REVIEW - Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

 This review contains some spoilers

Having relaunched the franchise again with Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan return with what might be described as an episode of the ongoing Ghostbusters series. In spite of some negative reviews, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire has done well enough that it's likely we'll get a run of films, coming in every few years, continuing the paranormal exterminators' adventures. Kenan has said that he and Reitman have storylines ready to go for future movies. This, then, is basically the first regular episode after the pilot.

On the whole, I preferred Frozen Empire to Afterlife, for several reasons. First and foremost, this film was simply a lot of fun, something which seems so low on people's priorities for movies these days. Reitman and Kenan stated in interviews that they were going for the feel of an episode of The Real Ghostbusters, magnified for the big screen, and they absolutely achieve that. It's a funny, busy, silly adventure that still finds time for character work, like all the best episodes of RGB.

It massively helps that this film features a new villain, instead of the retread of the first film we got with Afterlife. Of course, it's understandable that a relaunch of the original continuity after decades would bring back the classic Big Bad for a rematch, but Afterlife reused some of those elements so slavishly it verged on a remake. Frozen Empire, on the other hand, gives us a brand new monster to threaten New York and the world.

Still, this film ostensibly ties in with the original's fortieth anniversary (although you'd have expected them to release it in June for that), and as such it has plenty of characters, ghosts and settings included as references to the past. While the Oklahoma setting of Afterlife was a breath of fresh air, it feels right that we're back in New York for this one (although excursions to other cities, state and even countries was par for the course on RGB). As with Afterlife, the bulk of the original's surviving core cast return. However, while in the previous film this was little more than a bunch of glorified cameos, here the characters feel more integrated into the story.

Winston and “Dr. Ray” benefit the most from this approach. Winston, now a hugely successful business, is now the owner of the firehouse and seemingly the Ghostbusters organisation itself, financing research and development while the new team get on with the everyday business of busting. Ray, on the other hand, is where he belongs, running his spooky little shop, helping out with research where he can and tenuously entering the 21^st century with a new YouTube series on allegedly haunted artefacts. Ernie Hudson is a class act as always, wile Dan Aykroyd basically just is Ray at this point.

Less well served are Venkman and Janine, who come across as a little shoehorned in, but at least they have a reason to be there. Venkman gets to do his somewhat dodgy parapsychologist schtick in the service of the mission, while Janine finally gets to suit up, itself a much deserved reason to include her. Annie Potts seems to be having a great time, but Bill Murray comes across as running on autopilot. The final actor to return from the original is William Atherton as the hated Walter Peck, rather brilliantly now mayor of New York and still determined to shut the Ghostbusters down. He's great in the scenes he has, but he's a bit underused here. Still, it's a nice way to tie events back to the beginning without just repeating things.

It's the new cast who continue to impress the most. While it's very much an ensemble film, McKenna Grace still stands out as the star. Phoebe Spengler is now fifteen, becoming more frustrated and confrontational with her family, particularly when they acquiesce to Peck's demands and bench her until she comes of age. (Peck, like in the original, isn't wrong in his judgments, but he goes about enforcing them in a destructive way.) Phoebe gets a wonderful storyline to herself in which she bonds with Melody, the ghost of a girl who burned to death years before. Emily Alyn Lynn has a real presence as the ghost, whose friendship (and hints of romance) with Phoebe aligns with her increasing isolation and advances the plot.

Finn Wolfhard gives a solid performance as Trevor, now eighteen and struggling to prove himself as an adult and a Ghostbuster. Logan Kim is pitch perfect as Podcast, now working with Ray at the Occult Bookstore and managing his online activities. Kim has grown up a lot between films and steals a lot of his scenes with his infectious humour. A little underused is Celeste O'Connor as Lucky Domingo, who at least gets some great busting scenes interning for Winston's team.

Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd gives the film an emotional centre as Callie Spengler and Gary Grooberson, now an honorary Spengler, now a running the Ghostbusters street team as a couple. Rudd has some sweet moments as he slowly learns how to become a father to Phoebe, although he does get saddled with some awkward exposition to bring audience members up to speed with developments from the previous film.

Some of the best material goes to entirely new characters. Surprisingly essential to the story after a seemingly throwaway introduction is Kumail Nanjiani as Nadeem, a dropout looking for a quick buck who turns out to have a powerful secret hidden even from him. Nanjiani gets some of the funniest moments of the movie,carrying what could have been a ridiculous character by just running with it. I was a little dubious of James Acaster's casting, knowing him purely as a stand-up comedian rather than an actor, but his curt inventor character Dr. Lars Pinfield is a joy. Plus, it's good to have a Brit in there at the heart of the Ghostbusters team, heading up research and development for the new generation. Stealing his scene is Patton Oswalt as the enthusiastic occult historian Dr. Hubert Wartzki, although he is in the film for only a brief time. Still, he manages to make a long run of exposition highly entertaining.

When it comes to the various ghosts and goblins, Frozen Empire serves fans well. For celebratory purposes, Slimer is back, still hanging around the firehouse after Ghostbusters II and now hiding out in the attic, while Eleanor Twitty, the library ghost, has a brief cameo. The latter is pointless but fun and over in seconds, while Slimer actually has some impact on events, with Trevor having a fun little sideplot dealing with attempts to catch the critter. Of all the classic ghosts, it's Slimer who really had to be there, especially as he was absent from Afterlife. Surprisingly, given that this film follow up on the post-credits danger signs on the containment unit from the previous film and everything eventually breaks free, we don't get a ton of cameos from ghosts from the classic films. We do, however, have a lot of little Mini-Pufts running around; they're fun, but the joke's wearing thin with those guys. Time to melt them down.

There are plenty of new spooks, courtesy of Winston's new spectral research facility. Pukey, a revolting little spud, is no doubt included to be the new kids' favourite, while the simply but effectively realised Possessor makes for fun and threat as it jumps between various objects which it brings to life. Starting out with a major bust, in this case the thrilling car chase after the wonderfully realised Sewer Dragon, kicks the main body of the film off nicely, and it's satisfying that both puppetry and CGI are utilised together here.

The Big Bad for the film, the great demon Garraka, is a suitably threatening creation, an inhumanly thin, ghoulish creature with impressive horns. He's a striking image, and his power, to freeze people using their own fear, is enjoyably nasty. However, while I'm pleased that the film has considerable build-up to his eventual appearance, once he's there he's dispensed with far too quickly. It almost feels like we're missing an act, giving the film a rushed ending which badly affects its overall pacing.

Afterlife notoriously and controversially brought back the late Egon Spengler as a ghost, there to help and reconnect with his family. Here we have Melody, and while her motives are complex, she's another ghost who is very human in her thoughts and actions, rather than the monstrous manifestations we usually see. The majority of entities in these films have been godlike things far beyond humanity, virtually mindless creatures that never were human, or the ghosts of humans whose evil has made them monstrous in their afterlife. There's a lot more room for exploration here, to see more traditional ghosts who are intelligent, self-aware and altogether human, and the questions that raises for the Ghostbusters and their treatment of spirits. There could be some dramatic consequences there, along with the fact that, while they're praised as heroes at the end, the Ghostbusters and their new ally Nadeem are responsible for everything bad that happens in this film.

Altogether, Frozen Empire is good fun, and while it can't hold a candle to the original, it's a step up from Afterlife. Where it works best is in its original elements, and this is where the franchise needs to go next. While the old guard are better used here, this really should stand as the final handover to the new generation. The inclusion of the classic crew, the Spenglers and the new characters leaves this film (ghost)busting at the seams. The next film really needs to let the past go for good, focusing entirely on the modern team and more new ghosts for them to face. Let's really evoke The Real Ghostbusters and bring is some truly weird stuff.

Spoiler-y elements lifted straight from The Real Ghostbusters:

• The possessed Ecto-1 and a haunted stone lion both appear in the first RGB season.

• The possessed pizza brings to mind the pizza monster in the title sequence for the Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters iteration.

• Phoebe temporarily leaving her body is not unlike the times her father was discorporalised/forced from his body in RGB.

