A specter haunts the Internet’s angry men. The specter that the new Ghostbusters movie with all the ladies in it might actually be, you know, good.
Angry dudes have been throwing Internet hissy fits over the new lady-fied Ghostbusters since they first learned of its lady-fied nature early last year; indeed, the fellas at the famously lady-hating site Return of Kings started boycotting the film back in March, even though there was no film yet to boycott.
From RoK to Reddit to YouTube, the Internet’s angriest men agreed that the film was going to be the worst thing to hit men since the ladies got the right to vote, or something.
Now, with the film hitting theaters in the US this Friday, and already playing in the UK and Ireland, the first reviews are coming out.
And so far they’re not bad. The film boasts a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, and some of the reviews are actually pretty enthusiastic, with more than a few critics suggesting that the Ghostbusting ladies are the best part of the film.
In the Daily Beast, Jen Yamato derided the film’s “lulls in pacing” and “choppy editing,” before hailing the gals at the film’s center:
[W]ith a crackling sense of purpose and a surplus of reverence for their predecessors, new Ghostbusters Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon, and Jones plant their own flag on a beloved sci-fi comedy franchise.
For haters of the Lady Ghostbusters, it’s a nightmare, sweetie, as Patsy from AbFab would say, though I’m pretty sure the anti-Lady-Ghostbusters crowd wouldn’t find her funny either.
On Reddit, naturally, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. In Kotaku in Action, Reddit’s main hangout for GamerGate true believers, one of he highest-rated comments in the Ghostbusters 2016 Review Megathread blasts those giving the film good reviews as “cucks for Sony.” Others offered similar explanations.
One commenter accused the critics who liked the film of the apparently unpardonable sin of being … writers.
Over in the Ghostbusters subreddit — because of course there is a Ghostbusters subreddit, and of course it’s full of Lady-Ghsotbuster haters — some of the regulars are trying their best to keep the dream alive, the dream in question being the dream that Lady Ghostbusters will still turn out to really suck, positive reviews be damned!
One irate fellow, insisting he wasn’t rooting for the film to fail, attacked Sony for allegedly throwing a tantrum.
I never wanted the film to be “garbage”, I wanted to have a movie I could enjoy watching. But the moment Sony, Feig, and everyone else involved decided that personal attacks against the public was how they wanted to promote this film, then I simply can’t support it. It could literally be a better film than the original (which it’s not) and I still would not watch it because of the horrible taste left by the filmmaking team’s behavior.
I am not a simpleton who is pursuaded by “like this movie or you’re a misogynist hater”, and since that is the tact they choose, I have to opt out entirely on principle. I do not want this to become a recurring trend with future entertainment endeavors.
I will not be spending a dime on anything related to Ghostbusters 2016. No toys, no movie tickets, no Blu Rays, and no Lego or Lego Dimensions sets. I do not endorse childish tantrums by big studios.
So take that, Sony! This total non-tantrum-haver is taking his Legos (which include no Lady Ghostbusters sets) and going home.
The culture war is weird, man.
Technically a 70s horror reboot, not 80s. But I absolutely loathed the Halloween remake. I could have dealt with the Nightmare on Elm Street if it were good because the effects in the original were pretty bad. But unfortunately, it sucked.
The Friday the 13th and My Bloody Valentine remakes were okay. Mostly because the originals were mediocre anyway.
The Black Christmas remake was the absolute worst. Avoid at all costs.
I haven’t seen the Poltergeist remake yet.
I liked the Maniac remake but have never seen the original.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake was terribly bland. What was even the point?
I actually liked the Hills Have Eyes remake. I like the new Evil Dead too. They realized the original can’t be replicated and made a different movie with a different tone. That was smart.
Wow. I didn’t realize that there were so many 70s and 80s horror remakes until I listed them all in one place. And I’m probably forgetting some.
Probably Turbo is the closest in rating distribution (17% on Rotten Tomatoes) but it doesn’t have much of a gender disparity in ratings. Females tend to rate higher, but the averages aren’t more than about 1 point different.
I’d guess some people have Ghostbusters a 2 or 3 to try to make it look like there’s a more realistic distribution. But not enough MRA’s were that clever.
