Movie Review Ghostbusters Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) 

Directed by Gil Kenan 

Written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan

Starring McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Bill Murray

Release Date March 22nd, 2024 

Published March 22nd, 2024 

Recently, I worked out my concerns over the trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in an article that worried that there were too many stories, too many characters, and a generally overstuffed quality to the movie. My concerns were not entirely unfounded. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is stuffed to the gills with plot and characters. But, to the credit of director Gil Kenan and co-screenwriter Jason Reitman, do bring all of these characters together well enough. It's not a great movie, but Frozen Empire is better than my worst fears for it. Good enough that I can recommend it, with some minor reservations. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire picks up the story of the Spengler Family, Egon's daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two kids, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), the oldest, and Phoebe (McKenna Grace), the genius, as they take on ghosts in New York City. Oh, and Gary (Paul Rudd), is also there. They are the Ghostbusters and we join them as they are chasing what looks like a flying electric eel. Property damage and other such mayhem ensues and it leads to Phoebe getting kicked off the team, at least until she's 18.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review It Chapter 1

Stephen King's It (2017)

Directed by Andy Muschietti 

Written by Chase Parker, Cary Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman

Starring Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgard, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis 

Release Date September 8th, 2017

September 7th, 2017 

To say that the 2017 take on Stephen King’s Magnum Clown Opus IT is better than the 1990 mini-series is an understatement. The mini-series was a punishing nearly four-hour mix of a pretty good kids’ story and a nearly impossible to watch adult story. Jettisoning the adult story in favor of focusing on the far superior kids’ story from King’s novel, the 2017 IT crafts a tightly wound, creepy horror flick that plays on some serious issues about grief and abuse while delivering the kind of machine tooled jump scares that modern audiences go to the movies for.

IT stars Jordan Lieberher as Bill, the ringleader of a group of friends who are often picked on and lean on each other for support. Bill’s friends include Eddie (Jack Dylan Grazer), Richie (Finn Wolfhard), and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff). Along through, the story the core group adds Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor), a chubby kid who is new in town, Mikey (Chosen Jacobs), a home-schooled farm kid, and Beverly (Sophia Lillis), a young beauty who has an unwarranted reputation around the small town of Derry, Maine.

The story kicks off in 1988 when Bill’s little brother Georgie (Jackson Robert Scott) goes outside to play in the rain and goes missing at the hands of the evil clown Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard). In a scene that is actually quite shocking for modern horror film, Georgie’s disappearance sets a tone of fear and dread that director Andy Muschietti, a first-time feature director, does a tremendous job of maintaining over the course of the film’s two hour and fifteen-minute running time. The scene is legit frightening and Pennywise "The Dancing Clown” could not get a better or creepier introduction.

Naturally, the story from there is our group of young heroes battling Pennywise and trying to stay alive, but much like Stephen King’s book, director Muschietti and screenwriters Chase Palmer and Cary Fukunaga, who was going to direct the film before dropping out, do an exceptional job of introducing each of the kids’ obstacles and fears. While these scenes played like filler in the 1990 mini-series, because it’s TV and there are things you can’t do on TV, the movie is filled with genuine horrors and traumas these kids must overcome and that Pennywise uses to great advantage.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal.