Discuss Ghostbusters: Afterlife, released on November 19, 2021 and directed by Jason Reitman.
#4961444
GhostbustersZorge wrote: November 24th, 2021, 4:46 am
Davideverona wrote:Second viewing yesterday.

The only doubt that I still have is: where the hell was Podcast when Callie and Gary freed the kids from prison?
At that moment Podcast was probably already been picked up by his parents.
Another thing that slightly bugged me on the first view and didn't at the second. Podcast seems to have no family BUT:

1- this is Phoebe story, we don't need every little nugget fleshed out.

2- there are enough time jumps to let us think he's gone home in the meantime.
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#4961449
Avilos wrote: November 24th, 2021, 1:44 am There is going to have to be a big time jump - Mckenna Grace has grown a lot in the two years since they filmed the movie. She is 15 now. In an interview this week she mentioned her next movie is filming in about 6 months. She is playing a member of 1996 USA Women’s Gymnastics Team. She is already doing physical training to prepare.

I suspect we will hear something on sequel relatively soon. Largely so they can get her scheduled before she commits to other roles. She has been very busy since she started acting at a young age. As fantastic as she was in Afterlife she will be getting more and more offers for bigger and bigger parts.

If they do not move on this fast she could be an adult by the time a sequel films.

I do not think seeing Phoebe next as a teen in Middle or High School would really be bad. The character is so mature for he age. She is really a child prodigy. She could go to college early.
If they do another one with these particular characters it probably won't be for another 2-3 years. They said they had plans for other movies after the 2016 movie and they didn't start filming this one until 2019. The Spenglers live in Summerville now and the Ecto is back in NY, the kids will definitely have to finish school before deciding to be Ghostbusters and honestly I don't think all of them will partake in Ghostbusting when they're adults. Maybe Grace's character but I can see Trevor doing something entirely different with his life.
#4961451
I'm with you here.
For Phoebe is personal and it's also about science. Podcast has the unique occasion to dwell into the mysteries of the unknown. Grooberson will jump on the bandwagon now that his heroes are about to start the business again.
I don't see equally strong motivations for Trevor and Lucky, although all four actors stated that they'd like to return.

Also, what do you think about the red blinking ECU? I have the feeling that Jason didn't put it in the after credit scene without a reason. I think he already has a story figured out.
#4961453
Chicken, He Clucked wrote: November 23rd, 2021, 11:44 pm Although he’s in the theatrical release promotion cycle, so may want to play down any alt cut talk… and an extended cut isn’t necessarily a director’s cut… and maybe they’re withholding such a thing until a later date…. But…

Honestly no extended cut really hurts. This movie needs connective tissue. Certain characters need rounding out. Some have plot points which were obviously cut, some aspects needed more of a setup.

Jason obviously cares a lot about the franchise and this project, and he has made some tremendous films, but I don’t know what happened here with Callie, Trevor & Lucky, foreshadowing shots, Sheriff Domingo, the abrupt arrival of the OG’s, mini pufts on the proton pack etc. (Are we genuinely relying on a Lego set to explain a plot point?)

I’ll give it time before a second watch - probably home release - to see if I have the same reaction Zorge did when viewing it without 30 years of expectation, but I’m a little bummed - pleased that everyone else is happy and it’s doing well at the box office but I can’t get past my film critic brain. Like… when Jason talks about feeling the magic in getting the right take.. I don’t get how the Callie & family eviction scene, or the Ray’s Occult phone call passed the magic test.

Again, having said all that. Huge respect and praise for Jason and the team - I’m glad they made the film they and most fans wanted. I’m still buying all the merch. At the least I hope they’re generous with deleted scenes so we can get a decent fan edit like with ATC.

Plus, y’know have a drinking game whenever Callie mentions hating science or her father.
I have to agree with you completely there. Even though I had a blast watching the movie...and watched it twice already, Jason's final cut is far from the standard I had hoped for from a director and storyteller of his class.

His previous films featured well paced, structured, and entertaining storylines, in which characters always got enough breathing space to develope and express their motivation. With Afterlife, I'm especially dissapointed with the actual story and depth he gave his characters. That's something I expected this movie to do well before watching.

I was particularly surprised by all the plot skips and missing character developments, which in some cases took place completely offscreen. This also led to some awkward scenes that pulled me out quite a bit while watching the movie.

You can tell that Jason put a lot of passion and attention to detail into the film, but the overall film doesn't feel cohesive and well rounded. Therefore, I had high hopes for an extended version, which creates a larger and more comprehensible picture.

