Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Movie Review

Starring Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Bokeem Woodbine, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor and Annie Potts.

Written by Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman.

Directed by Jason Reitman.

★★★

Another movie continuing the tradition of being a sequel to the original without really counting the other movies as canon. I can't think of anything it used from Ghostbusters II (and the Paul Feig Ghostbusters was a remake destined to be a forgotten footnote). And while it did feel like its own movie for most of it, it relies a lot on familiarity/nostalgia from the original to hit those emotional chords.

It centers on single mom Callie (Gone Girl's Carrie Coon) and her two teens Trevor (Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (Annabelle Come Home's Mckenna Grace) who've inherited a rickety old farm in Summerville, OK, from Callie's father, whom she never knew. Context clues early say that her father was Egon Spengler, who died officially of a heart attack but there are larger, spookier forces at play. Trevor tries to get in with the local teens while brainiac Phoebe is too intrigued by all the research and gadgets her grandfather left behind. Meanwhile Paul Rudd is a nearby teacher who catches Callie's eye.

It had some late surprises I was expecting and a couple that I was
n't. The star of the show is Grace, who's been bouncing around in some good projects (Gifted, The Haunting of Hill House, young Carol in Captain Marvel, young Tonya in I Tonya) but this feels like a role that can boost her into Dakota Fanning level of Best Teen Actress roles.

Stay through the credits. (But avoid looking at the IMDB cast list before you see the movie so certain things don't get spoiled. Glad I didn't look until after the movie.)

It - Movie Review

Starring Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgard, Finn Wolfhard, Jack Dylan Grazer, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Chosen Jacobs, Wyatt Oleff and Nicholas Hamilton.
Written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga & Gary Dauberman.
Directed by Andy Muschietti.

★★★

It's tempting to say It reminded me of Stranger Things, but really, Stranger Things reminded me of It. Stephen King's classic 1986 novel remains one of his best, and the influence of King is felt everywhere.

It's an emormous feat to adapt an 1138-page book to the screen, but the first smart step was to cut focus only on the half that deals with the seven protagonists as kids. So you've pared it down to 569 pages. Still quite a task. (It 2 about the adults will surely come out in 2019.)

They've streamlined the book, left a lot out, changed a lot, but it's still true to the heart of the story. Seven 12-year-olds come together, known as the Losers Club. Their leader is stuttering Bill (St. Vincent's Jaeden Lieberher), whose younger brother is the first victim of It. He's joined by loudmouth Richie (Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard), sickly Eddie (Me Myself & I's Jack Dylan Grazer), ostracized Beverly, fat kid Ben, worrying Stan, and parentless Mike. Each of them is visited in one way or another by It, usually in the creepy form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, played with unsettling menace by Bill Skarsgard (son of Stellan, brother of Alexander).

The strongest parts of the movie are when the seven are just hanging out. It's about comraderie and community, and there's not a weak link in the performances.

I'd say it was a little funnier than I thought it would be, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be (though it does have a couple really good ones), and it was a satisfying fun summer movie that just happened to open in September.