GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE (2021) IS A LOVING TRIBUTE!! MOVIE REVIEW!!
00:00 Thank you to Shopify for sponsoring this video. More on them in just a bit. Okay, we're getting to this. Three, two, one. We just got done watching Ghostbusters. The afterlife? Afterlife. Holy crap.
00:21 If you're listening to us on Appar, Spotify, give us a five-star rating. If you're on the YouTube's like, comment, subscribe when you do. Bring the back. Ring the bell. Thank you to proper filming edit down these highlights. Super appreciate you. Before we get into our questions, we're going to give one minute of thoughts
00:38 and my one minute right now is I freaking love this film. I am like, yeah, I'm going to just erase the other one from my memory. I just didn't think it was a great film. This one is fantastic. I get why it's a BAFTA award winner. I think that the writing, the, the Easter eggs in it, I loved even just that like Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon's character, the way that they came together, the way they spoke, the sarcasm, the dark humor that's involved, the fact that the kids are all smart. There's not a ton of exposition, but when there is, it's in the right moments and it's said by the right characters, they did it the right way. And all I got to say is, thank you.
01:29 All right. Give us your one minute, and then I can help you find these. Oh, golly. I mean, yeah, this was a lot of fun and sharing the experience, you know, with you, Fred. Like, I didn't remember most of this, and I remember the first time I saw it, I was kind of mixed on it because I liked some of the newer aspects. And then, you know, in Act 3, you kind of just redo a lot of Ghostbusters. Yeah, yeah.
01:51 You know, and at the time, too, I know that when I was first encountering this, I would have been, again, hot off the kind of ugliness of all the stuff surrounding 2016. So without that much baggage in mind, I thought this was very fun. And, like, yeah, there are certainly cynical ways you can look at it because it is very laden with member berries. And it does have this Amblin-esque tone that is kind of interesting and puzzling to note because, again, what people love the original movie is not that kind of movie. So the fact that this is apparently what everybody wanted is interesting. and I think it makes more sense the further you get from it with time
02:29 and once you let go of popular trends and you just kind of look at this in a vacuum like yeah, I like the first two-thirds of it still I think more than the last one just because again you're doing a lot of like oh yeah we're doing the Ghostbusters things and it's like ah we got to get these two got to become the dogs and just goes there
02:45 and we're doing a lot of stuff on fast forward and then you got J.K. Simmons and he's here for like five seconds and then he's cool to have him here but it's kind of distracting that it's him and he's gone and then it's cool to see Olivia Wilde too but yeah I generally I had a really great time generally I thought this was really fun and thoughtful I have I think there is an argue there are interesting talks to be had about again resurrecting actors for things but generally the whole idea of you know them wondering about who their grandfather was and especially the journey through Phoebe's eyes you know I think there are things that could be a little more it's like I liked what everybody brought to it and I liked that they went with a bit of a family drama some comedy and you know
03:27 the theme of like oh yeah he didn't care about us and we never knew him but secretly he was working on this whole thing like I do appreciate that that everybody took that seriously to a degree and by the time he does show up at the end you are like
03:40 oh you know that's a kind of nice resolve for this specific family it's a bit of a nice resolve for the Ghostbusters you know they do show up and save the day and it's also you know nice for the people who care to see them all united one more time and, and, you know, they could never get a Ghostbusters three with all of them off the ground.
03:59 So, yeah, it's like, you know, for the baggage aside, I thought this was sweet. This was fun and everybody showed up and, you know, brought a nice energy to it. So generally speaking, I like this more than I did the first time, I would say. Yeah, okay. I love that. Let's get into our questions. Our first one from Jay, do you think Ghostbusters afterlife struck the right balance between nostalgia and a new generation story, or did it lean too much on the legacy of the originals?
04:24 I kind of saw it more as a love letter than a reboot. What do you think the film was really trying to say about legacy and family? Good questions. I mean, yeah, I think this does a lot. You know, it's definitely, again, throwing you, I can't remember how many I actually count. It's throwing you a lot of bits and pieces. 37, maybe. 24, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14.