This is a problem that not limited to "Afterlife" only. There are other films with similar problems, in which cut scenes are much more important to the viewer than the director thought. After all, directors knows their characters inside out and their actions make complete sense to them. Especially if the director was actively involved in the story, as was the case here. Maybe the long delay also played into this - you know, some things start to get worse the longer you spent on them.

The audience doesn't know the characters and the plot yet, so any story gaps and missing character developments are especially noticeable for them. For example, I'm sure it made perfect sense to Jason that there was a bag of marshmallows hidden in Ecto-1 and didn't feel the need to show that earlier in the movie. However, that scene briefly threw me out, as I actively started thinking about why the Mini Pufts suddenly appeared there. Some of you pointed out similar scenes already, like scenes of Phoebe bringing the trap to class, which somehow features a pedal (she didn't find Egon's lab yet at that point), Janine suddenly appearing and disappearing without contributing much, the kids knowing how to use all equipment instantly, the OGs strange appearance, Ray's Starbucks statement or joke, etc.

I hope it really is just marketing that no extended cut is planned, as I think this movie could greatly benefit from it.
Last edited by LouisZeddemore on November 24th, 2021, 8:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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#4961454
Davideverona wrote: November 24th, 2021, 7:50 am I'm with you here.
For Phoebe is personal and it's also about science. Podcast has the unique occasion to dwell into the mysteries of the unknown. Grooberson will jump on the bandwagon now that his heroes are about to start the business again.
I don't see equally strong motivations for Trevor and Lucky, although all four actors stated that they'd like to return.

Also, what do you think about the red blinking ECU? I have the feeling that Jason didn't put it in the after credit scene without a reason. I think he already has a story figured out.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the whole reason why Grooberson moved to Summerville was because of the weird seismic activity? He definitely can travel anywhere he wants, maybe he decides he wants to be a Ghostbuster and he moves the Spenglers to NYC? If he's still seeing Callie, maybe the coupling didn't work out.

I think they filmed the ECU scene during the summer didn't they? I think that's when we saw the pictures leak, I think it was a last-minute decision so they could continue making new films. Would explain why Stantz said the Starbucks comment but now it's an empty firehouse with the ECU still intact.
#4961455
Davideverona wrote:I'm with you here.
For Phoebe is personal and it's also about science. Podcast has the unique occasion to dwell into the mysteries of the unknown. Grooberson will jump on the bandwagon now that his heroes are about to start the business again.
I don't see equally strong motivations for Trevor and Lucky, although all four actors stated that they'd like to return.

Also, what do you think about the red blinking ECU? I have the feeling that Jason didn't put it in the after credit scene without a reason. I think he already has a story figured out.
As much as I love Winston, he lacks the technical know-how to repair the ECU. Ray probably has the ability to do so, and I'm assuming that Phoebe probably does as well. Perhaps that's the catalyst for bringing Phoebe to NYC. She graduates high school at 14 because she's a genius, and moves to NYC to help Ray fix the ECU while she attends college classes part time.
#4961464
I don't buy for one minute that Phoebe will become a ghostbuster going forward. I think this was basically her movie and thats it. I think they will likely pick a new team of adults. with perhaps Paul Rudd coming back as one of them.

If they bring back Phoebe it will be because of her brains to figure something out. But she will probably be in college if lucky.
#4961467
Iv'e said it before but talk about a "Dexter what does this button do moment." Could you imagine during a busy day some poor barista is making someones drink, bumps into the ECU and blows up the building again? If were ignoring GBII it would have been empty but what a day that would have been!
#4961471
K_Centric0001 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:00 am I don't buy for one minute that Phoebe will become a ghostbuster going forward. I think this was basically her movie and thats it. I think they will likely pick a new team of adults. with perhaps Paul Rudd coming back as one of them.

If they bring back Phoebe it will be because of her brains to figure something out. But she will probably be in college if lucky.
Mckenna Grace has the makings of the next big Hollywood star, no way Sony isn't going to take advantage of that.
#4961472
Regarding the firehouse being a Starbucks.

Is the firehouse at the end of the film the same firehouse from the original (84') movie? The pole is on the wrong side, right?; The pole in the Original Firehouse was on the left hand side (if you're facing the building from the outside), next to the lockers and in front of the stairs.

Could this be a secondary location that now houses the old (repaired) containment unit? Would make sense that they wouldn't slap a new one back in the same old spot with the threat of the Government just coming in and shutting it off?
#4961473
bluejoker wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:35 am Regarding the firehouse being a Starbucks.

Is the firehouse at the end of the film the same firehouse from the original (84') movie? The pole is on the wrong side, right?; The pole in the Original Firehouse was on the left hand side (if you're facing the building from the outside), next to the lockers and in front of the stairs.

