New Ghostbusters movie in OG movie universe Jason Reitman directing 2020

[CyberCubed]

Watched the movie and it was well done. Some of the beginning was a little slow introducing the new kids, (didn't care for the who fast food part), but it picked up after that. I'm surprised how little screentime Paul Rudd got, I thought he would be more important.

The climax of the movie was great and would tug on the heartstrings of anyone who liked these characters, and I'm surprised how well they pulled it off. The CG was great and the "ghost" not talking was a nice touch too. All in all it felt like great closure for the original cast finally as their Ghostbusters 3.

A sequel with a more involved Paul Rudd and the kids is probably going to happen.

[Sumac]

Watched a new movie.
Characters were kind of just there. Pacing was too slow and in general it felt "too safe" and too kiddish. All in all, it was not bad, but can't say it was super amazing either. Just passable.

[Andrew NDB]

Two things:

#1. Why was Egon called a dirt farmer for not growing anything but you can visibly see giant fields of corn like right past his front yard?

#2. Does anyone else find it weird that in both this movie AND the 2016 movie, the new gang only really bust 1 ghost in it... and then let it go by the end?

Also, on a second watching I noticed Ray tells Phoebe that Egon "took Ecto-1, our old cadillac." That implies they had a NEW (or newer) cadillac. i.e., the Ecto-1A.

[Sumac]

Yeah, I am kinda puzzled, whether Afterlife even acknowledges GB2 (and I am not talking about Video Game).
Overall I felt like GBA approached story, much like The Force Awakens - repeat the same story beats from the OG movie.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Yeah, I am kinda puzzled, whether Afterlife even acknowledges GB2 (and I am not talking about Video Game).

According to Reitman it definitely acknowledges GB2. And basically everyone was too stupid to notice:

https://screenrant.com/ghostbusters-...itman-confirm/

"Ghostbusters II, definitely canon. There are references to Ghostbusters II in Afterlife. We meet Ray working at Ray’s Occult. The toaster from Ghostbusters II is in the kitchen in the farmhouse. There’s actually lots of lost of Ghostbusters II details but nobody knows Ghostbusters II outside of Vigo the Carpathian and the Ghostbusters II logo. So there’s this assumption that it is not canon but it is definitely canon."

Overall I felt like GBA approached story, much like The Force Awakens - repeat the same story beats from the OG movie.

The movie definitely has some issues. Issues with pacing, too many callbacks to the original movie, not enough of the "sharp wit" the first one had. I'm OK with bringing back Gozer and the Keymaster/Gatekeeper, though. And the music, I was actually hoping for even MORE music cues from the original movies.

[Sumac]

I liked that they used some music cues from OG movie, but, yeah, the wit was missing as well as some "adult" jokes. It was a movie, which was refined to not to be "offensive" in any way shape or form.

As for GB2, well, toaster is a toaster - than won't be enough to cue me about GB2 on its own. Even Vigo aside, I'd expect some references to the walking Statue of Liberty and a museum being covered in a slime dome, ghost attack, which had happened right before Vigo's failed resurrection.

But nope, everyone just mentioned events of the GB1, as if walking Statue of Liberty is not a big deal.

And I must admit, general skepticism about ghosts and supernatural in the movie didn't made much sense. Even though there were no smartphones in the 80s, there should have been plenty of evidences of the NYC being attacked by hoards of ghosts, twice at that. Yet, people seemingly treat it like a mere rumor or an urban legend. Or at least, it was my impression.

Its like in MCU characters being skeptical about supernatural and aliens, even though their world had encountered supernatural beings and aliens multiple times and all of that was well documented.

[Wildcat]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Two things:

#1. Why was Egon called a dirt farmer for not growing anything but you can visibly see giant fields of corn like right past his front yard?

#2. Does anyone else find it weird that in both this movie AND the 2016 movie, the new gang only really bust 1 ghost in it... and then let it go by the end?

Also, on a second watching I noticed Ray tells Phoebe that Egon "took Ecto-1, our old cadillac." That implies they had a NEW (or newer) cadillac. i.e., the Ecto-1A.

The corn fields could have been owned by someone else. There’s a bunch of cotton fields where I live. They must have called him dirt farmer because they noticed him digging holes for the traps but nothing grew.

It’s the same for GB1. They only bust Slimer and then he’s out by the end. I know there’s the montages but it’s not the same. We actually get to see the big ghost fight in 2016 with the new weapons. Which is separate from the final Rowan battle.

You really want there to be 2 cars. It’s Ecto 1B in the video game which could potentially be 3 of the same. In-universe, if they franchise, maybe Cadillac could put that 59 model back into production

Jason Reitman mentioned something about having some idea explaining the car but didn’t reveal what. I guess he meant for a another movie but I wish they just showed the extra lights and stuff in the garage so we know it was reverted back.
——

I’ve only seen it once so far. There’s some things I would have done differently but my only real issue is still Ray not believing Egon. It’s so far fetched for his character and how they both understood the supernatural.

If they just changed it a bit and said something like he was threatened by a ghost and wanted to do it alone so he mysteriously packed up and left. It would go along with becoming reclusive and breaking communication.

Instead it’s Ray that did not believe him AND never called? They knew where he lived. You wouldn’t even go over to see what he was up to with everything?

Now I hope they explain Ray’s standpoint. I guess they did in this but give him some of evidence for why he thought Gozer could not return. Something that paints him in a better light.

I was thinking what would have been really cool is if we saw a flashback with them arguing but done in shadowy way to avoid showing Egon. Maybe we just hear Ray shouting through an exterior shot the firehouse why he thinks he’s wrong and storms out. Returns and finds everything gone. It would have added a lot more emotion.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

You really want there to be 2 cars. It’s Ecto 1B in the video game which could potentially be 3 of the same.