@PI and WWTH: Not all horror reboots are awful, I can understand why some people would deem it neccesary because the effects can date so fast, and trying to “sell” them to a modern young person can be difficult, but some miss the point so hard it hurts. And if we’re talking about remaking Japanese and South Korean horror some people just can’t get past the need for subtitles and perhaps there is merit in a English language remake.
I enjoyed The Evil Dead 2013 for example although that’s notable for having the same people behind it as did the originals because they didn’t sell the rights to the Mafia (Oh Hai Tobe Hooper!). I thought the western remakes of Ring and Dark Water were very good too. And I am hoping the fact Clive Barker is involved with the next Hellraiser film which is said to be a reboot is cause for cautious optimism.
That said it is unnerving when your childhood/teenage touchstones suddenly become reboot/remake worthy. Now I know how my mum felt when everyone started fetishing the 1960’s in the 1990’s!
@ Weatherwax, what can I say? He’s 17. (He looked at me oddly when I asked if girls and women could be role models, then rolled his eyes and said, “Yes.” in that “duh, Mom” voice.)
I’m glad Larry gets to stay, though.
@ nequam
Loved that article; cheers.
Steve Ignorant looks great as a lifeboatman. I wonder if he’s ever tempted when someone calls in with a Mayday just to respond “So what?” 🙂
@ Her Grace Phryne
I feel your pain. My little brother (10 years younger) came to visit for the weekend with his girlfriend. She turned out to be a fellow Buffy fan, so I succumbed to the opportunity that was watching all 7 series over 48 hours.
I may have killed his possible enjoyment of BtVS for all time. I’ve learned from this that you have to let them find it on their own terms. But you may have been more sensible than me to start with.
ETA This was about 15 years ago. Please don’t judge me!
@ Weatherwax
I generally just do my thing and hope the kids enjoy it. They’ve watched Leverage with me, for instance, and liked it, but
(Random WTF?: the younger one just asked me “Mom, is it ok if I get on your back?” Yeah, no.)
… anyway. But they have their things, and we have this sort of “Show me what you’re enjoying” back and forth going on. Sometimes it takes, sometimes it doesn’t, like the older one really likes Steven Universe and MLP. (I swear he’s not creepy, though!) I like MLP, but I’m not as into SU as he is. But I think my favorite thing is that nobody is offensive about it. He’s disappointed I’m not as into SU as he is, but he accepts it, and vice versa.
Have I mentioned that I enjoy my kids as people? 🙂 (Also, you can just call me Phryne if you want. I stole my username from one of my cats, who is at least a Duchess. 😛 )
Regarding The Wiz:
I enjoyed it. I thought it played much more clearly to the ‘you had what you wanted all along’ theme than the Judy Garland movie in some ways.
Regarding Powerpuff Girls:
A friend of mine has been getting into Wander over Yonder, which was written by Craig McCracken, the same person who originally created The Powerpuff Girls. (And who, I later found out, is married to Lauren Faust of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fame.) What I’ve seen of it is a pretty intelligent show.
The episode The Hero is an absolute hoot, where the actual series protagonists start to help this full-of-himself self-proclaimed ‘hero’ rescue a princess from a dragon… well, let’s just say that the ‘hero’ from that episode would make a prototypical MRA, and gets about as much eye-rolling from everybody else (including the princess) as you might expect.
Then there’s Lord Dominator’s villain song in a later episode…
@Seshia
Ya mean Him? *Googles* Or do you mean the unicorn thing? Didn’t see that one. Fair enough either way…
I saw a preview showing yesterday. I liked it. It’s all about whether or not you think the comedy team clicks – if their schtick works for you, you will like it; if not, you won’t.
I now have a bit of a crush on McKinnon, although I am sure will find her over-the-top scene stealing goofball too much, I expect.
The growing gender divide over “Ghostbusters”: Why movies starring women get slimed by male critics
http://www.salon.com/2016/07/12/the_growing_gender_divide_over_ghostbusters_why_movies_starring_women_get_slimed_by_male_critics/
The Salon article about the gender divide among film critics reminded me of the film studies class I took in college. (Hey, I was surprised that you could watch movies, okay movie excerpts, in a college class — what a concept!)
