Halloween Watching Suggestions

            I figured for Halloween I would do one of the easiest hack blog entries a person can do, a series of movie recommendations based around Horror.

 Franchise to binge: “Nightmare on Elm Street”

            I don’t think I am ruffling any feathers in the horror community to say that the Nightmare franchise has the highest overall quality, ESPECIALLY for a series with as many entries as it has.

            A special commendation has to go to the second entry as being the one with the best themes and best blend of creative dream nonsense with actual horror elements, but I am betting that number 3 is the one that most people will list as the high-water mark of the series.  The fifth entry is perhaps the worst, a shame because I feel it brushes against greatness.  There is just something off about it which kills it.

            With 9 entries it is enough for a whole Halloween, and I think that Freddy the character, the implied mythology, and the various missteps I see in the series could fill a book.  I have talked about the franchise some before, but it was only last year that I finished watching all of it.

TV Shows to Watch

            As a Netflix and Amazon guy there is a lot of stuff on Hulu that I am not able to access (but there is still stuff I would recommend).

            The first pick would be “Hannibal” which is a series I watched on a lark thinking, “A prequel series to Silence of the Lambs…. I bet this is a cash grab mess.”  Turns out it is one of the most visually arresting series I have ever watched, and I consider the heroic protagonist Will Graham to be a character I identify with to a shocking level (like, while watching the show, I would finish the character’s sentences).  The first season is fantastic and will hook you for the second.

            The second is one people have probably already seen, “The Haunting of Hill House” (I did a review of the audiobook).  Mike Flanagan is a creative person who has instantly entered into my “I will consume anything and everything they make” category.  And as soon as I have more time I will be binging his latest series, “The Haunting of Bly Manor”.

Cartoons Series and Animated Movies

            I have talked before about my infinite love of the “Ghostbusters” franchise, and I can point to two opportunities to experience underappreciated aspects of the franchise.  “Extreme Ghostbusters” (It has one of the best theme songs ever) the 90’s animated sequel to the 80’s “The Real Ghostbusters” cartoon is probably the most underrated cartoon of the 90’s (plenty of people would point to “Freakazoid”, but that show has gotten a lot more love in the years that followed).  It is currently on Hulu, and I love it.

            Continuing with ghost busting, there is “Filmation’s Ghostbusters”, which aside from having a talking TV, Car, and Gorilla on the team is also one of most fever dream of all the cartoons I have ever seen.  I wish, in the depths of my soul that Filmation had been less of a shit about “The Real Ghostbusters” because I think a crossover animated movie would have been a delightful relic of the late 80’s.  What could have been.

            As far as movies, I have talked about my love of stop motion before, and this is going to be a case of me vigorously pointing at the work of Studio Laika and saying, “Watch their stuff!”  But start with “Coraline” an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name (and I love Neil Gaiman).  But then move onto “ParaNorman” a movie that gets the tears welling up at the climax every time I watch it. 

Most Under Rated Movie

            I find myself mentally revisiting the movie “Underwater” all the time.  It is a mix of science fiction and horror tropes that speaks to me.  The acting is great, the use of claustrophobia and aquaphobia are fantastic when coupled with the simple plot of, “We are being hunted and we have to get out”.

            It has perhaps the coolest monster reveal at the films climax I have ever seen.  I was legitimately filled with dread and awe when watching Kristen Stewart trying to deal with these horrifying things in the dark.

            I would also say that this movie benefits from the audience going into it knowing as little as possible to help preserve some of the set piece moments and plot developments.

           Give it more of a shot than the studios did, when they released it to no fanfare, little promotion, and after having shelved it for years.

 

 

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My Thoughts on the "Ghostbusters" Franchise

            Let me talk a bit about one of my favorite things ever: Ghostbusters.

            The original film holds a special place in my heart as the movie I have seen the most in my life.  My estimates are inexact (as most of the times I saw it were prior to my turning 5) but I think a guess of 100+ times would not be out of the question.  I could quote whole tracts of the movie’s dialogue before I even knew what they meant.  My father brings up wistfully the numerous times I would talk to strangers at the grocery store introducing myself as, “Hello, my name is Ray Stanz, I’m a Ghostbuster” which I pronounced “Gose-Busser”.

More than that, I am a big fan of the cartoons.  I own the gigantic premium box set of “The Real Ghostbusters” and I feel the biggest misstep of the marketing of “Ghostbusters (2016)” is that they have not released “Extreme Ghostbusters” on DVD (it is the most underrated cartoon of the 1990’s).  I watched “RGB” to the point of destroying the VHS tapes of it my grandparents had at their house.

I owned and played with dozens of the toys, to the point where they fell apart, with bits snapping off, pieces going missing, and paint flaking off.  More than “Masters of the Universe”, more than “Transformers”, more than “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” this was the toy line that dominated my childhood (till Lego showed up and took over completely).

I even liked the sister(?)… knock-off(?)… rival?  We’ll go with rival.  I even liked the rival show “Filmation’s Ghostbusters”.  Which had two guys and a gorilla fighting ghosts and monsters sent back in time from the undead hellscape of the future.  It was mostly garbage, but still entertaining, if for no other reason than the music had a lot of get up and go.

The Gorilla Invented all of their equipment.
This used to be a live action series.

If I had the resources I do now (the internet) I would have collected and read the comics which for some reason only ever saw success in the UK.  I have a collection of the first 25 (thank you IDW) and will maybe get others in the future (honestly, the stories are freaking bananas and include an Ecto-4 which is a god damn rocket ship, and the first adventure includes the ghost of an intelligent alien slug monster).

I thought the sequel was fine, bit too much of a rehash of the first movie (kind of a lazy script when you get down to it) but harmless.

The video game was also fine and served as a good unofficial “Ghostbusters 3”, the game play was fun, and the writing (while hampered because there are clearly roles meant for Louis Tully and Dana Barret) is ultimately comparable to “Ghostbusters 2”.

I plan to see the new one this weekend.

That all being said I feel that I disagree with something that a lot of people list as the reason they like the original movie.  A lot of people seem to think that “Ghostbusters” only works because of Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray.  That their singular chemistry allowed it all to come together.

I disagree.

The idea of “Funny guys fighting monsters/ghosts” has been around a while.  It is a simple premise, and while the execution of that premise varies WILDLY in both how it is done, and how well it is done.  The idea of “comedians fighting ghosts/monsters/aliens” is too broad a concept to be fenced in to just those three actors plus the extended cast (this is not to cast shade at Ernie Hudson, who I feel is underrated both in the franchise and as an actor in general, but he is a supporting character in the story).  Dan Aykroyd did not invent the idea.

Though, back in Mickey's day of fighting "Lonesome Ghosts" they didn't have proton packs.
They had to make due with a shotgun and a deerstalker cap.

The biggest issue I have with Ghostbusters (and I say this keeping in mind all of the positive things I have said above) is that they did not grow the concept.  The 1980’s was filled to the brim with talented comedic actors and special effects that got better every year.  The first “Ghostbusters” was set in New York and used several well-known comedians (and considering Eddie Murphy and John Candy were both originally in it, they didn’t even get their original picks), WHY THEN WAS THE SECOND ONE DOING THE SAME THING?

"Ghostbusters: Mardi Gras", "Ghostbusters: Liberty Bell", "Ghostbusters: Bambino's Curse". Just take a city, and throw comedians at it.  Lily Tomlin, Phil Hartman, Jane Curtin, George Carlin, Chris Rock, and anybody else.  Seriously now, do you think that Bill Murray invented being snide?  There are 100 cities in America that could all have their own ghost stories.  Voodoo zombie hordes, the Jersey Devil, HALF THE STUFF THEY DO ON “SUPERNATURAL” could all have been done with John Lithgow and Jeff Goldblum wearing proton packs.

A Trillion nerds on the internet and this is the only image of an alternate 80's cast.
Really wish I had Adobe Suite on this computer I would have put more into this effort.

“The Real Ghostbusters” cartoon had 140 episodes.  And while they all had different problems (they seemed to face a Gozer level world ending threat every episode) clearly there are stories that exist with people fighting ghosts.

            The reason I saw fit to write this is because I have seen a lot of people online arguing things like, “It is a big part of my childhood, they shouldn’t remake it”.  And I feel that is just stupid.  While I would prefer a movie in which the Ghostbusters already existed, and did the stuff from the movies and video game and then just had Ray and Winston showing up to hand the keys of the New York offices off to new people… That would have been better.  But, that is over with.  You can’t fence off the best iteration of a good idea.  The execution was too good not to run with in various permutations.

Just like Batman has been rebooted 10,000 times, and James Bond has looked like a half dozen people, Ghostbusters is starting fresh and hopefully is good enough to do what I wanted the series to do all along: GO PLACES.

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Goodbye Harold Ramis

            I like movies, but there is a particular movie that I have seen probably in the triple digits, and that is "Ghostbusters".  One of its stars, Harold Ramis, died in the immediate past.  And I feel bad.  I still consider him to be one of my influences of saying something that spells doom or plight with a dry delivery and a smirk.  He was (and his stuff still is) funny.

            Here is the thing, he lived a full life, filled with interesting people.  Ramis was able to express himself creatively far more than most people ever will be able to.  He was wealthy, happy, and made others happy.  We can talk about it being too soon, but it was a life well lived and he was old.  He lived a lot more than most people could ever hope to.  I admire his creativity a great deal, and am glad he lived.

He did other stuff aside from "Ghostbusters", and it is also good.

            Aside from his family who feels the loss of his life personally and is in need of sympathy, people who like comedy in general should feel glad that he lived, and thankful, and that should be the end of it.  His work will not disappear, his place in my childhood will not scab over.

            This is actually one of many celebrity deaths that have happened in my life, and the last one I really remember was Paul Walker, whose creative work was abysmal and should not be what he is remembered for, instead his charitable work is a much greater contribution to society and what should be lauded.

            This stuff happens.  Sooner or later Samuel L Jackson is going to "Mother" his last "Fucker", and Patrick Stewart is not going to be able to quote Macbeth while wearing an X-Men costume.  People die, but their contributions can and will be respectfully remembered just like every person's should be... and the shit stuff they do should be remembered too.

30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 8

            I decided to do the 30 day movie challenge as a blog series as it ties into my blog activities rather easily and I am once again not blogging my usual series with regularity in spite of saying that I would.

            Today is "A Movie that I know all the Words to".  No contest here, "Ghostbusters" takes this one in a landslide.  I actually deleted a far distant movie challenge topic of "Movie you've seen countless times" because this is the only movie I can claim to have seen 100+ times.  Cause my Grandmother (who is awesome) used to watch me while my Mom and Dad were at work.  And even when I was freaking two, the best way to get me to settle down and be quite was science fiction mixed with clever comedians being smartasses.

What? I already posted a link to this music video in the "30 Day Movie Challenge". Well, watch it again.

            My love of this movie and the time I spent imbibing it doesn't end there though.  The sequel, utilitarianly named "Ghostbusters II" was another film I watched again and again.  And the animated series, the complete masters collection DVD set currently occupying a treasured space on my brother's DVD shelf in its firehouse shaped box.  I also had a hella lotta toys of the cartoon, most of which were played with till they simply fell apart (hence why I find Lego to be the best company for play things, they're nearly indestructible).  Oh, and then there is my waiting with baited breath for them to release the "Extreme Ghostbusters" cartoon to DVD.  Then there were the "Filmation's Ghostbusters" VHS tapes I had because they were related... In no way other than the name.  And that I played to completion the latest video game.  And I am also waiting for "Ghostbusters III" to hit theaters even though I'm sure it will be less than stellar.  What can I say this idea appeals to me on some level.

There was a coffee girl at Einstein's Bagels wearing this for Halloween, so wanted to mercilessly hit on her.

            See I am a big fan of science fiction, the paranormal, comedy (especially sarcasm) and the superhero genre.  This combines all of that together, though i suppose it would be a stretch to call the Ghostbusters superheroes, they only save the world on multiple occasions using gadgets of their own creation, but they are regular guys, with doctorates.

This was the video game on the Wii, which was criticized for its cartoon graphics.  Here is the thing, in 20 years, this game will still be a playable cartoon, and the more realistic graphics for the PS3 and Xbox360 will look shitty.  Style beats fidelity in any timeline of note.

            This movie is also very well paced and has a consistent look, it is New York, and it shows bits and pieces to help establish a growing sense of paranormal presence to keep it firmly grounded in New York, but at the same time pull you into a world that is far outside the norm.  Cause the Stay Puff Marshmellow Man is so awesome, that it kinda blows my mind.

"What?  What just popped in there?"

            I watched the commentary on the first movie where they sort of lament the special effects of the era not holding up, which I don't buy at all.  They have a clever use of miniatures, green screen, and animation to create an urban fantasy that passes my litmus test of believability.  I would even argue that if done now an excessive amount of CGI would end up cluttering the screen and over powering the actor's individual screen presence.

"Extreme Ghostbusters" a forgotten gem of 90's animation and story telling.

            Is this my favorite movie?  No, but it is in the top 10 and influenced my growing mind more than any other bit of Hollywood spectacle.  Would I recommend it?  Do I have to?  I have only ever met one girl who hadn't seen this movie prior to me talking about it, and I lent her the DVD's to one and two.  Then I threatened to turn her into ham cubes and serve her at a buffet if she didn't watch them.  So yeah, if you haven't seen it, go watch it.  It is the best comedy of the 80's.

It had its own charms.

            (Side note to the Lego toy company, if you make "Ghostbusters" sets, I will buy them.  Seriously, I will find a way to make them part of my decor, an ecto-1 and a fire house.  Do that.)

Not to much to ask is all I'm saying!