Ghostbusters (1984)

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Directed by Ivan Reitman.

Starring Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis.

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Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Who you gonna call??
by lopezdash in Intersection

is neutral about it.

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"For full coverage and to sign up for a chance to win a trip to Comic-Con International in San Diego, head over to http://comiccon.spout.com. " [More]

New Hancock Trailer Includes To ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"I’ve been on the fence about Hancock from the beginning. Sure, it’s a Will Smith blockbuster and it co-stars Jason Bateman, both typically prime selling points for me, but it also seems a bit one-note and silly. Upon first hearing about the concept of a drunken has-been superhero, I immediately thought about drunken Superman in Superman III. After seeing the teaser trailer, I felt the exaggerated special effects (including the rather funny whale toss) were a little too over the top. Now comes a full trailer (Quicktime version here) that reveals a lot more action and a lot more plot points. The former seems to have everyone on the Internet suddenly more excited about the movie. But what about those new story reveals? Aside from the usual problem of giving too much away, the trailer exposes the overdone concept of a world without its under-appreciated hero(es) — think Ghostbusters, any one of a thousand comic book titles (the hero is in jail, or half-defeated, or in an alternate sta ... " [More]

Re:Recasting GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)
by achance42 in Recasting couch

loved it.

"Alfred Hitchcock's The Ghost Busters (1955) Dr. Peter Venkman - Cary Grant Dr. Ray Stantz - Jimmy Stewart Dr. Egon Spengler - Gregory Peck Winston Zeddemore - Farley Granger (not a lot of black actors in Hitchcock films, so he'd probably cast someone younger instead) Dana Barrett - Grace Kelly Janine Melnitz - Shirley MacLaine Louis Tully - Hume Cronyn Walter Peck - Norman Lloyd Mayor - Ray Milland Gozer - Kim Novak, in her breakout role (voiced by James Mason) " [More]

The Zelig Approach
by minerwerks in Recasting couch

loved it.

"[quote user="SkyPilot"] Could a remake of Ghostbusters (1984) ever be worth watching? It's especially hard for me to imagine recasting Bill Murray. [/quote] Found while visiting another dimension: History can only guess what might have been when Saturday Night Live alums Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd were to team up for "Ghostbusters," a hot sci-fi comedy that was initially set up at Columbia. Following the death of John Belushi, Aykroyd dropped out of show-biz, effectively shelving the project.After an executive at Columbia was quoted on certain scenes in "Ghostbusters" being "a tone poem of New York," a succession of directors known for their love of the Big Apple vied for the chance to helm the film.First, up Woody Allen took a shot at a rewrite and submitted his casting ideas to the studio:Tony Roberts ... Dr. Peter Venkman Woody Allen ... Dr. Raymond StantzJeff Daniels ... Dr. Egon Spengler Christopher Walken ... Winston Zeddemore Diane Keaton ... " [More]

Recasting GHOSTBUSTERS (1984)
by SkyPilot in Recasting couch

loved it.

"Could a remake of Ghostbusters (1984) ever be worth watching? It's especially hard for me to imagine recasting Bill Murray. Bill Murray ... Dr. Peter Venkman Dan Aykroyd ... Dr. Raymond Stantz Harold Ramis ... Dr. Egon Spengler Ernie Hudson ... Winston Zeddmore Sigourney Weaver ... Dana Barrett Rick Moranis ... Louis Tully Annie Potts ... Janine Melnitz William Atherton ... Walter Peck David Margulies ... Mayor Steven Tash ... Male Student Jennifer Runyon ... Female Student Slavitza Jovan ... Gozer Paddi Edwards ... Gozer (voice) (uncredited) Ivan Reitman ... Zuul / Slimer (voice) (uncredited)Slimer may be as hard to replace as Bill is, but if you're inspired to redesign him, insert an image of the 21st Century Slimer for some MAJOR extra ... " [More]

