It’s that time once again folks, as we have officially come to the close of the summer movie season and get ready for Oscar season and the winter holiday films. I’ve been looking over my list of new movies I have seen this year — and yes this includes older movies as well, but also movies that I have seen for the first time – to pick my favorites so far. So the easiest step of my process for this post is to first go through and get rid of the older movies and then get into the nitty gritty of compiling my top ten movies of 2016…so far.
It has been an uphill battle for the Sony marketing team ever since the first trailer for the Ghostbusters reboot came out. But when the first box office numbers came out, studio execs were quick to hail the film as a success and said that there would be a sequel without actually confirming that there would be one.
Now there is a sense that they may have jumped the gun a bit as a new report says Sony is possibly going to lose up to $70 million on the movie. More on the story below.
On this week’s The Drill Down podcast, Pokemon fever continues, social media reacts to an attempted coup in Turkey, an open letter from tech leaders to Donald Trump, Facebook’s diversity problem, Netflix boldly goes where no one has gone before … and much, much more!
This week, Facebook Live‘s growing pains as real-time news dominates livestreaming, the first use of lethal robots by a domestic police force, a robot stingray made from living cells, and Pokemon Go is here, and it’s super effective! …and much more on The Drill Down podcast!
Ghostbusters Director: Paul Feig Screenwriter: Paul Feig and Katie Dippold Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey Distributor: Sony Pictures Rated PG-13 | 116 minutes Release Date: July 15, 2016
It’s easy to see why a reboot of a film like Ghostbusters could be met with such resistance. But that resistance has to come from the right place, otherwise it will sound like white noise. Now that we live in such a progressive period of time, we are more likely to see changes that would fuel such a resistance, and it’s no surprise that we are seeing that in Paul Feig‘s reboot, Ghostbusters.
The 1984 original film is such a classic film for many of us who have either lived during that time or have watched it on home video and learned of its existence through the two animated series. There is also the 1989 sequel, as well as board games, comic books, and video games, all of it based on the success of the franchise. Until now, there really hasn’t been any changes to the franchise, and as such there will be those who will probably have a strong attachment to the two films they are very familiar with. Which brings me back to the idea of resistance. No matter how you spin it, no matter how great it is, no matter how funny, there will be those who will not welcome this film with open arms. And that is the wrong way to approach it. The new Ghostbusters film, while flawed, is funny — very funny. It is one of those rare reboot comedies that’s sharp and clever, and isn’t afraid to make fun of itself or acknowledge some of those critics who may have been vocal about not wanting to see the film since it was first announced. The full review of 2016’s Ghostbusters is here below.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press