FMC 096: 1984’s Ghostbusters Directed by Ivan Reitman

Full Episode Transcript
This episode of Filmmaker Commentary dives into the 1984 classic "Ghostbusters," directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, while also discussing current film industry news and personal viewing experiences.

Opening Discussion & Industry News
Reginald Titus Jr.: Filmmaker Commentary, episode 96. Welcome to Filmmaker Commentary, where we give you insights from our favorite filmmaking commentaries. These commentaries can be heard on your DVD and Blu-rays of your favorite movies. We'll show you how you can use these commentaries and apply them to improve your video production and filmmaking techniques. All of this here on Filmmaker Commentary. I'm your host, Reginald Titus Jr.
Thank you for tuning into Filmmaker Commentary. I'm Reginald Titus Jr. I'm joined with Casey G. Smith. Welcome back, sir.
Casey G. Smith: Good to be back, sir.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Today we are talking about Ghostbusters, 1984, directed and produced by Ivan Reitman. Uh, we have music by Elmer Bernstein. Yes. We had a budget of 31 million and a box of a box office of 296.4 million. And until this day, it's streaming on Amazon, which I did rent it. Okay. Yeah. Rented it, then bought the Blu-ray. I would say that's a win. It's a heck of a win.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, yeah. The fact they were able to stay that close to budget and produce this thing within literally a year.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. That's, yeah. Well done.
Casey G. Smith.: That's a that's a that's an amazing feat.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Facts. But before we talk about Ghostbusters, 1984, the original Ghostbusters, because if you Google it, they specifically say, the original Ghostbusters, because there was apparently there was another film Ghostbusters in the same franchise, right?
Casey G. Smith.: There was a show, a show called Ghostbusters.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Animated show?
Casey G. Smith.: Uh, live action show that the that animated show is based off of.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's Which I found out.
Casey G. Smith.: From watching uh, the movies that made us.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They take a deep they take a deep dive.
Casey G. Smith.: That that's actually after watching this, if you haven't seen that episode, totally worth checking out.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I'm definitely going to check that.
Casey G. Smith.: Totally worth checking out because they cover some stuff that's not covered in, yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I like, I like. Interesting.
Casey G. Smith.: I might go back and actually watch that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters. All right, before we talk about further about Ghostbusters, let's jump into news and movies watched. So, in the news according to Deadline, SAG-AFTRA has developed a mobile app to identify workplace sexual abusers. So, SAG-AFTRA has developed a mobile app that will detect and collect data on serial sexual abusers and allow members to report sexual harassment in the workplace. A beta version will begin limited testing with members later this month. That's a shame.
Casey G. Smith.: It is a shame.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Shame, Hollywood, shame on you.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes. But it's good that they're trying to work to protect their people, you know, that the guild is is is is doing something so that these things can be brought to light and people can be protected. So, but yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Any more news?
Casey G. Smith.: Um, I did see an article that uh Disney's doing some major shakeup. Disney is streamlines its COVID-19 woes continue, creating a single media entertainment distribution unit led by Kareem Daniel. So, they've they've they've like did like a whole shakeup thing that's happening. Uh, just consolidating and having a big, big focus on on streaming. Um, going forward.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Makes sense.
Casey G. Smith.: So yeah, they're preparing for the future.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I mean, we're here and everything has gone up. You know, people aren't going out to watch movies as it's been proven with uh Tenet and Mulan, was it Mulan? Yeah. Um, people aren't just going out to watch things and streaming numbers have double quadrupled, I'm sure.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, yeah. And I mean, yeah, big jumps. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Big jumps. And not just that, you know, people are willing to even do transactional and and rent it, you know, at a higher price. If you know, like the Trolls, and I forgot what the other.
Casey G. Smith.: Mulan, did it, they did it with Mulan also cause that came that came through quicker. I I'm very curious in those instances, the difference between like single like members of a household. Like if it's more if it's is it more likely that a household of, you know, you know, uh, a couple, a couple and kids versus say somebody that's that's single.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's solo and.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, because I mean it it had to be, it would have to be something real special for me to drop $30 to rent and you don't own it, right? You just you're you are renting it, aren't you? You're not buying it. I think in some of those early instances, I think you I think you are just.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So you're not purchasing it.
Casey G. Smith.: I think you're just renting it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, I need to look into that. I don't know, but I would assume it was a it's a rental. I would assume it was print.
Casey G. Smith.: That's that's that's a lot like, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I was willing but but think about it though, if it's something you want to watch, you can't go to the theater. And you have that window of like, it's available transactional three months, Marvel, whatever. For me, we were considering um renting the Antebellum uh movie with Janelle Monáe. Sure. So we were like, yeah, we'll do it. We'll rent it. I think it was like 20 bucks or something like that. Okay. We'll do it. Even if it was me, if I watch it by myself, I'd be like, all right, because I can't watch it anywhere else. That's the that's the main reason.
Casey G. Smith.: So, I guess my thing would be, okay, it's it's it's going to eventually, basically, I see it as it's going to come down in price, right? It's not going to go anywhere else but to streaming and eventually it'll become more affordable. I'll be able to actually pay for it once and own it versus I pay for it, I pay $20 for it and I don't get to own it and my experience at home is would be the same if I I I, you know, I would have to maybe wait and maybe delay gratification, but at least I would be able to own it and watch it again and only pay 20 bucks once. I guess that's my only argument. Now again, if I were with somebody else, and okay, this is like a date where, okay, we'd each pay ten, you know, I'd pay 20 bucks for for two of us to get, you know, a ticket each, that makes sense to me. But me by myself, I'm like, mmm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: $20. So it's uh, I'm looking on um, I just typed in Antebellum on Google just to see what's up. So, like if you watch it on Voodoo, it's 19 bucks. Google Play is like 14, YouTube is 14.
Casey G. Smith.: Okay, that's that's that's there are movies that that run that price. 14, 15 bucks.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And I guess the argument is, yeah, it's just all rent. So on Voodoo, it's just rent. There's there's not an option of buy.
Casey G. Smith.: 15 would be like a threshold because that's almost like a IMAX like IMAX ticket pricing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And it's on sale, so.
Casey G. Smith.: It is on sale.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like when I mean on sale, meaning like going from like 19 bucks to 14 bucks like that.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, that's the sale.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's the sale. Clarify.
Casey G. Smith.: Okay. And that to me is is more reasonable. Like $15, okay. Now I'd be in the realm of consideration. $20, if I'm not going to own it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, so basically right now, you're you're basically renting it at a higher price.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. Cause it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Which I thought and you know what, they're still trying to figure out the model. You know, these are the first films are coming out, like okay, what does the consumer want? Do do we just say it's a transactional thing and you know, you pay 20 bucks and you have it and you can watch it anytime? Or we're going to try to pretend this is the theater and you're quote unquote renting it or buying a ticket for this window of time and then then it's available to purchase. But now that you know it's 14.99 to rent, what do you think?
Casey G. Smith.: I would give I would give consideration.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I think that first week is like that premium, like it's like 20 bucks or something like that, then after maybe a couple weeks, it comes down to 14 bucks. And then maybe it stays at 14 bucks after that window is done, but now you can purchase it for 14 bucks. That's what I'm assuming is going to happen.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. I'm going to be curious to see what uh, you know, if if it gets a Blu-ray release, does it have special features?
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's what I would I would want to know.
