47.) Ghostbusters [7/31/2016]

Most thoughts on the movie fall into two camps: 1) this movie was made to advance the feminist agenda by pissing down the throat of my childhood; or 2) this has been the female-lead action movie that will shake the very sexist foundations of Hollywood. The first reaction stems mainly from men with fragile gender-identities who could not fathom that anything as sacred as Ghostbusters could be redone by some damn uppity women (probably demanding fair pay for equal work) and still be watchable. Instead, the very idea of a gender-swapped remake/reboot/re-imagining is just further signs of how emasculated America has become, where men are cuckholded by the very entertainment franchises they used to hold dear. What would be next? A black Spider-Man? 

I really wanted this movie to be so good that I could cram its genius down the throats of these crying man-babies. The first Ghostbusters was great, and it should be remembered as such. But this movie in no way tried to replace it or erase it. I hesitate to call it a remake, or even a reboot, as this story is not a rehashing of the first, nor does it continue that story in any way. Instead, it re-imagines what it would look like if ghosts invaded New York today.

And it did a fine job doing it. Honestly though, for as much as I wanted this movie to succeed so that these hideous trolls who chased Leslie Jones off Twitter would be forced to eat so much crow, the movie was just okay. I hope it gets a sequel, because I think the potential for a truly great movie is there, and the cast (particularly, as most people agree, Kate McKinnon) was pretty good. Unfortunately, here they were a bit too beholden to nostalgia (Dan Akroyd's cameo, for example) and too focused on the origin story of the Ghostbusters, which is true of a lot of origin stories: they are just not that interesting.

What is remarkable about this movie is how the female leads were portrayed. Quietly, this movie did subvert the typical tropes of a female-lead ensemble cast. There was no romantic competition, no cattiness, and they managed to save the day despite a number of men getting in the way. The women were smart, and funny, and charming, and they were brought together not by their mutual respect for each other. That sort of representation is necessary in Hollywood big-budget films, and the way the little girl behind me lit up when Kate McKinnon was on screen made all the less-good parts of the movie fade into the background.