• Even the Mini-Pufts originated in The Return of Mr. Stay Puft, a comicbook collection from 1990.

REVIEW: Something Strange 3 by Richard Crypt

 

Something Strange is, quite simply, the finest Ghostbusters fanfic available. Richard Crypt, who turns out art at an astonishing rate and does commissions too, has the knack for creating work that just feels like genuine GB material.

I'd highly recommend his Patreon, where you get access to sneak previews and exclusive images for as little as a $1/£1 a month. If you really can't stretch to that, at least follow him on Instagra, where you'll get glimpses of his incredible work.

The part we look forward to, though, is Something Strange, a fully-realised print comicbook that is published only occasionally, but my god, it's a great piece of work. It's remarkably professional for a fan-produced item, and each issue features a collection of strips of various lengths telling stories of the 'busters and characters caught up in their world.

We're on the third issue, and this time round it's a direct follow-up to Ghostbusters II, examining the public image of the Ghostbusters following the bizarre occurances in New York in 1984 and '89. We see events from the Ghostbusters' point of view, revisit major characters from the film, and get a glimpse of what both the media and the average New Yorker think about these things. 

Richard's artwork is absolutely spot-on. His ghosts fit right in with the films, but also have a feel of The Real Ghostbusters, upscaled and enhanced to the highest quality. RGB HD. He has the Ghostbusters' likenesses down pat, but it's his skill at recreating other actors in a few lines of black on grey that really impresses. I'm not going to post whole images or pages here - you'll have to support Richard for that - but just look at this one panel.

It's just a sketch of the lower half of his face, and you can immediately see that's Harris Yulin, and know we're going to see how the events of the Ghostbusters' trial and the return of the Scolari Brothers affected Judge Wexler. It's immaculately done. It's not only GB actors who are rendered with skill; characters are frequently cast as recognisable faces, and it's a lot of fun spotting who's guest starring in a strip. (I was pleased, but not at all surprised, to see that Richard is clearly also a fan of the 1993 classic Super Mario Bros.)

You can buy the latest issue on Richard's Etsy site, as well as the previous two, and I'd recommend going straight over there and buying them all. Well-written and exceptionally well illustrated, these comics are a must for the Ghostbusters fan. Plus, if you're a patron, you get your name hidden on the cover, something which never fails to make me smile like a fool (although I don't think anything will beat issue one's "Tessier Slimed Again" newspaper headline).

Subscribe to Richard Crypt's art here, and buy his work here.

REVIEW - Ghostbusters: Afterlife

SPOILERS after the break! 

Well then, it's finally here. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (or Ghostbusters: Legacy in some regions). I saw it on opening night (three evenings ago) but have taken a little while to collect my thoughts. As some of you might have noticed over the years, I'm rather into Ghostbusters, the film and the whole franchise. Ghostbusters II is great, sorely underrated, I thoroughly enjoyed the 2016 reboot (these days referred to as Answer the Call) and am still a bit annoyed the fan backlash damaged its performance so much that it didn't get a sequel. A third movie of any kind seemed unlikely for years, and at least the reboot made it clear there was still an appetite for the film. Finally we get a third instalment of the original continuity and... I liked it. I didn't love it. But I liked it.

For the bulk of the movie, this is a solid adventure with some nice comic touches. Taking the route of a coming-of-age/kids fight the supernatural story is a different direction to what we might have expected, which is a straight-up remake, but still very evocative of eighties classics. Focusing on a new generation allows the story to continue while updating and refreshing it, and while this is very much the same world as the original Ghostbusters, there's a distinctly different feel to most of it. Taking the action away from New York and out into the country makes a huge difference. There's a distinct tone to the majority of the film which is very unlike the previous ones. While the original wasn't the laugh-a-minute gag fest some fans make it out to be, it was very much a comedy. The reboot went hard into the comedy route, whereas this is the least comedic of the four, focusing a lot more on character drama. This isn't to say it's not funny, but it's a more sparing type of comedy. 

REVIEW: REAL! A Ghostbusters Tale

It's under a week until the international release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the long-awaited return to the original Ghostbusters universe that began with that first film in 1984. If you can't wait to see some new Ghostbusters action, though, who you gonna call? 

You're going to head over to YouTube, where REAL! A Ghostbusters Tale received its online release on, of course, Hallowe'en, some clever timing that the official Ghostbusters marketers seem to have missed. REAL! is a Ghostbusters fanfilm, and it's far from the first, however it is easily one of the best made fan productions I've seen, in any fandom. REAL! is an Italian production, but don't worry, English subs are available if you're a cultural ignoramus like me. Eduardo Stoppacciaro is listed as creator and producer, stars in the film and also directs alongside Christian Calabretta, who wrote the script with Valerio Albasini di Giorgio.

An Italian Ghostbusters film is a new thing, and wow, is this Italian! Set in Rome itself, the directors and cinematographer Simone Schiralli make the most of the iconic architecture as they set the scene. It gives the film a wholly different flavour to any Ghostbusters production before, but this still feels very much authentically Ghostbusters. Set in the same continuity as the original two films, REAL! has a contemporary setting and runs with the idea - used in Extreme Ghostbusters and the upcoming Afterlife - that spectral sightings dried up after the main events of the films. Now, events in Rome are opening the gateway again, leading to three gents from a local university to become embroiled in the spirit world when they rent a flat that turns out to be haunted. 

Starring Marco Fumarola, Fabio Cavalieri alongside Stoppaccario, REAL! re-creates the set-up of the first film, but with new characters with their own dynamic. Stoppaccario plays Davide, and while he has something of the look of Egon, he's more of a charming jack-of-all-trades, and he gets the romantic subplot. Cavalieri is Simone, the spunky, sarky, overexcitable one of the group, while Fumarola is Ludovico, who's the mechanically-minded genius. Exposed to a horrible haunting, the trio contact Egon Spengler himself (voiced by Mario Cordova) who agrees to send them the specs of the 'busting equipment so they can build their own. Alongside the guys is Lidia Perrone as Susanna, the beautiful love interest who has secrets of her own, and Alessandro Budroni as the ultimate villain of the piece, the mystic Fulgenzio Ippolito Margano.

There are some fun nods to the silliness of the original. A favourite moment is the pointing out the miraculous engineering required to build a particle accelerator that fits on a backpack, as opposed to being several miles across as they are in reality. There's also a lovely mid-credits scene where the new 'busters recruit a secretary, played by Christiana Lionello, who must be a distant cousin of Janine Melnitz. 

However, with a name like REAL! you'd be expecting some kind of riff on The Real Ghostbusters, the single best animated of all time, yes? And you'd be right. While the film is very much in the world of the original film, most of the ghosts are fantastic recreations of the spooks that made up the RGB toy line from Kenner. For anyone of my generation they're a wonderful burst of nostalgia - they even have a cameo by everyone's favourite, the Bug-Eye Ghost (Afterlife stole their idea!). It can't be understated how impressive the effects are in the film. The ghosts are wonderfully realised, with something of the style of the original film's spooks, something of the CGI ghouls of the 2016 movie, and something of their own. As well as the joyful inclusion of ghosts familiar from the toy range, some of the more original manifestations are genuinely pretty creepy.

With a script that's genuinely funny, a deliciously spooky threat, clever ideas, great direction and incredible effects, REAL! A Ghostbusters Tale is an excellent addition to the ever-growing and beloved world of ghostbusting. 

You can watch the film for free here. Make sure you watch through the credits for some lovely treats for the fan community, too.

Ghosts R Us

 This Hallowe'en, why not take a look at my old Vocal spookfest "The Thirteen Most Terrifying Ghosts of the Ghostbusters Cartoons?" Now with more images, and correct spelling!

I can confirm that Bustin' continues to Make Me Feel Good

Well, that was exciting!

Having watched this trailer, oh, a few times this evening, that's my strongest reaction. It's exciting. It looks like an adventure. Yes, it's clearly a film made in the shadow of Stranger Things and the IT adaptation; it's even got Finn Wolfhard, the go-to kid for eighties nostalgia movies. As grandson of Egon Spengler, Trevor looks like he's going to be a great protagonist, but it's Mckenna Grace as his sister Phoebe who I really want to see more of. Just from these glimpses, she's got some real presence. I've only seen her in Captain Marvel, but from what I read, she's quite something, and it looks like she's a real character actor, unlike Wolfhard who, although brilliant, plays to type.

Then we have Paul Rudd, who's always a joy to watch. I like the idea of someone who was actually there in the original and remembers the “Manhattan Cross-Rip.” He'd have been fourteen when the original was released, and, although Rudd is apparently ageless, I assume his character is going to be around the same age as the actor. It makes sense that the events of the original would have passed into legend, and that's not a bad reflection of how we fans feel about the film. There's a real frisson seeing the old equipment – proton packs, a ghost trap (apparently still occupied) and, of course, Ecto 1, bruised and battered but never bettered.

It doesn't feel like the originals. It doesn't really feel like any version of Ghostbusters we've seen before. It feels like a modern adventure film clearly (and sensibly) with an eye on a young audience. It also looks like it might be quite dark, which might be down to the cut of this trailer, or might reflect a more serious version of the concept. Then again, there were a couple of horror movie moments in the originals (heads on fricking spikes), and even The Real Ghostbusters got surprisingly dark at times.

The trailer doesn't make the film look very funny, but then, the trailer for the original didn't much either. It's hard to judge, on one trailer, how this will play out. Have they left out all the jokes, or is this easing us into a more serious version of the franchise? So far, there are two elements that are certain: excitement and nostalgia (and pretty much the entire surviving main cast of Ghostbusters one and two are returning for the film).

We've been here before. This is the third attempt at Ghostbusters 3, after Dan Aykroyd's own script, which stalled and stalled and was eventually recycled for Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and the 2016 reboot, now renamed Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, which I thoroughly enjoyed but utterly failed to set the world alight and didn't do anywhere near well enough to start its own franchise. Still, it did well enough and generated enough talk to show that there was still a lot of interest in the Ghostbusters property.

This looks like a good balance of honouring the originals while pushing ahead into something new. The reboot suffered from trying to be two things: an entirely new vision of Ghostbusters and a cameo-fest for fans of the original. This, potentially, can balance it better. There's a reason for the old cast to appear, and while that still might end up as glorified cameos, it's more fitting than having them appear as new characters. I mean, those cameos were cute, but all they succeeded in doing was make you long for the originals. Here, echoing the originals is kind of the point. Sure, it might backfire, but it could also really work.

And what a beautiful way to honour Harold Ramis. When he died, it looked like Ghostbusters was finished, but if anything, it made the remaining cast realise that they were running out of time to reunite (and seemingly kicked Bill Murray out of his sulk). Having a new generation of Spenglers is a lovely touch, and Wolfhard and Grace just look the part. Plus, you know, it accepts that it's been a long time since the original film, and it's better to embrace that and make something of it than pretend we're just picking up where we left off.

There will be more trailers. I'd like to see more jokes, more ghosts, more of Grace and perhaps a glimpse of the returning cast. But for now, this has me interested.

Ghostbusters at 35

Although it was officially released in June 1984 in the United States, Ghostbusters didn't see the light of the cinema screen in most of the world until later in the year. In the UK, it wasn't out until December. So, Columbia can be forgiven for staging their anniversary re-release for the Hallowe'en market - well, near enough, anyway.

It's always a treat to see a classic film on the big screen, particularly when it's one that you never had a chance to see the first time round, due to unfortunately missing its release, a lack of showings in your area, or unluckily being nine months old when it was originally released. I have actually seen the film on the big screen before, for Hallowe'en about five years ago, but Ghostbusters is one film I will take the opportunity to see every time I get the chance.

So, thank you Odeon Brighton for hosting this special showing. There weren't very many of us there - how many people go to catch a movie on a wet Monday night? - and there weren't any staff on the door (which raises the question of why I bother paying for this stuff, when I could blatantly just walk in). But still. There was a good atmosphere. Everyone there loves the film, or they wouldn't be there.

So, was it worth making the trek to see a film I've already seen god-knows-how-many times? Well, there wasn't all that much extra in this special anniversary presentation. There were some new interviews with Murray, Aykroyd, Hudson, Weaver, Potts and Reitman, but none of them really told us anything new. Did we learn anything? Only that Sigourney Weaver has aged incredibly well.

However, there were, as promised, several alternative takes of favourite scenes. This was the best part of the showing. So much of the film was ad-libbed that the alternative takes have some seriously different dialogue, and where the dialogue is the same the inference is often very different too. It's not much different to watching a new Blu-Ray release - and there'll doubtless be one to tie in with the new movie next year - but it still added something special to a brilliant film, seen the way it was intended.

Thirty Years of Ghostbusters II

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the premier of Ghostbusters II. Also just gone is the 35^th anniversary of the original Ghostbusters, but I wrote about that film five years ago. Back then, I wrote about the different continuations of the franchise and the rumours of a third film. Five years on, a new film has been and gone, rebooting the franchise but failing to kick off its own sequels. However, 2016's Ghostbusters showed there was enough interest in the franchise to get a sequel to Ghostbusters II greenlit, which is expected to arrive next year. Dan Aykroyd, who has a habit of announcing imminent projects that exist only in his head, has also said he's working on the script for a prequel, set in the sixties when Ray, Egon and Peter meet in college. While there's a good chance this will never happen, I actually feel this is the best way to continue those characters. Recast them, tell the characters' stories without having to worry about increasingly aged (or dead) actors. Aykroyd has even talked about making it a TV series, which I think is honestly the best format.

But enough about the future, let's talk about the past. Everyone loves Ghostbusters, but where's the love for the sequel? While I'll be the first accept that it's not as good as the original (let's be fair, not much is), Ghostbusters II is an absolute cracker of a film. It's clearly influenced by the success of the animated spin-off The Real Ghostbusters, which made the franchise a huge hit with kids, and is a more family-friendly affair than the original. There are still a few grubby jokes in there (Egon's line about his epididymis is one that I didn't understand for years), but the overall tone is much less adult-oriented. This is no bad thing, and the film's whole style is a little smoother, more accessible than the original. It's less interesting than the grad humour of the first film, but it's one that can appeal to a broader audience, and it's a film that you could easily put on for the whole family to watch and enjoy. It doesn't quite go as far as making Slimer a character as he is in the cartoon, but he is inexplicably floating around both the firehouse and New York, although only Louis seems to ever see him.

On the other hand, while Aykroyd and Ramis tweaked their approach to the script to make it a little more kid-friendly, they don't miss the chance to have a little pop at their unintended new target audience. Ray and Winston make their entrance as children's entertainers, dancing to the theme song at a party full of “ungrateful little yuppie larvae.” (Which includes Jason Reitman, son of the film's director Ivan and now working on the upcoming sequel. There's something very funny about him telling the Ghostbusters that his dad says they're full of crap.) There's some clear resentment from the writers there, that they're having to write this sequel and make it more accessible to kids. None of the main players were keen to work on another Ghostbusters, (which is funny in hindsight considering that Aykroyd has spent the intervening years trying to make a third), but even working on half-enthusiasm they produce a great script.

It's true that the script essentially follows the same beats as the original, with the 'busters going from has-beens to world-savers via a couple of major set pieces and a ghostbusting montage. It's hard to disagree when critics complain that they weren't getting anything new, but there's also a sense of “if it ain't broke, don't fix it.” While there's some influence from RGB, the intervening five years have been very different and the 'busters have been sued out of business for almost destroying New York City. What's less feasible is that they're generally considered charlatans by the public (although the court scene sees some definite support). They might have trashed the city when they accidentally summoned up a giant marshmallow man, but it's pretty much impossible that anyone could deny that actually happened. There's a sense that the writers are snapping at the fickleness of the public. Ghostbusters II had a record-breaking opening weekend, only to crash completely when Batman was released the following week. (Perhaps, given the New Years setting, releasing the film in June was a mistake.)

While it's not quite up to the standards of the original, there are some elements that simply work better in the sequel. The characters have changed over the five years between, in believable ways. Egon is a researcher, Ray runs an occult bookshop, and Peter is a schlocky TV host, all roles they fit perfectly into. While we still have little indication of what Winston does when he's not in uniform, he gets a much better share of the lines and action than in the original (although he is unforgivably left out of the comeback bust in the courthouse). Most notably improved is the Peter-Dana relationship. Peter in particular is a far more likeable, more relatable character, still a bit of a manchild but far less of a jerk. While Murray's performance made Venkman the standout character of the first film, it's inarguable that the character is a selfish, unpleasant person, and it's hard to see why Dana falls for him. It's much more believable that between films she broke up with him and made a new life for herself, and that she'd grow close to this improved, less asshole-ish version.

Janine and Louis are stepped up to main characters, instead of recurring jokes. Annie Potts (who got spectacularly hot between films) gives a less abrasive but still brassy performance, and gets to play Janine without her fawning over Egon. Not everyone liked this development, but she and Louis work weirdly well, and it gives Louis the kick in the confidence pants that he needs. Plus, Rick Moranis absolutely rules the courtroom scenes. There's an amazing array of antagonists as well: Kurt Fuller as the oily mayor's aide, Hardemeyer; the great Harris Yulin as the ferocious judge Wexler; and of course, Peter MacNicol giving a career-great performance as Janosz Poha. Indeed, Janosz is perhaps the best addition to the set-up, something the original film lacked – a secondary villain with a link to the main threat. Janosz is at once pitiful and unsettling, and works as both comic relief and a growing threat. Perhaps the inclusion of the snubbed, nebbish white male using supernatural powers to try to get one over on the world influenced the script for 2016's Ghostbusters, with its own loser villain Rowan.

While there's no topping Slimer or Stay Puft, Ghostbusters II has some truly spectacular supernatural action. The battle with the Scolari brothers in the courthouse is the best single ghostbusting scene in the franchise, utilising some remarkable puppetry and video effects to create two horrible phantoms with real character. While, like the first film, much of the ghost action is put across in a pair of montages, the creatures and encounters are more elaborate and imaginative. Particularly memorable are the fur coat coming to life and attacking its wearer, and the Titanic finally coming into dock (“Well, better late than never.”) Vigo the Carpathian makes for an impressive villain, one with genuine personality, something that Gozer lacked, being more a force of nature than a character. Wilhelm von Homburg was reportedly very unhappy with being dubbed over, but the combination of his snarling face and Max von Sydow's booming voice are effective.

The use of rivers of slime must surely have been intended to appeal to the kids (and no doubt further merchandising of “Ectoplazm”), but the idea that the misery, cynicism and general shittiness of attitudes in New York would manifest physically is a stroke of genius. It's never completely clear what the link is between the slime and Vigo, but the intention seems to be that the ghost is simply taking advantage of a pre-existing phenomenon now that he is in New York, boosting his power and using it to his own ends. Indeed, the use of positively-charged slime against him would suggest that the ghost and the gloop aren't directly connected. However, while the slime is undoubtedly a kids' treat, Ghostbusters II manages to include some genuinely unsettling, even scary moments, perhaps able to get away with a little more due to its overall more family-friendly content. Janosz in his spectral nanny guise has to be the most upsetting visual of the franchise, although the garden of impaled heads comes a close second. Most memorable of all, though, is this film's giant monster: the Statue of Liberty herself, animated by ectoplasm and the voice of Jackie Wilson. While it may not be as out there as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, it's a brilliant and unforgettable visual.

Of course, there are some elements that make you wonder what they were thinking. The soundtrack is, charitably, not quite as good as the original's (Jackie Wilson not withstanding). I've a soft spot for Run DMC's new Ghostbusters theme, but accept that this is nostalgia talking, and it can't be considered a good track. There's a nice bit of Oingo Boingo on there too, but mostly, this is not a decent soundtrack, and the best performance by a musician on the film might be Bobby Brown's cameo as a doorman. While I love the idea of Peter as a psychic talkshow host, that scene is tonally out of step with the rest of the film. Chloe Webb gives an impressively disturbed performance as the date rape victim who's twisted her head up into thinking she was mind-wiped by an alien, but that's a seriously tasteless and, above all, unfunny joke. It's made all the more annoying by the fact that so many fans misunderstand the whole point of the scene, thinking that she was the one with the right date for the end of the world, when it is obvious that the other guest was indeed psychic and got the date right. The world was going to end on New Year's Eve that year, but the Ghostbusters stopped it. Talk about missing the joke.

In spite of a couple of missteps, Ghostbusters II gets so much right that I fail to understand so many fans' bad feeling towards it. It's a fun, arresting adventure with a refreshingly uncynical message: that, you know, being nice to each other actually is a good idea, and that treating people like crap has poor consequences. It has some great performances from a cast who, even if some of them didn't want to be there, were firing on all cylinders, combined with some wonderfully weird ideas brought to life with great effects. And how many films can pull off a dancing toaster?

REVIEW: Ghostbusters - Crossing Over

IDW's run of Ghostbusters comics began as a straightforward continuation of the original two movies and their video game follow-up. It was, from the beginning, peppered with references to The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series and toys as Easter eggs for those of us who, like main writer Erik Burnham and primary artist Dan Schoening, grew up with this nonsense and refuse to grow out of it now we're in our thirties. Over the years, however, IDW has taken full advantage of their licences to use various popular series and films, producing a number of crossovers and introducing multiple versions of the Ghostbusters into the main storyline. In 2016, the reboot Ghostbusters movie provided a new set of characters to play with, and now IDW has developed a veritable Ghostbusters multiverse. Crossing Over is the culmination of this, a sort of Crisis of Infinite 'busters.

The trade collection of Crossing Over brings together all eight issues of this comics event, along with the 2018 Ghostbusters Annual (which brought us the IDW continuity version of fan favourite RGB villain Samhain, and which I reviewed here). It involves the dream team of writer Burnham, artist Schoening and colourist Luis Antonio Delgado, who by now work so perfectly together that it's hard to imagine anyone providing a better version of the Ghostbusters in comics. The set-up is fairly simple: the “Prime Dimension” Ghostbusters have access to an interdimensional portal (provided by Donatello of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, naturally), and have used it to contact various other groups of Ghostbusters in other realities, for help in tackling particularly large paranormal threats. Not all the other 'busters are keen on their Prime counterparts' monopoly on interdimensional travel, though, and Ron Alexander (former Ghost-Smasher, now part of the Ghostbusters Chicago franchise) and Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (of Dimension 80-C, aka the 2016 movie-verse) team up to make their own.

Predictably, this doesn't work as planned, and an unlucky confluence of events leads to a huge swathe of ghosts escaping the containment unit through the portal and running amok through the dimensions. The Ghostbusters have to get these ghosts back, not simply because they're out there causing untold trouble, but also because their absence has destabilised the containment unit and it could go boom. So the Prime 'busters recruit every version of themselves and other busting teams they can find, to hunt through the multiverse and recapture all those errant ectoplasmic entities.

The first thing to say about this, is that it's tremendous fun. I absolutely lapped this up, right the way through. Bringing together the original Ghostbusters, The Real Ghostbusters, Extreme Ghostbusters, version from the games, the new movie, plus new versions created just for this project – it's basically the ideal reading material for me. No guilty pleasure here, this is just outright pleasure. However, on the other hand, this is straightforward in the extreme. Crossing Over is basically a greatest hits package for the IDW Ghostbusters range, with mixed teams of 'busters heading to various universes to recapture ghosts we've seen in previous issues. Now that's fine, and it's a tried and tested way of celebrating a milestone, like ten years of IDW Ghostbusters comics, and they deserve to run it. But there's not a great deal to this story, beyond the fun of seeing these characters mixed up together in unexpected combinations. It's a 10/10 for fan enjoyment, rather less so for actual writing.

Still, does that matter? Sometimes, by fans for fans just means getting to play together, and it's fun to just get all your toys out of the box at the same time and go nuts. There are a few great new elements in here as well: I adore Mike, a huge, articulate golem who acts as a Ghostbuster in one dimension, and the distinct visual styles of the different realities make the different story tracks fun to read. There's something to be said for a smaller publisher trying a major event like this, but knowing when to reign it in. When Marvel or DC run an event, especially one that crosses realities, it involves hundreds of issues across dozens of title. This is just a longer than average run of the main Ghostbusters series, and aside from its brief set-up in the annual, doesn't require any extra purchases. It's all collected here in one volume anyway, along with most of the variant covers, which showcase some fantastic artists (I particularly like Tim Lattie's style). Holtzmann appears on a whole lot of these extra covers; indeed, she's in the book about as much as is possible without it becoming “The Adventures of Holtzmann,” but there's a little more depth added to her character. The same can be said for Garrett, who was always the most annoying character from Extreme Ghostbusters, but benefits from some character exploration here.

The story ends in a well-deserved climax as the 'busters finally take down an especially powerful demon from a previous adventure. Winston gets some closure, while other characters are forced to make sacrifices. It's all pretty predictable, plot-wise, but it works. I'd have liked to have seen some more versions of the teams, even if only in glimpses; there are several versions of the original team, Egon in particular, but there's a missed opportunity for alternative versions of the 2016 team, for instance. That's a small quibble, though, and the run leaves off on an interesting note that promises changes when the series returns to the stands. Next we have the Ghostbusters 35^th anniversary celebration, which consists of one-shot issues with different teams, which should be a fun interlude to tide us over. Next year, of course, a brand new film is due to hit, which leaves the future of IDW's licence in question. I hope they get to keep it, and look forward to seeing what new developments they have to take incorporate into their story.

Ghostbusters are back, again?

Well, this was unexpected. There had been rumblings from Sony and Ivan Reitman as far back as 2016 that another live-action film was going to follow the Paul Feig version, but even these were vague and contradicted each other. One report suggested it would exist alongside the Answer the Call team but feature male 'bsters, probably including Chris Hemsworth and/or Pratt and/or Pine. Dan Aykroyd came out last year to say that yes, his old plan for a third movie in the original continuity was going ahead with himself and Ernie Hudson back in busting, with Bill Murray as a ghost - the same story he'd been reporting for the last twenty years. And yet, today, Jason Reitman (son of Ivan) revealed that a new movie, in continuity with the originals but featuring at least some new Ghostbusters, was about to enter production and should be on screens by 2020. There's even a teaser trailer.

I mean, there's very much a sense of "I'll believe it when I see it." Films can slip back into Development Hell as easily as they can hit the headlines. Still, 2020 is only next year, and even at the rate they churn films out these days, it must be fairly advanced if it's planned for then.

So, I'm cautiously excited. Reitman Sr. is onboard as producer. Reitman Jr. has some interesting scripts under his belt, he directed Juno, which was rather brilliant, and it sounds like he's a huge fan of the originals and gets what made them work while also having modern sensibilities. His co-writer Gil Kenan doesn't seem to have any previous writing credits, but he directed Monster House and the Poltergeist remake, so he has some form with spooky visuals. It could be something really special. I just hope it actually happens.

Bustin' Makes Me Feel Good

A review of the new AR game Ghostbusters World now up at Vocal.

Thirteen Ghosts

I'm experimenting with Vocal as a host for some of my material (might even make a few pennies on it). I've started with a look at some of the greatest ghosts of The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters. Go take a look.

https://horror.media/the-thirteen-most-terrifying-ghosts-of-the-ghostbusters-cartoons

(I submitted it under the Geek heading but they decided to file it under Horror.)

REVIEW: Ghostbusters Annual 2018

I can't quite explain the childlike joy I feel when cracking open a Ghostbusters annual. A regular feature of my nineties Christmases, the tradition was resurrected in 2015 by IDW as a sideline to their ongoing Ghostbusters comic series. The 2015 and 2017 annuals (there wasn't a 2016 one, so it's not exactly annual) contained a mix of strips and stories, this year's release features a single, bumper length story that bridges the gap between Ghostbusters 101 and the upcoming multiverse crossover event Crossing Over. While it acts as a teaser for the latter, it makes for a nice little story in itself, in which the 'busters encounter the IDW universe version of Samhain, the pumpkin-headed spirit of Hallowe'en.

The script has some nice little snaps at the original RGB episode "When Hallowe'en Was Forever," like pointing out that Samhain isn't pronounced how it's spelled and that it really doesn't make sense for an ancient Irish spirit to have a pumpkin for a head when the things come from the Americas. But Erik Burnham knows that the episode is a fan favourite for a reason, and this is nothing more or less than a chance to see the core Ghostbusters battle one of the animated series' most memorable foes. I love the new semi-skeletal design for Samhain, and Shoening and Delgado once more form a fantastic artistic team peppering their story with fun little nods to the franchise. Finally, in order to defeat Samhain and a huge army of ghosts, Egon does the unfathomable and brings in 'busters from every universe possible. It's simply tremendous fun, and ends with a nice little teaser for Crossing Over, which promises to be ridiculous.

Xmas Marks the Spot

Every cartoon series has a Christmas special (well, most of them). They are, mostly, pretty terrible, churned out with little thought to what might make them different to all the others. A few stand out, though, and one has stuck with me from my earliest years. That most special of Christmas specials is “Xmas Marks the Spot,” the last episode of the first season of The Real Ghostbusters.

RGB has stood the test of time as my favourite animated series, and arguably my favourite children's programme (that depends on how you categorise Doctor Who). For the first couple of years – the first season and then the long run in syndication – RGB featured genuinely witty, well-written scripts, some surprisingly creepy moments and some of the most memorable monster designs in telefantasy. Yes, it became dumbed down as it went on further and ended as a shadow of its former self, but to begin with, it was a truly brilliant show.

“Xmas Marks the Spot” is not my favourite episode of the series (that's the baseball episode, “Night Game – every American show needs a baseball episode too), nor is it the most remarkable or unique (for my money, that has to be the truly surreal “Chicken, He Clucked.”) It is, however, one of the most memorable, most effective and cleverest episodes of the series, one that takes a ludicrous concept and runs with it for twenty ingenious minutes.

Written by chief scriptwriter J. Michael Straczynski – better known now as the creator of Babylon 5 – the RGB Christmas special takes a not uncommon route for a festive episode. Yes, it's a take on Charles Dickens's classic A Christmas Carol. Now, pop cultural takes on the classic Christmas novella would make for an article in itself. The Muppets have done it, Doctor Who has done it, even The Flintstones have done it. It doesn't matter. It's a more interesting, more potent way of doing a Christmas special than just having the characters give each other presents or going on a winter vacation. There's scope for the episode to actually be about something.

Peter Venkman (played by the original and best voice artist, Lorenzo Music) doesn't hate Christmas, but to him, it's just another day. Christmas is no fun when your wheeler-dealer dad is always out of town, and so, over the years Peter has managed to convince himself that he doesn't care about the holidays. He needs a lesson in Christmas spirit... fortunately, some Christmas spirits are available to teach him.

The episode has a more contrived set up than most. Usually, there's a spectral menace that needs dealing with in or around New York. This time, however, the 'busters have to abandon their faithful hearse Ecto 1 when they are stranded in a snowstorm, only to be whisked through time and space to 19^th century London. It all seems fairly unlikely, but it gets even more so when the 'busters immediately stumble upon the home of one Ebenezer Scrooge. (The episode end makes it clear that there are forces at work ensuring this all happens, so it isn't purely down to a cosmic coincidence.)

The four heroes are too late to stop the ghost of Jacob Marley from escaping back into the spirit world, but they are just in time to encounter three more spirits... “big, powerful,” and heading straight for Scrooge's place. It's the Ghostbusters to the rescue, storming in and immediately busting the three Ghosts of Christmas. It's one of those ideas that's just inspired. Of course, Scrooge isn't keen to give up his hard-earned cash to pay the Ghostbusters, but after some negotiation, they go on their way, and are swept back through the time slip.