Casey G. Smith.: But yeah, again, good review, something like that. I I would I would uh I would consider 14. 20 is as a as a single person, 20 by myself is seems unreasonable. I I understand as an organization.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's unreasonable, yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, I understand as an organization that they want to, you know, maximize what they can get, they're not going to, you know, be in the theater and have a wide audience. I know they also know that they're losing because of, you know, you got multiple people in one household. But me as a solo person, I'm like, umm, 20 is that's that's my that's that's above what I would want to pay to rent, to rent, watch it, what I get to watch it for once, unless I pause it and restart it. I'm like, that's that's uh.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's a bit much.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, 24-hour period. Like, is it?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I wonder, yeah, 24. I know like on Voodoo, uh, when it releases, the thing on Voodoo is and some of the other platforms, I'm pretty sure they're going to add this, but they actually have a lot of special features. When you can actually purchase the film, they'll have.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, I've seen that. And I I wish there was more than that. Disney Plus, again, on a couple of theirs, I mean, there aren't purchases, but just streaming wise, again, a couple of their stuff has some commentary, some of my special features. I would love for that to be the the norm. If this is the route that we're going, I'll take it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: But who knows, man. And that film's got quite a few bad reviews, by the way. Oh, it does. Yeah. But, you know, some people.
Casey G. Smith.: Antebellum?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Some people are digging it, but like on Rotten Tomatoes, it's like 29%. Five out of 5.5 out of 10 on IMDb, 45% on Metacritic, on Google, 72% like it. Yeah, it's going to be interesting. Yeah. I need to see it for myself. I'll be the judge.
Casey G. Smith.: It it looks like it would be an acquired taste.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I know, right?
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. I'm like, I I wouldn't expect like everybody to dig it, just just from the trailers that I've seen. So, I am curious though. I am curious. Just not $20 curious.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. $5 curious.
Casey G. Smith.: You know, maybe $10 curious. Karen.

Recent Viewings & Production Updates
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Any uh, what about movies, TVs, you've been watching anything?
Casey G. Smith.: Uh, I did finish up the third season of Rick and Morty and uh, yeah, man, I realized there were episodes that I hadn't.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: I hadn't seen.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: Um, and it made some things because I I'd missed some pretty big episodes. I was like, oh, that, oh, that was a real thing that happened. I thought it was just a random reference. No, that really happened in the previous in the prior season. So, yeah, it really connected some dots. I was like, oh, man, that's that's great. Um, yeah, man, the show is is show is something else, man. I really enjoyed rewatching the Pickle Rick episode. Frickin' so awesome, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Pickle Rick.
Casey G. Smith.: Uh, dude, man, just like, I mean that's Rick's just his ingenious and his madness on full display with that element of the family dynamic, okay, you know, which I guess he really did it so he could really survive. So, which again still, you know, part of the family dynamic.
Reginald Titus Jr.: True.
Casey G. Smith.: But uh, but yeah, man, I dug I dug uh, being able to see see it all. And again, hopefully get the fourth the fourth season on there because I've watched some of the fourth season um, on.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Adult Swim?
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, on demand like last year sometime. So, I wonder why it hasn't ported over.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Are you on Hulu?
Casey G. Smith.: I watched it on just through um, Spectrum. Just I just went to Adult Swim. This was again, like, this is six, maybe six, seven months ago. Okay. And uh, I remember I watched I I watched a couple of episodes of the fourth season.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh, I haven't tried to go back of late to see, but yeah, I've seen some episodes of it. But that's the only thing that you'll get some of it and then but again, you know, it moves around. But I'm like, well, why isn't it on HBO Max? If you got the three seasons, why not where?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Somebody negotiated to have the fourth season somewhere exclusively. I hate streaming.
Casey G. Smith.: Clearly. It's like.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Cause it doesn't make logical sense, but whoever's going to pay for it exclusively.
Casey G. Smith.: They chose money. Yeah. Sure. We'll give you that season. You guys get one, two, three. All right. Moving along. Uh, but I also I also uh, finished and watched the the the eighth and final episode of The Boys on Amazon Prime.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And how was it?
Casey G. Smith.: I I dug I dug season two. Yeah. There's some very interesting developments. Um, yeah. I yeah, it it's you you get a little more about the individual like the individuals in in involved. There's some interesting through lines. And yeah, the the last episode, there's some stuff that goes down. So, yeah, that's all I'm going to say. But yeah, I enjoy I enjoy I enjoyed season two. Um, is it as strong as season one? I guess my hesitation, I'm trying to I'm trying to think through season one. It was a lot that goes on. They're eight episodes a piece. I I think you I might need to go back and watch season one because it's been a while and I never went back and revisited it. But no, season two, I I like season two. I I I liked it. Uh, and season one has its impact because it was so like new and fresh. And season two came actually pretty quick. Yeah. Like, whoa. Well, it's here. Uh, but there's some there's some there's some wild developments. But uh, but I still recommend if you like season one, I think uh, I think at a minimum you'll you'll enjoy season two. Right. Um.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I watched two or three, two or three episodes. I'm at the episode when they may be spoilers. There may be spoilers. So fast forward. Um, where's that guy with the guilds? What's his name?
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, uh, The Deep.
Reginald Titus Jr.: The Deep. Yeah. And so he's going through his whole process of liking himself. And his his, yeah, his gills.
Casey G. Smith.: They made those things look so gross.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Disgusting, man. Yeah. On purpose. It's like, oh, you guys just really made it. That's yeah. Nasty looking.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So like I'm on the episode when uh, who's the who's the just the head guy with the.
Casey G. Smith.: Butcher. Billy Butcher.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Butcher, not Butcher. Homelander, yes. Homelander's like, put those gross things up. We was talking about his gills.
Casey G. Smith.: Right. He's just like trying to get him to see. Yeah, don't ever show him. Yeah, don't hide those. Yeah. I like totally just like tearing him like, oh, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Disgusting. So yeah, that's where I'm at on on that. That's what I remember last.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, there's some stuff that goes down in this season, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: All right. I just haven't found the time. I was like, okay. One of these days, I got to binge all this.
Casey G. Smith.: Hopefully 14's only eight episodes, which is not not too daunting.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. And those first two episodes, I literally was on the road watching them. Okay. Yeah, I was on the road. So, but anyhow, uh, what else? You've been watching anything else?
Casey G. Smith.: That's all I've had uh, time time for, really. I think there's something else. I think I I think I watched maybe a piece of a of of a playoff game.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, same here.
Casey G. Smith.: Um, but not, you know, no no whole games.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, I watched the highlights. Same here. Two games, I watched it. And at the time of this recording, Lakers have won.
Casey G. Smith.: Yes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, time of this, Dak got jacked up.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh my God, I oh my God, I saw that I saw that highlight, that replay.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I saw it when it happened and I was just like, you couldn't like your brain doesn't process it. Like, this is no.
Casey G. Smith.: I've had a premonition, man. Like I never wanted to say it out loud, but I've had I've had this like I've had this premonition that something like was going to happen to him. Like I don't know, but I didn't want to I didn't want to voice it. I was like, no, I don't want to speak it. Dang. Uh, so when I saw it, I was like, you know, shocked. I was still shocked, you know, because you see it, but I mean, cuz he's like in the air and it's like, you know, he's dangling and then, you know, he's trying to like put it together and you see it's like crooked. Like.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: I was like, there's his.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There's this uh, YouTube channel where this doctor explains like injuries like that and he like has the skeleton and he shows like these injuries like, as you see, he'll show it in slow motion as it's cracking and breaking. But then he has a skeleton of a foot and he shows how ankles become dislocated. Um, and then like within that, you have nerves that can get pinched, like the nerves that can he's like, usually you don't have damage, but uh, according to what they were saying, it was his, it was a compound fracture. So like literally the bone is coming through the skin. We couldn't see it from the audience, but that's what when they were crowding around him, there was a compound fracture. That's why he had to have surgery. Like right away. He like he's on his way to the hospital. Like, why is he going to the hospital right now? Like, you know, like, did they just say it and then talk to his doctor whatever, but no, he had to get surgery because it was breaking through the skin.
Casey G. Smith.: But it was a clean break.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't know. They don't tell us anything, but when you hear a compound fracture, that's not good.
Casey G. Smith.: So yeah, but um.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yes, so that's you know, I was watching, you know, watching football and.
Casey G. Smith.: Did you see that there's a kid there's a uh, on Twitter. I I I actually saw when I was checking out the news. There's a a Philadelphia Eagles fan. He's a little kid.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Oh.
