What I’m watching: a well-written film and one with a lousy script

Date: 12/1/2021

In theaters: “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”

This film is not just a sequel. It is a love letter to the first two “Ghostbusters” movies and I’m happy to say it a beautifully written and conceived production that provides closure to the story the first two films told.

Set in Oklahoma, the story at first centers on Callie (Carrie Coons) the daughter of original Ghostbuster Egon Spengler. It seems that Spengler left New York City, abandoned his family and moved to a small mining community. Spengler has passed and his daughter has inherited the farm he owned.

The family moves in with her son Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and her daughter Phoebe (Mckenna Grace), Callie has had a lot of bad luck herself and reluctantly accepts living in the run-down farmhouse in a town in the middle of nowhere.

Phoebe, who is obsessed with science, soon realizes there is someone or something guiding her to find the secrets of the farmhouse and the community. Spengler moved there apparently because the little town of Summerville is the center of a very significant and very large haunting.

Actually, it is the location for the return of Gozer, the villain from the first “Ghostbusters” movie, who intends to make a triumphant return to this dimension and destroy the world.

The film benefits from a tremendous cast. Grace is just perfect as the unflappable Phoebe, while Wolfhard brings his typical horny teenage boy persona to the production, Coons is solid as the daughter still seeking answers, while the always welcomed Paul Rudd is a summer school teacher who is trying to figure out why the town is experiencing earthquakes.

Grace steals the show when paired with a local pre-teen with the nickname of “Podcast” (Logan Kim). Kim is hilarious as the intrepid young investigator.

The film has wonderful moments of nostalgia, such as when Trevor finds the original “Ghostbuster” ambulance. It is not just about a beloved movie series from the 1980s. It is about creating an end to that story and potentially setting up a new chapter.

There are some standout moments such as Rudd in a Walmart finding how marshmallows are coming to life and wreaking havoc.

Yes, all of the original stars of the first movie make an appearance with the exception of the late Harold Ramis – for whom the movie is dedicated – and Rick Moranis. And yes, it’s great to see Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson back in action even for a few minutes.

Jason Reitman, the son of original director Ivan Reitman, co-wrote the script and directed it. Jason also directed three films I liked a lot –  “Up in the Air,” “Juno” and “Young Adult.”  This film marks a fourth one that I will re-visit.

Be aware there were two scenes in the end credits that you will want to stay and watch.

On Netflix: “Red Notice”

As much as “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” gets right, “Red Notice” gets wrong. This sloppily written heist film has three fine performers who are laboring hard to give this movie some credibility as a story.

Dwayne Johnson plays an FBI agent named Hartley who is after a notorious jewel thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds). Booth is attempting to steal the priceless Cleopatra egg – one of three ancient bejeweled artifacts – but he is stymied by another thief, the mysterious Bishop (Gal Gadot).

The movie is then one long chase with Hartley teaming up reluctantly with Booth as they try to secure the eggs before Bishop can find them.

The script doesn’t give any of the cast very much with which to work. Reynolds is his patented smart-ass, while Johnson is the straight man. Gadot is beautiful and clearly above their league.

It’s not enough, though. Director and writer Rawson Marshall Thurber has done some very good work including “We’re the Millers,” but this film recycles all of the worst tropes of typical action films.

Here is an example of just how bad this film is: Booth and Hartley have figured out that at the close of WWII, a Nazi art expert brought 75 containers worth of stolen artifacts to Argentina. The Nazi constructs a huge underground storage facility. One of the artifacts is a Mercedes sedan from 1931. How did he get it in here, Booth asked. Hartley noted there are probably tunnels from copper mining that connects to the outside.

The freaking moment he said that I knew there would be a chase. And yes, the Mercedes is gassed up and starts nearly immediately after sitting underground since 1945 and an automobile chase begins as, yes, the other Nazi vehicles in the vault start up with Bishop’s crew and they are in pursuit.

Yikes.

Avoid this film. Life is too short.