Scrooge (guest voice Peter Renaday), inspired, sits down to write his memoir, A Christmas Humbug. It's the story of how he bested the Ghosts of Christmas (all by himself, of course). Meanwhile, 150 years later, the 'busters return to New York to find the book a perennial bestseller. So influential, in fact, that now no one celebrates Christmas at all, and people are incredible arseholes to each other all the time (just like in New York most of the time). “We've really done it this time,” says Ray, (the great Frank Welker) “we've just killed Christmas.” Or, as my good friend Jim put it, “They've gone and fucked Christmas royally in the A!” But then, he's always had a way with words.

From then (and this is after only about ten minutes runtime) the narrative takes two tracks. Peter, Ray and Winston go back to the time slip in an attempt to convince Scrooge of the error of his ways. This involves the three of them taking the place of the ghosts, with Peter dragging up as the very feminine Ghost of Christmas Past. As a nice nod to the blazing light of the ghost in the book, he's equipped with a set of blinding magnesium flares. What follows is an unforgettable sequence in which Venkman tries to convince Scrooge that he's flying through his past by running him in circles in a wheelchair with a ViewMaster on his face. The question of where he got ViewMaster slides of Scrooge's schoolhouse remains unanswered.

In the 20^th century, Egon resolves to enter the containment unit and rescue the three ghosts. Now, we'd had a glimpse into the inside of the unit in the Hallowe'en episode, “When Hallowe'en Was Forever,” but this is something else. Egon (Maurice LaMarche, who also voices Bob Cratchit and the Ghost of Christmas Present) constructs a sort of environmental suit that “demolecularises” him, while another lash-up opens a crack in the containment field. He has one hour to get in and out, or he'll be permanently spectral and trapped inside forever. And so he enters the otherworldly interior of the unit, a strange pocket dimension in which the ghosts are imprisoned after capture.

While these two epic threads are playing out, Janine (the faithful secretary, voiced by Laura Summer) is of course convinced that Christmas is nothing but humbug, but agrees to help out of her love for Egon. She is assisted, sort of, by Slimer (Frank Welker's other great role in the series), although he mostly gets himself into trouble and is nearly pulled into the containment unit. Now, one thing we never found out is who or what Slimer was the ghost of. Fan lore is that he's the ghost of John Belushi, but the backstory for the films suggests that he was summoned into existence by arcane rituals, as a being of pure appetite. You might say that there is more of gravy than of grave to this ghost.

In 1837, Winston (Arsenio Hall) tries his luck as the Ghost of Christmas Present, while Ray gets robed up as the Ghost of Christmas Future. In 1986, Egon manages to find the three Christmas Spirits, but there's trouble: the other ghosts have figured out what's going on. Cue every ghost captured in the run of the series so far, including the Sandman, the Winged Puma, Samhain the spirit of Hallowe'en, Big Ugly, the fat blue sleepy ghost... all coming after him at once. After a breakneck chase out of the unit, Egon escapes with the three ghosts in the nick of time.

In the end, of course, everything works out fine. The three Ghosts of Christmas are returned to their proper time to give Scrooge a slightly more convincing lesson, and Christmas is saved for futurity. While defending Christmas to the old miser, Peter has realised just how much he's missed by shutting himself off from it all, and resolves to appreciate it in the future. Subtle it isn't, but then it's Christmas. We don't want subtle, we want hammered home platitudes.

It's a tremendous episode packed with incident and Christmas spirit (literal and figurative). I watch it every year, sometimes several times. It's a classic.

“Merry Christmas to all – and to all, a good night!”

REVIEW: Ghostbusters 101

Of course, this had to happen eventually. It's a bit of a surprise it happened so soon. We haven't even had a pure 2016 Ghostbusters comic series yet (although one is upcoming from IDW), and here are the ladies, crossing over with the classic team for an interdimensional adventure. Then again, they've already done crossovers with The Real Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and even one-shots with The Lone Gunmen and Mars Attacks! Maybe some day I'll get round to writing my crossovers with Men in Black and Poltergeist. But I digress.

This was a six-part comics series, a little longer then than the previous major crossover events, but still a reasonably concise story. It takes a little while to get going; the first issue is pretty much all set-up, and it's a good while before the two sets of Ghostbusters actually come to meet. This is fine, and the momentum picks up once they do encounter each other, but it suffers from the same problem as a lot of comic series these days, in that it feels as though it's been written for the omnibus release rather than on a monthly schedule. Re-reading it all back in one go, it moves quickly enough and has a good rhythm, but over six months, the first and last installments feel a little damp. I'm sure the trade will work beautifully, especially if they include the extra classroom material that makes the end-piece of each issue.

Aside from the crossover element, Ghostbusters 101 has a great central concept. The original trio of Venkman, Spengler and Stantz were university professors, and alongside their dubious experiments, they would have had to hold lectures and teach students. When a bust goes awry, creating a city-wide clean-up bill the size of Stay Puft's tabard, the 'busters need to generate more cash and Venkman hits on the idea of a ghostbusting experience where students will pay to learn the basic of busting. We don't actually get to see a great deal of the classes, although it sets up a thread that will surely run through any upcoming series, and it does give the gang a whole bunch of extra bodies when things are out of hand in the finale. There are several new characters already included in the set-up, mostly holdovers from the 2017 annual. Cait Banner is Janine's spunky niece, Zoe Zawadzki is her even spunkier, more techie friend, and Evan Torres is their academically-inclined third wheel. Kevin Tanaka is a great new character, the reserved but quietly funny second receptionist, and it's funny that both teams have a receptionist called Kevin, albeit of wildly different abilities. The final new recruit is Garrett Parker, a very bright young man who happens to be on the autistic spectrum, who is dealing with his father's terminal illness (which inevitably comes back to haunt him, literally). A lot of fans though he'd turn out to be the comics version of the Extreme Ghostbusters character Roland, and although he's drawn to look very like him, he's his own character and a welcome addition to the team.

For all that though, it's the crossover we're here for. It's the new kids who create this crisis on infinite Earths, after messing around with the 'buster's interdimensional portal (which was co-constructed by Donatello the Turtle, of course). They cause a ghost to be caught partly between the regular GB dimension and the reality of the 2016 movie, causing an interdimensional bleed which, among other things, leads to two Statues of Liberty standing side-by-side (sadly, neither one walks). The two realities begin to cross over, an anomaly that, in time, will cause both universes to shake themselves apart at a subatomic level. In the words of Egon Spengler, this "would be bad."

It's great fun seeing the classic team and the new team butt heads and eventually work together. Erik Burnham nails the characters' voices just as well as he did with the originals, and Dan Schoening's caricatures of the four are absolutely dead-on perfect. (Delgado's colour work is, as always, gorgeous.) Abby has some fine interplay with Egon and Ray, Abby is the perfect straight-woman as before, and there's a very natural buddy relationship between Patty and Winston - the two normal people. Kevin is a used as a way to throw in as many absurdities as possible, not always with great success, although I did enjoy his aggressive post-it usage, and we even get to meet Mike Hat.

Really, though, there's one thing we're here to see, and probably the main reason the thing got made in the first place. We want to see Holtzmann as a cartoon. Dapper Dan must have been dying to draw her. Cartoon Holtz is perfect, stealing every scene even without Kate McKinnon portraying her. We even get a little info on her prime universe counterpart, who is apparently an FBI agent, and who is undoubtedly going to turn up in future series.

As always, the creative team can't resist chucking in a few nods and winks. Not only does the 2016 movie seem to be set in the same universe as Caddyshack, they sneak a Scrooged reference in there too. The RGB team get a brief appearance through the interdimensional viewer, although here's hoping that one day we get to see the "Answer the Call" team's own "animated" counterparts. There are some fan-pleasing discussions of ghostly physics, questioning why the new 'busters blow up the spooks rather than containing them, why this is a bad idea, and how they got away with it in the 2016 movie. There's a great giant monster moment (something that was missing from the 2016 movie, excepting monstrous balloons), which reuses a monster design from a classic RGB episode. There are few questions unanswered - just whose disembodied voice do we hear speaking to the snarling ghoul that gets lodged between dimensions? - and perhaps these will get followed up in a future series.