Casey G. Smith.: Who recorded this video just wishing for Dak to get better. And this kid who's a kid who who's he's he he says, you know, he's clearly been through some kind of surgeries and things like that and he's like, I've been through a lot of pain in my life. And he I mean, he looks he looks like he's maybe no older than, you know, eight or nine years old.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I love it.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, it's and he's got his Eagles jersey on. He goes, you know, even as, you know, the Eagles biggest fan, he goes, you just never you never want to see something like that happen.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man, they look like it really hurt.
Casey G. Smith.: And yeah, he looks like it really hurt.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: Dak, I've been through a lot of pain in my life and I'm just want to, you know, wish you a a a quick recovery and I hope you get the comeback story that you deserve.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow.
Casey G. Smith.: I was like, man, out of the mouth of babes, man, for real. That that it it it touched the heart.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Showing adults how to act.
Casey G. Smith.: Really though. Really though. It it you it can't help but touch your heart. It's uh, yeah, it was that was pretty precious.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And Dak's one of those guys where it's, you know, you put your hate for your team and all this stuff, you kind of put it to the side because he seems like a character like, hey, man, this guy is a pretty good leader. He seems like an awesome guy too, so.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, and and that's the thing where it's like, oh, man, it's like, yeah, this is like it's a good human being, you know, just think about the the year that he's had, man, like just uh somebody else put on Twitter, uh, she was like, man, you know, just, you know, with his mom passing and then, you know, with his brother and then, you know, he, you know, obviously the counseling thing this year, just trying to fight through stuff and then you got this, but yeah, man, I'm I'm I'm you know, thoughts and prayers with with with Dak Prescott, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, man. Yeah, man. Speedy recovery.
Casey G. Smith.: That's gonna be a speedy recovery. Yeah.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Be right. Uh, so yeah, just football, yeah, things like that. Um, watch anything in particular?
Casey G. Smith.: No. Just the Cowboys game. I don't yeah. Not too much this week. Yeah, it's been more of a production week. So, you know, been shooting a lot of stuff. So, that's been fun. Doing post-production doing post-production on that stuff. So, that's been it's been good to work. How about that?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Hey.
Casey G. Smith.: COVID put us out for a little while, so.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Back in the saddle.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, so that that's been feeling that's been feeling good just to get back to work. Been loving it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, anything else?
Casey G. Smith.: No, man, likewise, man, I'm I'm I'm in I'm in I'm in school now. I'm looking towards the masters.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's cool.
Casey G. Smith.: See. So, yeah, I'm in la escuela, aprendiendo muchas cosas cosas nuevas. I'm in school now, learning many new things.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, okay. And today's show is sponsored by Natalie Hear the Movie by Groundburner Films, available for purchase and rent on Amazon video and available on video on demand.

Ghostbusters 1984 Analysis
Reginald Titus Jr.: And now let's jump right back into the show. Thank you for tuning into Filmmaker Commentary. We're talking about Ghostbusters 1984 directed and produced by Ivan Reitman. Who you gonna call? After the members of a team of scientists lose their cushy positions at a university in New York City, they decide to become Ghostbusters to wage a high-tech battle with the supernatural for money. They stumble upon a gateway to another dimension. A doorway that will release evil upon the city. The Ghostbusters must now save New York from complete destruction. Ghostbusters. Rated PG. Was it PG? What? It was pretty scary as a kid.
Casey G. Smith.: That's one of those things on my mind like when I had it wouldn't have been a while since I'd seen it. Yeah. I was thinking that, oh, this must be rated R or PG-13.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: But again, this is that 80s PG thing, you know, because it came out in 84. So.
Reginald Titus Jr.: They you got a point.
Casey G. Smith.: Right. Remember when Gremlins dropped, that's when PG-13 came about.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, cuz they were pushing the envelope with that one.
Casey G. Smith.: You know, PG meant different things. Yeah, PG had a lot of leeway cause you know, they're dropping S-bombs and.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, because it's nothing like gratuitous in there, like as far as the language, as far as like people dress or anything like that. So it's but it was scary.
Casey G. Smith.: Again, it's come down to one of the one of the themes that they said, right? You know, having the having the the the abnormal or the supernatural happen within the mundane, right? Getting you to believe everything else. They ground so much around everything else so that when those elements of the supernatural happen it it feels like this intrusion into this flushed out world. Yeah. Maybe that's why it has such impact. I remember as yeah. It had impact.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Well, for sure. Uh, when did you watch it?
Casey G. Smith.: Dude, if I'm not mistaken. And I actually no, I'm I'm I'm I watched this in the theaters with my with my family. Really. Yeah. I was I was young. I was a mere child. I was five.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was PG so, you know. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: I was you know, five five years old. We went we saw this in the theaters. I I yes, we saw this in the theaters. I remember being in the theater.
Reginald Titus Jr.: This would be memorable.
Casey G. Smith.: Yo, I remember being in the theater, especially the the the scene that like I was like, whoa, in the theater when they transform in in two the into the um, the dogs. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. I remember that just standing out because you know, I mean, at the time this is cutting edge technology and you're in the theater and it's all dark. And the sound, and then they're like, Just like, you know, awestruck. Like, dude, I remember, you know, the opening when they're in the library with the ghost.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, that was creepy.
Casey G. Smith.: Before I go any further, if this is your first time listening to Filmmaker Commentary, please know that there will be spoilers. You've been forewarned. Yes. But yeah, I watched it as a kid and, you know, it it was it was a it was a huge hit, right? The song was out, you know, by Ray Parker Jr. and, you know, the music video and then, of course, then the cartoon, the cartoon came out, but then there was another cartoon, again, based off the actual show Ghostbusters and that that cartoon was called The was called Ghostbusters. But then when this cartoon came out based upon this, it was called The Real Ghostbusters. Right battles. Um, but yeah, and then and then man, it was gosh, when did I revisit this? The first time I revisited this was maybe about six, seven years ago, I want to say. I think I'd caught it some different places, bits and pieces. But sitting down actually just rewatching the whole thing. And I was super impressed. I was like, dang, this thing is this is really well done because you remember, you know, from a kid's perspective, it was one thing, but then watching as an adult, you're like, wow, this is a this is a hilarious film. The the one-liners and all that kind of stuff and it's the, you know, the performances. Then even now, you know, rewatching, I'm like, this is this is a classic, man. This thing just it just it still holds up and uh, yeah, so.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How about you, man?
Casey G. Smith.: I think this one because we were more like a family where we were rent, you know, my mom and dad used to rent. They would go to like the local mom and pop, uh, rental stores back in the day. Cause you do have I forgot what year Blockbuster came out, but there were still a lot of rental stores. They were prominent, the local mom and pops and so that's the one they always went to. And so they were rent because you could feel a lot. You can find a lot of weird, obscure stuff in some of these shops back in the day. 100%.
Reginald Titus Jr.: My mom used to watch these weird, like B movies that were like kind of like trauma, kind of like horror-ish.
Casey G. Smith.: Mhm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Where the effects weren't done right, but she would watch those at the time. Huh. So, I remember them playing this, but I wasn't really into it. Yeah, I don't think I've but the parts that I do remember were like the dog, Rick Moranis. I remember his character. Yeah, I don't remember just like kind of at that time really going through it until like probably a couple years later after after it actually was out. But I I watched Ghostbusters 2 more than this one. Cause Ghostbusters 2 was when that one came out, 89, 90 or something like that.
Casey G. Smith.: Something like that.
Reginald Titus Jr.: This was 84 when this one came out. Yeah, by the time this Ghostbusters hit, I was probably like, as it hit the stores rental, I was probably like five or six years old.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, wow. 89 for Ghostbusters 2.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Okay. Uh, Ghostbusters 2, we were probably watching it 1990, 91. Like on the pay-per-view, not pay-per-view, but like uh, the cable stations cause they would just play that over and over. Whenever it dropped on like a HBO or Showtime, they would just play that crap back-to-back. Like.