Could this be a secondary location that now houses the old (repaired) containment unit? Would make sense that they wouldn't slap a new one back in the same old spot with the threat of the Government just coming in and shutting it off?
They filmed at Fire Station No. 23 in L.A.... the same place they did in 1984 and 1989.
#4961478
bluejoker wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:35 am Regarding the firehouse being a Starbucks.

Is the firehouse at the end of the film the same firehouse from the original (84') movie? The pole is on the wrong side, right?; The pole in the Original Firehouse was on the left hand side (if you're facing the building from the outside), next to the lockers and in front of the stairs.

Could this be a secondary location that now houses the old (repaired) containment unit? Would make sense that they wouldn't slap a new one back in the same old spot with the threat of the Government just coming in and shutting it off?
It's the same firehouse, old 23's in downtown LA. That station has a special history for being so elaborately built for its time, it also had numerous poles throughout the station on both sides of the apparatus bay. You can see in this old picture from when the station was still in service poles on both sides, including the one right next to the lockers and barely visible in the back the one closer to the stairs that Ray slides down when they're looking at the property. The pole visible on the right side is also the one Venkman slides down in GB2, right in front of the wooden cabinet that housed the station bell and teletype.
Image
Image
Image

You can't see the pole on the right side that is closest to the app doors, however it is visible when Dana comes in while Ray is wrenching on the Ecto.
Image
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Last edited by JWils23 on November 24th, 2021, 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#4961480
JWils23 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 12:18 pm
bluejoker wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:35 am Regarding the firehouse being a Starbucks.

Is the firehouse at the end of the film the same firehouse from the original (84') movie? The pole is on the wrong side, right?; The pole in the Original Firehouse was on the left hand side (if you're facing the building from the outside), next to the lockers and in front of the stairs.

Could this be a secondary location that now houses the old (repaired) containment unit? Would make sense that they wouldn't slap a new one back in the same old spot with the threat of the Government just coming in and shutting it off?
It's the same firehouse, old 23's in downtown LA. That station has a special history for being so elaborately built for its time, it also had numerous poles throughout the station on both sides of the apparatus bay. You can see in this old picture from when the station was still in service poles on both sides, including the one right next to the lockers and barely visible in the back the one closer to the stairs that Ray slides down when they're looking at the property.
Image

You can't see the pole on the right side that is closest to the app doors, however it is visible when Dana comes in while Ray is wrenching on the Ecto.
Image
Image
We also see the two poles on the kitchen scene in the first movie, but the camera focuses on the one in the right side because that's the one the guys used.
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#4961485
Bison256 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:28 am
K_Centric0001 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:00 am I don't buy for one minute that Phoebe will become a ghostbuster going forward. I think this was basically her movie and thats it. I think they will likely pick a new team of adults. with perhaps Paul Rudd coming back as one of them.

If they bring back Phoebe it will be because of her brains to figure something out. But she will probably be in college if lucky.
Mckenna Grace has the makings of the next big Hollywood star, no way Sony isn't going to take advantage of that. Brought in to help because of her brains.
Its about whether you can buy a business owner, which is probably Winston will hire a teenager to be a ghostbusters in his resurrected business. Paul Rudd seems more likely to be kept by Sony purely because they made such a fuss of him being involved. So if it was gonna be Paul Rudd or Mckenna Grace, who would you guess they would make into a ghostbuster?

They could do both i suppose. but that would be very coincidental of a pick.

I could see if Mckenna Grace was involved that she would play a different sort of part. Not ignoring the fact she is a teenager, but also allowing her to play a part with her Egon type brain.
#4961499
Alphagaia wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:06 am
JWils23 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 9:39 am I had it all wrong, Ray was being serious... :lol:

Image
Blinking light just meant the cappuccino machine was out of milk.
Light is green, grind the bean.
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#4961514
Did anyone see if ecto 1 had a registration sticker with a date on the back licence plate? If Egon never renewed it, it'd give us an ideas of when he took the car.

Edit: it seems New York nowadays has a sticker on the front window of the car.
#4961518
Bison256 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 6:00 pm Did anyone see if ecto 1 had a registration sticker with a date on the back licence plate? If Egon never renewed it, it'd give us an ideas of when he took the car.

Edit: it seems New York nowadays has a sticker on the front window of the car.
Didn’t the Sheriff say something like “extremely expired registration” when he was listing off all their offenses to their mom and Grooberson? Maybe I’m not remembering that right but I thought there was some emphasis on one of the vehicle offenses.

