Arrival

        I’m going to warn in advance that there are some spoilers in this review as it is difficult to review without talking about the nature of the film which unfolds slowly throughout. To call this film  science fiction is to do it a disservice.  The science fiction is there to be sure, but it’s merely a vehicle to deliver a highly introspective and existential story as it profiles a woman’s life.  Denis Villeneuve delivers another great Director performance with visuals and story that are in no hurry to unfold and work in perfect harmony.  This won’t be a blockbuster and it probably won’t be noticed by the majority of movie going audiences, but if you are someone who enjoys impressive filmmaking then I highly recommend ‘Arrival’

The premise of the story is that twelve mysterious hemiglobe shaped spaceships arrive at random locations around the world.  Global panic ensues. Respective governments make contact with the alien creatures, but communication is impossible given the vast differences between the two creatures. The head of the U.S. government task force, Colonel Weber, (Forrest Whitaker) reaches out to Dr Louise Banks (Amy Adams), a top level linguist, in order to find some way to communicate with the aliens to determine their intentions. Along with a theoretical physicist, Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), a team enters the space ship to attempt to learn how the aliens communicate. This is where Villeneuve demonstrates his aptitude for science fiction in giving us hectopod shaped creatures who communicate through inky mists.  An angle that could go horribly wrong under a lesser Director, but Villeneuve is able to fill us with a sense of wonder as these two species attempt to communicate with each other.

So, with this science fiction backdrop, the story of Dr Louise Banks becomes the focus of the film.  Through visions that Louise seemingly randomly has, we see her life unfold before us.  Early on, we realize she has suffered through the death of a child and we feel her pain.  Her visions of her relationship with her daughter are both intimate and poetic.  In a non-linear fashion, we have the arc of Louise’s daughter’s life laid out before us from birth to deathbed and the emotions that Louise experiences at each point.  We feel her pains and joys as the film slowly unfolds and her life story starts to take focus albeit it in a mysterious fashion. This is the center of the film even as Ian and Louise begin to understand the nature of the alien language.  

I’ll stop there in describing the film as anything else would be giving away too much.  Instead I’ll focus on Villeneuve’s artistic vision.  This film is the antithesis to a film like ‘Independence Day’.  It’s an exploration… a quest and Villeneuve feels no obligation to get you anywhere in a hurry.  Instead he seeks to create visual poetry and prose on the screen in order to advance the story.  Part of the joy is getting there with him even if it doesn’t seem like a straight line.  He existentially explores our perception of life and linear perception of time in a way I’ve rarely seen outside of authors like Alan Moore or the vastly underrated film ‘Cloud Atlas’ by the Warkowskis.  Villeneuve explores our human limitation of perceiving time in a linear fashion and our capacity to one day rise above that.

If you go to this film expecting a science fiction story I feel you might be disappointed.  In fact, by the end of the film I felt that the alien arrival was one of the least important aspects of the story and the resolution of that story line was highly unsatisfying,  I find it hard to otherwise classify this film, so I’ll just call it a profile of one woman’s life.  In seeing the choices she made, we question ourselves and the choices in our life.  Looking back on your life, would you make the same choices you made?  Even the ones that caused you pain?  Or would you be able to appreciate the beauty of your life taken as a whole and appreciate the arc it took.  It’s rare to find a science fiction film that causes you very human introspection, but I’m glad I found this one.

Arrival trailer

Doctor Strange

          Many people believe that superheroes are their own genre.  While that may be true, I think it’s overly simplistic as under the overall ‘superhero’ umbrella, there are as many genres as one would find in all other movies.  We find everything from the comedy of a ‘Deadpool’ to the dark political thrillers of a ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier, to the fancifulness of Thor all under the title of a “superhero movie”.  Whatever your proclivities are, there is a superhero to fit them.  ‘Doctor Strange' is a foray into the world of magic and mysticism in the super hero world, which we have not yet truly seen in the Marvel onscreen offerings.  Fanboys have been wanting to see Doctor Strange come to life on the screen for a longtime (one doesn’t count the embarrassingly bad TV movie from 1978).  Marvel has once again proven it’s ability to make a crowd pleaser and ‘Doctor Strange’ is a welcome addition to the annals of the Marvel onscreen universe. In addition, Marvel demonstrates their ability to perfectly cast their roles and Benedict Cumberbatch is an inspired choice as he embodies the essence of Doctor Strange by the end of the movie.

