Ghostbusters II (1989) - Reitman's unjustifiably maligned sequel

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The 4th Ghostbuster, played by Ernie Hudson, gets to be on the poster for Ivan Reitman's sequel Ghostbusters II here, - but still without a starring poster credit

Five years after the events of the first Ghostbusters, the four guys have nothing to do anymore; New York is cleansed of evil spirits. But then a portrait of an old crook at the museum where Dana (Sigourney Weaver (Ghostbusters (1984))) works wakes to life, and he wants her child!

Ghostbusters II is written by co-writer/stars Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers (1980)) and Harold Ramis (Analyze This (1999)) and directed by returning filmmaker Ivan Reitman (Foxy Lady (1971)).
Incredibly enough the sequel to the sensational 1984 original hit is as wacky as the first time around. It is predictably bigger in scale and still seems to have an anarchistic reckless attitude towards what was possible effects-wise at the time of production.
Ghostbusters II has some new, fun supporting actor performances, including Peter MacNicol (Tangled: The Series (2017-20)) in a very silly, spasmic performance as Dana's boss, who becomes a pawn of the evil Vigo. Bill Murray (The Lost City (2005)) continues to be a treasure here, and I love the revamped version of the beloved title song by Ray Parker Jr..

Related posts:

Ivan Reitman: Evolution (2001) - Reitman's sci-fi crazy-comedy is thoroughly entertaining
Ghostbusters (1984) - Reitman and Co. conjure up the gleeful pomp and circumstance of the 1980s 

 Watch a teaser for the movie here

Cost: Estimated 37 mil. $
Box office: 213.3 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 5.76 times its cost)
[Ghostbusters II premiered 15 June (Hollywood) and runs 108 minutes. The long gestation of the movie was mainly due to reluctance by the film's stars. Reitman, Murray, Ramis and Aykroyd negotiated "low" upfront salaries, (Murray though reportedly was paid 7 mil. $) in exchange for box office profit percentages, lower than 10 % each but reportedly still "high". Animated spin-off series The Real Ghostbusters (1984-91) had spun a large child fan base for the franchise, necessitating that the sequel be more family friendly, - less scary, without smoking etc.. Reitman hired ILM for the film's effects, as he had been unhappy with the effects done by Richard Edlund for the first film. Shooting took place from November 1988 - March 1989 in New York and California, including Los Angeles. New York City authorities were cooperative to the point of allowing shooting on Manhattan's Second Avenue while the Soviet Union's president Gorbachev was in town, which already closed down 40 blocks. Reshoots took place in March and April, including on location in New York, as its ending needed changing, while the premiere was pushed forward to avoid clashing with Batman (1989), making the finalization of the film highly stressful. The film opened #1 to a 29.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 4 weekends (#3-#4-#2-#4) and grossed 112.4 mil. $ (52.7 % of the total gross). The film made less than half of its original in North America but almost double of the first film's international gross and was the 8th highest-grossing film worldwide of the year. Murray's disappointment with the film made another sequel impossible for the coming decades. Following Ramis' death in 2014, Reitman sold his, Ramis, Murray and Aykroyd's creative control of the franchise to Sony for an undisclosed, large sum. Their 2016 female reboot Ghostbusters flopped. Reitman's son Jason Reitman directs a second direct sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2020). Reitman returned with Kindergarten Cop (1990). Murray returned in Quick Change (1990); Aykroyd in Michael Jackson's music video Liberian Girl (1989) and theatrically in Driving Miss Daisy (1989); and Weaver in Alien 3 (1992). Ghostbusters II is rotten at 53 % with a 5.32/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ghostbusters II?

Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) - Brooks wrongly castigated last directorial effort

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The classy-fun poster for Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It

QUICK REVIEW:

Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula (1897) and its adaptations into cinema are the basis of this spoof.

Dead and Loving It is a warm-hearted crazy-comedy from some of the old guys in the profession: Master co-writer-director/producer/star Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles (1974)) and Leslie Nielsen (Airplane! (1980)). Especially Nielsen's aura of comicality and Brooks' verbal comedy make the laughter roar here, while Peter MacNicol (24 (2007), TV-series) as Renfield is a bit tame.
The film contains lots of gags and fun, and it gives the Dracula world a serious squeeze in the butt. It is co-written by Brooks, Rudy De Luca (Silent Movie (1976)) and Steve Haberman (Life Stinks (1991)), and directed by Brooks as his last film in that role.
Dracula: Dead and Loving It is simply fun!

Related review:

Mel Brooks: Blazing Saddles (1974) or, The Black Sheriff of Rock Ridge

Try not to be amused while watching the trailer for the film here - I dare you!

