Friday, March 22, 2024

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

A family struggles financially and is forced to suddenly relocate, an estranged relative having recently passed but not without having left them his eccentric land.

They make the chaotic move and soon must adjust to small town life, the teenagers somewhat grouchy at first until serendipity inspires motivation.

Curiosity inquisitively roams and there's an abundance of toys on the farm, some of them socioculturally familiar in terms of old school narrative phenoms. 

Mom soon finds herself amorously pursued by her daughter's lackadaisical comic teacher, while her son looks for work at a diner with the happenstance hopes of dating the waitress.

Meanwhile, ye olde particle-accelerator is awkwardly discovered in a secret chamber, and ghosts are spotted nearby who require electronic sequesterization. 

They take the old ghostbuster mobile for a reanimated spin around the sleepy town, leaving quite the mischievous mess as they chase the frenzied febrile phantom.

They have a certain knack for ghostbusting even if trouble ensues enthusiastically however.

Being Egon Spengler's grandchildren!

Without having lost the archaic touch.

I have to admit, this style of filmmaking seemed endearingly familiar, and I found myself wanting to watch the film in one go instead of splitting it up into 2 nights.

It was like that old Ghostbusters magic had been rediscovered by the next generation, and although I don't really recommend making sequels decades later, this one worked well, intergenerationally speaking (still hoping for another with the all female cast). 

Of course ghostbusting can't stray from the horrors of cynical dismissive trajectories, the public school an unfortunate gong show, with no genuine leadership, it was tough to watch (they have good public schools in Canada and Québec [higher taxes]).

And dispiriting, I know it's just a comedy film that makes light of serious realities, and that systemic critiques are wincingly welcome to avoid too much hyper-reactive self-obsession, but teaching is an incredibly difficult job as I've mentioned before several times, another layer of obtuse scrutiny only adds to the associated difficulties (YouTube is making it impossible to get through to some kids). 

I like to watch both comedies and dramas so the uptight cynicism never sets in, instead the tragedy associated with progressive endeavours becomes much more sublime and worthwhile correspondingly.

I think for a lot of people it's generally one or the other however.

Don't sell yourself short, take the well-rounded approach.

Take another look around at what we've achieved. 

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