Ghostbusters Afterlife

November 21, 2021 Jason Murphy

Nostalgia is a very powerful thing…especially when the previous work is a movie called Ghostbusters. However, when a film leans too hard into nostalgia, it can be overtaken with homage and failing to put forward new ideas. That’s where Ghostbusters: Afterlife finds itself, with a lot of the film being based on the love of the original Ghostbusters instead of being a new story.

That’s the main issue with Afterlife. It places too much of its focus on nostalgia, instead of coming up with an original take on the franchise. Many sequences are clearly rehashes of the first film, and comes with no reason whatsoever as to why the same villain from the 1984 film is in this film.

While this may be interpreted as a love letter to the original, much like Force Awakens was to New Hope, or Matrix Resurrection appears to be to The Matrix, audiences are left to ask why they don’t just watch the first one again instead. The original is the only film in this series to receive praise, with the Ghostbusters 2 and 2016 reboot both being deeply hated.(I actually enjoyed Ghostbusters 2, but I’m the minority)

This film leans much more into the horror theme than comedy. Paul Rudd gives a few laughs here and there, and is the extent of the comedic relief, but that is it. The first film built itself on comedy with the horror being corralled by the humor. That is not the case here. Its void of the same type of humor or goofiness of the first or second.

Slimer does not appear in the movie whatsoever which was a surprise considering this films nostalgia gameplan. It has been noted that director Jason Reitman objected to how he became the series’ mascot. “Something happened to Slimer over the years that people started thinking of him as the dalmatian of the firehouse,” he told in an interview “The original Slimer was an angry dude and very scary.” Slimer is replaced by a new ghost called Muncher who is based on Slimer’s design. and is basically the same exact thing except he does not “slime” things, he eats things.. anything, anything at all. He looks like slimer, floats like Slimer, behaves like Slimer, so it’s very odd that given ALL the unexplained nostalgia, they went this route.

The stand out performances are Mckenna Grace who plays Phoebe, and Logan Kim, who plays Podcast. Phoebe is presented as an unique 12-year-old, with a love for science, but someone who finds it hard to show emotion. Podcast, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, with his love for podcasting and hip phrases taking front and centre. While they can get annoying, for the most part they are enjoyable characters.

Overall, this film leans too much into the nostalgia, to the point where it almost rolls out out the original cast in wheel chairs. They have noticeably aged. But they simply appear out of know where at a pivotal time which begs the question, “Was this scene added in post?”.

A final note is that the film gives a touching tribute to Harold Ramis, giving him a fitting end in a franchise he was pivotal to building, but he eerily never speaks. I get the reason behind it but it just seems odd that his ghosts can only nod and smile and shrug. I feel it was a fitting tribute to Ramis and I know great attention was given to this decision with his family being heavily involved overall in its creation. If they were happy I can be happy.

Overall I was confused and let down by the film. I was hoping for a new movie to love in the franchise but seemed to be given the first film in a shiny new package that simply didnt fit

3 out of 5

The Eternals

November 6, 2021 Jason Murphy

When it comes to the MCU, moviegoers have seen everything from talking raccoons to demention-jumping wizards. Now, the franchise unveils its latest heroes: a bunch of mythological, god-like beings that ponder free will and their own immortality. The Eternals are sent to Earth, under the orders of a massive space entity known as Arishem the Celestial, to protect humans from destructive creatures called “Deviants”.

“Eternals” fights the uphill battle of introducing an ensemble of new characters from a comic title that is relatively unknown. Director Chloe Zhao brings her own style that might feel like a departure from typical superhero flixs in the genre. With characters like Iron Man and Captain America no longer in the game, Marvel divesinto its toy chest to find its next monkey maker.

For the most part, the movie succeeds I think. The film takes its time with letting the story play out so the audience can meet with the characters, but with a two-hour and 37-minute run time, it can feel drawn out and over-blown. It takes quite a bit to get going but by the time you get there you dont notice.

