Ghostbusters
I just don’t have the same level of nostalgia for Ghostbusters (the original) that other people do, but I’ve found that, over time, I’ve become more and more excited about seeing a female-led remake. After seeing the trailer, however, my interest has . . . dimmed.
Of course, one trailer might not mean much. I’ve found plenty of trailers disappointing and loved the actual films themselves. But I feel like this is missing something. Bill Murray’s asshole shtick doesn’t always work for me–look, my blog is appropriately named, just deal with it–but his bevy of amazing sarcastic one-liners are kind of what make the movie, and this trailer doesn’t have much of that sharpness going for it. The humor feels a little broad for me, a little less clever than I’d like, although I will say that Kate McKinnon seems pretty awesome. I’m absolutely interested in her total weirdness.
My other concern is about Leslie Jones’s character. I’ll admit, I was kind of hoping that this movie wasn’t going to repeat the three white scientists, one black everyman structure, but still, it could work. After all, I liked Ernie Hudson in the original movie; I just felt that he was wildly underused and deeply random. Perhaps this script will treat Jones better. (Although I am no more convinced that you need an everyman for this story now than I was then.) But my bigger problem is that, based off this trailer, I found a lot of her jokes kind of the opposite of funny, particularly that bit at the end with “THE POWER OF PAIN COMPELS YOU!!!” Being white, I’m probably not the best person to delve into the Sassy Black Woman trope, so I won’t get into that too deeply. What I will say is that I feel like this trailer is giving me the shriekiest version of that trope, and whether it’s a stereotype or just a specific brand of humor, it’s not something that I, personally, particularly go for.
Hopefully, the second trailer will do more for me because I want to be interested in this. I want more female-led comedy, sci-fi, and action movies with groups of women taking charge, not being relegated to, say, The Love Interest and/or The One Badass Chick in the Group. But this was pretty so-so for me.
The Brother Grimsby
On the other hand, this appears to be the comedy they’ll play for me on endless repeat when I go to Hell, so take back everything negative I said about Ghostbusters; I will happily watch the worst version of that movie a zillion times if I never have to watch this.
Sorry, Mark Strong. Not even for you.
Finding Dory
I watched Finding Nemo years after it first came out and thought it was a totally decent movie (with a thoroughly depressing beginning) that I didn’t really need to watch again. I mean, I could see it again. I just have zero need to. Finding Dory kinds of strikes me as more of the same. It looks cute enough, and I like the whale shark. But I have no particular desire to see it, either, so I’ll watch it when someone eventually makes me, likely think it’s decent, and then never watch it again.
The Other Side of the Door
Man, I’m really striking out on trailers today. I bet something awesome will come out later, too, just so I’ll be like, “Damn, I should have waited a few more hours. Now I’m stuck with the scary movie that appears to be going down the How To Make a Generic Horror Movie checklist.”
For example:
Mother loses son and life loses all meaning.
A person with brown skin tells the white heroine big mystical secrets.
The heroine does the one thing she’s not supposed to do.
The dead come back wrong.
The remaining living child is a bit creepy because she Knows things.
Starring recognizable faces but certainly not A-list names (in this case, Sarah Wayne Callies and Jeremy Sisto)
Although it should be said that if you’re going to let a grieving mother say goodbye to her dead child, you really have to do more than just tell her she can’t open the door separating them. If you really don’t want her to open that door, someone is going to have to restrain that woman, and I think you know that. Of course, if you just don’t care or are secretly hoping she opens it, that’s totally fine, but if you’re really going to get all righteous about it, you need to post a few guards at the secret temple.
Definitely a pass for me. Although, again, I’d watch it ten times before The Brothers Grimsby.
And finally . . . Damien
Okay, I’ve seen a better trailer for this show, but even if I hadn’t, I’d probably try it out regardless. Come on, it’s a completely unnecessary sequel to The Omen starring Arthur/Lowell! What’s not to like?
I’ll admit, I’m fully expecting this to be awful, but what if it’s actually good? The cast isn’t bad, after all, with some familiar TV faces playing the supporting roles, although I am disappointed that Bradley James apparently isn’t using his English accent. Come on, guys. I’m disappointed in you. He’s the Antichrist. Haven’t we all just accepted that evil is British? I thought we knew this by now.