Casey G. Smith.: That's that's where I saw it was on Ghostbusters 2 was on HBO. Yes. Then I sat down and and right when it dropped, sat down and watched because we didn't, for whatever reason, we didn't go to the theater for that one, but yeah, once it dropped, watched it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And yeah, I remember watching we watched that one over and over again. Just for us it was kind of funny, but the first one I do remember it being more scary.
Casey G. Smith.: Mhm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, part two just seemed more fun. Yeah. Yeah, seemed more fun. Uh, this time around, did you like watch it as an adult or did you just Ghostbuster the first one? Did you, this time around, did you watch it as an adult? I mean, as opposed to, I'm tripping. That's what I was like, I was like, Your brain's not working. You're like, what the hell are you saying? I mean, did you before watching it this time, did you watch it as an adult?
Casey G. Smith.: Initiate child mode. Yeah. No.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Uh, cuz you were a kid when you watched it the first time. Right. So, before watching it this time, did you watch it at all as an adult?
Casey G. Smith.: Yes, about five, six years ago. Okay. Um, through I think I. So, here's the thing. For a while, I couldn't find it just like streaming anywhere. And then finally, it came on to Netflix. Um, and I was I was like, oh, finally, I can watch it, you know, cuz I I didn't want to you know, buy it or anything like that at the time. I was like, I just wanted to watch it again. It been came to mind and again, maybe four or five years ago, finally, boom, pops up on Netflix. I'm like, yeah, bam, I watched it. I'm like, dang, you know what? This is it's it's better than I remember. You know, again, I remember the stuff as again, as a kid that stood out and like, you know, scared me. But I'm like, man, these performances. I I I yeah, I have a, you know, much greater appreciation for Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd and and Harold Ramis. Um, and so and of course, Rick Moranis, love Rick Moranis, man. And you know, you know, and then, of course, Sigourney Weaver, because this was a this was the first movie I'd seen her in. I didn't know anything about Alien. You know, so this was the first movie I'd ever seen her in. Um, so I've always known her from originally from Ghostbusters. Knowing now that she did Alien before, I'm like, oh, wow. Um, so yeah, we we watching then I I was impressed. So yeah, I was I was excited when we said we were going to do this. I was like, I'm I'm more than happy to rewatch it and see what what stands out to me even now, like diving deeper into, you know, film and production over these past couple years, you know, what's going to what's going to stand out and even knowing that uh, Reitman's son is working on the the sequel. And right now we're in like this bit there's like a a Ghostbusters nostalgic thing. I mean, they literally have new action figures that Hasbro released of the of the original the original team. You know, I've got I've got Winston Zeddemore. You know, I haven't even opened them up yet. I eventually I want to get the whole team. They got they got Dana Barrett and they've got Gozer. They've got like the whole like little set. Each come with a little piece so you can build one of the little demon dogs. It's real. And then they got a separate one that's a two pack where the demon dog and it's got, you know, Lewis like together.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Those are ugly looking dogs, man.
Casey G. Smith.: It is, man. Those things are effective though, man. That that that design, I'm like, yeah, still to this day, I'm like, those are some creepy looking.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's all I remember is uh, when I was a kid, mom and dad watching that and then the shot when Rick Moranis is in his apartment, someone throws the clothes and it lands on top of the dude. I was like, oh, I always I what stood out to me as a kid was when he was running away from it. And he's running through the streets and he's and he's at the glass, you know, somebody let me in. Yeah, true. And and he turns around and and slowly that, you know, that dog's coming towards him. He kind of just, you know. Yeah. That was dramatic. Yeah, that was like. But then, of course, I do, yeah, that one was very dramatic as a child. But then they always break the tension right with comedy. And so and so it gives you this this this wonderful play. They know how to balance it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It was scary to me. There's nothing funny.
Casey G. Smith.: What y'all laughing about?
Reginald Titus Jr.: He's dead. That man, he's dead.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. And then you're all saying they're eating your food. And that's the thing. They're like, yeah. And they just goes back to doing their thing.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Impossible. It's like, wow. New York. So, how was it for you revisiting it as an as an adult?
Casey G. Smith.: Adult. Did you watch it as an adult?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't think so. I don't think so. Adult mode. Brain. Um, let's watch this at uh, wouldn't that be cool though? Preteen mode. Wouldn't that be kind of cool, if like you could watch if you had the choice to watch movies from the perspective of your younger self or middle age or an older self? That would be kind of cool.
Casey G. Smith.: That would be, I don't know how like you keep it straight. Like, you know, what if one of those modes breaks and you get stuck in that mode? Also, I'm coming, you know, this is you know, you're child. You know, we're tired. We're tired, Casey. Man. Like, what's wrong with you today? What's wrong with you? Show some respect. It would be fascinating, man. It would be super fascinating to, man, that's uh, perspective.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, cuz I'm looking at it totally different. I'm looking at it, I'm looking at practical effects. I'm looking like, oh, the lighting's pretty good on this, like, looking at the actors like, these actors are good. Yeah, man. Um, but then I mean, they're they're improv. I mean, they're these are some of the Bill Murray's one of the best improvisationalists out there.
Casey G. Smith.: Mhm.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, I'm looking, but even the people that are keeping it straight, you know, that are keeping it grounded. I'm just like, this is they're doing a heck of a job.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, and then then, you know, solid theater backgrounds. You know, when you get the guy who played uh, Peck and then, of course, Sigourney Weaver, her theater background, like they they're, you know, steadily playing it straight like.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Keeping it grounded, man.
Casey G. Smith.: So they all the riffing can happen around them, but they're like, okay, here we are, right here. As an adult watching it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I was watching it. I was like, okay. So, what are you asking me? I don't know. He's just came out. But did you watch it as an adult? I'm like, uh.
Casey G. Smith.: I'm sorry, come again?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I watched it as a teen today. Oh, man. Uh, this go around, I watched it with uh my wife. I don't think she's ever watched it. Oh, wow. So, she was like, this is pretty good. You know, after the movie was over, she's like, this is pretty good.
Casey G. Smith.: Any notes?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Any notes? No notes this time. No notes.
Casey G. Smith.: Fair enough. Ghostbusters is pretty.
Reginald Titus Jr.: She was like, this is she said though, um, it uh reminded her of like her childhood. So, it was like nostalgic to watch it. Bad. So, like the music, the theme music and all that, so, like, for whatever reason, she was just like, transported. She says she felt transported. Bad.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. And even then like, even though it's it's it's got a lot of 80s to it. It's it's still got this like, yeah, there there is something that's encapsulated about it that's even like not not not necessarily 80s, but just like a a a classic film. Yeah. Um, I mean, cuz aside from the, I mean, gosh, even when you see the vehicle that's being used for the Yeah. I mean, yeah, this could be something like you know, late 70s, potentially, but huh, it's interesting.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, cuz those early ages when they produced it, right? So, 82, 83. Yeah. Who's buying new, you know, new vehicles in 82, 83? You know, you're probably using four or five-year-old vehicles. Exactly. Those things carry. I mean, there there was I think a window of time like stuff from the 70s into, you know, like mid to late 80s. Vehicle wise, you expect like box here, box here stuff. Yeah. It is what it is.
Casey G. Smith.: They won't die in it though, if you get in a wreck.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's true. Solid. You'll make it home. What did you like or what didn't you like after watching this as an adult?
Casey G. Smith.: As an adult. So, I really liked as an adult, I liked the soundtrack. And as a kid, I liked the soundtrack too. Like there's some great songs in here. I've said again, we talked about Ray uh, and then the the also classic, who you gonna call. Um, which I mean, it's it's so fascinating. Like this movie from a pop culture standpoint, it permeates so many areas. There's a, you know, there's a new Avengers game. When you play it, you can literally get into the Hulkbuster armor, right? Clearly, you know, taking they're taking a pull on Ghostbusters. But literally, a guy named Nolan North voices Tony Stark and at times when he puts when he gets into that Hulkbuster armor, he literally will say, busting makes me feel good. He says, that's a song, that's a song. Look it up. You know, like he literally like makes reference to to to the song. Um, but yeah, the music uh, is is is is is a lot of fun. But 80s soundtrack, there's a lot of good soundtracks from back in the day. But this is this is one and again the score. Yeah. We were talking about it, you know, offline. The score is solid, I think it doesn't doesn't get enough credit, you know, it's it's got this it the the tones that hit at different times and it's got this, you know, this this orchestral uh, symphonic sound where you get the.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I feel like I'm being manipulated by the score. Yeah. When we're in the library. When we're in the library, you you you feel like you're being manipulated, but you just go along with it. Just like, yeah. I was like, okay, I know where we're going with this.