On a side note, am I the only one who was disappointed that the propello-Ray never came on when the lights on Ecto would be on? I know it’s trivial but I always loved that spinning red light over the blue lights, gave some nice contrasts against the blue lights and white strobes.
#4961523
robbritton wrote: November 23rd, 2021, 12:14 am A slight, but possibly important article for anyone who thought the film was disrespectful to Harold Ramis: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... tbmPj-1cz8

Not saying it proves anyone wrong in their feelings, just offers a different perspective and I love the last line!
Great article.
zeta otaku wrote: November 23rd, 2021, 1:20 am I liked Lucky well enough. Her and Trevor needed more development time, but this was definitely a Phoebe movie and I'm fine with that. Here's hoping when/if we get a follow up with these characters, we get more time to know the other three a bit more.
Agreed. Regardless if it's in film, television or even comics, there can be plenty of time to develop them further in future GB stories set in this era of the franchise; that's what character development is for.
#4961524
K_Centric0001 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:00 am I don't buy for one minute that Phoebe will become a ghostbuster going forward. I think this was basically her movie and thats it. I think they will likely pick a new team of adults. with perhaps Paul Rudd coming back as one of them.

If they bring back Phoebe it will be because of her brains to figure something out. But she will probably be in college if lucky.
Not trying to be mean, but honestly you are waaay off if you think that.
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#4961526
In a roundabout way, it was nice to see the 3rd canon movie go from a Ghostbuster/boy genius with an abnormally sized head named Nat in Hellbent to Egon's genius granddaughter Phoebe in Afterlife. Like a lot of things, went from the fantastical to a more realistic interpretation, i.e. Dan's first script vs. Ghostbusters 1984.

Ozzy Inguanzo posted some teases of his Art of book.
https://twitter.com/ozzyinguanzo/status ... 5851289604
https://twitter.com/ozzyinguanzo/status ... 1744290821

A bts snippet of how Lite Gear was used in the final battle.
https://twitter.com/KeepABRolling/statu ... 2140624902

Jason posted some bts photos on his instagram

Mckenna's screen test wearing the pack for the first time
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWrF7ovBJfh/

Emma Porner petting Vinz.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWpCv11J3Ip/

Ivan inspects the RTV
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWjrbbBPAKN/

Farmhouse
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWjQB0fhBEJ/
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#4961544
I was thinking about the climax and it could've felt 'bigger' if the team had been split up a little so there were parallel cutaways cranking the chaos and tension.

Eg. Keep Podcast in the car by himself and that would play out the same way except he is also responsible for the gunner seat, send Lucky and Trevor down into the basement to turn the power back on or something... and have mini pufts merge into a slightly larger and more evil looking Medium Puft so they have something to defeat themselves. Or... bring back Muncher for a climactic fight. They trap it and share a look / kiss. Bingo... their character arc had an end destination.

Ideas like this are pretty easy to spit out without working on the details and I imagine budget was the bigger factor here, but surely Gil and Jason had more of an arc planned for Trevor and Lucky? I couldn't work out if Trevor being 15 was supposed to nuke that thread.
#4961550
Paul Rudd is set to be on the Thanksgiving episode of Fallon. Though I think it's to promote The Shrink Next Door with Ferrell but perhaps Afterlife will come up.
Chicken, He Clucked wrote: November 25th, 2021, 1:58 am but surely Gil and Jason had more of an arc planned for Trevor and Lucky? I couldn't work out if Trevor being 15 was supposed to nuke that thread.
Lucky's reaction to Trevor's lie being outed seemed to imply she and her friends are older, probably 16, and the flirtation was over. But by the end, when she's back to normal, things seems smoothed out between them, imo.

I think it's safe to say there was more planned between them and I hope between her and her father the Sheriff that was cut out.
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#4961586
GhostFaceX wrote: November 24th, 2021, 8:16 pm
K_Centric0001 wrote: November 24th, 2021, 11:00 am I don't buy for one minute that Phoebe will become a ghostbuster going forward. I think this was basically her movie and thats it. I think they will likely pick a new team of adults. with perhaps Paul Rudd coming back as one of them.

If they bring back Phoebe it will be because of her brains to figure something out. But she will probably be in college if lucky.
Not trying to be mean, but honestly you are waaay off if you think that.
Possibly. But I'm just trying to be logical with it. They made a fuss out of Paul Rudd as if he was the next Bill Murray. I don't think they are done with him. And i could see them picking him more than Phoebe's character.

The kids in this will be late teens by the time they make the next movie. and lets be honest, if there is a sequel, Sony will jump on that ASAP. And the concept of Winston hiring teenagers works for Extreme Ghostbusters. But i dunno if i buy it happening in movies.
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