Film: Ghostbusters Afterlife

 

GENRE: Adventure, Comedy
RATING: PG-13 for supernatural action
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 4 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Paul Rudd (Ant-Man, Perks of Being a Wallflower )
Mckenna Grace (Gifted; I, Tonya); Finn Wolfhard (It, Stranger Things)
DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Up in the Air)
WRITERS: Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) & Gil Kenan (newcomer)
PLOT: A single mom and her two kids find out that they have a significant connection to the original Ghostbusters.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: I’m very nostalgic for the original Ghostbusters.

STORY STUFF: Wow! That was fantastic! I may have been a bit skeptical, especially after the disappointing female version, but this reboot/continuation was awesome. I cared about each and every character, there were lots of laughs and some great emotional hooks, there is plenty of respect for the past while foraging some new ground. I will say that before seeing this, you should really watch or rewatch the original 1984 Ghostbusters to truly appreciate this film. (No need to watch the sequel or the female reboot.) I was impressed with great pacing, the Easter eggs, and the respectful way they incorporated Egon. This was a treat to watch. The two post-credit sequences seemed odd but whatever.

ACTING STUFF: Rudd brings the charm but it’s the kids that really blow me away in this film. Wolfhard has some great teenager lines and is a bit less awkward than in past performances. Grace does a fantastic job bringing us along on her journey. She also has great comic timing. But it’s newcomer Logan Kim who steals the show as the hilarious kid, self-named Podcast. Every line out of his mouth made me laugh and smile. Kudos to the casting folks who found this kid. He is freaking awesome.    

ARTISTIC STUFF: The special effects stuff has call-backs to the original but is clearly better animated for today’s audience. Having watched the original a couple days ago it was uncanny with some of the similarities. The set design, the costumes, the VHS choices, the mini Stay Puft Marshmallow guy, they all work so well. I do find it funny that the score has hints of The A-Team but so did the original, so I can’t fault them for that. This film is well worth your time.  

VERDICT: Five stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You enjoyed the original Ghostbusters and want the same fun.
UPCOMING REVIEW: Being the Ricardos, West Side Story

Film: Red Notice

 

GENRE: Action, Comedy
RATING: PG-13 for violence and some strong language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 58 minutes
PLATFORM: Netflix
STARRING: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Free Guy, Van Wilder)
Dwayne Johnson (Jungle Cruise); Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman)
DIRECTOR: Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball, Skyscraper)
WRITER: Thurber (Dodgeball, Central Intelligence, Skyscraper)
PLOT: An Interpol agent works with an art thief to catch another thief.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Just wanted a fun film to watch.

STORY STUFF: It’s a breezy action film with some fun hijinks and somewhat predictable plot twists. There’s a kind of Indiana Jones meets buddy caper mix going on which can be quite entertaining. The pace is pretty good and it’s pretty easy to follow along. Learning that the director also did the hilarious Dodgeball and the silly Skyscraper Die Hard knockoff makes a lot of sense when watching this film.

ACTING STUFF: Reynolds is always a treat to watch. He has fun one-liners throughout the film and steals the show (pun intended). The Rock has to play second fiddle and is okay but has better chemistry with Jason Statham. Gadot has some great moves and some very fun moments but didn’t add as much to the film as I wanted. I wouldn’t say that any of the three leads are stretching themselves in these roles. They’ve played them before, just not together. In that way, the film seems a little cookie cutter when there was more potential. There is a fun music artist cameo near the end that was pretty priceless.   

ARTISTIC STUFF: I actually enjoyed a lot of the action cinematography. The camera movements had a nice tempo and sweeping nature. It wasn’t the in-your-face headache inducing Red Bull cinematography of Michael Bay. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of CG stuff that is quite sad, especially the bull scene. Also, the music seemed like it wanted to go all Marvel Avengers-like for some reason.

VERDICT: Three and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You enjoy Reynold’s comedy and don’t want to think much
UPCOMING REVIEW: Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Film: Eternals

 

GENRE: Action, Drama
RATING: PG-13 for violence, some language and brief sexuality
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 37 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Gemma Chan (Transformers: The Last Knight)
Richard Madden (Game of Thrones); Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick)
DIRECTOR: Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
WRITERS: Zhao (Nomadland); Patrick Burleigh (Peter Rabbit 2);
Ryan & Kaz Firpo (newcomers)
PLOT: A team of powerful heroes try to save the world when one of them is taken out.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My expectations were pretty low for a Marvel film.

STORY STUFF: My first question is why? Why do we need to be introduced to a whole new group of superheroes? While there were a couple fun characters, I’m not itching to see most of them interact with the rest of the MCU. A quick side note - I’m sure Eternals were first but Ikaris just reminded me of Homelander from The Boys. The story has some good action moments but gets bogged down with long emotional stares and too many flashbacks. I blame Zhao for the slow pace. I also saw a couple twists coming from a mile away. And because I don’t read the comic books, I had to do a bunch of research to figure out why I should care about the two post-credit sequences. My worry is the MCU is going to get too big where I find myself numb and not caring like I used to. I hope I’m wrong.

ACTING STUFF: Thank goodness for Nanjiani; he saved the film for me. His quick humour and keen moments of insight was a breath of fresh air. He can join the Avengers at any time. I also enjoyed the work of Chan and Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta). Was not a fan of Barry Keoghan as Druig or Madden – they just rubbed me the wrong way. It was nice to see a lighter side of Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones) though. I did not understand why Angelina Jolie was in this film. She didn’t add much and made things slower.

ARTISTIC STUFF: There are some great special effects throughout the film but I expect that of Marvel. The sinewy Deviants were well constructed and menacing. The forest scene, however, was lit way too dark for a Marvel film – it reminded me of DC schlock.

VERDICT: Two and half stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You want to prepare yourself for future Marvel films
UPCOMING REVIEW: Ghostbusters: Afterlife