I was a fickle fan of the Doctor Strange comics growing up.  Created in the psychedelic era of the 1960’s by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Doctor Strange was a mind bending psychedelic trip into other dimensions fueled by Steve Ditko’s LSD visions (that’s what artists did at the time).  At its’ worst, Doctor Strange was just weird (fitting given his name), but at its’ best, it was an exploration of other realities and thought provoking concepts.  While I was not a follower per se, some of the most moving and epiphany producing stories of my youth came from the pages of this comic book series.  That is what art is about and for that Steve Ditko has my utmost respect.

Marvel did a fantastic job transferring the pages to the screen.  Director Scott Derrickson pays homage to Ditko’s 60’s 

psychedelic visions in creating other dimensions and universes directly from Ditko’s storyboards as well as grabbing inspiration from more main stream artists, such as MC Escher, during some of the spectacular battle scenes.  Everything you’ve heard about the visual power of this movie is true and the film could be enjoyed on that merit alone.  However, what makes Marvel successful is that, despite the fanciful premises, their films are character driven and  inhabited by flawed human beings (mostly human).  Benedict Cumberbatch captures the arrogant Doctor Strange persona in much the way Robert Downey Jr did with Tony Stark: He is able to take an arrogant, narcissistic, and abrasive character and make them engaging and sympathetic.  No easy task and a credit to both the writing and the acting.  

The story is standard super hero fare which involves a tragedy, in this case the famed neurosurgeon Doctor Strange losing the use of his hands after a horrific car accident.  Given that his entire egotistical self image is tied to his greatness as a surgeon, he spends every last resource he has searching for a way to restore his hands.  A chance encounter leads him to Nepal in search of the mysterious ‘Ancient One’ (a politically controversial casting of Tilda Swinton, but she owns the role) in hopes of a non-traditional cure. Rescued from a Nepalese gutter by Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a skeptical Doctor Strange is introduced to a world beyond the comprehension of his scientifically trained mind.  Although, in the Marvel world, magic is just science that has not yet been discovered.  What follows is the standard teacher/pupil training montage for which I’m a complete sucker. 

While never fully explained why the Ancient One would choose such a narcissist as Strange into her order, it is apparent that she sees strength in him.  The film’s villain, Kaecilius (Mad Mikkelson) embodies Marvel’s weakness for having mediocre villains, but being the wonderful actor that he is, Mad is able to embody his character with the appropriate level of sinister.  Kaecilius has given himself to the Dark arts and worships a Dark Lord named Dormammu who promises eternal life.  If it sounds a little Star Warsy, just remember that Doctor Strange was created a full decade before Star Wars and George Lucas was a big comic book fan.  Rounding out the cast is a modernized version of Wong.  In the comic books, Wong was Doctor Strange’s faithful manservant, embodying all the Asian stereotypes one would imagine. In this version, Wong (coincidentally,  played by British actor named  Benedict Wong [hmm, two Benedict’s in the same cast])) is more of Strange’s guide and drill sergeant on his journey to mastering the mystic arts.

