Now There's Something You Don't See Everyday....

It's funny when you are finally able to fulfill a childhood desire after you grow up, even the (in the grand scheme of things) small ones.  As a child, my favorite-ist movie in the whole world was Ghostbusters.  It's still one of my favorites, actually, and when I heard that it was back in theatres for Labor Day weekend I nearly had a heart attack.  Of course I went and saw it.

And you know what?

It's still awesome.  In some ways even more so.  You'd think that seeing a movie hundreds of times on home video ever since you were a kid would lessen the impact of subsequently watching that movie on the big screen but nope.  On the big screen the film has an even bigger impact - I can understand now how some film snobs would consider home viewing a dumbing down of cinema as an art form... although I doubt that film snobs would consider Ghostbusters art.  Although I would hope that they would agree that it is awesome (in both the literal and slang senses of the word).

Speaking of awesome:  I just wish my dates went like this...

...never mind, no I don't.

I was even surprised while watching this Lovecraftian Comedy Classic on the silver screen how it still holds up in the special effects 30 years later.  In fact, it holds up more than later CGI-filled blockbusters.  Hell, I enjoyed Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings movies but the FX always felt too fake to me - I could tell that it was all a computer image programmed by an army of nerds.  The old movie effects to me look real - real physical objects constructed by an army of nerds.

Also, I like the fact that cinematography in Ghostbusters isn't ADD like modern blockbusters.  It doesn't feel as self-consciously slick as modern blockbusters either (although the decade it was made in was responsible for starting that trend).

Another artifact from this decade: everyone smokes!

Well, it's in theatres until Thursday.  Then you'll probably have to wait another 20 or 30 years for it to hit the cineplexes again - assuming we are still watching movies by then.

And hopefully not in 3-D,
although this would make for a *wicked* 3-D shot.

It's Always The Quiet Ones

I was really, really bummed to hear today that Harold Ramis died.  Even though I didn't know Mr. Ramis personally, I grew up with him constantly in my life... I was a Ghostbusters fanatic as a kid and to this day count the original film among my top favorites.  I watched and enjoyed Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, films that he directed.  I would say that the world will miss Harold Ramis, but...

it won't.  Not really.

Oh sure, his family and personal friends will - as he will no longer personally be in their day-to-day lives.  But there is an old saying that goes something like "death is a state of being in which one exists solely in the memories of others"  If that's the case then Harold Ramis will exist for a very, very long time.

Because of the medium in which he created.  All artists achieve some form of immortality through their works, but for many centuries, an actor's performance died with them... there was no way to record an actor's performance of a play for posterity and the skill and personality of any given thespian only survived in the memories of those who saw them when they were alive.  Film and television changed all that.  Performances have been recorded and are accessible to all, and the combination of images and sound make for a visceral, *real* experience.  Now when we want to watch an actor, noted or not, all we have to do is just watch a movie or TV show that they were in.  We just pop a DVD into our computer, or switch on the TV or even just watch a video clip on Youtube and any deceased actor will live again.  Whenever I watch The Adventures of Robin Hood, Errol Flynn is alive, even if the movie was made in the 1930s.  Whenever I watch Newsradio, Phil Hartmann is living again, just like he was before 1998.  It's like he never went away.

And now, whenever I watch Ghostbusters, Harold Ramis will be alive again and always chasing ghosts through the haunted streets of Manhattan.  So I guess the hoary old cliche about Hollywood is true - it does make people immortal.

And with the continued popularity of a classic like Ghostbusters, Harold Ramis is now very immortal.

RIP