The audience is introduced to 10 new characters, led by Sersi (Gemma Chan), & the Superman-like character of Ikaris (Richard Madden). The movie mostly focuses on them and their quest to assemble the team to combat the recent re-emergence of their the deviants. The duo both give great performances as the leads, and Chan in particular brings emotion and compassion to the screen as the hero that cares the most about the human race.

The film also features Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Ma Dong-seok, Bryan Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, Barry Keoghan, Lauren Ridloff and Angelina Jolie. The group has great chemistry with one another and gives great performances from top to bottom.

Here are our top 4 favorite moments: (caution Spoiler)

#4: Styles

Harry Styles joins the film in its after credit scene as Starfox (Aka Eros) Brother to Thanos.

This is a huge Suprise that I didnt see coming and a welcome one in the MCU.

If you are not familiar with his character, don’t worry, most are not. You can simple bask in learning about him all on your own as you discover new characters in the MCU

#3 The Deviants

By far the coolest enemies in the MCU so far if you ask me, not only do they look cool but they are ever evolving. They are a creature that changes in every scene based on its experience and interaction with the eternals and human race. They’re styles and look changes, from Octopus like creatures, to Leopards, to birds to human like form. They just so damn cool.

#2 Ensemble

The entire Ensemble is perfectly cast in my opinion. Having so many personalities with different powers is fun to watch as it unfolds. Each one has their own personality that each effects the outcoe of the film which surely differs from what we are used to in the MCU. Its sort of a Civil War scenario at heart as eavh character has been sculpted by the human race over time and their path over the eons on earth is driven direct by the paths they chose.

#1 Karun

Karun, portrayed by Harish Patel is easily the best pat of this movie. He is the comedic relief. Simply an assistant to Bollywood Eternal, “Kingo” (Kumail Nanjiani), Karun shines as a guy just caught up in the action, simply there to document Kingo on request. Ever line delivered is perfect and usually hilarious. I found myself just waiting for him to have a line to see what he would say

New York Comic-Con 2021

October 12, 2021 Jason Murphy

Covid be damned, NYCC was last weekend and we went. I only got Saturday badges but that didn't stop me from seeing as much as I can in one day. We long missed comic-cons since we last visited in 2019 so it was great to finally feel whole again.

After waking with a terrible hangover, and eating some form of melted plastic that was hidden in my breakfast from an NYC diner, I headed over to NYCC. Entry was quick. First it was of to a covid vax card line, This was a jumbled mess of “go wherever, theres 500 tables”. They checked your vax card, gave you a wristband and you were off, easy peasy. There really wasn't any type of line to get in, we just scanned our badges and walked in, so kudos to the event staff for making crowds and entry pretty easy despite covid protocol.

Seeing as I was only there a day, I figured Ill just stick with the show floor and take in as much as I can in 8 hours. I started off in the middle and immediately made a b-line for one of the far walls to serpentine the entire room. I'd like to say the show floor is big... well it is, its huge, but it felt smaller than SDCC. This is probably since they split off Artists Alley to a different section. Most of the booths in NYCC are small sellers. While SDCC has its huge Hasbro, Lego or Sideshow Collectibles booths, NYCC has a few (Marvel, Walking Dead, Capcom), but mainly just small "stores". It's like a huge fair where you can buy anything related to comics or pop culture. Most booths are artists selling prints of their work or comics they put out themselves. These aren't artists who are in the industry so to speak, but are selling prints or work they did of their favorite characters or their own original unpublished comics. I was turned onto one specifically by other 4LIST staffers. His name was Mike Maydak. Go to his page and click on the "Venom" picture to see all his paintings (or check out his Facebook page). He commissions comic characters and puts his own really cool graffiti-esque spin on them. His work is incredible and I highly recommend checking him out, or looking for him at your local comic con next year. He frequents a few around the country. Here's a small sample of his work I picked up (click on images for larger view)

Walking the floor is basically most of the same. There's hundreds of booths and all are similar in that you'll find a lot of cool artwork or creativity on sale to buy, or for you just to admire. I did hear that NYCC surpassed SDCC in terms of total attendees. I will say walking around NYCC is similar to SDCC. it was pretty packed, but not as packed as SDCC. This could be thanks to Artists Alley being separated.