04:47 I stopped at 14, but there's way more than that. I thought, this is what I thought he was doing. writing one and then when he goes in he erases and goes two his he's doing this one one yeah i was like i should have a notebook so i could just do notches one it like goes on oh my god i love it i love it oh my god yeah i think that generally i do appreciate what they did here especially because yeah like as much as i i again that conversation about like oh this is a different kind of movie and like the original Ghostbusters movie isn't like this reverential thing and this is a very reverential sequel um and it yeah i think it succeeds at being somewhat of a reboot somewhat of a
05:36 sequel it's doing some of its own things it's doing some stuff that directly ties into the characters of the past not just the motifs and the mcuffins of the world uh i would argue that maybe it leans a little too much on the legacy of the originals in act three when again you have a very familiar thing happening where oh there's another sky portal and the key master and the gatekeeper they're back and the gozer's back and now there's about to be chaos
06:00 unleashed unless we stop them and then the Ghostbusters the family's doing it but then the Ghostbusters come and they are kind of the key to making it all happen and they do all work together but if the Ghostbusters never showed up then all of this would have been for not I guess so like there is an element of that where yeah at the end I think
06:16 they could have made more you know If we're just looking at the strength of this isolated script, I think they could have made some different choices in Act 3. But generally, yeah, I like the... I don't begrudge a continuation or reboot doing some different stuff. And this is certainly juggling a balance because, like, the tone's not the same as the Ghostbusters. There is a lot of nostalgic stuff, but of course, you're going to be uncovering motifs.
06:45 I really like the device of Egon's ghost, like, leading them around. and in some ways I almost wouldn't have needed to see him I know that that's like kind of the thing to do in a situation like this where it's a big blockbuster and it's a big ensemble and you want to see them all together so I get why but yeah I definitely see it as a love letter and being that it's Jason Reitman I feel like he's in a unique position to bring that love
07:09 because it was he's in Ghostbusters 2 as a kid his dad is a huge part of the legacy of this you know the handling of of Egon is an interesting thing in the legacy because so much of it is based on his neglect of this family and you know that does it's that thing
07:29 it's a Hollywood thing where it's like it gets paid off and that like oh yeah this was all for protecting the entire world so I guess it's okay he did love us and you know you know that in real life like that just adds like it's heartening in one way but it also adds to the valley of nuances that create this complicated
07:45 family picture but I like that they made it something of a complicated family picture. Yeah. Even though Finn Wolfhard was not heavily involved in that picture. But, you know,
07:55 is, yeah. Yeah, I think generally speaking, I would say this does a lot of things right if you want to, it is very conscientious and thoughtful if you want to, yeah, do a legacy love letter sequel reboot thing. Yeah, I think in regards to like legacy and family,
08:13 there's a lot of times that, you know, I think what they're trying to show is that they didn't know their grandfather. her, but, like, DNA nature versus nurture, however you want to say it, is that she found her calling, but unbeknownst to her, her grandpa had the same calling, right? And then she learns that. And I think that has to do, like, legacy and family, there's always, like, things that you might want to separate yourself from in regards to family, but then there's always
08:39 stuff that you're not going to be able to separate. And I thought it was nice that they, you know, like, instead of her being like, I'm a badass, she's like, I'm a scientist. and obviously so was a grandpa and I thought that was really, really sweet. The ghost part, I'm really glad that they didn't make him talk. I thought that was great. Pulling a lot
08:58 on the legacy part I think that was more just like towards the end, I will say that even in the first movie, Zul was not my favorite. I was a little bit like, yeah, whatever, let's just kill him because it made it like not as much fun until they were sort of
09:14 improvising again and talking to it. I liked when it was a gorney weaver um but then when it got too much into zool i was sort of like it's fine um and then that's a little bit how i felt here when it just remained zool that i was like yeah let's take him out or gozer i really or gozer yeah yeah it is i have to remind myself i know andrew is screaming at us right totally totally and per the us um so i do i thought that it was a great uh love letter i had a lot of fun and I like the legacy that they give here to the family.