Not the greatest series that IDW have done with the Ghostbusters licence, but a fun adventure. I'm looking forward to the 2016 team's own series next year.

There is no dino, only Zuul

How's this for a news item that combines my interests? Palaeontologists in North America have released their newest discovery, an astonishingly complete ankylosaurid dinosaur fossil that they have named Zuul in honour of the monstrous Terror Dog from 1984's Ghostbusters. The find is exciting because complete dinosaur fossils are rare enough, but a complete ankylosaur is virtually unheard of. Zuul has the first complete skull and tail club ever found for an ankylosaurid, and includes many osteoderms - the lumps of bone that were embedded in the skin and used as armour. These usually wash away over time due to being disconnected from the main skeleton.

Given the resemblance of the ankylosaur's skull to the horned face of the Ghostbusters monster, the discoverers named the species Zuul crurivastator. The specific name does not mean "ankle biter," as some outlets are reporting (for a start, this thing was huge), but "shin destroyer," in reference to that great tail weapon. 

The LA Times has a video of Dan "Ray Stantz" Aykroyd with the fossil.

REVIEW: GHOSTBUSTERS

First of all, I'd like to put your mind at rest. I'm not in the employ of Sony or being paid to improve the standing of the new Ghostbusters movie. This seems to be a real concern to many of the film's loud, angry haters, who can't understand any other reason for the many positive reviews the film is receiving. I can also confirm that, unlike many of the more vehemently negative reviewers, I have actually seen the film (the UK release date was Monday July 11th, four days ahead of the States). Thirdly, I can confirm this: Bustin' still makes me feel good.

Is Ghostbusters 2016 as good as Ghostbusters 1984? No, it's not, but in the category of science fiction comedy, very few things are. Although there were a fair few such film both around the time of the original and in recent years, it's still a narrow genre, and a tricky one to get right. The new Ghostbusters has to hold its own amongst such hits as Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as exist under the long shadow of the original.

Ghostbusters 2016 is not Ghostbusters 1984. It is not a sequel, nor a remake, although the influence of the original is worn prominently. It isn't a feminist sermon, nor a man-hating rant, although it most certainly has moments that will be latched onto by those who are out to label it as such. There's an element of the battle of the sexes to the story, but it's a minor one. Some people were concerned it would be full of "girl jokes," and while some of the lines surely are "girl jokes," they're funny ones - and heaven forbid that the occasional gag be written with the female members of the audience in mind. (The most disgusting joke in the film, although still very mild, is definitely aimed at women, but then, the women I know have always had a grottier sense of humour than the men.)

What the film is, is fun. Simple, straightforward fun. There are plenty of jokes, and while they don't all work, the hit:miss ratio is pretty damned good. The story is actually far stronger than in the original; it's better paced and develops more smoothly. Once the new team have established what they're going to be doing for a living, there's a significant stage of trial and development, unlike the sudden leap from hiring a base to catching Slimer in the first. The strongest elements in the film come from the interplay of the cast, who are all excellent. Kristen Wiig, one of the best comedy actors currently working, centres the movie as believer-turned-sceptic-turned-believer Dr. Erin Gilbert, while her once-and-future best friend Abby Yates is made real and likeable by Melissa McCarthy. Their relationship is the core of the story, everything else revolving around it.

Out of the four central actors, Leslie Jones is the one I'm least familiar with; she turns out to be an absolute highlight. I was among those who wasn't pleased that the sole black character was left with the streetwise sassy role instead being allowed to be a scientist. On the contrary though, Patty brings much needed grounding and knowledge to the team, and is far more than a stereotype. Leslie Jones makes Patty easily the most likeable and relatable character on the team.

The absolute standout, though, is of course Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann. McKinnon's performance is utterly unsubtle but hugely enjoyable. Holtzmann is weird, sexy, brilliant and a little terrifying. There are times when she seems to be taking part in a different production to the others, but that's less of a clash of styles than it might sound. It's more that she's just one of those people who seems just a little out-of-step with the rest of the world, but who doesn't care a jot. Holtzmann is some kind of bizarre mix of Doc Brown, Captain Cold, Tank Girl and Iso Suicide (honestly, if you knew her...) Some people are going to absolutely hate her, but they'd be wrong.

Chris Hemsworth gets to show off his admirable comedy skills as Kevin, the team's dimwitted assistant. Having a dense boy kept around as eye candy for the clever women is such an obvious inversion of a cliched joke it's surprising it's not been done more often. As good as Hemsworth is - and he does get a chance to do more than play stupid during the course of the film - Kevin is a one joke character and does wear thin after a while. Of the more minor roles, fellow SNL luminary Cecily Strong stands out as the Mayor's aide, while Deadpool's Karim Soni has a nice recurring role.

Now for the really important stuff: the ghosts and the gear. Holtzmann's creations look appealingly cobbled together, and while there are variants on the classic proton packs and ghost trap (and Ecto 1, naturally), there's an impressive array of new equipment of display. The ghosts, on the other hand (and the villain's own technological creations) have a more Technicolor, cartoonish aesthetic. This isn't a failing at all; while the trailer didn't show the film's visuals off terribly well, as an overall look they work very well. There's more of a feel of the animated series than the original film; in fact, this extends to the entirety of the production. And, like The Real Ghostbusters, the new movie includes some quite creepy and unsettling moments. Family friendly scares, of course, but effective.

Of the weaker elements, it has to be said that the villain of the piece is rather weak. Although Neil Casey gives it his all as downtrodden psychotic Rowan, he's just too unimpressive and pathetic to convince as a real villain. Once he crosses into new forms, he improves a little, and (spoiler for anyone who has missed all the trailers) making his final form the logo ghost is a great touch. One thing that reviews mostly agree on is that the cameos by the original cast are among the weakest elements in the film. On the whole, I think they work quite well. Bill Murray, in particular, seems to be having a blast, although Dan Aykroyd's cameo is a little too on-the-nose (I prefer the one he had in Casper). The problem is that there are just too many of them; it's a constant reminder that this exists in the shadow of another production. Some elements don't work at all, and they're predominantly the ones that try too hard to reimagine aspects of the original. Lady Slimer and the generally awful covers and remixes of the theme being the worst offenders.

Ultimately, the new Ghostbusters is tremendous fun. It's unlikely to win over any of its committed haters, but who cares about them? They'll hate it no matter what. There will be boys and girls laughing and jumping through this, and who knows, maybe a few of them will go check out the original. 1984 had a Ghostbusters that was made in the style of the time by some of the biggest names in American comedy. 2016 has its own Ghostbusters in the same stead. This movie would have benefited from letting go of the original and not trying to please fanboys like me. Still, it works. I found it a joy to watch.

Movie trailer roundup

This is certainly a very exciting trailer, and promises a great sci-fi action adventure. What it doesn't look like it'll be is very Star Trek-y. It's also very backwards looking; it's only the third film in this series, and yet it's already looking back to the first film. Admittedly that was released seven years ago, but that's still very little material on which to base a reaction. The obsession with daddy issues is very Trek though. Some great looking new aliens, though. If nothing else, this should be fun.

Of the two new trailers just released, the international is the better, showing more and better material. They both work better as trailers than the first pair, and while it still doesn't look like it'll be a classic, I really think this looks great fun. Part of it is that I'm seriously enamoured with Kate McKinnon, but still. Some of the CGI looks great, some looks a bit shonky, but there's a great, colourful vibe to this. I'm not sure releasing footage of the Big Bad was very wise, but as we have seen it, riffing on Stay Puft by creating a monster out of the logo ghost is a fun idea.

