Discuss Ghostbusters: Afterlife, released on November 19, 2021 and directed by Jason Reitman.
#4960517
starang11 wrote: November 19th, 2021, 10:33 am Curious on everyone's thoughts on this - but now that we've seen Afterlife, and knowing what we know about "Alive Again" and the kind of sequel Ivan was really pushing for prior to 2016, do you think Afterlife was the way to go?

While it's hard to compare a finished movie with something that only existed on paper, I found Phoebe and the overall family angle to be much more endearing than seeing a new group of 20/30 year old comedy stars subbing in for the OGs.
Definitely better than Alive Again.
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#4960522
If it's Ghostbusters movie universe wishing time, mine is:

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters II with less Bill Murray and much more Ernie

Ghostbusters: Hellbent

Ghostbusters, Inc.

Ghostbusters Afterlife/Legacy that ties in

Afterlife/Legacy sequel TV series
#4960526
My only nitpick about the guide is it wasn't shown more. It would have been awesome to see Podcast flipping through pages while they in Gozars temple. Maybe that's a deleted scene where we see other ghosts but the chopping board decided there was already enough easter eggs?
#4960527
jimmyjokerz wrote: November 19th, 2021, 10:48 am Surely Jason must have known that the OG’s just showing up at the end with no backstory as to how they got back together, wasn’t a great idea? Thoughts
I’m trying to think what they could add to fix this and a cutaway scene during or before the Gozer chase, with the OG’s pulling into town and asking Sheriff Domingo for directions to Spengler’s farm (“We’re the Ghostbusters”) would go a long way.

I’m assuming there’s an extended cut coming but if there isn’t I’ll be super bummed.
Last edited by Chicken, He Clucked on November 19th, 2021, 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
#4960528
I've put together a soundtrack (not including Rob Simonsen's score) from the film based on the information I captured in the film's end credits.

Did we hear "On the Road Again?" It was listed... but so was diegetic music from Cujo and Child's play.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Soundtrack on Spotify

Image
Last edited by groschopf on November 19th, 2021, 11:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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#4960530
Chicken, He Clucked wrote: November 19th, 2021, 11:21 am I’m trying to think what they could add to address my issues with the ending and a cutaway scene during or before the Gozer chase, with the OG’s pulling into town and asking Sheriff Domingo for directions to Spengler’s farm (“We’re the Ghostbusters”) would go a long way.

I’m assuming there’s an extended cut coming but if there isn’t I’ll be super bummed.
And he brings them to the house and it turns out he is a Gozer worshipper. It all adds up to my Fan Fixing!
#4960532
I LOVED this movie, the music, the practical and CGI effects are beautiful, the story is amazing. Even if the OGs have little screentime the new characters made the movie super interesting, Podcast stole the show. :-D Also, I loved it when Gozer ripped Shandor in half, it reminds me of the scene in Prometheus with Weyland and the Engineer, he wants to live forever but the Engineer lets him know that he's not worthy by killing him. This was one of the few movies that I actually cried with. Jason Reitman was right, it is like opening a Christmas gift!!!!!!!! :-D
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#4960536
Okay I was scrolling through the comments and I heard some great questions and these were the same ones that I had. One big one was that it was amazing that the OGs got to Oklahoma from New York so fast. Some here hate it or think it's gratuitous and I totally understand, but I loved every second of this movie. As expected the film is better than anything I could have imagined. The more times I watch the movie I am sure that I will be able to find the answers to many of the questions that people are asking here.

The question about the OGs arriving in the nick of time makes sense to me. I am assuming that after Phoebe's call Ray immediatly contacted the others. It is impled that they are all still on speaking terms. As Ray stated Winston carved out a fortune for himself so I am guessing that he owns a private jet. Maybe that's how they got there. That would also explain how they got their own equipment there. I am going to have some insane theories after I watch the movie a couple of hundred times. I already can't wait for the home release.

Someone here said they saw the Giga Meter in a quick shot when Egon was showing Phoebe his degrees. I really am looking forward to getting a hold of the movie so I can find all the easter eggs I missed from the first viewing. :):):)
Kingpin liked this
#4960538
Chicken, He Clucked wrote: November 19th, 2021, 2:57 am
How do they get back out of Egon's lab once they've slid down the pole?
There were stairs in the back leading up to presumably cellar doors like one would see for a tornado cellar. I believe you can see them pretty clearly in the scene where Callie is down there.