Hopefully, this will either be surprisingly good or, more likely, a super cheesy and terrible guilty pleasure. Hopefully it is not takes-itself-so-seriously-it sucks-all-the-fun-out-of-life bad. I wouldn’t put any money down on that or anything, but I still plan to give it a shot.
My Geek Blasphemy 
I’m not a Melissa McCarthy fan so I’m not crazy about her being in it, and the trailer was pretty blah, and it’s just kind of doing the same exact shit with better effects the original did…and that sassy black woman seems kind of racist, really. And the all-women thing does seem like a gimmick – I’ve heard they’re doing an all-dude version now too, so maybe they were counting on the outrage so they could double-dip and make it look like they’re giving the public what it wants. A co-ed, multi-racial team would have been the best idea – you’re not limited to just four Ghostbusters.
Oh well, we’ll see! Could still be good.
P.S. I would have got Merritt Wever instead of McCarthy – we knew she can do comedy.
Jeez, did I say “and” enough times? Hopefully that doesn’t sound too negative, like I said – it could still be good. I like Kate McKinnon’s character, and that they’ve switched around the personalities – her Egon-like character Jillian Holtzmann is more like Venkman in personality.
No, I totally get it. I was pretty meh about the trailer, too, but like you said, it could still be awesome. You never know with trailers. Personally, I think Melissa McCarthy is funny, but I’d like to see her do different sorts of comedy. I kind of feel like she’s been playing the same role ever since Bridesmaids, but to be fair, that’s based entirely on trailers, as I haven’t seen almost any of her movies in the last few years. Honestly, I still know her best from Gilmore Girls. I’m enjoying Meritt Weaver on Walking Dead, but never watched her on Nurse Jackie (which is, presumably, the show you’re referring to?). She’s the only reason I have any interest in it, though.
I’m all for more co-ed, multi-racial teams in general, but I’m actually completely in favor of some all-women film reboots too, mostly because the majority of people don’t think twice about a team of all men doing anything, but a team of all women is, like, a Thing. And I think the only way to have it not be a Thing is to have many, many more movies starring mostly or all women, until it’s just normal. Of course, they could star in an original story instead of a reboot, and I’d like to see that, too. But the thing about reboots is that you have name recognition, so more people are likely to be interested. (The all dude version, ugh. Don’t even get me started on that.)
I liked the ghost effects in the new Ghostbusters trailer. Some of those ghosts looked pretty awesome.
But the rest? It wasn’t a ghostbusters movie. It was one of those awful cheesy over-the-top American comedies where the characters shout their lines so that you’ll remember it’s a joke. It might as well have Adam Sandler in it (dressed as “Jill” presumably).
I don’t know if I’m happy or sad that it appears to exist in a universe where the previous ghostbusters movies never happened. At least it isn’t tarnishing the previous continuity, but it’d be nice if it didn’t seem to be trying to entirely replace the old continuity either.
P.S. I’m as surprised to see Mark Strong in that dire-looking film too. Why would he take that role?
P.S.2 I’m actually really looking forward to Finding Dory, though I’ll admit that the new trailer doesn’t blow me away. But I remember absolutely hating the initial promotional material for Monsters University and in the end I preferred that movie to the original. We’ll just have to see.
P.S.3 It’s Omen continuity that he’s brought up in America from a fairly young age. The good news is, if he sounds like his English accent is coming through at any point then it makes sense for the character. I’ll be very pleased if this is good. I had a lot of fun watching the Omen movies (blooming eck, was that four years ago?) so I’m well up for some more Omen stuff. 🙂
I don’t know if I thought it was as bad as the worst Adam Sandler comedies, but I’ll admit that it did have a very broad, generic sort of feel to me. I, too, felt like it didn’t come off as particularly Ghostbusters. I’m hoping that has more to do with marketing than the story itself, which is possible. After all, you can edit almost any movie to look like an entirely different story. But I’m concerned.
About Mark Strong, er. Money? Or he lost a bet, or maybe he’s just a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen.
I’d be totally okay breaking Omen continuity if it meant Bradley James kept his English accent. Sadly, I have not been hearing good things about this series at all. Recorded the pilot, have’t tried it yet myself.