Review: Ghostbusters (2016)

Oh boy. I don’t think I’ve been this nervous about writing a review since, well ever actually. Let’s start a few months ago, when the first bits of news came out that Ghostbusters was getting an all-female remake. I’ve never seen any of the original movies (gasp!) and even as a woman myself couldn’t see the need for an all-female team, and the trailers that eventually came out had me feeling pretty ‘meh’ about the whole thing. We’ve had a fair number of reboots over the last few years, and the lucky few have had mediocre reviews.  I am still horrified that you haven't seen the original Ghostbusters!!

Of course, a few days before the release, IMDB and Letterboxd users rated the movie as low as possible, before they could even have a chance to watch the movie, which honestly winds me up more than is rational. I try not to judge a book by it’s cover, but I use sites like those to get a rough idea, and on the UK release day Ghostbusters had an abysmal score of 3.7 on IMDB. With a rare Monday night free and cheaper tickets at my local cinema, I thought ‘screw it’ and went to see it on the opening night.  Now I had seen the opposite, I hadn't looked as early as Allie so the annoying pre-reviewers had been overpowered by an array of positive reviews.  This unfortunately led to countless people coming out of the woodwork to state that Sony clearly had brought their reviews!! argh - why are people so annoying?!

Out of the Ghostbuster ladies, I’m only really familiar with two of them, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, who were brilliant together in Bridesmaids (2011), so I had a little hope. I know Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones are from Saturday Night Live, but we don’t get that show here in the UK, although something clicked half way through the movie when I recognised Leslie Jones as the technician who shouted at Kylo Ren in the Undercover Boss sketch, which led to me laughing out loud during a non-funny part of the movie.

Um, I gotta say as well, it certainly is something spectacular when Chris Hemsworth isn’t the hottest blonde in the room. Where has Kate McKinnon been my whole life? I had such a lady boner crush on her the whole time. She’s aloof, gorgeous, and fierce, and everything I want to be!  You may have to fight me for her, she was amazing!!

Anyway, I’m going off topic now. I think what I’m really trying to do is stall, because what I need to say is I really, really enjoyed watching Ghostbusters. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen the original, maybe it’s because I was expecting something even worse than Independence Day: Resurgence, but it doesn’t matter because I had a blast. The jokes were funny, the special effects were hella-cool, and those ladies kicked ass. 

I have to disagree with Allie, it can't be because she hasn't seen the original because I have seen, and loved the original Ghostbusters and I still loved this.  It was a film of it's own, it wasn't a carbon copy of the originals but had enough easter eggs to keep me happy!  I feel like Allie needs to go and watch the originals and then watch the new one again and it will be like a whole new movie for her!

Chris Hemsworth playing a goofy receptionist was an absolute stroke of genius. He got guaranteed laughs every time he was on screen, but nothing was funnier than his interview for the job. I really don’t want to ruin the joke but I’m laughing just thinking about it. I wish I could get away with being as bad at my job as he is, though. Admittedly, I’ve pretended there’s a really bad line on the phone and hung up when someone on the other end is making absolutely no sense.   This was the first gag I mentioned to Allie when I had seen the film and spent Saturday evening (a bit tipsy) repeating it over and over while laughing hysterically.  I wish I could tell the joke because at this point this whole paragraph is a bit vague!

Look, I’m off topic again! I don’t know what else to say other than I hope people at least give this a chance. I’ll give the original Ghostbusters movies a watch at some point so I have some kind of comparison, and maybe that’ll change my mind, I definitely saw Jurassic World in a different light after finally watching Jurassic Park. And if you hate the cast, hate the new effects, maybe it’s worth watching for some pretty awesome cameos? I didn’t get them all of course, but I could make a pretty good guess when one showed up by everyone else’s reactions. Wait, what am I even talking about? Forget those guys, the best cameo (which isn’t even a cameo, it’s a small role) is DOPINDER. Dopinder, guys!!  This is where Allie lost me, the cameos throughout the whole film made me squeal and whack my Dad in the arm, I didn't even realise that Dopinder was Dopinder until Allie told me afterwards!!

I have to repeat that I loved this entirely as a movie of it's own.  The action was great and the comedy was really. At one point I laughed so much that I had tears in my eyes and missed about 3 other gags that followed.  Chris Hemsworth and Kate McKinnon were by far the highlights, I was a bit disappointed that they didn't utilise Melissa McCarthy's comedy genius more but she can't always be the centre of attention! Honestly I'm glad for that, she's driving me crazy lately and I was worried she'd be as annoying in this as she was in The Boss. She makes such a great supporting cast member, it's when she's the lead that it all goes wrong for me.

Oh, and stay till the end of the credits! Not just for the dancing, I promise, there’s actually a proper scene right at the end.

5 Movie Themed Pokemon GO Games I Want to Play

Who knew Pokemon GO would take off the way it has? As an avid fan since the age of 12, I’ve been looking forward to the release for far too long, but I didn’t expect to find my local park filled with people playing it! It’s honestly quite bizarre, there are groups of children, teenagers, families, and grown adults like myself playing. On Monday night we lost track of the time and had to find out way out of the woods at 10pm in the dark. Whoops. Well, at least none of us have been hit by a car yet.