Also, the amount of people thinking Ivo Shandor was alive this whole time is kind of mind boggling. His glass casket clearly had his death date on there. He gained resurrection the same way Gozer does when all of the pieces line up, i.e. Zull and Vinz Clortho having sex. We see him start to reanimate the first time the kids are exploring, but then returns to death when the automated packs cross the streams. It isn't until the keymaster and gatekeeper come together that Gozer AND Ivo become resurrection. I assume by them using the rituals that Egon mentions in GB1 is how he connected himself to Gozers return.
Last edited by Corey91 on November 19th, 2021, 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#4960539
So why did Egon show Phoebe where the trap was hidden? You'd think he would know the first thing someone would do with that is try opening it. Which is what starts everything happening again. Was he hoping she would just use it to lure the other dog there and try his house traps again?
#4960542
Talyn wrote: November 19th, 2021, 12:12 pm So why did Egon show Phoebe where the trap was hidden? You'd think he would know the first thing someone would do with that is try opening it. Which is what starts everything happening again. Was he hoping she would just use it to lure the other dog there and try his house traps again?
Probably because it would only be a matter of time before the other Terror Dog would posses someone and destroy the packs? We do see Vinz taking care of it himself. He needed her to be a believer fast.

Raises the question why the other Terror Dog didn't do that sooner though. He had the time after he killed Egon.

God, I wish the movie made more sense.
Last edited by Alphagaia on November 19th, 2021, 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sav C, krismiller1982 liked this
#4960543
My quick thoughts on this movie, without repeating what others have said, is that I enjoyed it immensely, but for as long as we have all been looking forward to seeing the old crew together in uniform again, I kind of wish they weren't in this? The OG actors bring their A-game for the brief time they show up, and the banter is hilarious and feels true to who they are, but at the same time they feel like they come out of an entirely different movie. I actually forgot they WERE in this and was caught off guard when they did show up out of no-where to save the day. Unfortunate that they choose CG Egon, but it also didn't bother me because I'm working on a secret screen play that ONLY stars dead actors who have been reconstructed in CG in a polite comedy of errors. Glad I get to add Harold Ramis to the cast list along Peter Cushing and Paul Walker. (All I gotta do is pull a heist on the hard drive their souls are trapped on. I'm sure that's how it works).

But yeah, whoof, this thing needs another pass in the editing bay. Everything from the kids chasing muncher in the Ecto-1 (Knowing how to use the RC ghost trap immediately) to the phone call to Ray's Occult (I don't wanna talk Ghostbusters, but while you are here let me give you my Wikipedia run down on where all my old team is at. Also, who are you?) felt off.

All the actors were fun though and I was super into it up until maybe the Wal-Mart scene. It's just a shame we got another reboot that needs to autopilot the original story beats again.

The Matrix Resurrections better go just bat-guano insane with its story or I'm gonna- ...well I don't know what I'm gonna do! Complain on the internet I guess!
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#4960545
I think that there was a lot that didn't make it into this film. I'd love a copy of the script. Remember when Jason posted a photo that looked like the letter "Z" on a business card? We all assumed it was Winston's business card. Well that never made it into the movie. I'd love to know what it was exactly, and why it was cut from the movie.
#4960548
Yeah, also the PKE taser was teased a bunch and it only shows up at the beginning and then does... nothing? Or are we supposed to be led to believe he tazed himself and Gozer and that's what gave him the heart attack? But unless the audience watched the behind the scenes content why would they infer that the Ghost Tracking tool is suddenly also a weapon? Weird choices!
#4960549
cristovalc wrote: November 19th, 2021, 1:12 pm Yeah, also the PKE taser was teased a bunch and it only shows up at the beginning and then does... nothing? Or are we supposed to be led to believe he tazed himself and Gozer and that's what gave him the heart attack? But unless the audience watched the behind the scenes content why would they infer that the Ghost Tracking tool is suddenly also a weapon? Weird choices!
Podcast uses a taser to explode all the Mini Pufts on the pack that appeared out of nowhere. Which is also what fixes the pack somehow.

Also, why were the Mini Pufts cheering when they saw the OGB? Those are your mortal enemies?
Last edited by Alphagaia on November 19th, 2021, 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#4960550
cristovalc wrote: November 19th, 2021, 1:12 pm Yeah, also the PKE taser was teased a bunch and it only shows up at the beginning and then does... nothing? Or are we supposed to be led to believe he tazed himself and Gozer and that's what gave him the heart attack? But unless the audience watched the behind the scenes content why would they infer that the Ghost Tracking tool is suddenly also a weapon? Weird choices!
It's used again during the final act when Podcast uses it to kill/defeat all of the mini-pufts that take over the ecto
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#4960553
cristovalc wrote: November 19th, 2021, 1:12 pm Yeah, also the PKE taser was teased a bunch and it only shows up at the beginning and then does... nothing? Or are we supposed to be led to believe he tazed himself and Gozer and that's what gave him the heart attack? But unless the audience watched the behind the scenes content why would they infer that the Ghost Tracking tool is suddenly also a weapon? Weird choices!
I took it as Egon taking his own life. They do mention a heart attack. He knew his plan failed when the dirt trap failed. His last resort was to take his own life just before possession. This way, Zuul couldn’t inhabit his body to go back and destroy the rigged mine proton packs.
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#4960555
I really thought today I would be feeling so excited about all the new things we now have in our little GB world, but instead I've been feeling pretty weird all day. Maybe it's the result of such an extended period of build up, but I left the cinema last night not really knowing what to think.

