Ghostbusters: Second thoughts

The best, most completely out-there and unpredictable thing in the whole movie, and they put it in the DVD play menu. They really did. It's a good thing Lacy's on the ball about all this or that would have been a big no-no. Seriously, are DVDs only intended for people who already saw the movie?

Anyway, I digress. I was expecting a sort of haunted house thing, where a bunch of bumbling but well-meaning morons pulled an Abbot and Costello Meet The Afterlife routine. I definitely wasn't expecting the story I got, and folks: it was fun. :D

Once again I see a great example of how practical effects just work. I think I was too busy cracking wise to point out in the movie that when Zuul (thanks Rachel) (this just keeps showing up in every single second thoughts post, first paragraph) (can I even write these without you giving things a pass first?) is possessing Dana and levitating, Peter was moving around her, over top and underneath as well. I don't know how they did it, but I know they did it. It's movie wizardry at its most simple and effective. I don't see wires and I don't think there are any; the movement was too clean and she was flat as a board. Oh, and then she spun around in midair I have no idea how they accomplished any of that.

That leads me, of course, to saying that special effects... are tricky. Look, lasers are lasers and I'm going to like them no matter what because BZZAP is just an awesomely silly cool thing. The demon bull beast running everywhere, though, never looked good. You know how when the Zuul demon creature is present, it's all eerie lights and demonic hands tearing at you and howling in the depths of the... fridge... and then it's just there and stationary and waiting for you to be dragged toward it? That was legitimately tense and scary and worked so well. Use what you're good at, guys. Mind you, I hated Lewis - I think I was supposed to, he's written in the most annoying way possible and not meant to be sympathetic even to geeks because he's just that obtuse - and... well yeah, actually, that was another little quibble. Vinz is a moron. Vinz is a moron who throws down all the exposition and I don't even remember the big spiel besides "Keymaster" so I think ultimately they're trying to show that... the demons take on qualities from those they possess? I'll go with that. The ghosts look fine, the other dimensional alien heaven was minimal but just fascinating to look at, and in the end I can chalk it up to budget and a bit of too much ambition in the wrong spots.

So let's talk about the movie as a comedy. There are several things going on in this movie, like it had multiple directors arguing over direction. Someone did a lot of work on the fantastical and scary elements of the center story about Gozer (the music is only really significant when Gozer stuff happens) while someone else was big on absurdity and these broadly comic things like Ray's enthusiasm, Egon's total weirdness and Winston's awesome line. And then there's Peter. I thought for a little while that "the Ghostbusters" would be the leading characters as a collective, but the filmmakers made Peter the guy. On the one hand, the actor playing him has the whole deadpan, dry wit thing down to a science. On the other, Peter's a dick. That whole scene of him in the apartment seems like it's supposed to be funny, and to me it just felt awkward and horrible. That's now two movies from the 80s whose relationship story revolves around "girls admire persistence more than not being a creep" and I think, in the future, I'm just going to have to check my impulse to wince at that and let it slide, because from what people say in the comments things aren't going to get much better.

It's a surprisingly slow film. I got a lot of dumb jokes in. I feel like this particular viewing, with the others here and me typing away, might have gotten away from the optimal conditions to judge the movie. I certainly don't feel like I caught every line, and I'd be willing to watch it again. What I did get out of it was a pretty funny film with decent writing that just seemed a little distracted in what directions it wanted to take. The important thing, though, is that if someone asks me if I'm a god, I'm going to remember to say YES. :D