Yeah, I guess there would be 3. If we're factoring in the game. Unless the 1B is the 1A but with the stuff taken off. Though there'd be very little reason to send Janine to register a new license plate with the DMV just to commemorate that.

Jason Reitman mentioned something about having some idea explaining the car but didn’t reveal what. I guess he meant for a another movie but I wish they just showed the extra lights and stuff in the garage so we know it was reverted back.

Reverted back? It was never up-converted. We saw the original Ecto-1 car at the beginning of GB2 and it was a smoking mess. Ecto-1A could only have been a brand new car and the line in GBA confirms it. Like, if I only own one Toyota Corolla but I tell someone on the phone, "Yeah, someone stole my old Toyota Corolla"... that wouldn't make any sense.

[Wildcat]

I’ve already said why it makes no sense to be 2 of the same car but that line does not confirm it either.

He could just be telling her what kind of it car was. People refer to their cars as old all the time...like I took my old so-and-so for a drive. It’s just stating you have/had an old type of vehicle.

Their feud is at least plausible because we’re all human but having 2 or 3 of those Cadillacs is very silly. I hope they don’t do that in another movie. I don’t know why you want them to be 2 anyway.

[Andrew NDB]

3 might be a bit much, but 2? Sure. Especially since the first one went kaput in the beginning of GB2. And other logic reasons. "Why the same 1959 Cadillac?" Branding. The same way that police in a given city generally drove the same kind of Crown Vics in the 80s. And the public who cheered them on at the end of GB1 would be expecting to see the Ghostbusters riding around in the same kind of car, not something new or different.

Another thing I found slightly troublesome in Afterlife, and maybe it was explained in dialogue and I missed it... twice. And/or maybe there's a deleted scene about it. But what's the deal with Podcast's remote control trap? Did he jury-rig this himself (eh...)? Was it always on board the Ecto-1 and just never seen, and they took time to recharge 30 year old batteries that probably would be beyond charging? And being able to drive it around with that kind of hair precision... not so sure about that. Maybe if they showed him expertly piloting drones or something in some beginning Jesus.

I wonder, a little... would it have been so bad to just say Egon had kids later in life -- like the late 90s -- and make this more about mid 20s people? Estranged daughter alone, not 2 generations removed?

I suspect a big factor in play was "how to tip toe around offending people about GB 2016." And making it about a diverse few kids is what seemed the most safe and impenetrable.

[Wildcat]

The most logical reason it’s not 2 of the same car is they already had it. You would not track down the same decades old model when yours still runs. The police have a fleet of same vehicles because there’s multiple units everywhere.

The RC trap was prebuilt. There would not be a gunner seat without a mobile trap. Not sure about the batteries but many kids play play with RC cars. It’s not complicated. Suspension of disbelief for a high speed chase.

They could have done it with older people but Jason Reitman said he had an idea about a girl discovering a proton pack. He wanted to go the childhood-adventure way. Doubt the 2016 movie mattered. It only needed to be in continuity and not “dumb”.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

You would not track down the same decades old model when yours still runs.

It wasn't running. It was a smoking mess when they went to the birthday party. And if the idea is that they dropped a new engine in it and went, "Oh, I guess this new engine means we need Janine to go to the DMV to get a new license plate with a new number!" then that's a retarded one.

[CyberCubed]

Honestly capturing all different ghosts feels like something the cartoons would do. In a way Ghostbusters was like a prototype version of Pokemon, only instead of capturing hundreds of Pokemon, the ghostbusters went after hundreds of different types of ghosts and had to "capture" them.

I know the cartoons made the ghosts much more cutesy/cartoony obviously so kids wouldn't be scared of them, and that's what I think of even though the movies have them more realistic/scary looking.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

I think you guys are over-analyzing it. It could just be that the original car was souped up during GB2, given a new plate, and then Egon took it with him when he left. In the intervening years, it broke down, and most likely so did most of the equipment on it, so he dismantled everything as a repair project that just never got done. Simple. He was just too busy trying to deal with Gozer, so he never had time to work on it. Thus the car sat and rusted.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

I think you guys are over-analyzing it. It could just be that the original car was souped up during GB2, given a new plate, and then Egon took it with him when he left. In the intervening years, it broke down, and most likely so did most of the equipment on it, so he dismantled everything as a repair project that just never got done. Simple.

Wouldn't make any sense. And what, after he made it to the farm he went down to the DMV to change/re-register the plates back to ECTO-1 and not ECTO-1A, switching the plates back and all? Why would he do that? For what purpose?

Getting a little worried about a GB Afterlife follow-up. I kind of figured we'd have heard something about one by now, given the lion's share of the VOD sales would be tallied up by now.

[CyberCubed]

Is there really any interest in a sequel, since the original actors are likely not coming back again? It would just be Paul Rudd and the two kids, and while I liked the actress who played the girl, I don't think they're enough to carry a movie on their own.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Is there really any interest in a sequel, since the original actors are likely not coming back again?

It would be wildly unlikely for them not to be asked back. Now, maybe a lot more with certain ones than other ones, but nevertheless.

[frank_one]

Afterlife was great but do we really need a new one?

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by frank_one

Afterlife was great but do we really need a new one?

Of course. The whole purpose of Afterlife was to respectfully honor the past while opening the door for new stuff. As opposed to 2016 which didn't respect anything of the past and didn't open any doors at all.

[Sumac]

I felt like Afterlife was not particularly impressive, either it was offensive.
If creators of the sequel will manage to stay in those parameters, than why not?
And I wonder how they gonna make new movie work, without relying on the past material?