I'm not sure how I feel about this remake. To be honest, although I used to love Rocky Horror, I'm really quite bored with it now. Not only have I been to see the show half a dozen times, once you start having shenanigans in real life, the show/movie loses something. Still, the prospect of a new film version could be good. I wasn't sure about casting Laverne Cox as Frank N. Furter - surely he's a man. I'm usually all up for gender-switching iconic characters - I've been vocally in favour of a female Doctor for years and I'm so up for the new Ghostbusters - but it didn't sit right with me. It also smacks a little of conflating "man in drag" with "transwoman," two completely different identities. However, it has been pointed out that, while a bisexual man in drag was shocking in 1975, it's less so now, while transgender actors and characters are still rarely seen. Plus, Laverne Cox really does look and sound rather perfect.

Bustin' continues to make me feel good

The trailer for the new Ghostbusters is finally here. If we can manage to drown out the meninists and dudebros ("Urgh, they put girls in it! Women catching ghosts is so PC and unbelievable!") and the nostalgia-entitled ("This isn't Ghostbusters and now my childhood has been retroactively destroyed!") we can start to talk about what the movie is actually going to be like.

To be fair, the trailer doesn't scream classic to me, but then, trailers rarely do. (They can't all be Deadpool). What it does look to me is good fun, with plenty of slapstick humour and above all, plenty of slime. It's colourful and refreshingly free of grimdark, even as it parodies The Exorcist. It doesn't evoke the feel of the original, which is perhaps a good thing. It certainly feels like Paul Feig's other releases, such as the recent, underrated Spy. To me, it also has a feel of the animated series, The Real Ghostbusters, with its cartoonish, primary-coloured visuals.

Wisely, it hasn't tried to shake off the shadow of the original. Everyone knows this is a modern day remake, so to pretend otherwise would be foolish. The opening of the trailer makes it seem that this is actually in continuity with the original films, but this goes against everything else we've been told, and it seems this is just a way of introducing the concept for the audiences. This is a whole new Ghostbusters. Some elements feel very old school. The ghost faced by Kristin Wiig's character in the beginning of the trailer is clearly designed to evoke the original's Library Ghost, while Slimer is present and correct (and looking perfect). On the other hand, the possession angle is quite different to how the originals played it. It's admittedly hard to make a judgment from such scant footage, but it looks like this could be a major plotline in the new film.

I'm not keen on how they've used Leslie Jones. As in the original, it's the three white people who get to be the scientists and the black person who comes aboard later to drive the car. While the other leads don't seem to exactly reflect the original's characters, at first glance it looks like Patty=Winston. Hopefully there'll be more to her than that.

Overall, though, I'm very optimistic about this. Definitely worth a look.

(No dudebro comments please.)

November Comics Round-Up (2)

Spider-Gwen #2 (Marvel) I'm enjoying the glimpses at parallel universe versions of favourite characters, particularly the backstory sketched in for the female Captain America who faces up against Gwen before becoming a tenuous ally. However, there's only so long this idea can hold the attention for, and this series is starting to feel like it's on autopilot. I'll probably drop this and come back to it later to see if anything new is happening.

Web Warriors #1 (Marvel) The ongoing adventures of multiple Spideys, continuing the fun begun in the Spider-Verse event. There's still some fun to be had with the concept, particularly the use of the 60s cartoon universe as a safe training ground for the Warriors (with appropriate nods to the notorious Spidey memes). It follows on from the Ultimate Spider-Man series' take on Spider-Verse by having multiple versions of the same villain - in this case, Electro. Fun, but I feel like this idea might soon have run its course.

All-New, All-Different Avengers #1 (Marvel) I like the racial politics in this, especially since people are actually making a big deal of the ethnic layout of a fictional team of superheroes in the real world. The romance building up between Ms. Marvel and Nova is pretty cute. Overall, though, this isn't especially grabbing me, which is a shame. Between the New, All-New All-Different and Uncanny, there's probably material for a really decent Avengers team and title.

Ultimates #1 (Marvel) The final "Avengers" group, taking on the mantle of the Ultimate universe team, but doing it completely differently (i.e. not shit). The new Ultimates are the great problem-solving team of the universe, facing cosmic weirdness and analysing it to find solutions. Sure, there's ass-kicking - Ms. America is on the team, after all - but this team focuses on solving issues, not destroying them. Their first case: meet Galactus, solve his hunger. It's an ingenious set-up, and on the strength of the first issue, worth carrying on with. Also notable is the colour of the main cast - Captain Marvel is the only white face so far in a team that includes Spectrum, the Blue Marvel, the Black Panther and Ms. America. Plus, a moment to actually ponder the philosophical repurcussions of Marvel's great multiversal reset. Very good indeed.

The Wicked + The Divine #16 (Image) This issue is the weakest in a long time. It's purely an origin story for the Morrigan, and a pretty cliched, uninteresting one at that. I don't think we really need to see each of the gods get their moment of ascension. I enjoyed the, ah, ketchupomancy though.

Ms. Marvel #1 (Marvel) I'm not sure why I ever dropped this. Money, probably. Anyway, this is just a great as it ever was, although now Kamala is part of the Avengers. It works better here, seeing the effects of this on her life, than it does actually in All New, All Different. There's a fine balance between her superheroics and her personal life, adorable artwork, and the phrase "giant weaponized amphibian." I am somewhat baffled as to why Marvel and her fellow New Jersey citizens remember the world sort-of ending while characters in other titles don't. Or do they? I can't follow everything.

Spider-Woman #1 (Marvel) Giving a female hero a pregnancy sounds, on the one hand, like the most stereotypical bad idea ever, but on the other... well, what's the point in having female-driven comics if you can't use them to explore the stories and issues women face? And, in practice, this, the story of Jessica Drew beginning her maternity leave before settling into life as a single mother, is really very good. Particularly as she's been training up the Porcupine to take over the crime-fighting duties while she's off. Jessica's fiercely independent nature makes her an interesting choice for this unexpected development, with everyone running around trying to help out and take care of her. This comic works. The bets bit is Spider-Man's Spidey-sense going off because Iron Man is about to ask who the father is.

The Mighty Thor #1 (Marvel) Spider-Woman isn't the only hero facing life-changing issues. Giving a character a life-threatening illness can be a cheap shot, but this is handled well. The pain of going through chemotherapy is a real one for many people, and I've seen enough of this in real life to call this comic out if it felt cheap. This is written with respect. While Jane Foster can never benefit from her therapy since each transformation into Thor burns the poisons from her system, the cancer remains, killing her. This is set against a sci-fi/fantasy backdrop of corporate greed and cosmic warfare, with some spectacular imagery. Classic Sandman fans could do worse than trying this.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1 (Marvel) Just a lovely start to this new title. Jack Kirby's old characters, Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy, are brought back, alongside the absolutely wonderful new kid, hyperintelligent ten-year-old Lunella Lafayette. She's the most adorable, likeable new character since Kamala Khan (and god, that's a team-up I'd love to see some day). Like Ms. Marvel, it's tied in with the Inhumans/Terrigen mist plotline, but Lunella is deliberately avoiding any chance of being exposed. It's a slow beginning but promises to be a wonderful tale for anyone who's ever felt unappreciated - i.e. everyone. And it has a big red T. rex in it.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 (Marvel) Squirrel Girl in the Sixties. Also, Doctor Doom, her first adversary, returns to cause trouble. I wish I could do more to summarise this comic other than just gush about how joyfully daffy it is.

Saga #31 (Image) Saga returns, and it's a pretty good issue, both continuing from precisely where we left Hazel, her grandmother and abductors and catching up with them in captivity months later. While it's still not at the level that Saga used to play at, this is well told and has important things to say about prisoners of war, immigration control, xenophobia and transmisogyny.

Ghostbusters Annual 2015 (IDW) I haven't had a Ghostbusters annual since, what, 1993? What a joy. OK, so this isn't a kids' annual, but a bumper-sized comics issue, but still, this is good fun. The main strip, featuring the Sandman as the villain, works very nicely, tying into the overall storyline. Following that is a bunch of shorts by various artist/writer combos, some of which work well, others not so much. Overall, though, this is a hit.