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 10.6 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty
[But certainly a big flop, and probably even a huge flop. Dead and Loving It was met with contempt by critics at home, (its Rotten Tomatoes critics' average is just 3/10), and audiences stayed away from this otherwise undemanding serving. Only few foreign figures are out, (the film made 0.4 mil. £ in the UK, 148k paid admission in France, 16k in Portugal), which makes it impossible to determine the film's final commercial result. - How did it do in Germany, and in South America, for instance? That would be interesting to know. It was a sorry end to Brooks' career as a filmmaker, - but at least audiences today don't wholly agree with the harsh critics of '95: Dead and Loving It has an IMDb score of 5.7.]

What do you think of Dracula: Dead and Loving It?

Baby Geniuses (1999) - Hollywood-stars and Bob Clark violate the integrity of several babies in overly stupid atrocity

[ZERO]

+ 2nd Worst Movie of the Year

+ Most Undeserved Hit of the Year  

Kathleen Turner, Christopher Lloys and a smiling, unknowing baby on the poster for Bob Clark's Baby Geniuses

QUICK REVIEW:

A baby company/imperium is opening a new indoor amusement park, but also run an underground baby-nest for little baby geniuses, who, however, escape. 
The babies talk together, often without moving their lips (...), and tell each other lots of pop-cultural references and the likes, - which they obviously haven't learned yet or been born with, - and hit adult men in the nuts and laugh, - at one occasion two times right after another.
Humor-bereft, free of anything resembling soul or heart, ugly and wildly unlikely, idiotic, humanly offensive movie: Whatever in the world could possibly justify the use of actual babies in the leads in anything as crappy as Baby Geniuses? I watched the film and felt extremely sorry for these young individuals, while I knew that I will despise the adult (crackpot) stars of the movie for a considerable future: Kathleen Turner, Christopher Lloyd, Peter MacNicol, Ruby Dee, Dom DeLuise and Kim Cattrall.
Turner (Romancing the Stone (1984)) screams and snorts her way through the film, red as a balloon, and most every other actor also turn in wretched performances in this preposterous movie.
Baby Geniuses is a big Hollywood-ghastliness directed by Bob Clark (Black Christmas (1974)), which somehow became financially successful and spun an - also critically loathed - sequel. The film deservedly positions itself in # 80 in IMDb's Bottom 100 List.

Related reviews:

Bob Clark: 1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Black Christmas (1974) - Dark Canadian slasher frontrunner

Watch this movie, if you're ready for something offensively bad, Bob Clark's Baby Geniuses

Watch the trailer here

Budget: 12 mil. $
Box office: 36.4 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Baby Geniuses?
Have you seen the sequel?
If so, please, 'enlighten' us about it ...

Bean (1997) or, A Bean in America

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Rowan Atkinson + Best Comedy of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Los Angeles Movie of the Year + Best Mega-Hit Movie of the Year 

If this poster doesn't amuse you at all, Mel Smith's Bean movie probably isn't for you

Mr. Bean of the UK flies to Los Angeles, America, where - through a case of mistaken credentials - he is being sent to function as an English art expert at the return of the famous painting Whistler's Mother to a fancy art gallery, staying with the curator's family for the duration of the stay.

 

Bean is written by Richard Curtis (Yesterday (2019)) and Robin Driscoll (Dramarama (1987, TV-series)) and directed by great English filmmaker Mel Smith (The Tall Guy (1989)). It is the first of two movies based on the Bean character of the same-titled 1991-95 sitcom.

Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English Reborn (2011)), the only man who can play Bean, is a great comedian! This is reaffirmed here. And Peter MacNicol (Ally McBeal (1997-2002)), who so often bounced around projects that were not really good enough for him, finally is in a good film here, and he is rock solid as Bean's well-meaning, increasingly desperate American ward.

Bean is a gaga laugh fest for silly people of all ages everywhere. If you can count yourself among this group, you will surely love every minute of it. Despite criticisms that it is too long, (it only runs 90 minutes), I find it tightly edited and enjoyable throughout, with a real warmth and irreverence to it that is uplifting and joyous.
Howard Goodall (The Black Adder (1982-83)) has made an appropriate disaster movie-like score for the film, which is also packed with big music hits from its time. Bean is a really good time and holds many, many laughs. 

Related posts:

 

Mel Smith: Top 10: Best family movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess



Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $
Box office: 251.2 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 13.9 times its cost)

[Bean was released 3 July (Australia) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from September - December 1996 in England, including in London and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #10 to a 2.2 mil. $ first weekend in 242 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #2 and in 2,015 theaters (different weeks), grossing 45.3 mil. $ (18 % of the total gross). It was the 4th highest-grossing film of the year in the UK. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Bean returned in sequel Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007). Smith returned with High Heels and Low Lifes (2001). Atkinson returned in 10 video and short appearances prior to his theatrical return in Maybe Baby (2000). Bean is rotten at 43 % with a 5.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Bean?