Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters, duh

7/24/16 Ghostbusters, 2016, not yet nominated

What do you do when you are woefully behind on blogging the over 1200 movies on your list? Why you go see another movie in the theater and blog about that. Which is exactly what I'm going to do. Since I'm feeling confessional, I will also tell you I have never seen the original Ghostbusters either (save your judgement, I already got a dirty look from my movie companion today). I went to see the movie for a couple of reasons, mainly I love Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, and the more I see of Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, the more I like them; I like Paul Feig's movies, especially with Melissa McCarthy; and I wanted to support a movie that featured four female leads, especially after the nonsense from the trolls who still live in their parents' basements. In this telling of the Ghostbusters franchise, Kristen Wiig is Dr. Erin Gilbert a physicist who is going for tenure at Columbia University; Dr. Abby Yates is played by Melissa McCarthy, and she is also a physicist, but at a lesser known university, the two were high school friends and co-authored a book about the paranormal which has found new life on Amazon (I should be so lucky); Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) is an engineer and has been working with Abby on her new projects; and last, but not least is MTA worker, Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), who had the misfortune to see a paranormal being in the depths of the New York subway. The four of them start up an organization to find and scientifically prove the existence of paranormal life, despite the skepticism from the media, the government and supernatural debunker, Martin Heiss (Bill Murray). They hire Kevin (Chris Hemsworth in possibly his most dorky role) who is a male version of the stereotypical 'blonde bimbo'; hey, turnabout is fair play. As more ghosts are being sighted around the city, the Ghostbusters realize that there is a bigger plot going on to release more ghosts from the great beyond. The movie culminates in a great battle between the Ghostbusters and Rowan, a creepy evil genius who inhabits Kevin's body and later becomes the Ghostbusters' logo. Telling you too much more will spoil it. So, you are wondering, did I like it? I did, as did my companions, one of them seeing it for the second time. I laughed out loud several times; even though I did not see the original, I did appreciate some of the special things done to link the two movies. The four leads are fearless comedians, not afraid of being silly, absurd, self-mocking or physical in their comedy. You can tell they have worked together before (Wiig, Jones and McKinnon being regulars on Saturday Night Live and McCarthy being a five time guest host [also from SNL, Cecily Strong plays the mayor's assistant]) and they just put it out there. I don't understand the hate that has been showered on the movie way before it was released; if you aren't interested, don't see it (it's still a free country). It's nice to see a movie with female leads who don't need to be rescued by a man, they're smart characters (there's a knock on Leslie Jones's character because she isn't a scientist, but she does have a knowledge of the history of New York City AND she gets them a car to haul their gear); they're loyal to each other; and in an age when we're trying to get girls interested in math and science, how can a movie like this be bad? Will this win any Oscars? I doubt it, but I don't think it deserves any Razzies either. The audience laughed, my friends laughed, I laughed. It was a nice Sunday morning.


OpEd: Since I'm spouting about trolling, whiny fans, I feel compelled to write about the actor and role that we're going to miss: Idris Elba as James Bond. When the idea was floated in the media about Elba being the next James Bond, there was all kinds of bloviation from armchair directors about how he 'wouldn't be right' in the role. That was code for 'he's too black'. Are you kidding me right now? 'M' was originally a man, but Judi Dench took over that role, and now Ralph Fiennes. Done. There have been six Bonds and everyone has their favorite, least favorite, whatever; it's an evolving role. I think Elba would have been excellent as a suave, strong, smooth Bond; it could have opened up some different plot lines. But, it's not to be; Elba himself has said that he is probably past playing Bond. Damn.

Trolls belong under a bridge, not on the internet.