Casey G. Smith.: For real. And again, that that that that striking that tone right of of humor and and, you know, and horror. Uh, yeah, so I liked that. What I dis what I disliked, what really stood out to me this time and it may just be the, you know, the time that we're in. Is is just how much of a creep Venkman is. Uh, I'm like, dude.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, that was bad.
Casey G. Smith.: You're a creeper, man. Now, womanizer, he's he's. Total. Total womanizer. Especially at the beginning, he's doing his experiments with college students at the school he works at. Uh, and he's got every intention of of sleeping with a student. Yeah. Straight up, it is what it is.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I'm like, uh, okay, creeper, you know. And then with with Dana Barrett, I mean, he's borderline. Like this is a customer. He's got like just no scruples. Like, this guy he's he's he is a doctor of psychology. He's all about manipulation. He's all about getting what he wants. Uh, but there is something supposedly genuine, seemingly genuine that we're supposed to buy into as far as what he feels for Dana Barrett and he does some heroic stuff. But he has every intention of just wanting to, you know, get get with her. But but he does kind of show some character when, you know, the ladder scenes when she's, you know, literally possessed and he's like, you know, do you want this body? He's like, is that a trick question? You know, like that whole, you know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, he became a gentleman all of a sudden. Yeah, he shows he shows okay, when the chips are really down that he had some some good qualities.
Casey G. Smith.: He wants it fair and square.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. He's not the type of person that's going to mickey a girl and. Yeah. So that's but yeah, but initially that that that initial thing with the come like, oh, that's straight creeper. Like, wow. How many times have you done this? Yeah. And it's like kind of like a product of the 80s with some of these movies. Very much so. If you go into like watching the nerd, Revenge of the Nerds. There's a lot of that stuff going on.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, man. I think people will go back and be really embarrassed.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I mean, there there is a lot and again, these changes are are recent, but it begins to it begins to affect your mindset. You go like, oh, wow. That stuff you you would laugh at before, you're like, oh, because it was just was what it was and it was acceptable. But as we grow, like we all grow, and we look back and like, oh, so I'm not going, you know, I'm not mad at the the the the performance or whatever. It's just it's just a notation of who the character is. And it's, you know, that's that's that's who he is. And I'm like, oh, I don't I don't like who you are in these situations, Dr. Venkman.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. How about you, man? What did you like or dislike?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, I just like how it it's uh, it holds up pretty well. There's a few special effect stuff that doesn't that's kind of like, whoa, what are we doing here? But uh, they even say so in the commentary. Oh, yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: What was the last movie we saw that had a lot of special effects that were just failing?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I can't whatever the last one we watched. Uh, Evil Dead.
Casey G. Smith.: Evil Dead. Oh, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't know if it was part one or part two, but uh, part one probably. Yeah. The blue screen stuff. Yeah, it was the blue screen and then some stuff in Robocop that were like the blue screen. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: And total recall also. That's right. Yeah. Dang. 80s 80s blue screen. It's not, you know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, it's bad.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. And some of the um, cuz you lose so much quality when you overlay a grainy image on top of a even more grainy image. Yeah. So, and it becomes obvious, especially when you split it up, which I saw in this film a couple times. Uh, with those little puppies, but yeah, when you get some of the, yeah, the animatronic dog running across, when they have to get motion of of of something moving from point A to point B, panned out, then yeah, versus when it's a close up and they're using, you know, the actual practical puppeteering and and and wires and so on.
Reginald Titus Jr.: So, like the practical, so what I liked is just how classic this is. And you can tell that it's on a budget, but you can tell they didn't go crazy. You could tell that they didn't go crazy or they were trying to go punch above their weight. They they kept it contained. And you could tell by the cutaway shots and things like that. So, I'm I was happy how how well it actually stood up, even though they did have some special effects, but um, that didn't go over well, but you just kind of like, it's fine. What I didn't like, all the brothers in jail. That's the only time the brothers get to be in the movie. Man, yeah. There's a lot of brothers in jail. Yeah. And then they kind of redeem themselves because they got a Ghostbuster that's a brother.
Casey G. Smith.: There were uh, two men in the mayor's office, brothers in the mayor's office. The Ghostbusters have arrived. And then there was another brother who was there arguing with the other with the other guys. Two brothers in the mayor's office, I'm just going to put out there.
Reginald Titus Jr.: There you go. There was also another brother that was in the hotel who was just a butler. When he said, the guy whispered to him to go and run and get and he took off running. Yeah.
Casey G. Smith.: Any other brothers?
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's it.
Casey G. Smith.: Any sisters? What about the sisters? We have.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow.
Casey G. Smith.: The the maid who almost gets fried by the proton packs.
Reginald Titus Jr.: What the hell?
Casey G. Smith.: Like, man. Um.
Reginald Titus Jr.: She's a maid, by the way.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, that's yes. That's true.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Got maids and butlers and gentlemen. Who else you got?
Casey G. Smith.: Again, two brothers in in in City Hall, I'm just got to got we got to, you know, got to celebrate what we got.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. Yeah. Keep hope alive.
Casey G. Smith.: That's all. That's all. Is there a black is there a black cop? Is there was there a cop anywhere somewhere on the lines that was of color?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't know.
Casey G. Smith.: Um, yeah, Ghostbusters. Well, again, we didn't at least have we did at least have one Ghostbuster who was uh, a brother. Yeah. Who again, in the if you get a chance to watch the the movies that that made us, they don't talk about it at all in in uh from what I've seen on the special features here. Right. But on that episode, they specifically talk about that like, he was supposed to have a bigger a bigger role. Even when he took the part, he was under the under the understanding that he had a bigger role. Like his scenes got cut down. By whom? And the director, whatever, just to to fit, you know, they from the standard budget and whatever. Holy crap. You know, which and and and he was he was kind of getting upset about it, but then like somebody, you know, somebody pulled him aside and said, hey, you know, look, you know, cuz it was like his first major film. And look, man, this is what they had. They were trying to assure him that it wasn't a racial thing, but it was literally just a, look, you're the new guy, which he was, right? Again, you got to consider the time frame. Up against a Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, these guys are known like known for, I mean, Saturday Night Live. These guys are like, Saturday Night Live staples. Like they are known. Come on, nobody knew who Ernie Hudson was. And even uh, Harold Ramis had some notoriety from um, the Canadian uh, sketch show. But then also they had done, they again, they had done some movies already. So, these guys had this notoriety, like, again, Ernie's just coming in the game. He's new to the game. And so, it was his parts that had had gotten cut down. Plus Aykroyd and and um, I'm going to say Ramis. They're the writers on it and so, you know, they're making, you know, adjustments. And then, you know, Bill Murray's Bill Murray. He's the star. He is the star. Uh, but yeah, so what from what I understand he yeah, his parts got parts got cut down and trimmed.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Plus, yeah, plus was he a comedian? No.
