Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) (2 Viewers)

[Alex...]

Tix on sale now

 

[Alex...]

 

[Alex...]

Empire review 2/5

 

[darkrock17]

Uh oh

Empire review 2/5

Empire is from the UK and they tend to be snobbish when it comes to cinema, wait for other reviews from other publications to come out.

 

[Malcolm R]

More concession stand tchotchkes:

 

[darkrock17]

More concession stand tchotchkes:

View attachment 216960

What language is that?

How does the popcorn stay inside Slimmer's mouth?

 

[Malcolm R]

What language is that?

How does the popcorn stay inside Slimmer's mouth?

Yiddish slang.

I'm guessing Slimer lies on his back and lets you fill his mouth.

 

[darkrock17]

Yiddish slang.

I'm guessing Slimer lies on his back and lets you fill his mouth.

That's worse than the Dune bucket

 

[Tino]

Uh oh.

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
PG-13
2024, Comedy/Fantasy, 1h 55m
45%
TOMATOMETER62 Reviews
--
AUDIENCE SCORE

 

[darkrock17]

MovieWeb gives it 3 1/2 stars

https://movieweb.com/ghostbusters-frozen-empire-review/

 

[Malcolm R]

Hollywood Reporter has it somewhere in the good, not great arena.

‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Review: Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon in a Sometimes Strained, Mostly Breezy Installment of the Paranormal Comedy

Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Finn Wolfhard and Mckenna Grace also star in the venerable franchise's latest gathering of demon fighters old and new.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Variety seems to be about the same.

‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ Review: A Bigger, Rowdier and (Slightly) Funnier Fan-Service Grab Bag Than ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’

The series is back in New York City, full of spirits the movie treats with a mostly straight face.

variety.com

 

[Josh Dial]

I saw this last night.

It was...not great.

There are far too many characters, and the movie seemed hellbent on giving them each one single moment in the spotlight (except, strangely, Carrie Coon, who is one of the best actors out there). The poster is cluttered and so is the plot. There are so many extra scenes that do nothing to push the plot or the characters forward.

On that note, there is actually zero character growth in the movie except for Phoebe in literally the very last 30 seconds. I'm not saying every single character needs to undergo some dramatic transformation, but for a movie ostensibly focusing on a changing "family" there isn't much change going on. The "family" dynamics are also pretty boring: nothing we haven't seen before (a theme for the movie).

Even worse, the movie doesn't seem know what to do with any of the characters. Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon are shunted to the attic and couch. Carrie Coon looked bored the entire time (I can't blame her). The movie focuses on McKenna Grace's Phoebe, but she has been stripped of almost all the qualities that made her a solid character in the first outing. And this isn't a "oh she's maturing" thing. The movie just seems disinterested with anything about her from the first movie other than the generic "she's smart".

Lucky and Podcast are back for some reason.

There are two new characters, because we didn't have enough already. James Acaster is the tech whiz, and Emily Alyn Lind plays a ghost. The ghost is almost interesting, and her interactions with Phoebe are almost compelling. But the movie seems to scared to go in the natural direction, and so it does nothing.

Strangely, many of the scenes from the trailers have been cut completely. The "yeah, well, overruled" and "sustained" scene in the Mayor's office is gone. Paul Rudd's "like literally scared to death?" is gone. Janine rudely answering the phone is gone. There are more examples.

The plot is actually sort of interesting, though obvious. We see every turn an hour away.

But perhaps worst of all: the movie just isn't funny. The joke density (jokes per minute) is very low, so the jokes that are made need to land and be funny. Usually neither happens. There are a few good jokes (there's an evil Spin Doctors CD!) but I could count them on one hand. Everything else barely earns a smile.

And this reveals the problem with the cast of too many characters: most of them aren't comedians. The best parts of the movie are Paul Rudd, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, and Dan Akroyd. Notice a pattern? I would watch a movie with Paul Rudd, Kumail Nanjiani, and Patton Oswalt busting ghosts. Shame that isn't the movie we got.

Lastly, on the topic of busting ghosts, I don't think I'm wrong in saying the team busts exactly two ghosts in the entire movie: one in the opening five minutes and one in the last ten. To misquote Dr. Malcolm, "eventually...you do..uh...plan to..uh..have ghostbusting...in your...uh...Ghostbusters movie, right?"

5/10

 

[Joe Wong]

I saw this last night.

It was...not great.

There are far too many characters, and the movie seemed hellbent on giving them each one single moment in the spotlight (except, strangely, Carrie Coon, who is one of the best actors out there). The poster is cluttered and so is the plot. There are so many extra scenes that do nothing to push the plot or the characters forward.

On that note, there is actually zero character growth in the movie except for Phoebe in literally the very last 30 seconds. I'm not saying every single character needs to undergo some dramatic transformation, but for a movie ostensibly focusing on a changing "family" there isn't much change going on. The "family" dynamics are also pretty boring: nothing we haven't seen before (a theme for the movie).

Even worse, the movie doesn't seem know what to do with any of the characters. Finn Wolfhard and Carrie Coon are shunted to the attic and couch. Carrie Coon looked bored the entire time (I can't blame her). The movie focuses on McKenna Grace's Phoebe, but she has been stripped of almost all the qualities that made her a solid character in the first outing. And this isn't a "oh she's maturing" thing. The movie just seems disinterested with anything about her from the first movie other than the generic "she's smart".

Lucky and Podcast are back for some reason.

There are two new characters, because we didn't have enough already. James Acaster is the tech whiz, and Emily Alyn Lind plays a ghost. The ghost is almost interesting, and her interactions with Phoebe are almost compelling. But the movie seems to scared to go in the natural direction, and so it does nothing.

Strangely, many of the scenes from the trailers have been cut completely. The "yeah, well, overruled" and "sustained" scene in the Mayor's office is gone. Paul Rudd's "like literally scared to death?" is gone. Janine rudely answering the phone is gone. There are more examples.

The plot is actually sort of interesting, though obvious. We see every turn an hour away.

But perhaps worst of all: the movie just isn't funny. The joke density (jokes per minute) is very low, so the jokes that are made need to land and be funny. Usually neither happens. There are a few good jokes (there's an evil Spin Doctors CD!) but I could count them on one hand. Everything else barely earns a smile.

And this reveals the problem with the cast of too many characters: most of them aren't comedians. The best parts of the movie are Paul Rudd, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, and Dan Akroyd. Notice a pattern? I would watch a movie with Paul Rudd, Kumail Nanjiani, and Patton Oswalt busting ghosts. Shame that isn't the movie we got.

Lastly, on the topic of busting ghosts, I don't think I'm wrong in saying the team busts exactly two ghosts in the entire movie: one in the opening five minutes and one in the last ten. To misquote Dr. Malcolm, "eventually...you do..uh...plan to..uh..have ghostbusting...in your...uh...Ghostbusters movie, right?"

5/10

Thanks for the review, Josh!

We had tix for Scotiabank Chinook but cancelled due to snowy roads (and tiredness!). Maybe we'll wait for it to come to streaming...

 

[Malcolm R]

Too bad. Seems like only a Reitman can direct a decent Ghostbusters film.

 

[Josh Dial]

Too bad. Seems like only a Reitman can direct a decent Ghostbusters film.

I think if Reitman had directed this it could have been better.

It's hard to explain, but you could see the studio's hand in the edit. The technical aspects of the editing were solid. There was no sloppy ADR (when this happens I blame the editor and director), and only one continuity error (marked in a spoiler below). But it's like the studio forced them to cut a 2-hour movie, and had them remove a bunch of "extra explaining" (e.g. the cut scene with Paul Rudd asking, "so literally scared to death?"). My gut feeling is there was more to the dynamic between Phoebe and the ghost but the studio nudged the edit away from it bearing fruit.

One positive aspect I forgot to mention was the audio. The theatre Atmos was really solid, with some fun rear-height-front transitions. Lots of spirits zooming around. Not a lot of bass or crazy dynamics, but the overall atmospheric sound was fun. Kudos to the audio/sound teams.

Also, the red winter jackets with the Ghostbusters logo looked incredible. I would wear one.

 

[Desslar]

Why didn't Reitman direct this time?

 

[Malcolm R]

Why didn't Reitman direct this time?

I think the death of his father during early production made it difficult for him emotionally to be that closely involved, so he passed the directing job off to his writing partner, Gil Kenan. At least that's the gist of what I've read around the 'net.

Reports have said Jason and Gil were able to pitch the outline of the new movie to Ivan before he passed and he was quite excited about it.

Seems odd if true about studio interference in this film, as the team made a popular film with Afterlife and you'd think the studio might want to keep them happy for another sequel to at least cap off a trilogy.

Preview numbers reportedly around $4.7 million, which is a hair above the last film's $4.5 million.

 

[Josh Dial]

I forgot to note the potential continuity error I mentioned above. Here it is in a spoiler:

Spoiler

Phoebe cuts down a piece of the fireman pole to use in her proton pack. My recollection is the piece was pretty sizeable. A few minutes after she's cut the piece out, we see Kumail Nanjiani's character sliding down an intact fireman pole. Maybe I didn't see the pole with the piece cut out, but my memory is that the pole was intact.

 

[AlexF]

Spoiler

Phoebe cuts down a piece of the fireman pole to use in her proton pack. My recollection is the piece was pretty sizeable. A few minutes after she's cut the piece out, we see Kumail Nanjiani's character sliding down an intact fireman pole. Maybe I didn't see the pole with the piece cut out, but my memory is that the pole was intact.

Spoiler

I thought this might have been the pole upstairs in the kitchen that comes down from the bedroom level.

Saw this tonight, I enjoyed it more than Josh and thought more jokes landed than he seems to. I only saw Afterlife for the first time earlier this week (somehow I completely missed it when it originally came out, and when I realized GB:FE was out this weekend figured that I should watch it in advance, and glad I did to get the characters, though there's a decent explanation of how they got to this point in the film).

It was fun seeing some of the revisits to scenes/etc from the original films (including the librarian! omg!), and seeing William Atherton in his new role was entertaining.

Overall, not as good as the first, but decent overall. Maybe a 7/10.

 

[Ross Gowland]

I enjoyed this a lot. It’s not in the same league as the original, but then none of the sequels have come close in my opinion. It’s two hours of colourful fun that zips along and has many good sequences.

It has a few flaws and had a few too many characters, but I was never bored. As before, McKenna Grace is excellent. She has many scenes with Emily Alyn Lind that work very well.

A couple of points for people yet to see it:

-There’s a disposable mid credit scene and no post credit scene.

-Bill Murray makes more than a cameo appearance, but don’t expect too much with him.

In short, it’s a well put together amusement. Not a masterpiece, but highly entertaining. I preferred it to Aferlife. I actually preferred it to Ghostbusters 2, which I really dislike, but that’s probably a minority opinion.