Red Letter Media

[stuffandthings]

The last several years take the cake though, all the shit that has been boiling under the surface of society for decades is starting to come to a head thanks to social media radically changing the game.

Occasionally shit really does boil over into something like the civil war, WW1, WW2, it feels like we're on the verge of a major boil over again.

Not even close. The race riots of the late 60's make last summer's look like little bitch fits. We're talking about nearly 100 people killed just by rioting in one year from '67 to '68. We were a lot closer to Civil War 2 Electric Boogaloo then.

Get some historical perspective, and you'll realize that right now most people are too comfortable to do more than piss and moan and posture. All the burning looting and antifag shenanigans of the last five years haven't killed enough people to fill a short bus.

 

[Dom Cruise]

The Video Game is definitely the best #3. If you have played it, you probably don't need to see Afterlife (though it's a decent #4 and can work mostly with the game in continuity - especially if you like to imagine Paul Rudd as the Rookie).

Both sequels are interesting as a comparison to the original. To butcher a metaphor, #2 is like taking everything off the frame of a house, and then building a new house on that frame, while #3 is taking everything about the house (bricks, siding, etc) and building all of it onto a new frame.

#2 is superficially different but still has the same core structure and bones to the story as the first one. #3 has a lot of superficial overlap to the first movie, but has a different core and bones to its story.

(excluding the broad general outlines and 3-act story structure that 99% of ALL movies have in common, you autists)

The video game really is amazing, I still don't understand why it wasn't a Batman: Arkham Asylum level hit, but I blame the shenanigans where originally it was going to be published by Activision until they canceled it (just imagine if the video game had never seen the light of day, Activision is a next level scummy company) and Atari picked it up, maybe resulting in less advertising budget or whatever.

I'm rather impressed Podcast seems to have been an actual likeable comic relief and I love the payoff to one of his jokes at the end.

Yes the brother is very "cliche" teen but they only have so much time to flesh stuff out. I was just thrilled they made him competent at being a mechanic and driver instead of Phoebe being omni-Rey. I like when team movies have everybody on the team actually be useful instead of some of them being deadweight.

Yeah I would have probably polished the script a bit more - done more with Paul Rudd as the mentor figure - but the film overall is SO MUCH BETTER than Girlbusters or the SW sequels.

I don't even mean as a sequel, I mean as a pure story period it is competent.

And yes I am aware of how sad it is we are living in a time where basic storytelling competence has to be praised instead of taken for granted as a given.

This is why I wish Mike, Rich and Jay had given the movie more credit, but I get it, they're totally burnt out on nostalgia and memberberries.

Not even close. The race riots of the late 60's make last summer's look like little bitch fits. We're talking about nearly 100 people killed just by rioting in one year from '67 to '68. We were a lot closer to Civil War 2 Electric Boogaloo then.

Get some historical perspective, and you'll realize that right now most people are too comfortable to do more than piss and moan and posture. All the burning looting and antifag shenanigans of the last five years haven't killed enough people to fill a short bus.

I hope you're right and I do think you are with regards to the US, but I'm also not just talking about the US, but globally, there's also a lot of tensions with things like China and Taiwan, Russia and Ukraine etc, nobody likes to think the shit can actually hit the fan.

 

[reptile101]

What would happen if Jason Reitman gave the Afterlife treatment to Animal House?




Probably the case, from what I understand isn't Bill Murray one of the main reasons a Ghostbusters 3 with all 4 of the original dudes never happened?

And from what I understand weren't they all set to make a third movie in the early 2010s, but Bill simply didn't want to and then Harold Ramis died?

I definitely have mixed thoughts on Bill as a person, I don't really get what his deal is, but at least he didn't finally agree to suit up again.

bill died to me when i learned he went to epstiens isle

 

[Evil Peter Griffin]

bill died to me when i learned he went to epstiens isle

Alot of rich famous people went. I don't think all of them were pedos.

 

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Did anybody think it was weird that they tried to cross the streams again at the end?

I thought the only reason that didn't destroy all life as we know it was because they directed the blast into Gozer's ghost dimension or whatever it was.

 

[Uncle Sid]

A Ghostbusters 2 should have followed in 1986 or 1987, a Ghostbusters 3 in 1989, 1990 or 1991, a Ghostbusters 4 in 1994 or 1995 and then a final movie or a final movie starring the original cast in 1999 and then maybe a passing of the torch to a new generation.

You're right, I should have clarified that it was both the premise and the characters that I feel could have lent itself to a lot more movies, those original characters are just so likable and fun to spend time with that it's a shame we didn't get to see them on more adventures.

The thing was, though, Ghost Busters was shit. It was like an SNL gag that got too big. Didn't even have the rights to its own name while it was shooting, and the star - Murray - only agreed to shoot it in the first place so he could make The Razor's Edge, a serious film. Nobody at the time was interested in being a comedy man for life, or getting typecast as a rapscallion. These days franchise roles are path to real riches (see Marvel crap) but back then serious actors wouldn't even deign to be in television commercials. Instead, we saw some blending in the other direction - like Larry King in Ghostbusters - as serious journalists started to become pop stars in movies and eventually TV fiction, lending their real-word authority to fictional narratives.

The video game really is amazing, I still don't understand why it wasn't an Batman: Arkham Asylum level hit, but I blame the shenanigans where originally it was going to be published by Activision until they canceled it (just imagine if the video game had never seen the light of day, Activision is a next level scummy company) and Atari picked it up, maybe resulting in elss advertising budget or whatever.

The video game is ass. It made me throw my Atari out the window.

 

[Dom Cruise]

The thing was, though, Ghost Busters was shit. It was like an SNL gag that got too big.

What? It's literally a perfect movie.

Didn't even have the rights to its own name while it was shooting, and the star - Murray - only agreed to shoot it in the first place so he could make The Razor's Edge, a serious film. Nobody at the time was interested in being a comedy man for life, or getting typecast as a rapscallion. These days franchise roles are path to real riches (see Marvel crap) but back then serious actors wouldn't even deign to be in television commercials. Instead, we saw some blending in the other direction - like Larry King in Ghostbusters - as serious journalists started to become pop stars in movies and eventually TV fiction, lending their real-word authority to fictional narratives.

There was a taboo around movie franchises back then, most movies were seen as standalone things and yeah, Bill Murray had hopes of being a dramatic actor.

The video game is ass. It made me throw my Atari out the window.

I'm talking about the 2009 game.

 

[None Drunk Username]

Do you think Mike laughed when he read that members of the Dancing Grannies were among those killed during the recent parade near Milwaukee?

Speaking of which, didn't they do a black spine episode with the Dancing Grannies?

 

[StarkRavingMad]

So the husband and I went to see Ghostbusters: Afterlife earlier. We both finally had the time and the energy to go out to see a movie. We unfortunately missed The Last Duel and Last Night in Soho because last month was too chaotic and crazy for us, but that's besides the point ...

I just finished watching the Half in the Bag episode. After seeing the movie, I just knew that they were not going to dig it, haha. Personally, I enjoyed Ghostbusters: Afterlife for the most part. It didn't blow my mind, and it certainly didn't make me cry, but I thought it was a lighthearted little movie to enjoy for the evening ... Which basically makes it Citizen Kane-tier in comparison to the downright unwatchable 2016 movie. There's lots of stuff to like about this movie, in my opinion ... Though I entirely understand why the third act is a deal-breaker/make-or-break moment for people. The third act is far too much of a retread of the first movie-- it's Starkiller Base all over again, and it is easily the worst part of the movie for me, even if it wasn't aggressively terrible or anything. It was just too "been there, done that."

Spoiler: Spoilers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife

RLM's disdain for the Wal-Mart scene isn't unfounded, but I didn't find it to be terrible or unwatchable. If anything, I viewed it as a missed opportunity. For starters, more things should have come to life instead of just the marshmallows. With the way the scene starts, Paul Rudd's character is stumbling around the store as he hears a woman scream in the background and disregards it before he finds the marshmallows. It almost felt like a setup much like the one in Shaun of the Dead, when Shaun is recovering from a hangover, walking to the convenience store while being oblivious to the chaos happening around him. This setup's only payoff is Paul Rudd finding the marshmallows. How great would it have been if Rudd saw ghosts and ghouls around Wal-Mart and completely ignores them because they blend in so easily with the weirdos who shop at Wal-Mart late at night? Like I said, that scene wasn't terrible or anything, but it was indeed underwhelming and lacking.

Also, in regards to Egon's ghost: I loved how Egon communicated with Phoebe throughout the movie, and then communicated with his estranged daughter via possessing the house. The flickering lights, the moving chess pieces, etc ... I thought that was so damn cute, and it absolutely made me smile. When Egon's ghost finally appears in the third act, I was fine with the initial shot of his spirit next to Phoebe-- definitely gave me Goku and Gohan vibes at the end of the Cell Arc, LOL. I thought the movie lingered too much on Egon's ghost after that, though. It was overkill. I would have preferred a moment where the OG Ghostbusters were hanging out in Egon's basement after the fight, and Egon communicates with them through the house like he did with Phoebe. Could have had potential for some fun banter with the OG Ghostbusters.

Janine got the biggest laugh of the entire movie from me, by the way. Dammit, I love her character and her snark so much. Her exchange with Egon's daughter felt the most organic out of anyone that came back from the old cast.

"So you're saying that my Dad left us a house that is completely worthless?"