09:54 And sure, to the rest of the Ghostbusters, they arrive. I'm just going to write it in my brain that if they didn't show up, I think that they set up that the kids have enough up here, that they would have figured it out. But I do get what he's saying of like, well, they made it seem that if these old farts from the first movie hadn't have shown up and saved them, then the ghosts would have all been, and I don't think that's true.
10:22 I'm going to write it in my head that they would have figured it out, and we'll see. That's fair. I mean, I like the occult bookstore, and I did like the whole thing with Winston being like,
10:31 you know, this gave me so much. I started out, just wanted a paycheck, and I love doing this with these guys, and it's led me to, you know, these various both personally philanthropic
10:40 and more grandly philanthropic endeavors and keeping Ray's bookshop alive and all that stuff. Like the little interconnected ghostbuster original Ghostbusters lore was also sweet and getting to watch them
10:53 you know banter a little bit at the end and bring back some of the old dynamic while there's still time was certainly yeah enjoyable to see and you know I know the previous movie like had cameos that I thought were actually especially the Dan Aykroyd one in the previous movie is pretty fun but yeah this one
11:09 this one had my favorite Easter race though because I feel like it was done right and I got emotional at the end yeah yeah I feel like a for the most part the stuff they chose again the other devices of course they're going to come back the ecto one of course is going to come back so like that stuff you can't really be grudge and they didn't do too many other things that were i don't know too much too too like silly in that department or too like i roll right in that department and yeah like while i don't necessarily think you always have to be like every ghost busters thing is a shandor related thing or a gozer related thing uh you know I appreciate the amount of newness they were able to bring in alongside the nostalgia and it did feel like you were looking back
11:55 with some kind of, you know, just like the bitter sweetness. There's like a bitter sweetness in the tone that I think is nice. I think so too. I love it. Alan Smithy, hi, Tara and John. I love this movie.
12:10 Great to see the original Ghostbusters back in action. How do you feel about the CGI resurrection of Harold Ramos, who had passed away before this was ever made? I think you would have loved this movie himself, but it is still a controversial subject. Also, the FedEx guy who delivers to my job saw my real rejects start and was like, you love the rejects too! What?
12:28 You guys are certainly popular things to rejects. I love that. Wow, that's really fun news. Thanks for saying that, Alan. Absolutely. I love that. Goodness. I don't know.
12:40 I'm a little conflicted. I mean, I liked the opening having it be this kind of, yeah, intense little shit. short of him, you know, rushing out to try and activate this trap and whatever. And we are constantly obscuring his face. And then we have him as a ghost. Like, I was pretty happy with all that stuff. And it's weird because my brain is kind of in two places right now.
13:02 I'm like... He's split on it. You know that, again, for what everyone's coming here for, and, you know, for what we're doing in a way, it wouldn't feel complete unless we see them all together. you know this is different from the movie they originally wrote although you know people
13:22 you know people are wide and vast in terms of taste so yeah it's like this was certainly loving and you know I think again Jason Reitman brought a lot of you know care to it so yeah I think there is this is not as ghoulish and icky as I've seen other things be with
13:40 again resurrecting of actors in ways that seem kind of funky I don't know, yeah, you're always going to have this sort of conversation about, like, well, would they have wanted this? And this is a huge product that is going to make a lot of money for a lot of other people. And I know that, you know, like, I'm a red letter media fan. I know they had, like, the prediction of, like, there's a video before this came out of one of their guys basically being like, here's what's going to happen if a next ghost bustle movie happens. The ghost business is going to, like, pan up to like a ghost Harold Ramas. And like, sure enough, that is what they do.
14:11 So it's like, it's one of those things that you. You could kind of cynically see coming, but watching it, especially this time around, while the conversation is certainly going off in my mind a little bit. Yeah, I mean, I like the day and have him talk. I wonder if they maybe pulled in some stock footage and dressed it up or if they did a full-on animation on him or not. I'm a little torn, but as the movie presents it and as everybody involved seemed very happy to be there, certainly seemed like it was handled with care. And again, I am torn in that. I really liked his presence represented in the lights and the, you know, EVP meter and this motif of him leading them around from beyond. And we don't have to see him because we can fill him in with our minds.
