Monday, March 21, 2016

Shared Universe or Clean Slate on Ghostbusters

Just looking at reports on changed plans to have a Channing Tatum Ghostbusters introduced as competition for the Kristin Wiig vehicle that is coming out this summer. Apparently the new male version won't be this decade, and I could not care less. There is tweeting and clucking that bemoans the idea that these movies might not all connect, Marvel-style. The time to think of shared universes was before Feig e-mailed Amy Pascal with his idea that humans have had NO evidence of the afterlife and the 1984 Ghostbusters never happened. The Orkin pest control idea was already suggested in the 2009 original cast video game, wasn't it? The old traps did not have to look like bear traps, since the essence of a ghost has nothing to do with apparent size. The original props could have been made available if Wiig and team simply bought into the franchise as a branch of Ghostbusters. They could have moved into a property across the street from a Westboro Baptist Church type of organization and might even find ghosts or possessions there. Maybe their branch doesn't have to be in New York. If Dan and Ernie Hudson just were seen in an ad that might have been enough. There are plenty of satirical reasons to justify people not believing in ghosts despite there having been huge events. There was no twitter nor smart phones in 1984 or 1989. Cell phones weren't even common when The Real Ghostbusters show ran. It is possible that ghost believers might be treated as 9/11 Truthers. That is what should have happened. Speaking as a moviegoer.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Better Young Han Solo possibilities?

I've posted a few links compulsively on imdb discussion boards, because that is the sort of deranged nerd I am. Also, it only took a few minutes. But who do you try to "contact" through an imdb board? Kathleen Kennedy? The directors of the proposed new Han Solo movie? Or the writers Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon? I didn't even go that far. The most the message might reach is a handful of fans who happen to click on a given argument... I mean discussion. Though they are not on the short list being publicized, a Young Han Solo doesn't need an established celebrity name. The name above the title is the name IN the title - Han Solo. It would be a big mistake to cast anyone who does not evoke Harrison Ford. Who are the best of the non-short-listed (that we know of) that should come to the attention of the directors? Jamie Costa (most famous for a Robin Williams impression reel) or Anthony Ingruber (young Ford in Age of Adeline) Here are others talking about the options out there.