"... Not if you include the sentimental value."

 

[Gaear Grimsrud]

The video game really is amazing, I still don't understand why it wasn't an Batman: Arkham Asylum level hit, but I blame the shenanigans where originally it was going to be published by Activision until they canceled it (just imagine if the video game had never seen the light of day, Activision is a next level scummy company) and Atari picked it up, maybe resulting in elss advertising budget or whatever.

I like the video game, but I really wished they made a sequel with more original content in it.

That game had that memberberries problem again, where we're just dealing with a bunch of stuff we already saw in the first movie.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I like the video game, but I really wished they made a sequel with more original content in it.

That game had that memberberries problem again, where we're just dealing with a bunch of stuff we already saw in the first movie.

I think that's totally forgivable for a game, you want to see familiar things in a game because now you get to interact directly with it.

If anything I wish it had even more stuff from the movies that was originally planned to be in the game but cut, like Ray's Occult Bookstore, the pneumatic transit system station and even returning to the top of the apartment building and going into Gozer's dimension.

There was also going to be a whole sequence with possessed Macy's thanksgiving day parade floats being possessed.

But yeah, I really wish it had gotten a sequel too with maybe an all new plotline, again, I don't understand why it wasn't a bigger hit, the developer went defunct a handful of years later, the game got a fair amount of press and attention when it was first announced, but it took 2 years to come out, which was longer back then and I can assume the bad press and delay of it being canceled and uncanceled is what sunk it, it's the same deal with Brutal Legend.

However it's possible that had they tried to make a sequel Harold Ramis' illness would have prevented him from writing it or voicing Egon.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

I like the video game, but I really wished they made a sequel with more original content in it.

That game had that memberberries problem again, where we're just dealing with a bunch of stuff we already saw in the first movie.

The thing is that the video game came out long before memberberries were a widespread problem in our media today.

As a video game in of itself, I can forgive memberberries to a certain extent. You buy a Ghostbusters video game to play as a Ghostbuster; not necessarily to watch a whole new movie.

 

[Dom Cruise]

The thing is that the video game came out long before memberberries were a widespread problem in our media today.

Back around the time when the game came out, the 2000s, people online were completely obsessed with nostalgia, people were obsessed with movies like Back To The Future, Robocop, Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park.

And a frequent topic of discussion was imaging what it would be like if these ips were brought back, but at that time media itself rarely cashed in on it, off the top of my head the only 80s sequels from the late 2000s I can think of are the fourth Indiana Jones, the fourth Terminator and the Ghostbusters video game.

I mean you also had some remakes and new adaptions, like the Michael Bay Transformers (which I think was really the start of the return of the 80s in a big way) or the Friday The 13th remake, but things picking up where they left off was rare.

However now it feels like a monkey's paw scenario where we've gotten so many revivals that have only ruined things.

 

[StarkRavingMad]

Back around the time when the game came out, the 2000s, people online were completely obsessed with nostalgia, people were obsessed with movies like Back To The Future, Robocop, Ghostbusters and Jurassic Park.

And a frequent topic of discussion was imaging what it would be like if these ips were brought back, but at that time media itself rarely cashed in on it, off the top of my head the only 80s sequels from the late 2000s I can think of are the fourth Indiana Jones, the fourth Terminator and the Ghostbusters video game.

I mean you also had some remakes and new adaptions, like the Michael Bay Transformers (which I think was really the start of the return of the 80s in a big way) or the Friday The 13th remake, but things picking up where they left off was rare.

However now it feels like a monkey's paw scenario where we've gotten so many revivals that have only ruined things.

Oh, nostalgia has always been around, and always will be. Remakes and sequels have been an unfortunate thing for decades as well.

The thing is that it wasn't until the 2010s that nostalgia, in of itself, became a brand of some sorts. In the 2010s, nostalgia went from "Hey, remember that cool thing from back in the day? Fun times" to "I'm so emotional because the movie made a reference with a Nestle's Crunch Bar!" Hopefully my distinction makes sense?

In the latest Half in the Bag episode, I disagreed with some of the points that the dudes made in their discussion in regards to the film itself ... But I certainly agreed with some as well. Additionally, I wholeheartedly agreed with their assessment that people have turned their nostalgia into a full-blown personality trait.

In regards to "nostalgic properties," the only properties that I can think of that still remain untarnished in my eyes are the Rocky movies and the Karate Kid. I think that the Creed movies are the gold standard with re-starting a franchise by creating new and compelling characters while also respecting the hell out of the movies that came before it without appearing maudlin. And, so far, I can happily say the same about Cobra Kai.

 

[Dom Cruise]

Oh, nostalgia has always been around, and always will be. Remakes and sequels have been an unfortunate thing for decades as well.

