362: Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Expanded)

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, please make sure to go ahead and rate, review and subscribe. Thanks.

[00:00:05] 70. Let's do a bit of a revisit, a re-review. Let's get to Ghostbusters Afterlife which

[00:00:14] came out in 2021 and just to clarify I will be doing Ghostbusters Frozen Empire soon.

[00:00:21] I don't think I'm going to have a chance to see it in theaters. I might but I'm

[00:00:24] not sure just with my schedule. I did already pre-order the five Ghostbusters digital pack

[00:00:30] so when it comes out I'll be reviewing it for sure and I did also do the Ghostbusters franchise

[00:00:36] up until this point on the bonus show which is now available on the regular feed on this

[00:00:41] feed as well as on Bandcamp. So all of Ghostbusters will be covered and has been covered up

[00:00:47] until this point but I figured since I'm not able to go see Frozen Empire right now, let's

[00:00:52] do Afterlife again since I did just re-watch it. So yeah, let's get to it.

[00:00:59] Ghostbusters Afterlife is directed by Jason Reitman who was the son of Ivan Reitman who

[00:01:04] directed the original. Stars Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Logan Kim,

[00:01:12] Celeste O'Connor, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd really all the original people, Jackie Simmons

[00:01:18] and the synopsis is when a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town they begin to

[00:01:23] discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their

[00:01:27] grandfather left behind. So I think this is my third time watching it I'm pretty sure

[00:01:34] and when I first saw it and when I saw it again and reviewed it on the bonus podcast,

[00:01:39] I just wanted to clarify one more time in case you aren't interested in hearing the

[00:01:44] whole franchise covered or you just want a little mini review Ghostbusters Refresher,

[00:01:47] that's why I'm doing this. Hope that makes sense. Sorry if I don't want to be repetitive

[00:01:51] or anything but I just love Ghostbusters so sorry. But anyways re-watching this recently

[00:01:57] for the third time as I said on the original review I think this is my least favorite

[00:02:04] of the different including the reboot the Paul Feig female reboot. This is my least favorite

[00:02:10] still at this point sadly. I want to love it every single time but I know some people

[00:02:16] really defend this movie and think it's one of the best or like the best since the original

[00:02:20] which is not saying a whole lot but I know there are big fans of this one. I just don't

[00:02:25] see that after three viewings. I feel like it's really a overly serious incredibly pandery

[00:02:33] self-reverential film that does not add much to the lore. I love Paul Rudd as it's hard to

[00:02:41] not like Paul Rudd. I think he's great and I think the whole cast is very good. I like him

[00:02:45] and Carrie Coon together they have good chemistry and I like the overall not it's

[00:02:50] not talked about enough but these outsiders trying to fit in in its small town that is

[00:02:55] very localized and not really open to outsiders and a family trying to deal with a new life

[00:03:02] and a new setup I like that or just simply being in an area where they're not necessarily

[00:03:07] welcomed but that again that's not talked about enough so I think everything else though

[00:03:13] just feels like it's just calling back to the original. Like say what you will about the reboot

[00:03:17] which I like I keep on saying I like that to a certain extent. I would give that maybe a

[00:03:22] three and a half out of five even like the extended edition. I like the extended edition as

[00:03:26] well for that one. At least that one it does do some callbacks to the original but at least it's

[00:03:33] trying to do something fairly different not anything amazing but at least it's trying to

[00:03:38] and I feel like in this it's just them rediscovering things about the original. Oh

[00:03:43] let's talk about the things that happened in Manhattan that's still something being talked

[00:03:46] about. The jokes are really lame like the kid who's just nicknamed podcast because he has

[00:03:50] a podcast like come on it just feels very lazy which is crazy to think that Ivan Reitman

[00:03:58] co-wrote the script at least and maybe he just wants to pay homage to his dad I'm not sure

[00:04:05] but it feels way too repetitive and unoriginal with what it's trying to cover in the film

[00:04:12] plot wise, theme wise and so not a big fan of it. I really like it I think even less

[00:04:20] every single time I watch it. I want to love it I'll still go back to it every so often just

[00:04:24] because it is Ghostbusters and I'd rather live in that world for a little while than not at all

[00:04:29] and I still am hopeful about Frozen Empire. I know some people have been like eh on it but

[00:04:34] you never know with these movies. I feel like I might really like that one or I might

[00:04:37] hate it. I don't know we'll see. I do find though that the biggest issues and reviews that

[00:04:43] I've read of the new one seem to say the same thing is this franchise needs to move on from

[00:04:50] the original stars like I love Bill Murray, I love the whole original cast. The original is

[00:04:57] amazing but this franchise being in a sci-fi fantasy ghost world there are other things

[00:05:05] that you can cover and call back to and explore and create than calling back the

[00:05:10] original cast to be in these movies. Like them coming back at the end feels so blah like they

[00:05:19] don't feel invested. At least they're trying to have more fun with it I guess while the rest of

[00:05:24] the new cast are way too serious for the subject matter because the original of course

[00:05:29] is very comedic and this one again it's like why are we putting this amount of emotional weight

[00:05:37] to this series because like again with the reboot that's very much a comedy and that's why

[00:05:43] to me that worked so much better than this one does. It's like it's very light-hearted,

[00:05:48] it doesn't always work but it's very comedic and this one it almost feels like a drama

[00:05:54] sometimes for some reason. Like it's trying to be too much like Stranger Things or something

[00:05:57] I'm not sure. The tone is just weird more than anything but the score is good. It does

[00:06:03] visually it does look quite good like it's shot well the lighting is good. It feels very Spielbergian

[00:06:09] in some ways sometimes not in a good way like it's trying too hard to be like Spielberg I guess.

[00:06:14] So still not a fan of it and unfortunately I would love to hear people's thoughts let me know

[00:06:18] through Letterboxd, through any of the contact information in the show notes, social media,

[00:06:23] email let me know why you love this movie or why you hate it what you think about Ghostbusters

[00:06:28] as a whole. The new film love to hear from anyone out there and let us know what you think about

[00:06:33] these episodes of course as always. Rate, review, subscribe as well sorry I had to put that out

[00:06:39] there so yeah my least favorite of the franchise still hate to say it still am dying to see

[00:06:47] Frozen Empire no matter what if I love it if I hate it I just want to see more Ghostbusters

[00:06:52] just find something else to do for the next movie whatever that's going to be if they do

[00:06:57] one please do something else then just call back the original cast it can be done successfully

[00:07:03] I know that's a possibility you just got to take the risk so yeah that one is a two out of five