14:59 And part of me feels like if this was a standalone movie, that could have been a more thoughtful choice. But as it stands, and as far as resurrecting actors goes, I don't hate this. And there are parts of it, I think, are really sweet. I liked it. I think that he would have liked it. I think the reason why it's because he doesn't talk. I think what we did need in the story is for Carrie Coon's character to actually hug him. It was such a divisive thing that they leave in this plot that like, she's like, well, he was an asshole, right?
15:30 She thought that he gave no shits about her. And then it's really sad to see her walking in that room. We see all the pictures, all these little post-it notes. and I'm like heartbroken about it. And then, of course, you see the hand on the gun and we're at the end and you're like, oh, my God, he's there. But then I also think, yeah, stick around. I legitimately got emotional
15:53 because I think they did it the right way that he wasn't like, good to see a kid. I've been falling in all these years. You're like, no, we don't need to see that. And don't touch my spores mold and fungus. Exactly. Like you're like, no, all we needed was for him to look at her and smile the way he did.
16:11 she gives him a hug and it's things are all right with the world in that moment and it made me emotional and that's like I think what a film should do I think that a film should be able to manipulate all of your emotions in whichever way they want and if they can do that successfully that's a real film if they're doing it with a mask on and I'm going I get what they want me to do but I don't feel anything then I don't want it yeah yeah I definitely got some feels. Yeah, and I had those, and I didn't feel like it was too pushed. I understand that sure, synics could see it coming, that you're like, oh, this is probably what will happen. But regardless of that, I think they did it in the right way, and I still really liked it. All right. Jaden Rhodes, my question is, do you think that this is a good legacy sequel, or do you think it falls in a bad category of legacy sequels? Reject Nation, when we launched this channel, I thought learning how to film and edit will be hard. Until we launched a merch store, total panic.
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18:18 slash rejects. One more time. Shopify.com slash rejects. Thank you again, Shopify for helping us out of more ways than one. Generally speaking, and especially again, at the time this came out, and this is like a direct 180. They were like, oh, people hated that 2016
18:34 movie so much. We have to like 180 and give everybody exactly what they want. and for an iteration of that this actually I think works remarkably well given I think it's that Jason Reitman sauce I think that's kind of the key so yeah generally speaking I would say this is yeah one of the better legacy sequels
18:55 and I think it you know as much as at the time you know the circumstances certainly made me exasperated again all context removed yeah I think this is a solid and a thoughtful and a fun legacy sequel Yeah, I think it's great. So much fun.
19:11 The way that they flipped little things like the ghost catcher is on wheels. There's now like they have a gunner seat in the car. Like there's just little things that we didn't see before. That I think is a really nice fun touch. Yeah. That makes it a little bit different, which is fun times. Yeah. All right, Jay Rushton, do you like the new ghost, Muncher, which is the new slimer for the movie?
19:37 And Josh Gat apparently was Munch. Muncher. Ah. Uh, yeah. I mean, like, Muncher is fine. Yeah. Like,
19:44 uh, it's one of those things where part of me was like, why don't we just do, at this point, why don't we just do slimer again? Yeah, exactly. It's weird.
19:52 And have him eating instead of hot dogs, so you can't, he has pipes, I guess. Yeah. It's weird because it's like, it's so similar. And I get the paradox of being like,
20:01 add some new things or come up with a fresh spin. And like, it's kind of a new thing, but it's so much like the old thing that I'm like, yeah. Like, it's fine. It's kind of neat to have another muncher, but muncher of all the things we saw is kind of a net neutral for me. Like, neat in the moment, but I'm not like, definitely not usurping slimer in terms of the iconic status, you know.
20:21 Yeah, not at all. And he didn't slime anybody, did he? No. No. Not at all. He munched on metal. And I thought he was fine, but I'm not, that's not what I'm going to go run around talking about when I talk about this movie. I didn't even remember that his name was, well, maybe I.
20:38 I would have remembered. It was a muncher. But I probably was just been like, yeah, the pipe eater ghost thing. But that's not, to me, that's like in and out.
