Ghostbusters (2016)

 

Ghostbusters - 2016

"When there's somethin' strange in the neighborhood, who ya gonna call?"  2016's "Ghostbusters" is the answer.  A team of four women sets out to save New York City from a plethora of paranormally frightening ghosts.  Can they do it before a portal threatens to take them to the other side?

The film's cast includes Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Zach Woods, Ed Begley Jr., Annie Potts, Michael McDonald, Andy Garcia, Al Roker, Ozzy Osbourne, and Charles Dance.

Our setting is New York City.  This busy town doesn't know it yet, but it is about to become one of the biggest paranormally active sites in the world.

The Aldridge Mansion is the site of our first ghostly sighting.  A malevolent ghost named Gertrude Aldridge appears and sprays a green slime from her mouth.

Our team of paranormal investigators includes Erin Gilbert, a professor at Columbia University.  Her interest in ghosts gets her fired and free to work full time with these specters from the great beyond.

Abby Yates is a physicist and former research partner of Erin.  She's a sassy, self-confident lady who isn't bothered by the norms of society.  Making reference to her interesting headwear, she says, "Probably the future you're looking at."

Jillian Holtzmann, "Holtzmann" for short, is an engineer with an interesting personality.  She's responsible for thinking about the gadgets the ladies use to contain the ghosts.

And Patty Tolan is a former MTA worker who can't quite understand exactly what she's doing with the Ghostbusters.  "I don’t understand how I get wrapped up in this stuff.  I had a good job at the MTA.  Was it perfect?  No, of course it wasn’t perfect.  But I tell you what, everybody was alive," she muses.

The girls have a quirky assistant named Kevin, who doesn't really understand the parameters of his job, but is a really likeable guy.  He's got a dog named Mike Hat, technically first name Michael, last name Hat.  When he says it, the name sounds like "My Cat", but no worries.

Patty even gets a hearse from her funeral director uncle.  Holtmann jazzes it up so it's ready for use, and the ladies get their uniforms and weapons and are all ready to hit the ground running.

All around town the ladies find different types of ghosts, specters, and paranormal transferal embodiments.  They find some sort of machine that seems to be responsible for summoning these apparitions.  To the public in general, these things are terrifying.

After following a series of clues and patterns, the ladies come across something big.  It's a portal to the ghost dimension, and all it needs is for someone to let the ghosts out to wreak havoc.

Naturally, that doesn't take too long, and soon New York City is teeming with ghosts anxious to cause mayhem.

Ghosts come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny ones to giant ones.  The Ghostbusters have to work hard and even have to cross over to the other side in order to restore order to the city.

Of course, it comes as no surprise that the Ghostbusters are victorious.  Assistant Kevin thinks he's the one that saved everything, though.  He pushed some buttons on an electrical box at the exact moment the portal closed up and vanished.  The ladies look at each other and smile, letting Kevin have this moment.

And now that they've saved the world, the government is ready to assist the Ghostbusters with whatever they need.  The first thing they want is a new space, which comes in the form of a firehouse.  The ladies are ecstatic, and run towards the building calling out dibs on the various floors.

Cast rundown:

   Melissa McCarthy..........................Abby Yates

   Kristen Wiig.................................Erin Gilbert

   Kate McKinnon.............................Jillian Holtzmann

   Leslie Jones.................................Patty Tolan

   Chris Hemsworth..........................Kevin

   Bill Murray...................................Martin Heiss

   Dan Aykroyd................................Cabbie

   Ernie Hudson...............................Uncle Bill

   Sigourney Weaver.........................Rebecca Gorin

   Zach Woods.................................Garrett

   Ed Begley Jr.................................Ed Mulgrave

   Annie Potts..................................Desk Clerk

   Michael McDonald.........................Jonathan

   Andy Garcia.................................Mayor Bradley

   Al Roker.......................................Himself

   Ozzy Osbourne.............................Himself

   Charles Dance..............................Harold Filmore

And that's it for Ghostbusters.  The film is very well done.  Many of the actors from the original '80s film made cameos in this one.  Several of the ghost characters will be familiar to fans of the original film as well.  The ghost balloons that the Ghostbusters battle are based on actual Macy's parade balloons from long ago.

One of the recurring funny bits in the film is Abby's perpetual frustration with the Chinese takeaway place.  When she orders some wanton soup, she's extremely dismayed with the lack of wantons.  "There's not even any meat in there," she deadpans.

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