Despite all this, this film is a standard ‘origin’ movie which the critics predict everyone is getting tired of. I would disagree as the box office receipts prove.  There are untapped heroes and genres still out there and while sometimes it’s refreshing to see a hero just dropped into a film fully formed (eg: Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War), there is something inherently gratifying about seeing the creation of a hero.  ‘Doctor Strange’ deals with dark and mystical forces, but in the tradition of Marvel, never loses its’ fun and humor when needed.  I won’t say this is the best film Marvel has produced, but I am definitely glad it was made.  It expands the Marvel Universe to introduce us to other dimensions and multi-verses only briefly hinted at in films like Thor and Ant man. This is another fun time at the movies

I give this film *** 1/2 stars

Doctor Strange

Hell or High Water

       ‘Hell or High Water’ is the type of film I crave when I go to the movies.  It seems easy to just categorize this film as a western crime drama, but that does it a disservice.  This is a low key, under-the-radar type of film, but has some of the most mature and powerful performances that I have seen in awhile.  It is a movie about two brothers that are bank robbers in west Texas pursued by the law containing all the clichés that you would think would apply, but it goes deeper than that.  It is truly a portrait of poverty in west Texas without becoming preachy and it is also a character study of right and wrong without being judgmental.  A difficult task ,but writer Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) does an incredible if not subtle job in fleshing out this portrait of the modern American West.

Ben Foster and Chris Pine play Tanner and Toby Howard.  Two brothers on a bank robbery spree to raise money to save their recently deceased mother’s house from foreclosure.  While Ben Foster isn’t a household name yet, his performances (Lone Survivor) have continued to impress me over the years and this one is no exception. Tanner has been in and out of jail his whole life and he understands more than most that no one ever truly gets away with anything, yet he loves his brother (despite all the name calling) and will do whatever it takes to help him.  Chris Pine is the true standout of this film for me.  This is by far his most mature role to date and I would even call it an Oscar level performance.  Pine has been in the spotlight in recent years in Hollywood blockbusters, most notably for Star Trek and the upcoming Wonder Woman, but his low key portrayal of Toby Tanner hits the mark perfectly.  He is the ‘good’ brother, but one thing the film explores is how bad people can do good things and good people can do unforgivable things.  Pine keeps his performance subtle and morally ambiguous, which makes it so powerful.

Jeff Bridges has redefined his career by playing grizzled, salt of the earth, country boys in his later years (True Grit).  He plays the Texas Ranger, Marcus Hamilton, who is on the verge of retirement with all the gusto one would expect, but there is more to him than that.  We wince at his racial insensitivity to his Mexican\Indian partner Alberto, but despite the audience and Alberto’s distaste, you can sense the love and respect between the two, albeit strained at times. Marcus is of a bygone era, but panicking at the idea of retirement and becoming irrelevant.

As the brothers rob the fictional Midland Banks across Texas as a sort of Robin Hoodesque journey to try and pay off the bank loan from the very predatory bank that gave the loan they knew their mother wouldn’t be able to pay back you develop some sympathy for the brothers.  However, even though there is sympathy you know and feel what they are doing is wrong and leading them both down a path they won’t be able to come back from. We shake our heads at their decisions, but the constant backdrop of billboards for revers mortgages and predatory debt relief pits our sympathy against our moral code.  That’s where I think the film’s strength lies; it evokes sympathy without giving absolution.  One of the most poignant moments was when Rangers Marcus and Alberto were talking about how the Comanche lands were taken over by the Europeans.  Marcus wondered how Alberto wasn’t more bitter than he was.  Alberto calmly explained that at one time Marcus’s ancestors in Europe were taken over by someone who forced them to assimilate and now the poor in Texas are being taken over and driven out by Corporations  like the Midland Bank.  “It’s just the way of things” Alberto explains. 

Tanner and Toby are the protagonists whom we grow to love, but we know they don’t deserve to get away with what they are doing.  Ranger Marcus is a dogged lawman who is doing what is right, but is he doing it for the right reasons?  I hope I don’t spoil the film by saying that the ending does not leave the story wrapped up in a nice comfortable bow.  In fact, the lack of feeling satisfied or any sense of resolution is another one of the film’s strengths.  The Director, David MacKenzie, is an Englishman and I am amazed at how he nailed not only the look and feel of West Texas, but its’ cadence as well.  The poverty and mundane existence was captured so perfectly that it almost seemed foreign and exotic even to an American such as myself. 

In an era of big budget and big production, this film will come and go quietly, but I left the theatre feeling I had just witnessed three Oscar worthy performances.  If you are a fan of acting and character study, then I can think of no better film than this in recent years of actors performing at the top of their craft.  It is a slow paced film, but it kept me engaged and riveted throughout.  I’m always leery when I see trailers that emphasize how much the critics love this film as that always seems desperate to me, but in this case the adulation is justified.  Just a fantastic film.

I give this film **** stars

Hell or High Water

Sausage Party

        ‘Sausage Party’ is by far one of the crudest, loudest, and most offensive movies I think I have ever seen and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Usually, when you have films that go for the mega shock value there is not much in way of depth or plot.  ‘Sausage Party’ embraces it’s juvenile humor, but at the same time gives us some impressive thought fodder on religious and political perspectives in the world today.  Disguised as a Pixar family friendly film (I hope some naive parents don’t accidentally take their kids to this), the stoner minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg not only push the limits of good taste, but fly right past it without even waving.  This is a total deconstruction of Pixar animation’s penchant for anthropomorphizing everything on the planet from toys to animals.  I was going to give a warning to stay away if you are easily offended, but I think that ‘Sausage Party’ is such a fascinating and original film study, you should go even if you are offended (being offended now and then is good for you).

The story starts in the idyllic Shopwell supermarket, where at the beginning of each day all of the items of food prepare for the day with a rousing song (right up there with the best of any songs I’ve heard in a Pixar movie) in hopes they will be chosen by one of the Gods with the Carts and taken to the Great Beyond where they will find paradise.  Our heroes are a sausage hotdog named Frank (Seth Rogen) and beautiful hot dog bun named Brenda (Kristen Wigg), who long for the day when they will be chosen and they can finally leave their packages and be together (the innuendo has already started).  Since the big Fourth of July sale is coming up, they have no doubts they will soon be chosen by the Gods.  Everything seems fine and glorious until a returned jar of Honey Mustard (Danny MacBride), with a crazed look in his eyes and voice, tries to convince everyone what truly awaits them in the Great Beyond: Unimaginable horrors.  He is ignored as a crazed vagrant, but something rings true in his rants.

Frank tries not to let this unnerve him as he is focused solely on being with Brenda in the Great Beyond.  After finally being chosen, Frank and Brenda see the horrors of existence right in the Shopwell supermarket after a great shopping cart collision leaves several of their brethren maimed and discarded to the pits of a bottomless trash can.  The burst flour bag gives the entire scene an eerie and surprisingly moving recollection of 9/11.  It’s funny, but a very uncomfortable laugh at the same time as we realize this isn’t just a warm and fuzzy movie. Most of the foodstuffs are recovered and continue their journey to the Great Beyond, unknowing of what hideous consumption horrors await them when they reach their destination.  Frank and Brenda are cast off to the side as their bags were broken and they are no longer fresh. Frank is suddenly awakened to questioning truths he has accepted his whole life and seeks to traverse the supermarket to meet with the Immortals (or ‘non-perishable items’ as we would call them) in order to ask them about the truth of what lies beyond. Ethnic jokes and stereotypes abound as Frank traverses the different aisles containing every type of food from around the world.  If you appreciate that this is equal opportunity stereotyping, then the jokes can be quite clever at times with some sharp political lampoons.

There are many things to be offended by in this film, but also things that I very much appreciated.  While it had a secular message, it also preached respecting other’s beliefs as they hold them as strongly as a secularist holds their belief.  The theme that everyone deserves respect for their belief system, I felt overrode its’ secular underpinnings.  Hidden (and sometimes not even hidden) amongst the juvenile sexual innuendo and pot humor was a clever and thoughtful examination of existence and how we perceive it.   Despite its’ heart though, the humor comes first and I kept muttering “Oh, they did not just say that” to myself.  Or even better, when I saw a wind up to a joke I thought they wouldn’t have the courage to do, they did have the courage and went even beyond what I was bracing myself for.

