Plot: What’s it about?
One of the most successful movies of the 80’s, or of all time has finally made it’s way to DVD. Ghostbusters! I can’t resist: “Who ya gonna call…”. Ok, now that that’s over with, I can get on with the review.
Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Ackroyd and Sigourney Weaver (among others) star in this sci-fi comedy. Murray is a psychologist at NYU who specializes in “supernatural” encounters. But it seems he is more likey, hitting on his female students. Ramis and Ackroyd are the more “intellectual” PhD’s who really believe that ghosts are out there.
They decide to go into business of “Ghostbusting”, that is, actually capturing and storing the little supernatural buggers (for a hefty fee, too). What starts out as a side business, quickly develops into their careers. It seems that New York City is just literally crawling with ghosts; and the ghostbusters can’t keep up.
It turns out that all of this paranormal activity is related to the “head ghost”, Gozer. Just hearing Rick Moranis say “Gozer” still makes me laugh. He (or she, it’s hard to tell) declares war on the world and the ghostbusters by making two humans (Weaver and Moranis: the gatekeeper and keyholder, respectively) his pets.
After fighting a 300 ft. marshmellow man (yes, you read that correctly) and taking on Gozer, let’s just say that the Ghostbusters defended their town and reputation with flying colors.
Bottom line, Ghostbusters is one of the greatest movies of all time (not critically), but it’s just good fun. You can’t help but not to like it. Highly recommended.
Video: How does it look?
Being a Columbia Tristar release, it gets the 16:9 enhancement. The picture looks great! For a film fifteen years old almost to the date, it looks as if it were made yesterday. Details are sharp and vivid, there was a bit of very minor artifacting, but nothing to get in an uproar about. One of the best picture transfers.
Audio: How does it sound?
The 5.1 Dolby Digital remaster is great as well. I’ve never heard the ghostbusters “zapper guns” (they have a technical name, but I can’t remember what it is) sound better. The soundtrack sounds great too. All diectional effects are used, and with great ambiance. Top notch!
Supplements: What are the extras?
Well, how much room do I have? Only kidding, this is Columbia’s most agressive dive into the format to date. There are deleted scenes, audio commentaries (with a cool feature, you can watch them watch the movie and watch them comment on it. Neat), there are documentaries…the whole shabang. If you’re a fan of this movie, or DVD in general, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up!