Casey G. Smith.: Cause he kind of seemed like he was playing it straight whereas the other guys were known comedians.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah, comedians, improv actors. He was coming in as an actor and supposed to be the every he's supposed to be grounded as the everyday man to kind of be the audience perspective to ask, okay, I'm not a scientist like you guys. So, kind of in two fronts, he's the everyday man, right? Not the same kind of actor as these guys, but also even his character's not the same kind as the scientist. Um, but yeah, give my brother bank his line. Like I said, I mean, they had a year to do all of this. Yeah. And so, when you look around, what what lines would you cut? It probably would be the the new guy. The new guy. You're out of here. Yeah. But I mean, we wouldn't never know. So, it's like, um, from watching it. Yeah. Yeah. I was I was surprised. I was I was curious like what they what more they would do cuz I feel, you know, it's it's service his part serves well enough, you know, maybe some backstory, but I'm like, would that, I think it would mess up the flow of the film if we like went into some big like backstory kind of thing. Like it just kind of moves. Click click click. Yeah, but I wonder what what uh, lines were actually cut. That would be interesting. Mhm. But uh, yeah, cuz we're basically as an audience, we're like, he's like the audience for us. Mhm. I think there was a line where when he's interviewing with Janine where he gives more of his background. Like he was a former military, like, like he had a lot of lines where he showed how he he was overqualified for the job. But they kind of cut through that where he just kind of says, you know, I'll believe whatever you want me to believe. You know, if it means a paycheck. Yeah. He's overdressed and everything. What did you think about the commentary?
Casey G. Smith.: I enjoyed the commentary. Yeah. I I thought it was I thought the commentary was was solid. Um, they're giving some some great points throughout. They're they're talking, they're not just talking about just what's happening in the scenes, but they they give behind the scenes and um, strike a nice balance between having the director, having one of the writers. I mean, director and and and and a producer, two producers technically cause the director was a the producer also. Yeah, I thought it I thought it was thought it was very insightful, insight on the cast, insight on on on the writing, insight on cost, budgets, everything. So.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. I agree. How about you?
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. I agree. Same. Entertaining too. It's like a entertaining commentary.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I was going to say, it was it was very funny. It's almost like what what you hope like with some of the Evil Dead commentaries, you know, what they would have could have maybe captured if they had given a little more, maybe some more details on some certain things, but they seem to really capture it really, really well between the three of them.
Casey G. Smith.: Facts.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Special features. Did you you had the commentary, what else did you see in it? Did you watch any other special features?
Casey G. Smith.: I I watched the 80 there was an 84 featurette. It's about about nine minutes, I want to say, eight or nine minutes that I watched. They're also was one that kind of went through each actor, kind of highlighting their character. Uh, and then I I I selected something called the slime mode, which is on the Blu-ray version. And literally it takes you through a replay of the movie. It puts these special top and bottom borders that kind of make the borders of the the Ghostbusters building. Mhm. And it's a series of pop-up trivia as well as picture in picture interviews with the members of the cast and crew as they talk about um, the production of the film. So, you've got you've got Reitman, you've got um, Dan Aykroyd, you have Harold Ramis, you have some of the people who worked on the special and visual effects. You also have the uh, other producer Joe, uh, Macho, Magic. He's on there. Uh, as well as Sigourney Weaver. She's on there also. Uh, and the the gentleman who played who played uh, Peck and Ernie Hudson. Like they all like make appearances at different times. Just, you know, talking about these different aspects of it. It's it's pretty cool. It's it's a it's a nice little feature and a nice uh, supplement to the commentary. So, yeah, there's a number of features on the Blu-ray. If you're if you're a fan of the film, I I highly recommend the Blu-ray. It's it's got a it's got a nice amount of features on it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Which part two had one?
Casey G. Smith.: Um, does it have a Blu-ray for part two?
Reginald Titus Jr.: No, they had Blu-ray, but they don't have a commentary. Oh, wow. I've I've been looking around, I haven't seen one yet. He's got the money bounce. Um, but uh, the special feature I watched was the resurrection of the classic car, where they redid like the whole Ecto-1. Yeah. Looks good, man. The I think this was like 2009 when they did that. Okay. They put a lot of work into it cause the car was busted. It was beat, no tires, like it was the bottoms was rusted, the bottom floor is rusted, so, yeah, I check that out. They they did a pretty darn good job on that freaking car. Nice. That's a that's a classic that's a classic movie vehicle. Um, they recently did a a release of that, like in a like this year, like in a 118 scale, I think. Um, and people were were hoping, you know, because they they lost this Ghostbusters, they were hoping it would be 1/12 scale. Did you ever watch the remake or was it the with the women?
Casey G. Smith.: I never got around to it. I I didn't hear good things about it. Um, but I I still I now now I I really do want to kind of I do want to check it out. I do want to watch it just to, you know, have the point of reference.
Reginald Titus Jr.: How about you?
Casey G. Smith.: No. I know um, we I we might have talked about it on the episode. I just don't remember what episode we talked about that one. Um, but I I rely heavily on word of mouth from that one. But when I saw the trailer, I wasn't moved by the trailer. I that I agree with. The trailer didn't. Did Schumacher direct that? No, no, no, who was the director on that?
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't know. I don't know. Uh, but but I do know that I was not interested.
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah, the trailer didn't it didn't do it justice. And I'm not up. I wanted to be I wanted to be I wanted to be excited about it because I like I like Kristen Wiig. Um, I um, like the vibe that I got was it's almost like when you take an idea and just put black people in it. Or taking an idea and just put Latinos in it. Like it's nothing I feel like this was like an idea that was like, let's just put women in it since it's like the MeToo movement and all that stuff. That's what I felt like. You know, I could be wrong, but that's what I felt like. It was like, like, nah, let's make it more authentic, you know? Like you can still have some of these characters without having to redo it like if you can continue the storyline some kind of way. You know what I mean? They kind of tie it in. If people are willing to do that. I don't know if they were or not, but.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Sure.
Casey G. Smith.: I I want I want to check it out because here's what I'm wondering. Yeah. Again, I haven't seen it, but Dan Aykroyd's original treatment, right? Establishes that and his original treatment, his his world, the Ghostbusters have existed and have existed for a while. Right. And there's something I think even with other like dimensions and universes, parallel universes. So, there may be Ghostbusters in different dimensions. So, I wonder if that movie plays into that. That just may be on another dimension. There's a group of women Ghostbusters or a women's team. So, I don't know. That's that's a conjecture, but uh, I'm curious if it if it uh, has anything like that. Cause I know some of the actors, some of the original team make cameos in different ways. Yeah. Possibly as different characters. Um, but yeah, so now I'm I'm I'm actually yeah, I'm interested in Ghostbusters. Yeah, exactly. Right. It just gets you. Yeah. In that in that mindset. I I kind of will check out two again. It's been a long time since I've seen two. Yeah. That's my probably my favorite one without even looking back at it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Man. You sound very confident.
Casey G. Smith.: I am.
Reginald Titus Jr.: And your childhood recollection.
Casey G. Smith.: I am. I could probably quote that film. We watched it so much. I could probably when it plays, I could probably start quoting it.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Wow. I remember I watched it again. Only only saw it. I saw it once. That was it. Maybe one and a half. And it was just the nutty character that was the villain, but it was being he was being manipulated by the demons. That guy was hilarious. He was like the Rick Moranis of this like of this one, but in part two. Right. I was like, this guy is great as an actor. Anyhow. Yeah, Ghostbusters. But yeah, the part the the remake. I'm And because they use the same name as the first one, when you like Google and stuff, like all of it's like merging because it was like a big flop. $70 million, I believe they lost. Um, there was a lot of there was a lot of controversy around it. I thought some maybe undo, but I'm like, yeah, I don't know. I feel I felt she still had a chance. I mean, there's been plenty of remakes, right? We're in the era of remakes of everything. So, I'm like, yeah, at least give it a fair shake. But again, the marketing, there's no excuse for bad marketing. And the trailer didn't do it. I was like, ah, I wanted to be excited to go see it, but the trailers didn't grab me. I was like, the jokes weren't landing. I was like, it doesn't look it doesn't look good. It looks forced. It looks forced.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I don't like it. That's why I said I felt like it was just, let's put some women in it and let's paint it up and try to sell it to the public. People can sniff that stuff out. Yeah. Um, I think another, what's the one with our, what's it? The new Charlie Angels or something. Mhm. Was that the one?