The class was a big one, with maybe 200 students. What I noticed was that when the joke was on a woman, the men laughed uproariously. Every time. Not so much when the joke was on men. And when the joke was on a man, the women did not burst into guffaws — the laughter was pretty equal.
Why, it was just like living with my three brothers, who thought that every word out of my mouth was amusing, just because a girl said it. (How wonderful to have chosen to be male. What excellent planning on their part!)
Sexists — so, so predictable.
Pffft.
I’d really love to go see this film, but I have 2 months or so to finish my thesis, so it’s hard enough finding time to eat or sleep… Ah well, will have to get it on dvd or Netflix when it’s available there 🙂
Re: “hissy fit”, I always understood it to be a reference to a cat suddenly hissing at you, possibly as a stage direction.
The earliest I recall hearing (back round 1968) it was one homosexual (an actor and my godfather) referring to another actor.
Just had to send up a bit more love for The Wiz. My mom rented the movie version for us when I was a kid, and I loved it a million times more than the original Wizard of Oz. The flying monkeys creeped me out less, the music was a lot more fun, the Tin Man’s stage makeup was SO COOL, and I actually understood the ending. I remember wondering why anyone made such a big deal about the original when the remake was so much more entertaining. (Being a kid, I also assumed it was new because I was only just learning about it, and I also assumed everyone would have the same opinions of both movies that I did. But hey.)
Gonna have earworms all day from thinking about it, but I’m okay with that.
I saw the new Ghostbusters yesterday en famille, and for the most part had a great time.
It’s easy enough to pick holes in it, but it’s often very funny indeed, the chemistry between the leads is terrific, and it appears to be precisely the film that Paul Feig intended to make from the outset. My kids pretty much unreservedly loved it.
(Neither of them had seen the 1984 film; my wife and I had, but not since 1984.)
Having seen the trailers, I really can’t imagine I would like this movie. I know bad trailers don’t necessarily mean bad movie, but the tone and comedic style are apparent even in trailers, and I really dislike this kind of comedy. I was never a Ghostbusters fan either, so I also won’t like it for nostalgic reasons. It’s too bad, because I want to like it.
I don’t even know if it’s allowed to pre-dislike this movie without also believing it will bring the end of civilization. :p
@ IP
Speaking of films, you ever seen “A pigeon sat in a branch….”. Watched it last night. It was amazing. Loved it.
It seems that female IMDb reviewers tend to rate somewhat higher regardless of whether a film is female centric or not. It’s possible women are more constructive and men harp on stuff that annoys them.
Though that’s imdb users, not critics
Why are feminists clinging so hard to this shit movie. Everyone knows it sucks. It’s a cheap, simple sellout cash in of a classic franchise. Feminism is just a marketing ploy they’re using to manipulate disenchanted women into seeing this piece of shit.
@Alan
I have not. In fact I rarely watch movies at all (they’re too long). I don’t think I’ve watched anything by Roy Andersson, but the entire trilogy has been very well received. The first two parts won awards for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. “A pigeon…” was nominated for Best Film and Director, but lost out to Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure in both categories. I did watch Force Majeure and it was excellent. Östlund really is a national treasure. I don’t remember ever looking forward to a new movie from a particular director before, but with him I do.
Talking ’bout horror reboots:
Evil Dead and Dawn of the Dead reboots were good.
Hills have Eyes and The Crazies were alright but I haven’t seen the originals to compare to.
Last House on the Left and Halloween were bad but I think that’s par with the original.
Everything else I’ve seen was much more terrible than their older counterparts.
I don’t really count American remakes as reboots but it’s been touched on, so here goes. The Ring was almost shot-for-shot redone so the only thing that remains to differentiate them is whether you like original actors better than their American counterparts. Didn’t see the original We are what we are and didn’t like the American remake. Quarantine was fine, but I’m biased since I prefer the virus zombies to the religious demons version of that story (the sequels go into completely different territories so don’t count as remakes). And Let the Right One In/Let me In were soporific in both instances (though I think that will end up in my burning at the stake for heresy).
John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ was a remake, and was very fine.
I did prefer the original ‘Let the Right One In’ over the English language version, though.