Movie Opinion: GhostBusters: Frozen Empire (2024) *Some Spoilers*

Movie Opinion: GhostBusters: Frozen Empire (2024) Some Spoilers

There's one thing that can be said for 2016's, all female Ghostbusters reboot, and that is, it's not anywhere near as bad as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

Although you don't realize it almost all the key moments of the actual plot are spoiled in the movie poster shown here.

It's a wildly over thought, and overly convoluted story, with much exposition, that boils down to a big end level boss, a beam of light shooting into the sky, all the captured ghosts escaping, and all the Ghostbusters teaming up to clumsily restore order again by the end of the film.

Side note: That mayor everyone thinks is a dick is the kind of mayor you want. He really knows how to get things done in record time. I've never seen a building get condemned and the legal tenants get evicted so fast, ever!

There's not much here that this franchise hasn't done before, in every film, only this time everything freezes too because... I don't know, I drifted off during that exposition? Though, with all those stabby icicles randomly emerging from the ground everywhere in various panic filled action scenes, I don't think even one person got skewered.

I know I'm late to the party with reviewing this film. Like the last installment, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, I was waiting for it to come to a streaming service so I could watch with no additional cost to me. When it finally did, there was no urgency to watch it, since I knew it wasn't great.

As such, this isn't actually a review. As someone who likes the original Ghostbusters movie, and the premise of Ghost exterminators in New York, I thought I'd put some ideas forward on how this mess could be fixed in future films.

Quit the Nostalgia

All the nostalgia you need is in the car, the suits, the proton packs, the logo, even the fire house. Things that actually make the Ghostbusters, you know, the Ghostbusters.

I like that Winston (Ernie Hudson), somehow got rich and is bankrolling everything, but lets stop having everyone still left over from the original film suiting up to fight the final battle alongside the new cast. Just stop it.

I love that the original cast are still happy to show up but they're just taking up screen time that could be used to tell a more interesting story.

Venkman (Bill Murray) just shows up because, I guess he noticed it was getting a bit ghosty in New York, and he thought he'd chip in?

...and Slimer. Does he really need to be in every film?

It Doesn't Need to Be World Ending

Honestly, I'd just like to see the Ghostbusters doing their daily job. Not every film needs to end with a big boss battle and the Mayor eating humble pie.

Maybe do a trilogy, where a few threads come together across each film, leading to a big third film event instead?

Give the Audience Something to Do

Ghost hunting is actually a thing that has a whole folklore around it. Maybe draw upon that a bit more and be a little bit more mysterious. I know I'd enjoy more of a who done it, mystery style film, where we gradually learn about the ghosts and their purpose, rather than the exposition dump we get in these films.

No More Kid Ghostbusters

While I did appreciate that Frozen Empire calls out Phoebe Spenglar (Mckenna Grace) as being too young to be working as a Ghostbuster, I don't want to see kid Ghostbusters. The original movies weren't really kids films.

Yes I know there were Ghostbuster cartoons, and I expect that's why these reboots have kids in them, but I don't need the teen angst storylines taking up time that could be better spent on the actual Ghost storylines.

If we actually do get another movie, hopefully Phoebe will be all grown up by then.

Finally...

Under any circumstances do not now, or forever in the future, have a big beam of light shoot up into the sky. It's so over used, in so many movies. Don't do it.

Comments

Movie Review: Superman (2025) No Spoilers

T he one thing I like about James Gunn as a comic book movie director is that he leans into the comic book nature of the world and the characters. He's not trying to do a realistic take on any of the characters. He's simply bringing the comics to life. It's still his take on the characters, but he doesn't shy away from their comic book origins. James Gunn's Superman is very much a comic book movie in every sense. Nothing is off the table because it's too 'comic-booky' and might look silly in a live action film. To me that's incredibly liberating. It lets James actually tell a proper Superman story that isn't hamstrung by reality, or tip toeing into the fantastical just enough to allow Superman to exist in the real world. Superman begins in the middle of a battle. Metropolis is under attack by a super powered being known as 'Hammer of Boravia', however everything is not as it seems, and Superman (David Corenswet) must work with other s...

James Gunn's Social Media Monkeys Joke Was a Highlight of His Superman Movie For Me

B efore James Gunn's Superman Movie was released there was a whole rumor going around that the movie would feature monkeys on computers trolling Superman's social media, sparking much outrage. #supersh*t. I didn't know this was even a thing until just prior to writing this article. I did a search to see if anyone had posted a clip of the monkeys scene from the movie and got pages of discourse featuring videos and articles prior to the film. Most of it from Gunn detractors (let's say) seeing it as some kind of childish swipe at them... well not them specifically but, you know, those other people who have every right to hate on anything sight unseen. Anyway, I'm not going to give even one such example a link or air because it's kind of sad watching someone devote so much commentary to a throw away gag that is absolutely a nod to James Gunn's Superman trolls. The whole reason this post exists, is to say I loved the joke, because fourteen years ago, and I...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices. My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe? Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Movie Review: A Complete Unknown (2024) No Spoilers

Y ou would think the Bob Dylan story would be 'wind-swept and interesting,' to quote Billy Connelly, however, despite A Complete Unknown being quite an engaging film, it feels like it missed the years that really shaped him as a song writer/performer. The film starts in 1961, with a then unknown, 19-year-old Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in New York City with his guitar. From there he forges relationships with musical icons on his meteoric rise, culminating in a groundbreaking performance that reverberates around the world. The problem being, according to this film, Dylan arrived in New York, for the most part, fully formed as a folk singer/song writer. In virtually no time he makes a very important connection that puts him on the trajectory of doing the work and becoming a name, before making his world changing performance. While there is some drama behind the scenes with his various relationships, none of it is particularly unique to any number of up and com...

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

Second Sunday Skateboard Session Episode 9, and 10 - Shuv-it Revelation and Did I Improve?

T he final two episodes of my ten part YouTube series documenting my process of learning the first seven basic skateboard tricks from Braille Skateboarding's, Skateboarding Made Simple. These are the links to Episode One , Episode Two , Three to Five , and Six to Eight , should you feel the need to see where I started or you want a bit more background on my personal skateboarding journey that began in 1988. I won't ramble on in this final introduction to my last two sessions, other that to say, episode ten is the highlight in terms of getting a direct comparison from episode 1 with side by side footage. Episode 9 - Frontside Pop Shuv-it Revelation The only episode not filmed on the second Sunday, thankfully due to the weather raining Sunday out and not my lack of willingness to continue. Monday was also very rainy but I managed to fit my session in during a small window of no rain late in the day. It was a little bit of a difficult session in that I could only uti...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog