Rating: Summary: Central Park West was never funnier. Review: No need to tell anyone that GHOSTBUSTERS was the best comedy of the 80s (and probably better than anything in the 90s). Without resorting to adolescent potty humor (like PORKY'S or AMERICAN PIE), GHOSTBUSTERS relied on a super script, powerful directing, and the best acting jobs of the cast's careers. It did NOT rely on the special effects. As another reviewer perfectly put it, the special effects served the plot, not the other way around.What I do need to tell you is that what makes this set worth the price is the gravy: all those extras, like the interviews, special effects demonstrations, and storyboards. The transfer to dvd is great and the enhanced soundtrack complete the value.
Rating: Summary: The best comedy of all time. Review: "Ghostbusters" is my favorite movie of all time. I'd also rate it as the best comedy of all time.
There are no negatives here. I've seen it 60+ times, it holds up as well today as it did on that fateful day in May, 1984.
This is also one of the best DVD packages of all time. Well worth the money, even if you already own the VHS version. Check out that extra features list!
If you like comedies, if you like science-fiction, heck, if you like MOVIES, you have to own this one.
Rating: Summary: A true classic from the SNL crew Review: This is a great movie that came from the minds of the SNL crew. Just like the reviews says, it's Poltergiest meets the Exorcist. I'm proud to say that this movie was apart of my generation. If you haven't check this out, please do so. It is so worth it.
Rating: Summary: Definately a classic! Review: When I received my first ever DVD player, this was the DVD I bought. My parents loved Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd from SNL, so they had to get it on tape one day. And I got to watch it with them. Love the music, the comedy and, on the DVD, all the special additions, especially the dialouge from the directors.
This is worth the purchase!
Rating: Summary: Reservations about Ramis Review: He really wasn't that big an actor (still isn't to this day) to be billed as one of the top three ghostbusters of this movie. We got a lot of him and not enough of Ackroyd (who was and still is) in this horror comedy caper. Not quite Abott and Costello as this film is highy suggestive in it's humor but that's another point.
Rating: Summary: "We Came, We Saw, We Kicked Its Ass!" Review: Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stanz (Dan Akroyd) and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are the Ghostbusters, ex college research scientists who've set up shop in New York to catch and dispose of unwanted paranormal pheneomena, armed with proton packs, positron guns, ghost traps and their wit. They've come just in time, New York is channeling more ghosts than ever thanks to "Spook Central", a Ziggaurat-styled building in Central Park West, built by a mad architect to summon Gozer, the Sumerian god of destruction, and his minions, the doglike Zuul and Vinsclortho.
Ghostbusters is one of my top 3 favorite films. There's so much I love about it. I love how the script (co-written by Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis) is a near perfect combination of plot, humour, mythology and horror. So many quotable, quotable moments. The performances fit the script like a glove. I love the interaction between Murray's cynical, detatched Dr Venkman, Akroyd's cheery but absent-minded Ray and Ramis' stern, smart and pessimistic Egon. Ernie Hudson as the "fourth Ghostbuster" Winston, although appearing late in the film, has his moments too. The supporting actors are just as entertaining. Rick Moranis is laughably geeky as unlucky accountant Louis Tully. Sigourney Weaver's is ideal as Dana Barrett, the beautiful and independent lady in distess, and truly otherworldly when she's posessed by Zuul. Even the really minor characters are great. The hotel manager, Mr Peck of the EPA, the mayor, they all add to the charm of the film. I love the location, Central Park in the 1980s. This is a New York I'd love to visit. To quote Winston at the end of the film "I love this town". I love the soundtrack, a colourful combination of poppy 1980s tunes (including Ray Parker Jrs hit theme song) and the late Elmer Bernstein's quirky, often ethereal score. I love the special effects, whose combination of stop-frame animation, puppertry, and studio tricks I find much more realistic and effective than the computer animation of today. I love Slimer, the librarian ghost, the marshmallow man, the minions of Gozer, the skeletal cab driver. I love this film!
The DVD extras are great. I particularly enjoyed the deleted scenes. There's one which features Slimer's first haunting in the hotel, which is interesting (I can see why it was left out of the film though).
Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: "Back off, man. I'm a scientist." Review: Still holds up after all these years.
Ignore the kids who rag on the effects. The effects are a tertiary concern. Heck, their cheesiness enhances the fun. The purpose of this movie is the humor - nothing else! It's not a sci-fi flick or an action movie. It's a comedy.
The famous gag lines are too numerous to count but include:
"It's true. This man has no __"
"What a wonderful singing voice you must have."
"Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon."
And (of course) "It's the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."
Rating: Summary: As Light As a Marshmallow Review: The beauty of this film is that it's sole reason for existing is just to make you laugh. It's utter lack of pretense is downright refreshing. When this film was released in 1984 it must have hit some kind of nerve with the public who were in need for a good laugh because it raked in a domestic gross in excess of $200,000,000, an unheard of sum for a comedy at that time. Basically, this film is a throwback to the films of Abbott and Costello or the Bowery Boys where they find themselves in some supernatural setting and comic hijinks ensue. What differentiates these films is that "Ghostbusters" has the droll comic prescence of Bill Murray to comment on the proceedings and state-of-the-art special effects. Though "Ghostbusters" is an ensemble effort(and a good one at that)this is essentially Murray's show. This is not to diminish the fine work contributed here by Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton but they are overshadowed here by Murray's prescence. Enough cannot be said about the special effects here, that are both dazzling and funny. The reason I point this out is that the special effects technicians on this film lost the Academy award to what I feel was the lesser effects of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom". My feeling about special effects are you can have the most impressive light show in the world but if they don't service the story, so what.
Rating: Summary: Still StayingPuft Review: The movie is classic. Period. Nuff said. End of discussion. Bill Murray is a legend. Every man should have at least one Bill Murray DVD in his collection, and if you only have one, then Ghostbusters has to be it. Sure others will go on about Caddyshack and blah, blah, blah. Those people are idiots. Sure Cadyshack was great, but it is no Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters started a completely new genre: modern sci-fi comedy. The DVD itself is great. Nice menus, engaging commentaries, etc., but the DVD still feels a little "light" on extras for such a classic movie. Hopefully it'll get the royal DVD treatment on it's 20th anniversary release.
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