Friday, May 20, 2016

Reaction to AVGN's Ghostbusters 2016 Video


So a few days ago James Rolfe, better known as the Angry Video Game Nerd, posted a video on why he will not review the Ghostbusters reboot. You can check out Rolfe's video on the said subject, which is in the video description. The short version is that the reboot is riding on the brand name of Ghostbusters to generate both interest and revenue for co-producer Colombia Pictures, which produced the 1984 version that starred Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and the late Harold Ramis. The reboot features an all-female cast led by Meghan McCarthy, and as it is currently the most disliked video in Youtube history because the trailer was so bad, Rolfe refuses to watch the movie to give it a review.

As Rolfe says on his video "if you already know you're going to hate it, why give them your money?". He does have a point. As far as the movie studio is concerned, saying how much a movie sucks means next to nothing so long as it earns a lot of money. The Transformers films is one of the most critically panned series in modern movies, but it raked in a lot of dough for Hasbro and its partners. He made that point in his second video discussing the history of the third Ghostbusters film that was never made because of whatever politics happened behind the scenes between Aykroyd and Murray.

Since the video Rolfe made on the subject, he's gotten a lot of positive feedback from the audience, which is the majority. But it's the criticism towards Rolfe and his views on the subject that essentially spread through other media outlets like The Atlantic, The Daily Dot, Esquire, and even from comedian Patton Oswalt. What these other outlets have in common it seems is that they accuse Rolfe of being sexist despite the fact the video does not mention Rolfe EVER criticizing the female cast.


Now a number of Youtube videos have emerged to speak on this subject, including ones from Cinema Slob, AlphaOmegaSin, The Amazing Atheist, and Chris Ray Gun, among others. So all this drama over Rolfe's video has the unintended effect of making him famous towards the mainstream somewhat. I dunno if that can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing for Rolfe.

I've looked up to all these places where they criticize Rolfe and I fail to see one of them ever saying anything positive about the Ghostbusters reboot. I would consider their argument if they explain what's so good about it. But nothing!

Now I am not gonna say anything on the Ghostbusters reboot because I already made my say the last time, which if you haven't seen it yet, it's on the video description. I, nonetheless, am well aware that because I'm a guy, whatever I say on this video regarding the Ghostbusters reboot would be considered sexist by those who defend the film. It's a sad reality these days that when you give an honest opinion on something, you get a lot a hate for it and even be labeled as anti-this, anti-that, or whatever. Not just the Ghostbusters reboot, but pretty much everything - Steven Universe, Dragon Ball Super, DC or Marvel, Sunderland or New Castle, etc.

So my open challenge to anyone is simply give me a sound reason why the Ghostbusters reboot is gonna be good and cite me some good points from the trailers. But if your reasoning is simply because it has an all-female cast, you're out of your bloody mind. A bad film is a bad film no matter how many A-list actors or actresses are in it. Just look up Hail Caesar.

Trailers are made to get people to watch the movie. But if the trailer turns out awful, it's less likely people will see the movie at all. Batman v Superman was panned by critics and fans, but the trailers got them to see it and it made just shy of $900 million. Back to the Michael Bay Transformers films, they were awful by critics, but the trailers made them come to see it. None of them had that many dislikes as this reboot of Ghostbusters does. I personally do not recall any movie, where the trailer is so hated, yet it made a lot of money nonetheless.

So in closing, as I find neither trailers to be any funny or entertaining at all, I've no reason to spend $12 on a movie that I most probably wouldn't like anyhow. If you want to watch the movie, that's your call. If you love the movie, that's your honest opinion and I respect that. No problem there. But if you start criticizing people who don't like the trailer or not going to watch the movie because their views are different from yours, who the hell are you to make that judgement?

And lastly before I go, if there is anything out there that I would consider as what the Ghostbusters reboot SHOULD be in terms of being funny and entertaining, it's the episode 'The Scam' from The Amazing World of Gumball. It was obviously a parody of the Ghostbusters franchise, but it was so well-written and so funny I literally laughed my ass off! Despite being a parody, The Scam retains the true spirit of the Ghostbusters franchise, while also being a Gumball episode.


The Scam episode has already aired in France, and a date pending for the US broacast on Cartoon Network. I highly recommend watching this episode whether you are fan of Gumball or Ghostbusters. I personally doubt James Rolfe ever watches other Youtube videos, but Rolfe, if you are watching this video, I urge you to check that episode out when you can. I promise you will not be disappointed.

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