Casey G. Smith.: Yeah. With uh, Kristen Stewart and there's two other actresses that I don't really know.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. But I felt like like that trio of people were forced. It it didn't it didn't they were just trying to. That was directed by um, not Elizabeth Shue. Maybe Elizabeth Shue? Don't know. All I saw the trailer. And the trailer it was the trailer was done well and everything. Had some action to it. Yeah. The trailer was done well. It was just I didn't buy it. You know, I didn't I didn't believe it. You know, I didn't believe these characters hung out and yeah, so.
Casey G. Smith.: There is a trailer I've seen recently for uh, it's got Jessica Chastain, uh, it's got Lupita Nyong'o. Shout out. Um, it has maybe Penelope Penelope Cruz and another lady. It's like it's like these four women. They're all international. They're like all like spies and they're kicking much butt. Like. Is Rihanna in that one?
Reginald Titus Jr.: No. That's that's that was a movie from a couple years back. That was Ocean's, that was one of the Ocean's films where Sandra Bullock was played like the sister of George Clooney's character. Rihanna was in that one. Yes. I didn't know that. Ocean's whatever. 11, 13. Yeah, 15 or something like that. I don't know. Ocean's and the teens. But that was a different a different film. But this this is this is new. Like I saw the trailer. I was like, it it it looks good. Just Jessica Chastain. She always always pretty much always picks good projects. And and Lupita as well. So. Course. Yeah, dude, it looks good, man. The the name of the film is like is like a numbers like three numbers or whatever. We're the blah, blah, blah. 666. Not quite. Just a lucky guess. Lucky guess. But it it looks it looks good though, man. Like they look they they are like doing some damage. Like the kind of like like straight up. But you buy it. Yes. And that's that the whole point of it. Like that one I'm like, I buy I buy this. I've seen Jessica, you know, throw down and we know Lupita, you know, she's not afraid to mix it up. Uh, Penelope too. Like these are actually you can see them like, you know, getting down, getting physical. Yeah, it looked. I was like, whoa, okay. But yeah, you get a chance to check out that trailer. Uh, highly recommended. Okay, okay. The tone of this film, we got uh, um, dark, funny. Horror and humor. The opening scene, so, it's the library, it's dark, ominous. We follow an older librarian as she goes into her creepy library. It's the squeaking wheels of the carts. As the books float across. And then cut to like lights and hair blowing and we see the what is this? The logo of Ghostbusters and what kind of music was playing once he went into it? Was it the actual was it the Okay. Thought so. Um, it's scary, but then it becomes light again. You know, by bringing in that music. Good writing and good directing in order to pull that off.
Casey G. Smith.: Oh, yeah. Again, but also there's a familiarity because between Reitman, between, you know, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, they've all worked together on multiple projects. Yeah. So, they have this, yeah, they have a connection. So that uh, who's definitely a plus. Again, when you have two of the writers also as the actors and then again, improbability and this Reitman's just his ability to recognize what was needed, when to pull back, when to whatever, that's.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Experience. That's impressive, man. That's very impressive. I also like the the acting style. The director talks about like how it's tricky to kind of figure out what style they're going to go with and it's like a balance, it's a hybrid. It's like a heightened reality. That's what he said. Heightened reality. You basically have like an uh, an emotional middle ground. I guess that's what he was talking about. It's a middle ground. So, you have uh, you you sell a scene, even though it might have some comedy in it, you sell it based on, okay, you know, somebody might have fell or slime or something like that. But what's the emotion of the scene? And figuring out how they capture the emotion of the scene, even though it it does have some humor in it. And that's how you find the middle ground of that style. Mhm.
Casey G. Smith.: And they talk a lot about again, making everything just like grounded all around and then you slowly introduce some of these elements to the to the audience. You give them one thing to kind of believe that is unique or uh, supernatural. And everything else, you know, yeah, these are these are from most part normal guys. They're kind of, you know, quote unquote losers. Yeah. They get they get kicked out of the university and lose their grant. Like, man.
Reginald Titus Jr.: That's pretty bad.
Casey G. Smith.: And then think about, okay, how are we going to do this? And they start a business and it's not going well until the supernatural happens. And but there's, yeah, there are some this is the first time I really noticed when they talk about the proton packs, is how extremely dangerous they are. Yeah. When they I never noticed the word nuclear being thrown out there in the elevator. I'm like, then when he turns it on, you hear it humming like, then they're like, oh. They kind of stab themselves.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Like, is that really going to help you if this thing explodes? No, you're gone. You're done. All you are done. Cuz your pack explodes, his pack explodes, his pack explodes, his whole tail is gone.
Casey G. Smith.: Careless. For real. I'm like, man, how'd you guys I'm like, how long did it take for you guys to build this stuff? And you probably did it yourself. Like, and why did the bank approve this loan? Yeah. For real. It's fascinating. Uh, he said he mortgaged his house. That's true. Yeah. Yeah, he took a second mortgage. Everybody's got a second mortgage. And then, yeah, and then, uh. I thought they had. Egon like calculates just your your interest payments alone for the first year is going to be $96,000. Like, smoke guy, smoke. Thank you. Thank you.

Filmmaking Tips & Final Thoughts
Reginald Titus Jr.: What kind of style did you see in this film? And I'm going to move. I'm going to move quickly so we can.
Casey G. Smith.: Practical, practical effects all day long. Yeah, stylistically, it's the colors. Yeah, you know, it's kind of I was going to say muted colors, but when you get to certain spots, you know, you get you get some bright. But I'd say it feels kind of muted. Um, in terms of the the the palette of of colors, nothing's like super, super bright. Uh, yeah. Locations in in in New York and LA. And they they do sometimes a seamless job of switching between the two, especially when they're outside and the scene where the ground cracks and they fall in. That's brilliant. The fact they said they went back and forth between two. I'm like, what?
Reginald Titus Jr.: They did good on that.
Casey G. Smith.: That's impressive. Very impressive.
Reginald Titus Jr.: I saw they had anamorphic lenses, you could tell. Uh, especially when you see lights coming through. It's like the streaks going across. Beautiful, man. And you could fit a lot of frame into you could just see the whole landscape with these anamorphic lenses. Uh, good cutaways, steady classic camera work. When they're doing like the cutaways, they're not playing around with the camera too much. Kind of keeping it steady and just kind of making the characters move in and out of frame. Sure. For example, when uh, Sigourney Weaver's character is watching TV. She's doing like push uh, sit-ups. When she does her sit-up, she comes into the frame, but then when she's lays back down, she's out of the frame. And so they do that quite a bit. There's one of my favorite shots in the film. There's two of them. And then actually shots of her. There's one, I think maybe she's coming off the elevator. And like the doors are opening and see her face, she just looks she just looks great. She looks she looks beautiful. And then the other shot is after she's been taken over. I think it may have been right as the firehouse explodes. She wakes up and then like there's a part where she sits up and she comes in the frame as she like sits up and she's got her, you know, her her her her possessed look. But she's sexy. Uh, but there's just something about the way it's shot, especially the darkness that the makeup around her her her face, whatever. It's I don't know. It's like I I love that shot where she comes in the frame. Like, bam.
Casey G. Smith.: Interesting. About to get real. It is. Um, I only had one. What's your theme?
Reginald Titus Jr.: Statues. Yeah. That's it.
Casey G. Smith.: Okay, okay, okay. Nice. All right. I have theme of opposites attract. I also had a theme of of psychic manifestations. Uh, and as well as a theme of supernatural and mundane. Um, super supernatural, yeah, supernatural and the mundane. Again, these Ghostbusters, somebody they made reference to the commentary that they're really like ghost janitors. Even how they dress, right? They're going out through these supernatural job, but after a while it becomes mundane, right? Okay, we're just going to bust some ghosts. We got our equipment. Exactly, right? Ah, it's hard work, you know, hey, and so we're going to go and do it. That's somebody can come, you know, off the street and just be hired on the spot to come out and help bust ghosts too. It's like, oh, yeah, so, it was some of the themes.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Just taking out the trash. That's right. Uh, tropes. Got a couple of tropes. Uh, the classic nerd that cannot get the girl through traditional means.