I feel odd giving this film a lot of stars given how crude the humor was, but I always respect originality and, as I stated earlier, this isn’t a one trick movie.  There are many layers and levels in which to appreciate it.  Leave the kids at home and go have a guilty pleasure.  Funny, crude, moving, thoughful, over-the-top, all of this applies here. You’ll be surprised how much you talk about it afterwards… or maybe just an uncomfortable silence in the car ride home.  One or the other.

I give this film *** stars

Sausage Party

Suicide Squad

        I so wanted to like the “Suicide Squad’, DC’s attempt to shake up a superhero genre they haven’t mastered yet.  DC films are already much darker than Marvel’s, so I’m not sure how introducing a little known (to the general public at least) ragtag group of anti-heroes is going to be a game changer or make the DC universe any darker.  What the Warner Bros execs were hoping is to replicate the magic of Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and they don’t even come close.  They even thought putting in a cool retro soundtrack would cover a shoddy story and it wouldn’t be noticed.  That right there is the problem DC is having.  They are trying to copy Marvel’s success formula, from the shared universe to even types of movie storyline arcs.  They aren’t being original and are coming up with pale replicated product that is obviously being made by people who don’t truly understand the superhero genre.

This film is such a hot mess, I don’t even know where to start.  Maybe the good?  So, I love the concept of ‘The Suicide Squad’ even if I never liked the comic.  Similar to Lee Marvin’s ‘The Dirty Dozen’, but with superheroes.  The Government, represented by U.S. Intelligence agent Amanda Waller (Viola Davis in top form), fears they are defenseless in a world where people like Superman exist.  She proposes taking the meta-humans they currently have in prison and forcing them to work on behalf of the government in exchange for clemency.  The catch is that the missions are so dangerous it will almost assuredly mean their deaths. Waller recruits Special Forces soldier Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) as the Unit commander. Waller uses various means of control over each, but the traditional ‘explosive-injected-into-the-neck’ is the most immediate.  The film spends the first 40 minutes reviewing each person’s history and profile arriving at us caring or investing in none of them.  Investment in characters has to be the basis or no movie will work.

Actually, I enjoyed Will Smith as Deadshot, but at the end of the day it is Will Smith being Will Smith. Nothing wrong with that (Robert Downey Jr made Ironman a household name doing that), but the character is nothing without him.  Of course, all the buzz is about Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jared Leto as the Joker.  Not only did this seem to be a case of overacting for both of them, it seemed artificial and forced.  I hate comparing performances, but the Joker has set a high standard in previous films incarnations with Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger (he even won an Oscar for his portrayal).  This isn’t even in the same class. I would compare this closer to Jim Carrey’s performance as the Riddler in ‘Batman Forever’; exaggerated and cartoony.  All the rest; Diablo, Killer Croc, and Captain Boomerang were generic and uninteresting.  Everyone had a hard luck story, but again it seemed so forced and wedged in, I rolled my eyes more than sympathized.  

The villainess is a nigh-omnipotent ancient being named The Enchantress (played oddly by Victoria Secret’s model Cara Delevingne) who resurrects her nigh-omnipotent brother (not sure if they ever mentioned his name) to do something…take over the world? Destroy the world?  That part of the plan is never spelled out clearly.  They build one of those machines that makes a hole above the city where everything starts sucking towards it.  Again, not sure what that is supposed to accomplish.  The decision is made to send the Suicide Squad in which really didn’t make any sense either because they had no plan other than just introduce them all and send them in to stop whatever was going on.  Since you need fight scenes, they fight weird cannon fodder mystical creatures created just for the express purpose to have fights.  They seem tough, but very few people get hurt while the creatures blow up constantly.

