In an election year in which the country is tearing itself apart over real issues like terrorism, immigration, the existence of climate change, and more, this weekend brings perhaps the most dumbly heated debate of the year, over a movie. Yes, that’s right. Let’s get this over with, shall we?
Ghostbusters
Director: Paul Feig
Writers: Katie Dippold. Paul Feig
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth
Please don’t say that your childhood was ruined by the existence of a movie, people. Pretty please, because it only make you look like jerks to people who may have had actually bad childhoods. Ghostbusters was my babysitter as a toddler. Heck, it provided most of my vocabulary and set me on the path to writing professionally about movies. And there is nothing about the 2016 Ghostbusters that can take that away. So please don’t get overly precious, or worse, misogynistic, about an all-female group of Ghostbusters.
Especially this group of all-female Ghostbusters. Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones are about as solid a comedy team as you can assemble in 2016. Pair them with the guy who created Freaks and Geeks and directed Spy, and that’s the start of something special. Maybe the trailers haven’t been much to write home about, but this is something to be excited for. Go see it, then form your opinion, not the other way around. It’s really simple. Although I will not fault anyone for complaining about Fall Out Boy doing the new theme song. They ruined my teenage years when I actually lived them. Few things about the last couple years have disconcerted me more than when I learned the band was still around.
The Infiltrator
Director: Brad Furman
Writer: Ellen Sue Brown
Starring: Bryan Cranston, John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger
If you grew up during the height of the War on Drugs, then your childhood may have actually been bad, not retroactively ruined by a movie about funny ladies catching ghosts. This undercover cop thriller takes place in the 1980s, as Bryan Cranston’s (Breaking Bad) U.S. Customs official poses as a member of the underworld while he tries to take down Pablo Escobar. His new partner is played by John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!), and Inglourious Basterds’ Diane Kruger is another agent who gets to pose as Cranston’s much younger fiance. This is the basis for pulpy fun, with some added real world ramifications. There doesn’t seem much of a downside to this one, folks.
Post a Comment