Casey G. Smith.: Okay. I'm going to say classic creeper.
Reginald Titus Jr.: No. I was thinking about Rick Moranis specifically, cuz thank you for clarifying. I'm thinking about Venkman. No, uh, which kind of can apply to him a little bit, but he yeah, he's got a he's got a little bit of what is it?
Casey G. Smith.: Swagger. Not uh, charm. There. Charisma. There it is. He knows his way with women a little bit. But it's creepy. It is, man. It's 80s, 80s creepy. 80s creepy. Um, I have trope of losers become heroes. Yeah. And uh, pretty and possessed. And that actually was just trivia. That was actually Sigourney Weaver's idea. What? For Dana to become possessed. During her audition. Really. Yeah. During her audition. You know, they made reference to I'm sure you wanted to do that. She yeah, she really wanted the once she really wanted the role, she wanted to play something comedy wise, but you know, in the commentary they mentioned how she had started acting like a dog, you know, during the audition. She did that because she was saying she thinks that the character at some point should, you know, like become like possessed. Like that wasn't in the script. And so it was her it was her idea. Wow. Yeah. And the last trope is just a New York moment where we see Rick Moranis get attacked and all the New Yorkers looking at him and then they go back to their own business. That's a trope you see all the time in New York movies. Yeah. Director point of view. I just, it seems, uh, with this director, he mentioned uh, the Marx Brothers, like the comedy trio. Uh, quite a bit and he uses them Marx Brothers as kind of like a template for the Ghostbusters. Fascinating. And one of the shots is when they're going to bust the find the Green Goblin and Slimer. Um, it's a shot where they lock the doors before they go into the banquet hall and you can see all three of their faces and they're like smiling, then they close the door and go in. And he says like a, you know, a Marx Brother's thing. So, here's what's what's what's funny. Correlation between Ghostbusters and Evil Dead, between Reitman and Raimi. Right? Both are pulling are pulling from classic, comedy Vaudevillian movies, shows, characters, right? You know, we got the Marx Brothers, we have the Three Stooges right for Raimi. And then and then combining elements of comedy and horror. Mhm. It's fascinating observation between these between these franchises.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Favorite or memorable scenes? The goo and the card catalog.
Casey G. Smith.: Which is actually edible.
Reginald Titus Jr.: It's gross.
Casey G. Smith.: And if you eat a uh, a Hostess what is it? The Apple Pie? Was it the Twinkie? One of the Hostess cakes. It's actually made of the same content.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yummy.
Casey G. Smith.: Lewis locking himself outside of the apartment, uh, during the, I mean he does it twice, but definitely during the party. Hey, guys, let me in. Let me in.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Right as Dana's closing the door. Seems like she was smirking a little bit. She was. Man, I tell you man, when she first uh, the second no, the second time, when she tries she's trying to creak by him. Yes, that's right. And it just happens to come out just, hey, what are you doing? She's trying so hard. It the shot is awesome because she's like, and she knows she's caught. She's like, but she's still like a good sport about it. I'm like, that's what I love. She's like, oh, he's like, oh man, today.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Yeah. That's one of my that's one of my quotes. That's one of my quotes. You planning a date today? Come on, dude. You playing a sympathy card. He's hurt. Oh, man. You think I can come by. We're going to we're going to play Twister and we're going to break dance. The way he has his like pants like flooding, he's beautiful. He's already short. So, it was like, that's the kids' pants. What are you what are you wearing?
Casey G. Smith.: So, yeah, this is the introduction of Rick Moranis' character. That was that was memorable. Um, catching the first ghost. Yeah. Catching Slimer. So, we see the little, what's that? Yeah, the trap that goes. So, that becomes an iconic thing for Ghostbusters. Absolutely does. Um, the arm chair. So, when Dana is in in her chair and then they and they the the kitchen doors are all lit up and then the arms actually come out of the chair and grab her. Like that's like the one of the scariest parts of the movie. When that happens, you're like, oh, dear God, what these hands just grab her and then the chair just gets sucked away. Yo, that especially in the theater seeing that, like, yeah, I'm sure people screamed and and yelled. The one of my favorite, actually, favorite scenes is the ghouls of the city floating around, the little pink streams. While the song, Magic. Yeah. I was like, oh, that's I like that. I like the the sound of that is creepy. That that that's please you got to like the actual song starts out kind of hopeful. But right in the middle, it switches up like two minutes in, it switches up to what we know to be the Ghostbuster Magic song. Um, but every time I see that, it like bring it's like a nostalgic sound for me. Like, it teleports me back to that time. Man. Powerful. Yes. Um, the appearance of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Yes. Americana. Man. Ray, what did you do? It's just pop in there. I try to think something from my childhood that was pure and innocent. Like this big freaking marshmallow. He's smiling. He's like, boom, boom. What I didn't what I didn't realize now, or then I should say. I realized now I didn't realize that Gozer actually transformed into this. I thought she just manifested it, but apparently she actually became Stay Puft. Yeah. She can she can shape shift. So, when she tells them, choose your form of destruction, she's a shape shifter, right? I mean, it is a shape shifter because it doesn't have a gender. It just becomes whatever it wants to. And so, yeah, it fed off his psychic energy and became Stay Puft. Wow. Yeah. It's powerful. Uh, the scene when uh, Sigourney Weaver when she's like floating in the air. And for her to do that, I think they had an operator, but the guy was in the actual shot. Yeah. But now you can do that, just have your plate, shoot the plate and then shoot that scene over it and you can delete all that stuff out digitally. Digits. Yeah.

Outro & Contact
Reginald Titus Jr.: Great production designers know what cameras can capture. So, John Decuir, Decuir, I think is how you pronounce his last name. He was he's the Academy Award-winning uh production designer on the film. And yeah, when he was put things together, he knew how much could fit within a frame. Um, and how certain things need to be composed. Of course, he would communicate with Ivan Reitman and the DP. But uh, but yeah, he he knew the guy. Again, I think he had worked on um, Cleopatra. Or yeah. Yeah, which is an insane production. So, yeah, you know, having uh, good production designer who knows those kinds of things can be super helpful if you're uh, you know, working with larger sets and needs some major production design. That's all I got for filmmaker tips.
Casey G. Smith.: Last two, uh, second city training focuses on making your teammates look good. So, even though you have these great improv actors, they would sometimes would come up with lines for each other, not just for themselves or come up with a good bit. And instead of it being for them, they would give it to the you know, the other. Um, also it's not always easy to write for for certain actors. People think and assume they can write for Bill Murray and say, oh, he's just being sarcastic, but everything he does is still grounded in in an emotion, in a feeling and it's got a it's got to it's got to be believable. Uh, and so some writers they can just, oh, I'll just make him sarcastic and then and then Bill Murray will nail it. No. So, I have some some heart, some meat behind it. Uh, and then lastly, use real New Yorkers to bring out character and energy. Uh, the New Yorkers used in this film, uh, just brought all kinds of energy, especially, you know, when they're, you know, shouting Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters. Uh, and Reitman just kind of, you know, fell in love with with the people of New York. Um, during the the shoot. New York.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Um, what's going to be our next film?
Casey G. Smith.: Next up, we are covering Scream. Oh, do you like scary movies?
Reginald Titus Jr.: And catch us where?
Casey G. Smith.: Facebook.com/filmmakercommentary. You can also like, rate, and subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher Radio. You can find him @ReggieTitus on Twitter. I am @CaseyGSmith32. We would love to hear from you. So, please find us on Instagram @FilmmakerCommentary. There's a film you would like us to check out that has commentary. Go ahead and let us know. We appreciate your support. You can also reach them on Instagram @ReginaldTitusJr. That's JR. And once again, I'm at CaseyGSmith32.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Till next time.
Casey G. Smith.: Peace.
Reginald Titus Jr.: Respect.