What's on Screen? Ghostbusters

This past weekend I finally had the chance to watch the new Ghostbusters movie. I have a few things to say about it on a whole. But before I get into that, I want to tackle other peoples opinions about the film.

The majority of reviews and comments that I saw in reference to this film were negative. A lot of people did not give it a warm reception, instead they wanted to compare it to the original 2 films from the 80's. Doing that leads to a few problems in my opinion. The 80's are a rather nostalgic time right now, because it's what people grew up with or watched with their kids. (Yeah... I know that sounds weird but hear me out). This means when they saw the name Ghostbusters, they were likely expecting the same sort of film. Filmography and what people expect in movies is much different now.

What was high tech and scary back in the originals is corny now. It doesn't get the same reaction from the audience. Technology has also improved, meaning there was a great window to try some new effects. To be honest, while yes I'd have been interested to see the film as a continuation of the original films, the reality is it wasn't a feasible idea.  So I'm not going to tell anyone that didn't like the movie that they should have, or ought to. But I am willing to listen to their complaints and give my own account of what I thought.

So first things first. The more or less all female cast. I found this refreshing, mainly because I do feel there is a rather sad amount of positive female role models in the media. I don't care if they're not conventional or 'kardashian' gorgeous. I found them appealing on a number of levels. They were almost real. They seemed like people you might actually run into.

The male villain, surprising as it was, gave the story a validity. I could believe that a person could try to cause mayhem, due to selfish aims. I could see them using similar technology based on the same research. I could also feel sorry for him. Not because he was bad or good, but just because he seemed to have gone off the deep end.

The sets were rather nice, I had no complaints on that. The story didn't lag or slow down. There wasn't too much nonsense, though the ghost fighting scene near the end did remind me a little bit of the Power Rangers. So yeah, it was a funny as well as entertaining.

There was one thing about the movie that bothered me a lot. The soundtrack lacked something. Most of the music was decent. Yet the longer song sequences grated my nerves because they didn't feel like they fit into the film. It was almost like they were trying to force the music to fit. I wish they would have gotten one of the original soundtrack writers (though it looks like after some research that might not have been feasible... I didn't realize so many people from then aren't around anymore). In honesty it was the only part of the movie I think could have been improved. Which means most of the movie was awesome. So I have to say I do recommend it.