The thing is that it wasn't until the 2010s that nostalgia, in of itself, became a brand of some sorts. In the 2010s, nostalgia went from "Hey, remember that cool thing from back in the day? Fun times" to "I'm so emotional because the movie made a reference with a Nestle's Crunch Bar!" Hopefully my distinction makes sense?

In the latest Half in the Bag episode, I disagreed with some of the points that the dudes made in their discussion in regards to the film itself ... But I certainly agreed with some as well. Additionally, I wholeheartedly agreed with their assessment that people have turned their nostalgia into a full-blown personality trait.

I can't blame people too much, the 21st century has turned out to be something of a nightmare, people's nostalgia is also longing for better times when things didn't seem to be falling apart.

It also has to be said that for as much as I'm nostalgic for them, a lot of 2000s culture was stupid as shit, think movies like Stealth, I struggle to think of even a single summer blockbuster type movie from that decade not based on an older property (ie not Pirates of The Caribbean or The Dark Knight or Spider-Man and The Lord of The Rings movies came out in December) that was truly great, maybe Spielberg's A.I. and Minority Report and if you count 2010 as part of the decade, Inception.

Michael Bay's movies were shit, Roland Emmerich's movies were shit, it was an overall embarrassing time for movies like that, it's no wonder there was an effort to try to nurse things back to health and revive what was cool from the past, we took a wrong turn politically though, somewhere out though is an alternate dimension where the 2010s was the decade of our dreams and all the revivals were as good as Mad Max: Fury Road, there was a strong desire with everything to get things back on course.

In regards to "nostalgic properties," the only properties that I can think of that still remain untarnished in my eyes are the Rocky movies and the Karate Kid. I think that the Creed movies are the gold standard with re-starting a franchise by creating new and compelling characters while also respecting the hell out of the movies that came before it without appearing maudlin. And, so far, I can happily say the same about Cobra Kai.

Back To The Future is the biggest one that has remained untouched, we got 3 movies that told a complete story with a satisfying ending and boom, we were done.

There's also standalone movies that have avoided getting sequels like The Goonies, E.T. and Who Framed Roger Rabbit despite some talk of ones for some of them.

I do kind of wonder what a Goonies sequel might have been like, but I feel like with the passing of Richard Donner that ship has sailed, a Goonies sequel should have happened no later than 2015.

 

[Flexo]

Also, in regards to Egon's ghost: I loved how Egon communicated with Phoebe throughout the movie, and then communicated with his estranged daughter via possessing the house. The flickering lights, the moving chess pieces, etc ... I thought that was so damn cute, and it absolutely made me smile. When Egon's ghost finally appears in the third act, I was fine with the initial shot of his spirit next to Phoebe-- definitely gave me Goku and Gohan vibes at the end of the Cell Arc, LOL. I thought the movie lingered too much on Egon's ghost after that, though. It was overkill. I would have preferred a moment where the OG Ghostbusters were hanging out in Egon's basement after the fight, and Egon communicates with them through the house like he did with Phoebe. Could have had potential for some fun banter with the OG Ghostbusters.

My feelings exactly.

Back To The Future is the biggest one that has remained untouched, we got 3 movies that told a complete story with a satisfying ending and boom, we were done.

Well it did have an animated series as well.

Like Bill & Ted.

 

[Newman's Lovechild]

Well it did have an animated series as well.

One thing and one thing only sticks in my mind about the BttF cartoon.

 

[Internet War Criminal]

We unfortunately missed Last Night in Soho because last month was too chaotic and crazy for us, but that's besides the point ...

You didn't miss shit except the movie equivalent of ass cancer.

 

[Flexo]

You didn't miss shit except the movie equivalent of ass cancer.

I was curious about that film.

Didn't turn out well, eh?

 

[Internet War Criminal]

I was curious about that film.

Didn't turn out well, eh?

I'm a huge fan of horror movies. I'm also a pretty big fan of the director.

I fucking hated it, it's a 1/10 absolute shit do not watch at all fucking retarded slog.

So Last Night in Soho was a fucking overlong mess with a confused and shitty message.

Sandy was clearly an insane cunt, but none of her victims deserved to be murdered for fucking a willing prostitute who went along with it aside from the pimp. The art student was annoying as fuck and caused the cop to die, I thought she was gonna redeem herself kinda when she recognized that all those dead guys were actually victims, but then she turns around and she's like 'nah no they deserved to die' and the movie agrees with it because even after the whole thing burns down not a word about the actual victims. The ending would have been much better if it had been the last delusional thoughts of the student as she choked to death and burned to death.

Aside from that, it's literally just coasting on memberberries

MEMBA 80S ITALIAN HOWWOW? MEMBA THE 60S? MEMBA WHEN I DIRECTED GOOD MOVIES?

Fuck that movie. A genuine 1/10.