Written by Logan J. Fowler and Justin Matchick
Release Date: July 15th, 2016
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth
Director: Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy, The Heat)
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: Ghostbusters was a beloved film from my childhood that I still hold near and dear today. While I’m not the biggest fan out there, I have supported the franchise throughout the decades. Once news of this reboot hit, I was not the angry person you see on the internet attacking it for having an all female cast, nor was I complaining about the film in general. I don’t personally dig the idea, only because well, it just doesn’t look great. To me, Feig is an overrated director and I feel that in better hands this movie really could’ve been something to talk about. As of now I’m just not feeling it. -LJF
Pre-Trailer Thoughts: The Ghostbusters reboot/remake has had a rocky reputation ever since the casting of an all-female team was announced. However, any issues over the casting choices of the film should be dissuaded by the involvement of Paul Fieg and Katie Dippold and director and writer respectively. Dippold wrote the surprisingly funny The Heat as well as some of of the funniest Parks and Recreation episodes, while Feig has always been one of my favorite comedy directors ever since his days on Arrested Development and Freaks & Geeks. Him and star Melissa McCarthy have a solid track record over the past few years, and I’m hoping it continues with this. – JTM
Rate the Trailer: 1 out of 5. The special effects look good, but that’s really all I can say. The jokes are just awful, there’s way too much slapstick, and I’m saying this with all sincerity-the actresses are being wasted here. I’m sure they will elevate the material to the best possible degree but from what I’ve seen in the trailer, I just can’t get behind it.-LJF
Rate the Trailer: 3 out of 5. Every Frame a Painting’s Tony Zhou summed up all the issues with this trailer in a piece last week, essentially saying that the editing of the trailer ruined the timing of a lot of the jokes. While the editing did have a lot to do with the failed jokes, I think Feig’s style of comedy also doesn’t lend itself well to trailers. Feig and Dippold are both experienced in using callbacks,running jokes, and long set-ups with big payoffs in their comedy, and while that will come across as hilarious in the movie itself, it’s impossible to really sell their style of comedy in a short form trailer. Even if not every joke hit the mark, it was still great to just hear the updated Ghostbusters theme as well as seeing some of the classic ghosts from the original films. Slimer and The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man make welcome appearances and the newly designed ghosts for the reboot are an appropriate mix of scary and cool looking. – JTM
Theater, Rent, No Thanks, Undecided? Rent. I won’t boycott this film, I won’t be that person. I feel safer renting this movie than seeing it in theaters based on the poorly cut trailers. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually have a good time with it. With that being said, let’s just hope the movie is actually better than it looks to be right now.-LJF
Theater, Rent, Undecided, No Thanks? Rent. With Star Trek: Beyond coming out just a week later I think I’ll be saving my money and skipping this one for now, but I would still like to at least see how it turns out. Feig’s comedy films over the past few years have by and large been very good, but if you go back and watch the trailers they really undersell just how funny the film will actually be. I’m hoping the same happens here. – JTM
The Ghostbusters are busting and feeling good on July 15th, 2016
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