20:45 I thought the movie was about so much more, which the other one, you know, wasn't really. Okay. Maurice Gray Jr., who was your favorite character?
20:56 For me, was Paul Rudd's character, Gary. He stole every scene he was in. Dude, easily Finn Wolfhard as Trevor. I always remembered he was in the movie
21:07 and, uh, The way he learned how to drive and was revealed to be 15, crazy. No, he's fine. I would say my favorite character, oh boy, I mean, Paul Rudd is hard to beat. Definitely loved him in this. He had some really fun appealing energy. I think Phoebe was terrific.
21:26 Like, that's a character that could get annoying, that could get grating. And I thought McKenna Grace just brought so much grace to it. And, yeah, it was really lovely in her portrayal of this character. who's supposed to be, again, a bit of the more socially awkward one, perhaps autistic or something like that on the spectrum, the science-minded one and the one, yeah, who's like giving these deadpan jokes and things. There was just so much about her character,
21:51 and she really brought this natural delivery and presence that really felt kind of beyond, I don't know how old she would have been recording this, and if she's said to be 12 on screen, I'm sure she's probably like 15 or something. But, you know, yeah. Yeah, just like so much there that I was like, wow, you are really carrying so much of this movie
22:11 and, you know, for so many other characters around you being a bit more slight, she did feel quite substantial. So I think she was the best character for me and then, you know, Paul Rudd loved to watch him and I loved them vibing together. Yeah, she is great and I will tell you when I looked at her IMDB, I was like, whoa, she looks not like that anymore.
22:31 Oh, yeah, she's grown up now. Yeah, she's really grown up. Obviously, for me, it's going to be a podcast. Oh, man. So great. You see me laughing at every line he has. And it's not just the writing, like for him. It's his delivery.
22:45 Period. Great. It could have been it direction. The director could have said, I need it all deadpan. And that is why it's hitting so hard. But I think the like what he did to me, he stole every scene that he was in.
22:58 But it was half of the writing, half of his delivery. I absolutely loved it. I think he, he is the comedic. character that every movie tries to write and put into a film and rarely succeeds. I do remember seeing, I think it was a Jurassic Park movie or like, I don't know if it was on the channel, or if it was like, they're in the jungle and in a van.
23:26 I can't even remember. That's a lot of Jurassic Park movies. I know, right? Like, if there's another movie, they're in the jungle, they're in the van. I did watch them all here. See, that's why I'm like, I don't know if it was Jurassic Park. but it's so they are trying so hard to add in a comedic character in that scene that it made me hate the movie so much because it was the delivery everything about it the
23:51 writing and it's so bad and they kept going kept going kept trying to make this funny and I'm like this isn't funny what producer sat into this screening went yep we're good to go because I would go absolutely not take him out we don't cut him out of this is funny. Remove him from the movie. Get it. Get it gone. Or recast. Cutting room floor. Get it. Get it gone. Podcast was great. I loved him. I thought it was. I thought it was excellent. I had a lot of fun.
24:19 Hell yeah. Okay. Jay's got some trivia for us. Director Jason Reitman is actually the son of Ivan Reitman who directed the original Ghostbusters movies making afterlife a true generational handoff both on and off screen. Yeah. The ghost muncher was voiced by Josh Gad. Oh yeah. You said that. Yes, Olaf from Frozen and the sound design team makes metal chewing and whale noises to create his signature ghosty growl. That's fun. That's wild.
24:48 Dude, it was the whale noises she was making in that whale joke. I know in the joke, right? A whale of a joke. Oh, my God. But I also love that the, the folly, wait, not folly, folly, no, folly. Foley. Foley. I always do that.
25:06 Folly adieu. I always call it folly, and that means something totally different. That you wrote that they mixed metal chewing, and I'm like, I wonder if they got up in there. If they were like, I'm going to put in a mouth guard. And then I'm going to chew on this metal. And we're going to get that sound right. Put some jaws in and chew on some met. Dedicated falling right there.
25:28 I'm going to chew on some selenium beams. Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. To the spirit world. Let's freaking go. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah. And I mean, even that the upgrades, it's weird.