After walking the floor for a few hours while I tried to sweat out last nights debauchery, I hit the main lobbies to just wander and check out cosplay. For some reason it felt as if 75% of attendees were in cosplay at NYCC. MUCH more than SDCC. It may have just been the common areas filled with cosplayers all on display, but they were everywhere. Here's a few pictures I was able to snap off while not having a stroke from lack of fluids

Walking the Lobbies led us to get food. NYCC has a few layers to it and a few of these layers contain food courts. We were able to get some personal pizzas for a few hundred dollars that were surprisingly good. 2 Thumbs up to Javits center for its food quality. Living in Boston, I'm used to the utter worst event food you can imagine at the most expensive price you can imagine. Javits center at least raised the quality of the food to make the price more acceptable. The other major bonus of the Javits center?...BEER. nothing cures a hangover like some "hair of the dog". One of their high points is also one of their downfalls. Beer is sold in the food courts out of coolers, just like soda or Gatorade. Minors would simply lift beers and walk out. We watched one genius steal a bottle of beer only to have it fall from under his shirt, hit the ground and smash all over the place. As the kid took off security came over. I was told "this happens constantly". Might be a good idea to only serve it in plastic cups to someone with an I.D but what do I know. Lunch led back to the show floor for another 4 hours of sightseeing.

Overall NYCC was pretty great but did lack the massive expansive experience found at SDCC. Offsite events are nill if any. Think of it this way..... San Diego Comic Con is to 'Mark Wahlberg', as New York Comic Con is to his brother Donnie. SDCC has all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, while NYCC is more low key. It's still popular but its no blockbuster. Popular panels are scarce and limited to unknown or smaller movies and TV shows already in progress. There are some I wish I got a chance to see though.

With only one day under my belt at NYCC, its pretty tough to give you 4 great things about it. I spent Saturday on the show floor in hopes to see everything in the one day I was there. While I did see a lot of cool stuff. There aren't really 4 things I can throw at you that would be worth while.

A Stroll through NYCC 2021

October 10, 2021 Erin Dillingham

This was my first trip to New York Comic Con. I did not know what to expect. If you have never been I highly suggest you go. While on the show floor I got to take some pictures of the nerd-mecca that is NYCC. I hope you enjoy.

Shang Chi

September 11, 2021 Jason Murphy

What were the top 4 parts of Shang Chi?…you came to the right place.

#4 The Great Protector

Visually one of the best parts of Shang Chi is its climax, fully loaded wih an ancient dragon straight out of Chinese lore. This dragon (The Great Protector) is badass and looks utterly amazing. It’s almost like watching an old school robot anime show or Godzilla-esque scene but looking 20,000,000 times better. Its utterly beautiful

#3 Wong vs Abomination

The Wong vs Abomination underground fight/training scene is easily a cool cameo that doesnt fit in this film so much, but is really cool to watch. What is Wqong doing here? Where has Abomination been? WHATS GOING ON HERE? who cares! its too damn cool to care

#2 Wenwu Vs. Li

Part of this movie is a backstory/love story. It involves Shang Chi’s parents; Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Ying Li (Fala Chen). It begins with their romance and ends with, well….I wont give too much away.

This prologue is very reminiscent to films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, or House of Flying Daggers and really sets the tone for Shang Chi overall. While still being an MCU fim, it holds onto its Asian cinema roots thanks to this prologue.

#1 FIGHT!

The shining moment of Shang Chi is arguably its fight scene cinematography . Not just 1 of them but all of them, ad there are MANY. This is one hugely epic fight scene centric film. Based of Kung Fu movies of the 70s and 80s, this film packs a punch..over and over and over..

(updated fight montage)