Jason Reitman Badly Defends His ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"The biggest shock in the Oscar nominations this year was certainly Jason Reitman’s bid for Best Director. In fact, it’s such a given that the Juno helmer won’t win the Academy Award that even the kids know it. One brave brat from the Santa Barbara Middle School Teen Press even tells Reitman to his face that he has no chance, in this slightly amusing video that’s circulating the interweb. Many are suggesting the clip was actually set up by Reitman himself, though the fact that he posted the video on both his Myspace and YouTube pages only makes it clear that he’s probably responsible for the thing showing up on the net at all. Either way, he at least has a good sense of humor regarding everyone’s doubts that he deserved the nod. My favorite question, and one that I wish he had a better answer to, asks what his actual role was as director. That’s something I’d actually like to know. The acknowledgment of Juno having first and foremost a great script and great actors seems to indicate ... " [More]

Trade Roughage 1/23/08
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"The combo of last week’s DGA contract agreement and yesterday’s announcement of the Oscar noms may have set the WGA in a new direction towards ending the writer’s strike. Yesterday afternoon the WGA announced it had withdrawn demands for jurisdiction over reality and animation, which the AMTPT was dead against recognizing. The two sides are reportedly meeting together today. Even if the strike is not over in a month, let alone today, there will still definitely be an Oscar telecast. It will be heavy on clips honoring the past 80s years of cinema, according to Gil Cates, who compared the strike to the presidential race. As far as the Oscar-nominee responses go, the most noteworthy are those of Julian Schnabel, who is sorry The Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn’t get a Best Picture nod but who feels he could one day have his Departed moment, and Jason Reitman, who points out that if he can be nominated for directing Juno then his father, Ivan, should have been nominated three or fou ... " [More]

The Golden Globe Backlash Is th ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"It’s so easy to criticize the Academy Awards’ ignorance of the merits of comedy (even if such criticism is unfounded), but the Golden Globes have rarely been so deserving of scrutiny in their exclusion of the funny business. After all, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association actually has a category for best comedies of the year. Sure, the genre is still considered second fiddle to drama and has to share its category with musicals (which are sometimes musical dramas), but at least we know there’s a place that honors Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Crocodile Dundee as one of its year’s best pictures (thank goodness for the musical-less ’80s!). The problem is, now that the musical genre is back in (near) full force, comedies are not getting as much recognition, even in their own (shared) category. Following the Globe nominees yesterday, there was a good deal of complaining going on that Knocked Up wasn’t one of the Best Motion Picture Musical ... " [More]

Selling Be Kind Rewind. Clip(s) ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"There’s some cool new promo stuff up online for Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. The film is about two video clerks who accidentally demagnetize every VHS tape in their store while their boss is on vacation, and then proceed to produced no-budget camcorder “remakes” of the most rented titles. The studio is–smartly, I think–exploiting the DIY theme of the story in order to sell it to kids who live online as a user-participatory event. First, go to the official website. Wade your way through the animation about the internet being erased, and tell it that you want to rebuld the internet. Eventually, you’ll get to a place where you can insert an image of yourself into a VHS box of a “classic” film, such as, um, Drop Dead Fred. I went with My Own Private Idaho, because I thought it would be funny. See above. Then, there’s the obligatory “viral” video component. So far, there are three trailers on YouTube, representing three of the films remade within Be Kind Rewind. I’ve pasted my favori ... " [More]

Nothing But Love
by JakeStevens in JakeStevens Blog

loved it.

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"I was OBSESSED with this film as a kid. All the drawings I kept from that era is nothing but Ghostbusters (both the real AND the Filmation), the entire Wizard of Oz series, and Beetlejuice. It STILL makes me laugh and I love the DVD format for finally putting this out in the widescreen format - the way it HAS to be seen. Love, love, love, love, love... " [More]

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Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

Ghostbusters is an exuberant, fully realized blockbuster packed with plenty of choice moments for repeat viewing. The cast is pitch-perfect: Bill Murray's easygoing comic gifts are at their sarcastic best; Rick Moranis is hilariously pathetic; and Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis do a wonderful job as the dorky, science-minded members of the crew. Aykroyd and Ramis also wrote the one-liner-packed script; the wacky, scary subject matter made the film understandably popular with children, but there's also sophisticated humor which can only be appreciated by adults. Providing a blueprint for the many copycat summer hits to come, director Ivan Reitman impressively balances the laughs with action and horror. The special effects have held up well with time, though the soundtrack and its catch-phrase theme song may feel a little dated. ~ Matthew Doberman, All Movie Guide

Tags: ghost , paranormal , comedy , Loved-It , Classic
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