This film was so riddled with plot holes my head spun.  It never tried to be its’ own film rather just try to exploit other movie’s successes.  I guess my biggest issue is that the Suicide Squad was assembled to be a force to take on the likes of Superman, but none of them really had any powers that were formidable.  Harley Quinn basically walked around with a baseball bat saying and doing crazy things.  How did she even survive the first fight?  Captain Boomerang basically just had…metal boomerangs (Superman must be quaking in his cape)???  The Joker was barely in this despite what the previews would have you believe, so I’m not sure why there were so many stories about Jared Leto’s off camera method acting techniques or why he would take it so far with such limited screen time.  

‘Suicide Squad’ is probably the biggest misstep in an already shaky start to the DC universe franchise Warner Bros is trying to create.  I think they should start with trying to stop be Marvel and find their own voice and style.  I will say I have bias as I was always a Marvel fan growing up, but I really do want DC to succeed.  There is room enough for both Marvel and DC.  The difference is that Marvel movies are made by people who understand what makes super hero special in the hearts of the audience whereas the DC execs don’t understand the magic of super heroes and are just trying to use someone else’s formula for success.

I give this film ** stars

Suicide Squad

Star Trek Beyond

      I approach ‘Star Trek Beyond with mixed feelings.  I have stated before that while I am incredibly grateful that JJ Abrams was able to breathe new life into a franchise that has been around all my life, I still think the reboot lost some of the meaning of what Star Trek is supposed to be about.  Growing up, there were Star Wars fans and there were Star Trek fans.  There was some overlap of fandom by the über geeks, but for the most part, everyone staked out their camps and reveled in their respective franchises.  Star Wars was for the adventurous space swashbuckling crowd whereas Star Trek appealed to the explorers.  Start Trek was an exercise in philosophical and political analysis of the human race through science fiction.  It showed us what our full potential could become.  In other words, there was more nuance and the stories stimulated more intellectual curiosity than its’ Star Wars counter part.  The JJ Abrams reboot embraced the action side, but still dragged us diehard loyalists into 21st century thrill based filmmaking. When it was announce that Justin Lin would take over as Director of the 3rd outing in Star Trek Beyond, visions of Fast and Furious mocked my nightmares (The action film Justin Lin is most famous for).  

While my fears were not completely unfounded, Star Trek beyond turns out to be a fun film even though it drifts further away from its’ source vision.  The action is fast and furious (that phrasing was intentional), but the characters we know and love provide us an exciting space romp that is worth the price of admission.  This time around it puts us smack dab in the middle of the 5 year mission from the original TV show.  Deep space isolation is affecting everyone and the Enterprise docks at the Federation’s newest and most advanced Starbase for some R&R and reflection.  I will say that Justin Lin’s vision of space travel and immense future constructions are awe inspiring. I tip the hat when deserved.  Chris Pine returns as Captain James T Kirk and gives us a portrayal of a man who questions his purpose.  Very different than the Kirk we know and a welcome look deeper into the psyche of the legend.  

Each of the crew’s lives are more deeply explored on the space station, but not gratuitously, just glimpses. A fun and gratifying tribute to the original Sulu, George Takei, where it is revealed that the character is gay as well.  We get glimpses of Sulu's family life which we would not have been able to see during the 1960’s.  We see Spock (Zachary Quinto) attempt to come to grips with the death of the older version of himself.  Surprisingly poignant for something that could have been handled ham-fistedly.  Of course, in an action movie, calm is just the respite before the storm and what a hurricane it is.  The crew of the Enterprise is devastated by the attack of a hostile force and the survivors are stranded on a savage and hostile planet. One can tell that Simon Pegg had a hand in writing this film as his character ‘Scotty’ has a larger role than normal.  No worries, Pegg’s comic relief is always welcome and he is always the clutch player who usually saves the day anyway.

Idris Elba is unrecognizable as the malevolent lead villain Krall.  Other than destruction of everything, his intentions are not clear at first.  All we know is that he is the bad guy and he has to be stopped.  I feel an actor as gifted as Elba was wasted playing such a generic villain, but still he gave it his all which you have to respect. And as always, there has to be the hot alien chick who kicks butt.  This time played by Sofia Boutella as the resourceful Jaylah. And since Simon Pegg wrote the script, most of the chemistry scenes are between Scotty and her.

In no way do I want to take away from the visual beauty of this film.  Half the battle in making quality science fiction is the aesthetics.  That being said, I felt the film overly relied on our baser action genre tendencies using cliches and cliffhangers as opposed to developing the mind boundary expanders Star Trek  was created to be.  Hey, I understand as much as anyone that one must modernize and change with the times, but my love of the original series is so strong that my nostalgia was left unsatiated.  Justin Lin tried to make up for it with several call backs to the original series, especially one scene that inserted the picture of the original crew into the storyline, but the end result was still more action than substance.  

If you are a Trekkie, go see it.  Have fun and be thankful that another generation is enjoying characters that have been around for 50 years.  Happy Anniversary Star Trek.  Here’s hoping you have 50 more.

I give this film ** 1/2 stars

Star Trek Beyond

Ghostbusters

       “Meh”!  That’ll I can really say about the new all-female reboot of the ‘Ghostbusters’.  I am a big fan of all these comic actors individually, so I had high hopes of assembling all this talent, but was there really a crying demand to have a new ‘Ghostbusters’?  People forget that despite the fact that the original ‘Ghostbusters’ went on to be considered a classic, it was not a critics darling at the time and with good reason.  In addition, the media driven politically correct hype to make this endeavor a bigger deal than it was seemed forced.  The faux outrage of articles criticizing sexist trolls on the internet also seemed awkward and overblown.  I know the media doesn’t believe this, but does the mainstream public really have issues with women headlining films anymore?  I will say this is a solid paint-by-the-numbers comedy that has moments of mirth, but overall I walked away wondering why do a reboot if there is nothing new to say? In fact, some scenes and situations were lifted straight from the original one.  An all woman cast is not enough reason to redo the film.  In other words “Meh!’

Even the characters themselves can be connected to their original counterparts, with some acquiescence to each actor’s individual talents.  All four, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon have solid chemistry and the force of their talent causes more than a few smiles despite the script.  In my opinion, the only new element and actual standout of the film is Chris Hemsworth, playing the hunky albeit simple receptionist, Keith.  I didn’t know he had that type of comedic timing and you actually looked forward to whatever inanities stumbled out of his mouth in whatever scene he was in.  

So I would lay out a synopsis of the plot, but you’ve already seen it.  It’s the same as the first.  Increased poltergeist activity in New York causes three down on their luck scientists to come together joined by a street wise character to be the ‘every person’ balance.  Lots of CGI ghost interactions as the scientists-turned-blue-collar-ghost-exterminators face ridicule until the city elders actually need them to help on a ghost problem of apocalyptic proportions.  Been there, done that.  There was almost too many nods to the original film.  Slight nods are fun, but over doing it shows a lack of confidence in the film.  Each of the original remaining cast members, with the exception of Rick Moranes have cameos.  Even the original firehouse and numerous recognizable ghosts reappear.  Nostalgic smiles are nice, but not enough to make a film.

The good news is that the rebooted Ghostbusters wasn’t a mess.  It has enough smiles to make it a nice Saturday afternoon matinee with the kids.  These nostalgia reboots are more often than not hot messes (i.e. ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’), but this one was a solid enough film to be considered a summer tentpole (not that the competition this year was high).  It was obvious they were setting this up to have multiple sequels, but I guess we will just have to wait to see the box office returns.  Personally, I was not excited about this one, so getting me excited for a follow-up will be a challenge.  I know this review is short, but much like this film, I don’t have much to say.

I give this film ** stars

Ghostbusters trailer