Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Ghostbusters

In honor of Harold Ramis, who we lost two years ago today, we are going to call. There is no review: only Zuul. This is kind of a natural follow-up to the Back to the Future post. It's a movie that I'm perfectly happy re-watching, even though I've seen it at least a dozen times already, and have the DVD, and have bought action figures, and have drunk Ecto-Cooler. I wasn't the massive fan as a kid that everyone else my age was, because my mother had a thing about a lot of supernatural stuff, and didn't want me to see the picture until I was older. So I first saw it when I was about 17. And wow. See, one of the nice things about not having seen a lot of movies when I was a kid (I watched a lot of movies, but mostly Disney, or Looney Tunes, or "family friendly" features... one injustice I've noticed is that Don Bluth isn't on the List) is getting to experience a lot of these movies fresh. I don't have the half-remembered thrill, or comparing them to my childhood memories. Sometimes that isn't so good - I am not a fan of The Goonies, which I saw for the first time when I was 19, but in the case of Ghostbusters, it was amazing. Imagine your first viewing of this film and actually getting all of the jokes. This is also one of those films that has achieved a huge level of cultural osmosis. There isn't a lot to talk about on the level of "Let's discuss", since you can mention Zuul, dogs and cats sleeping together, the big Twinkie, Mr. StayPuft, Are you a god?, WE GOT ONE, spores, molds, and fungus, the fire pole, the car, Slimer... and pretty much everyone knows what you're talking about. Except the little girl in Zombieland, but I guess there isn't much time for instant classic comedies in those circumstances. What can one do except go on at length that yeah, this movie really is that good. The special effects have held up pretty damn well, the plot is still engaging, and the only real complaint I have is that Winston could have had a more expanded role. I know it was originally supposed to go to Eddie Murphy, but still. Give the man some room to act. There is a major possibility that on some level I may be kinder to the films that I to some extent grew up with. I see fewer flaws in Beauty and the Beast than I do in Lilo and Stitch (although I love both movies, the third act of Lilo and Stitch was weaker than the rest of the film, and the rest of the film did suffer for it). I've obviously not had the highest opinion of every movie I've watched on the National Film Registry. It's going to be interesting charting my reactions on films I've seen before, or books I read before seeing the movie, and films I haven't. How often am I going to become a quote-spewing fangirl, and how often am I just going to watch a movie once? For Ghostbusters, all I can say is, if you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?

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