, 10:38 PM
Movies are a terrible business.

Rico
06-08-2017, 10:30 AM
Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones >>(a hundred more greater than symbols)>>McCarthy and Wiig.

I just wanted to second this. Other than that it falls under the it exists category.

Rico
06-08-2017, 10:47 AM
As for the all female controversy. (I'm still sad this was a thing, but not shocked by it because I know my fellow man.) A good script and a competent director is all a movie needs to be good. It can be all men, it can be all female, it can be whitewashed to heck, it can have an all black cast, a bunch of gays, a bunch of foreign speaking people, it can be all animals (March of the Penguins). As long as ii tells a good story, I'm down. Unfortunately this movie didn't have the luxury of having a good script or a competent director.

Sorry for the super late rant on a subject that was probably talked to death already. Also I realize I went way beyond my original intention of giving props to McKinnon and Jones.

Rico
06-08-2017, 11:26 AM
- Dan Ackroyd drove the production of this movie. He pushed for another sequel for years and years and it didn't happen because Bill Murray refused to do it.
I might have been willing to snap my own arm off if it meant a Ghostbusters 3 with the original cast back when they were still youngish. I'm not sure if Murray ever said why he didn't want to do another movie, but I could understand it if he didn't want to tarnish the legacy of the original movie and his character Peter Venkman, an (or perhaps the) iconic role of his career. After Ghostbusters II was mostly panned they knew they couldn't do that again. I still liked that movie, but it doesn't have the magic of the original and feels like a huge cash grab. It's tough living up to past glory.

Certainly the world of Ghostbustes is worth exploring further even with a completely new cast. This reboot just didn't have the creativity.

Here I am again posting in a thread I avoided, about a movie I didn't like, and really there are about 20 more posts I could comment on. I should really stop because I'm high as f**k right now.

Dukefrukem
08-09-2017, 10:36 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHUV8QLpEAc&t=2176s

Winston*
08-10-2017, 10:50 AM
Haven't seen the movie, but I guarantee that is 1000 times less funny.

Seem to remember The Phantom Menace one having some insight.

Grouchy
01-27-2018, 07:25 AM
I clicked Yay because I laughed but it's a bad movie.

The only reason I watched it is because I re-watched the two Ghostbusters movies because of a Really That Good video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPoILjs6BYI) about the original which argued it was the unique case of a strange, poorly structured, at times random as fuck movie that worked because of its creativity, originality and specially its themes... which are elements that this one completely lacks. What it does have that the original also had in spades is chemistry between the leads. McKinnon's completely bizarre character got 90% of my laughs, and the other 10% were Leslie Jones one-liners. I feel that the line where Jones says that while she's not a scientist she has extensive knowledge of the city of New York must have been a jab at the original, where there's no reason why Winston is on the team besides tokenism.

What this movie does wrong is... what does it really want to be? A reboot or a remake? I mean, if you're gonna have the entire original cast doing cameos they might as well have set it in the same universe, which certainly would have made the fans happier. Either way, they reference the original in the worst possible way - by using the "cross the streams" resolve and all the good lines in a jokey, derogatory way. They should just have had the original Ghostbusters as characters passing the torch.

To make it simple, the movie is bad because the third act is garbage and some jokes are cringe-worthy. But Ghostbusters II is just as bad and it's still a Yay movie in my book because, like this one, it delivers some great laughs here and there.

Grouchy
01-27-2018, 08:30 AM
That Honest Trailer actually makes a very good point - the original had Dana and Winston playing straight characters to the others with their comedic antics. This movie has no straight characters. Even the government agents are quirky as fuck.