Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve been able to see all of the ‘Ghostbusters’ films on BBC iPlayer these past two weeks, especially in revisiting ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ at the cinema in Leicester recently. Since I’ve reviewed that and the original ‘Ghostbusters’ film, it’s fair I share my thoughts on the rest of this movie series.

After the success of the first ‘Ghostbusters’ film in 1984, a second film was made and released in 1989. Some say that ‘Ghostbusters II’ is a retread of the original film, and whilst there are elements of truth in that, I still found it a pretty enjoyable film to check out when I saw it on BBC iPlayer lately.

‘Ghostbusters II’ features the return of Bill Murray as Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Raymond Stanz, Harold Ramis as Egon Spengler and Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore. There’s also Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett, Rick Moranis as Louis Tully and Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz. 🙂

In the film, it’s five years after the events of the first film and the Ghostbusters have been sued and put out of business after the destruction caused during their battle with Gozer. A new paranormal threat emerges in the form of Vigo, played by Wilhelm von Homburg and voiced by Max von Sydow.

The Ghostbusters reunite to combat the threat and save the world. The film also features a subplot involving Dana having a baby named Oscar, and it’s not Peter’s baby either. The baby ends up being part of Vigo’s plans for causing havoc in New York City and the Ghostbusters must rescue Oscar too.

Sadly, ‘Ghostbusters II’ wasn’t as successful as the first film. I probably would have done things differently to make the film more effective than it is. I still found it an intriguing follow-up to the first film, and I know that the film’s had a following with some ‘Ghostbusters’ fans liking it over the years.

And then, the 2016 film happened. Yes, I know a lot of people have criticised this film over the years and it’s been the subject of controversary before and after its release. With that said, whilst I think the film is bad, I also think it’s an enjoyable kind of bad, which I honestly don’t mind sitting through.

And I must stress, I have no objection to the regular cast being all women. Melissa McCarthy as Abby Yates, Kristen Wiig as Erin Gilbert, Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann and Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan are fine in terms of the performances they give, based on the material they had to work with.

My main issue with the film is that it’s not funny, which is a glaring problem considering it’s supposed to be a comedy. The script could have done with a rewrite, especially to present the Ghostbusters in a better light. I’m stunned the film is set in a parallel universe from the original films.

There are also wasted opportunities including Chris Hemsworth as Kevin Beckman, who ends up being an idiot in this film and he could have been a supportive member of the Ghostbusters team. Maybe have a romance with Erin or something. Also, Charles Dance is wasted by appearing in the film.

He should have been the villain instead of Neil Casey as Dr. Rowan North. The 2016 ‘Ghostbusters’ film could have been pretty good if more thought was put in terms of the writing, the comedy and how the female Ghostbusters are portrayed. Sadly, this feels quite a huge let-down in terms of a film.

But of course, that wasn’t the end of the ‘Ghostbusters’ film series, as we’ve had ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’, which was released in 2021, and we’ve had ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’, which was released quite recently this year. ‘Afterlife’ takes place 32 years after the events of ‘Ghostbusters II’.

The film is about a single mother and her children. The mother is Carrie Coon as Callie, Finn Wolfhard as Trevor and Mckenna Grace as Phoebe. They move to an Oklahoma farm, which they’ve inherited from Carrie’s estranged father Egon Spengler, who was one of the original Ghostbusters. 🙂

‘Afterlife’ is dedicated to the late Harold Ramis, who played Egon in the first and second ‘Ghostbusters’ films. In fact, Egon appears in archival clips and photographs as well as a living ghost, as played by Bob Gunton and the late Ivan Reitman through prosthetics and digital makeup, which is very impressive.

The film also features Paul Rudd (who you probably know for playing Scott Lang/Ant-Man in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’) as Gary Grooberson. There’s also the return of Bill Murray as Peter, Dan Aykroyd as Ray, Ernie Hudson as Winston, Annie Potts as Janine and Sigourney Weaver as Dana.

If there’s one thing I’d criticise about ‘Afterlife’ is that Gozer from the first film appears in it. I wouldn’t have brought Gozer back, despite her being well-played Olivia Wilde, voiced by Shohreh Aghdashloo and played in CGI spirit form by Emma Portner. I also didn’t realise J. K. Simmons was in this film. 😀

I’m pleased I’ve caught up on all of the ‘Ghostbusters’ films recently, especially with revisiting ‘Frozen Empire’ to get a better idea of what the story and the film series is about. I don’t know if more ‘Ghostbusters’ film will be made following ‘Frozen Empire’, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing them. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