I can't fault Jason's direction, I thought the cinematography was absolutely beautiful, the new cast were great, and the props looked (and sounded) incredible, but as others have mentioned the script and overall story structure is a major let down for me.

I had real smile on face as soon as Ray appeared again on screen (he was always the Ghostbuster I wanted to be when I was little) but his exchange with Phoebe on the phone was pure clunky exposition for the purpose of hastily explaining things to the audience. Plus, I simply can't get my head around Ray not believing Egon. If anything, it would be the other way around. Ray was always the excited big kid of the four - the fictional representation of Aykroyd himself and his wild ideas - while Egon brings him back down to earth with pure science - a mirror to how Ramis was so integral in bringing the original movie premise back down to earth. Ray has spent the last 32 years running his occult bookstore, he saw Gozer with his own eyes, yet he never once thought Egon may have a legitimate reason for taking off to Summerville? I just can't get there in my head.

I'm just really sad that, with so much love and effort that has been poured into this film, we have ended up barely anything new. The lore of Ghostbusters has so much potential - Jason and Gil could have come up with an amazing, rich plot line involving Shandor that still has links to 1984. They could have worked with Dan to shape some of the many ideas he has had over the years. Instead they decided to rehash the Gozer/Keymaster/Gatekeeper/Terror Dogs stuff almost beat for beat. It's just such a shame.

There was also the opportunity to create a whole slew of new ghostbusting equipment for us to spend the next 32 years obsessing over in exhaustive detail. Instead, we got a trap on wheels, the PKE meter with a (barely used) taser function and a thrower with some tape round the grip. Surely, in the 32 years since GB2, Egon would have invented some new amazing gear.

The OGs just showing up like that really grated and they didn't really seem like the characters we all know and love. Yes, they have aged of course, but there was more chemistry between them on Jimmy Fallon. Ray just seemed downtrodden and Peter just came across as a disheveled Bill Murray saying some lines he has been given to say. I did come away loving the development of Winston though - the idea of him finding so much career success yet remaining so emotionally attached to his time as a Ghostbuster was a lovely touch and the potential for a follow up is interesting, though I'm not sure how keen I am to see this as a franchise watered down by a slew of sequels.

GB1 will never be bettered, but there is so much potential in the GB universe and I was hoping for so much more. I am seeing the movie again on Monday so hopefully I will warm to it a little more.
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#4960560
What I love about the props in Afterlife is something I did not expect. So much thought has gone into it:

Ever since the Hasbro and Matty props were released we've always considered the wand to be a (relatively) precise piece of equipment. Like a precise tool. The bargraph had 5 increments of lights that were precisely adjustable on Hasbro(5) and Matty(2). Each notch on the power dial selected a single additional bar graph light step (decal). It was precise, like a watch.

Afterlife shows us a much more realistic version of what a tool like this (built at home berserk nuclear accelerator) would actually be like.

In the closeups Phoebe uses it, we see the bargraph waver. The lights are not precisely at one decal or another, sometimes they are in the middle of two, sometimes they overshoot. Its almost an analogue signal like an oscilloscope, trying to be shoehorned into 5 increments.

The age old question of was it static or did it scroll.... well here you go: it's kind of both. It doesn't really scroll up and down endlessly like the '84 hero prop did but it's also not as rigid as the Hasbro and Matty props made us think. It's like an analogue signal. Like a decibel meter in a way.

Such attention to detail and it makes perfect sense. This is what I mean with Afterlife was -more- than what GB1 was. Someone on the production team actually thought that out.
#4960563
Do you think they will do new version of tobin's spirit guide after this movie?
Or should I order the red hardback or green paperback now as my 7 year old put part of her pocket money/ money from selling her keyrings makes away to buy me something for Christmas
#4960567
Deanwinchester wrote: November 19th, 2021, 2:33 pm Do you think they will do new version of tobin's spirit guide after this movie?
Or should I order the red hardback or green paperback now as my 7 year old put part of her pocket money/ money from selling her keyrings makes away to buy me something for Christmas
I’d love a fresh Tobin’s guide with colour illustrations and which doubles as a compendium / encyclopaedia of every ghost featured in the movies, shows, comics, toys, videogames…
#4960569
I really enjoyed it.

Before I saw the movie I had wondered if the 2009 GB Video Game was canon. Well, this movie confirms it definitely isn't, lol. But that's OK, I'll just pretend the Video Game was just a parallel timeline.

Also, I was kinda sad that the events of GB 2 weren't referenced or talked about at all except for the "It's been 30 years since there were any ghost sightings" line (and since the movie takes place in 2020, that is 30 years after the events of GB 2. I know GB 2 got a lot of hate when it came out but I think these days most people have come to appreciate it.

Also, I lost my wallet and I think it fell from my pocket as I was watching the movie so I called the theater to see if they could find it for me and am waiting for them to call back. Wish me luck lol.
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