Lots of people have started to think about what kind of Augmented Reality (AR) mobile device games could come next, mostly Nintendo themed. Luigi’s Mansion was a favourite of mine, but the thought of Mario Kart GO turned my blood cold. I have enough nightmare’s about blue shells thanks to my college days, I don’t need to be driving away from one on my way to work!

What it really got me thinking though was what about if we had a movie themed version? My mind can’t function enough to watch a movie in this heatwave we’re having in the UK, so I sat myself down in our garden with a frozen cider and my notebook and thought of a few ideas.

Ghostbusters GO

Perhaps the most obvious choice, given the spot in the limelight Ghostbusters has right now, but you’ve got to admit, this would be pretty cool. Playing Pokemon GO in the dark doesn’t feel quite right, but teaming up with 3 friends and roaming the streets to hunt down ghosts? That’s cool. Just try not to get ran over by Slimer driving a car!

Fast & Furious GO

Less clever and more downright dangerous, it was Mario Kart that got me thinking in this direction. People have already set their phones up in their cars to play drive-by style, in fact someone was fined in our local area for it this week. Fast & Furious GO would never, ever come to reality, but it’s okay to dream, right?

Jurassic Park GO

Maybe it’s just early release teething problems, but my friends and I are having problems finding any Pokemon at all in our local parks and woods, and we honestly thought they would be abundant there. So, whilst we’re enjoying the nature, why not track down our favourite dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, instead? Replace the eggs with unidentified fossils? Now we’re talking.

28 Days Later GO

File this one under NOPE for me, but talking about the health benefits of Pokemon GO reminded me of that fitness app where you’re running away from zombies. So why not go one step further and create 28 Days Later GO? I think you’d be wanting to move away from the rustling grass rather than track it down, but imagine the fear when you see a zombie 1 footprint away from you.

Lego Movie GO

This is my favourite idea ever. Lego Movie GO, guys! Instead of hunting down Pokemon, we’re hunting down individual Lego bricks. Gyms are replaced with statues, monuments, buildings, anything large that communities have to work together to build using the bricks they’ve been collecting. I would play the hell out of this game!

What about you guys, where do you stand on Pokemon GO, love it or hate it? Can you think of any movie versions you’d love to see?

A Timely Blogathon: Airplane! (1980) & Stand By Me (1986)

Originally posted on Movierob here.

I have such a short attention span, and so when I saw the announcement of ‘A Timely Blogathon’ hosted by Movierob and Film Grimoire I practically squealed with excitement. Never has there been a blogathon more perfect for me! Of course, there’s something ironic about being late for a blogathon about being short on time, so thank you both for still having me!

The theme of the blogathon is movies that have a runtime of 90 minutes or less, and after a quick Google search I came across a movie I’d been meaning to watch for years, and luckily for me, it’s runtime was 88 minutes. Phew, just about! That movie was Airplane! (1980)

My sense of humour has made a lot of people groan, I’m a huge fan of jokes that get labelled as ‘Dad jokes’, and so numerous people have recommended Airplane! to me over the years. The only reason I haven’t seen it yet is it’s age. I struggle with older movies and I wondered whether any of the humour would actually hold up 36 years later.

The plot to Airplane! is simple enough. On a plane flying from Los Angeles to Chicago, the pilots and many of the passengers become alarmingly ill, leaving one passenger, Ted Striker (Robert Hays) with the responsibility of landing the plane safely.

I can safely say that not only do the jokes hold up over time, they come so frequently that a second viewing is almost mandatory; I spent so long laughing till it hurt that I probably missed a load of jokes! There are references to certain names that went straight over my head, but honestly, this is hilarious from start to finish. Just a few of my favourites:

Nervous?

Yes.

First time?

No, I’ve been nervous lots of times.

You’d better tell the Captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.

A hospital?! What is it?

It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.

Can you fly this plane, and land it?

Surely you can’t be serious.

I am serious...and don’t call me Shirley.

I’m laughing my socks off just typing these out. I’ve got to say though, there is no way some of these jokes would make it into a movie made these days. There’s the ‘Jive Dudes’ that have subtitles whenever they’re speaking, the little girl who likes her coffee black, just like her men, and the pilot who asks the young boy in the cockpit all kinds of odd questions!

Realistically, this movie isn’t for everyone. It has a very unique sense of humour, and reminds me of Monty Python in that sense, you either love it or hate it. The plot is silly, the events completely unreal. If you’re looking for a serious, dramatic movie about a plane on the brink of crashing, this isn’t for you, but if you’re in the mood for something funny with a guarantee to make you laugh, you honestly need to give this a watch.

Since raving about this movie all week I’m now being told to watch The Naked Gun, does anyone else recommend it?  I can't stand the Naked Gun films but if you loved this you will love them!

I thought I would throw my 10 cents worth in after googling films that are 90 minutes long or less and not one but 2 of my favourite movies popped up.  Maybe subconsciously I prefer a shorter movie like Allie!

I can't believe that Stand by Me is only 89 minutes long, it feels so much longer when you're watching it.  The first time I watched this film when I was younger, I was on the edge of my seat, I was convinced one of the boys was going to be snatched or that something was going to jump out at them.  When I finally realised it wasn't a horror, I had to watch it again to actually enjoy the story for what it was.

The concept of the film and the story are so simple and yet told in a way that makes you laugh, cry and gasp.  For me, it's one of those movies where not much happens but you find yourself smiling to yourself as you watch it.  It stays with you long after you have finished watching and as an adult you find yourself with the urge to ring your childhood best friend and just say hello.

Allie reviewed this last year for a Blogathon and I didn't end up contributing so I'm glad I am getting the chance to show some love for this.  I can't say I have been a huge fan of Stephen King adaptations, Tim Curry's IT put me off for life - I have never been more terrified of an actor in a role.  However, Stand by me is one of my all time favourites and one I can watch over and over again much like Beauty and the Beast which was also in the list at 84 minutes of awesomeness and a great sing-along!

Review: While We're Young (2014)

This is the part where I tell a fun little anecdote of what lead me to watch this movie, and more times than I care to admit, attempt to mask that the only reason I actually watched this movie was because of a particular actor or actress. I’m not even going to try that this time round. I watched this for Adam Driver. There. I feel so much better now. What I did learn though is that my husband has such a strong hatred for Ben Stiller that he refused to even be in the house when I watched this. That was new to me!

While We’re Young (2014) introduces us to Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts), a married couple in their 40’s with a deteriorating relationship. They aren’t able to have children and are drifting apart from their best friends who are new parents, and Josh is also struggling professionally with his latest documentary, which he has been working on for 8 years now. Whilst out for lunch one day, they bump into younger couple Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Jamie is a huge fan of Josh’s work, and the four become good friends.

It all starts so well. There’s such chemistry between the couples, everything seems so effortless. Problems that are all too real are portrayed, like close friends growing older and taking separate life paths. Then there’s the humour, often  and subtle as we watch Josh and Cornelia get involved with the fun a carefree lifestyle that Jamie and Darby live. It’s around the midway point that I felt although this movie seemed predictable, it was still an extremely enjoyable watch.

Oh, that soon changed. The two couples go away on a spiritual cleansing break, which was weird enough, but then that ended in a far too long scene of everyone throwing up everywhere, which was just grim, not funny in the slightest. I’m pretty sure there was some kissing straight after too which is making me feel a bit ill just thinking about it. That’s where everything just takes a turn for the worst.

I don’t know what happened to the movie after that. The tone takes such a sharp turn it actually felt like I was watching another movie entirely. It becomes more and more about Josh’s documentary work, and it gets very dark, almost entering thriller territory. That’s all I can really say, because my attention soon started to wander.

It’s a shame, because this could have been a great movie. I can’t fault any of the actors involved, I thought they all did a great job, but something went wrong somewhere along the line.

Review: 45 Years (2015)

I made a real effort to watch all of the Oscars Best Picture nominated movies this year, and I did much better than last year, working my way through all of them but Bridge of Spies. Embarrassingly though, at the time of writing this, I’m not even halfway through watching all of the Best Actress nominated movies. That’s something I’m trying to change! Why I started with 45 Years though, I’ll never understand. I like moving out of my comfort zone…

In 45 Years (2015), Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay play married couple Kate and Geoff, married for almost 45 years, funnily enough. Their 45th anniversary, and a huge party is looming, but when Geoff receives a letter on Monday morning with some difficult news to take, their relationship becomes terribly strained.

Kate and Geoff live a seemingly wonderful life. Retired, living in a huge detached house seemingly in the middle of nowhere in the UK, with their dog Max. Now, we all enjoy movies when we can relate to at least one of the characters, don’t we? So why I, a not yet married woman in her twenties thought I would enjoy this movie, I don’t know. But the weirdest thing was...I really did!

If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay were married in real life. They just bounce off each other so well and it’s so effortless. Although only Charlotte Rampling got an Oscar nomination, I thought Tom Courtenay was just as fantastic, especially during his speech at the party.

45 Years is such a small, quiet movie I think it’s better to watch it not knowing anything about the plot. Indeed, if someone told me they found it completely boring, I’d have a hard time trying to convince them otherwise, but my fascination was with Kate and Geoff themselves, and how they were going to work through the problems that this letter has brought. It’s a desperately sad story where there are no bad guys, no one in the wrong.

Just as Saturday rolled along, my heart swelled at the visible change in Geoff. His speech actually made me cry at the end, which I wasn’t expecting, and I thought it was so sweet that they danced to their wedding song from 45 years ago. But then Kate’s face changed, and the credits rolled, and I found myself completely confused. And then I looked up the lyrics to Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. Utter heartbreak. That’s what I felt.