25:39 It's like, it's interesting when they throw in something that wasn't there before, like, the, the gunner seat or whatever. Like, it's actually relatively convincing, given that it doesn't really pop up in the other movies. Right. But it is, like, it's assembled and it looks old because it's part of the car. So it's, like, janky looking enough that you're like, oh, I guess this must have been in there. Yeah. And we just never saw them get a chance to use it. We never saw it.
26:00 Yeah. Yeah. I enjoyed this time a lot more than I expected to. In fact, like, pound for pound in terms of filmmaking, this is probably the second best Ghostbusters movie. I would agree. And, yeah, like, for as much as at the time, I was frustrated by culture,
26:16 yeah, this is really thoughtful. And I think it's that sweet spot of, like, if it hadn't been a handoff to the sun, I think things might have been different. But I think that also allowed for there to be a lot of, you know, care taken behind the scenes. As much as, you know, there's a whole sequence showcasing a Walmart.
26:34 So, like, it's not devoid of being a product. Yeah, this was, like, way more fun and thoughtful than it could have been, certainly. Especially as a response to the 2016 movie, I think it could have been a way more obnoxious version of that. And I thought that, yeah, instead of making this about, you know, like, you know, I don't know, it's clearly an answer to that, but they're not really holding that over the movie. And that's a nice thing. And I thought, yeah, everyone moved on and did it, did it well. Yeah. They did it the right way.
27:03 and I loved it. I had a lot of fun, as I've already stated. I really did love the writing. Casting was great. And the pacing and the tone of it, I adored. You know, it was a good movie is when two hours, you don't realize it's been two hours. I didn't realize it.
27:22 And honestly, that's all I can say is that you're just like, awesome. Flew by had a great time. I would love to watch films like this all the time. All the time. Yeah. My kind of vibe. Yeah.
27:34 That's all I got to say about it. I had a big fun. Big fun, awesome time. Big old fun. Big fun. Right here in front of you. Yeah, man. Do you have any last words for the people?
27:44 You stay slimy out there. I like that. Bustin feels good. If you're all alone, let me sleep in your bed. I ain't afraid of no sleep. He'll be lighten his gas lamp later. That's right. I'll be out here with my sleeping cap and my bowl of gruel.
27:59 Just looking for ghosts. That's him. Yeah. What about you? You, I, well, I won't be doing, I won't be doing that. You got a crunch wrapper in your pocket. I wish. He left it in there all these years.
28:11 I wish. For 30 odd years. No, you know what? I'm going to be walking around being like, uh, Ghost Monsters After Live is a great freaking film. Okay. Like, uh, a lot of fun. I loved it.
28:23 Like I, this is a thing that I'm like, heck yes. I will, if someone asked me, I'd go, let's, let's rock and roll. Loved it. Great times. We love you guys. Please leave it like, leave a comment. Tell us we're cool. Tell us if you liked it, didn't like it.
28:39 All the juice. We'd love to hear it. We'll see you. Leave your favorite kind of juice. Sorry. Orange juice, cock, cocktail juice. Like pineapple juice, lemon juice, lime juice. Go juice up the, go juice up a battery or something.
28:56 Oh, see, I thought. You could go get fresh pressed juice. Okay. See, and then I thought you were going to give your juice. You can get some juice. Juice, that one of the sum of those pants with the word juicy written on the butt. Juicy fruit is great gum. Juicy fruit is good gum.
29:07 Oh, the juicy pants from Victoria's Secret, I think. They got the juice. Oh, wow. But give them your favorite juice real quick. Favorite juice would, I mean, does apples. Well, cider is not a juice. Apple juice. I didn't say that one. Apple juice is a sick juice.
29:24 It is? Yeah, because you get sparkling apple cider, that's a juice. All right, then apple cider is my favorite juice. Oh, that's a good one. That's very fall and very in line with where we are. Hells, yeah, it is. Here in October, I almost said November. It's October.
29:41 Here in Ghostober. Here in Ghostober. We love you guys. See you on the next one.
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