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No One Called These Ghostbusters!

ghostbusters

This summer we finally got a new Ghostbusters movie, and audiences largely ignored it.  The losses for this film are an estimated $70 Million dollars.  Was it because the movie was bad?  No it is pretty good in fact, but it was because the movie studio didn’t listen to its fans and made a movie they didn’t want.  A warning other studios would be wise to listen to.

Ghostbusters is a complete reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise.  The equipment, “science”, and setting are largely the same, but the characters are new and have different motivations.  Though in the end they pretty much play gender swapped versions of the original cast, and if you are just going to play different versions of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson that comparison is not going to end well for you.

I think the lack of originality was the main problem with this movie.  You can tell that they wanted to do something different, but then they just kept re-doing things from the older movies, and what we learned from Star Trek Into Darkness is that it is always better to do something original instead of re-doing the classics.  You will never be able to make those classic moments better.

I have kind of been hard on this movie, but Ghostbuster’s saving grace is its fantastic cast.  Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon are all hilarious.  Especially Kate McKinnon.  Instead of being a bad copy of Egon she decided to go full blown crazed super scientist, and I loved every scene she was in.  She and Leslie Jones provided most of the laughs.  Which kind of left McCarthy and Wiig to be the straight women which is not their strong suits.  They were still good, but I think they all should have followed McKinnon’s lead and found some way to change up their characters.

I laughed a lot with Ghostbusters, but it just couldn’t live up to the original.  Not that I am condoning the sexist things that were said about this movie, but sometimes the fans are right, and maybe this franchise should have been left alone.  Still, if you are looking for a decently funny movie to watch you could do worse than the new Ghostbusters.

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The Most Controversial Thing To Happen This Weekend Was A White Woman Playing A Japanese Cartoon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxeR9Nu0nQs

Okay it wasn’t the most controversial thing to happen this weekend, but Twitter definitely wasn’t happy with it, and honestly I get the backlash.  Scarlett Johansson is playing a Japanese woman in a very Japanese looking movie, and this is the time and age where if you have a Japanese character they should probably be played by a Japanese person.  Though it is easy to see how this happened.  Hollywood is just now getting on board with women leading action movies, so to sell this movie Paramount got the most bankable woman they could find to star in it.  I am not saying it is right, I am just saying this shouldn’t have been a shock.

Hopefully women staring in action flicks becomes more common, so that we will have a larger and more diverse group of ladies to pick from in the near future, and this doesn’t happen so often.  All that being the case this movie looks pretty good, and 2017 is shaping up to be a good one for blockbusters.

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The Guy That Gave Us The Fifth Element Is Bringing Us Back To Space With Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets!

Luc Besson is known for making crazy and fun films, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets looks no different.  It is easy to see that this movie shares DNA with the Fifth Element.  It is always great to see Sci-Fi that is not Star Wars or Star Trek out there, and I can’t wait to watch this movie next summer.  Oh, and I almost forgot it has Rihanna in it, so for all you people who were on the fence that should help you out!

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Shmee Takes On 47’s Last Job!

hitman-episode-6

It took me a while to get to it, but I finally completed the first season of Hitman.  For the most part I have loved it.  I didn’t review Colorado individually, but having four hits and a post hit objective gave it a lot of length, but it lacked character.  It was just a muddy farm.  It seems to me that if you are in Colorado you should be at a ski resort or something, or if it had to be a farm at least make it a weed farm!  Stay topical people!  Oh well, Hitman’s tried and true gameplay saved the day.

The last Hitman mission takes 47 to secret hospital for the extremely wealthy.  You have to take out two targets, and while that seems like a step back from the four in the previous mission, one of the targets is well protected, so it takes some time to get him if you are trying to be stealthy.  Also the Hokkaido mountain local is much more visually interesting.  If the whole season has been building to this job, at least they saved one of the best for last.  It is challenging and funny, and it has a few throwback options for long time fans.

So the question is was the series as a whole worthwhile?  I think so.  The story is nonsensical, and if you just play the missions straight through and don’t play around a little, it may be a little short, but if you take your time and use all the various mouse traps that Hitman gives you it is a game that is easy to get lost in.  I was skeptical if the episodic release of levels would work for Hitman, but in the end it ended up being one of my favorite things about it.  Getting a new mission every month was something to look forward to, and it forced me to go back an replay some of the older missions while I waited.  I hope they are hard at work on season two because I need more Hitman!