Ghostbusters

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Paul Feig/Starring: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Ed Begley, Jr., Charles Dance, Cecily Strong and Andy Garcia

So along comes the Ghostbusters reboot with its mostly female cast. Never has a movie been dissed and hissed more prior to its release. The internet has been rife the last year with anti-Ghostbusters diatribes and hate campaigns, particularly after the trailer became accessible. The question, which seems more rhetorical now, is: does the movie deserve the venom, the vitriol and contempt fans of the original have reserved for this iteration? No. But that doesn't mean it's worth a plug nickel either. At the risk of incurring the scorn and wrath of the internet, I have to say the idea of having an all-female cast wasn't unsound but the original Ghostbusters isn't just any movie. It's a comedy classic and the beloved of millions (including myself), who don't want to see an inferior reboot sully the original's sacred aura. Maybe I'm rhapsodizing, but you get the point.

While this version offers a few chuckles and an okay plot, it is also stands undistinguished among the summer's other bummers. It doesn't hurt that the production featured director Paul Feig; who lent his talents to two terrific comedies featuring female leads: Bridesmaids and Spy. But lots of CGI and some intermittently amusing repartee couldn't free the film from the sticky goo (as we see copiously in the movie) of mediocrity. A simple question might be: did this really have to be made? Does this mean other movie classics with male casts will now be re-imagined with women? What's next, a distaff The Dirty Dozen? Reservoir Dogs? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly? Brothers and sisters, I've learned anything is possible.

Kristen Wiig plays Erin Gilbert; a professor at Columbia hoping to secure tenure though an embarrassing book she co-wrote with a friend on the paranormal has resurfaced on Amazon, which threatens her academic career. Gilbert seeks out her former collaborator and friend, who is head of a scientific research department at a small college. She finds her co-author, Abbie Yates (Melissa McCarthy) in her lab with her assistant; a tech nerd named Jillian (Kate McKinnon). Gilbert scolds her erstwhile friend while Yates dredges up old grievances. As the two women bicker, a visitor interrupts with a request for an investigation into a ghost sighting. Yates and Jillian depart eagerly while Gilbert, ever the skeptic, follows along reluctantly. Though the malevolent apparition makes a believer out of Gilbert, the video of the incident makes its way to YouTube, where it is mocked and derided. Gilbert is subsequently dismissed from her job but joins Yates and Jillian in a new scientific venture investigating paranormal claims.

After the three women find their prospective headquarters in a firehouse too pricey, they settle for a place above a Chinese restaurant. Before long, an MTA worker named Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) arrives at their office; seeking their help in solving the mystery of a ghost who menaces the city subway system. After capturing the ghost, Tolan makes a plea to join the their group, which they accept. Though a proper name for their organization eludes them, a derogatory comment on the television referring to them as Ghostbusters inadvertently provides a moniker. Tolan borrows a hearse from her uncle, which becomes their means of transportation (replete with the now famous logo). The women also take on a beefcake receptionist named Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), who Gilbert can't seem to resist.

Meanwhile, a wacko named Rowan North (Neil Casey) has been busy skulking about the city, involved in his own activities connected to the paranormal. Though we know his agenda, who and what he is is divulged later.

The Ghostbusters first assignment is to investigate a haunted concert hall, which finds them face to face with a large, ectoplasmic, green dragon the audience thinks is part of the show. Using the particle accelerators developed by Jillian, they blast away at it in vain.

It isn't long before the Ghostbusters learn of North and his plans to open a portal to the ghost world, which will bring about a ghost apocalypse. The Ghostbusters are summoned by the Mayor (Andy Garcia) and his assistant Jennifer Lynch (Cecily Strong) to deal with the problem, which leads to a big, CGI-laden showdown.

Though the characters and plot particulars are somewhat different from the original, we still know where the story is headed. In spite of some able comediennes, who are all funny in their own way, they can't make the material more than just a little amusing. This version can't stimulate guffaws the way the original could and did. McCarthy and Wiig shoulder most of the comedic load though they get solid contributions from McKinnon and Jones. Hemsworth is the attractive, bubble-headed receptionist (a character type once reserved for women but now open to men) who fails to generate any laughs.

Why doesn't this movie work? I could spend an afternoon addressing that question but it's just too involved. I've already cited one mistake, which is rebooting something that shouldn't have been rebooted. Another are the gags, which just aren't that funny. And the omnipresent slime, which was used to great comic effect in the original, is wildly overdone here. The scene where Yates first tries the particle accelerator (or whatever it is) and is bounced around an alley is okay but again, it rouses a smile rather than a hearty laugh.

The cameos are fun but rather than just paying homage to the original characters, their presence made me long for the first movie. Some ghoulies from the original make an appearance as does the firehouse the team eventually inhabits. But the familiar faces and places just seem like nostalgia.

In case you're wondering, the question of whether a sequel is in the works can be answered after the credits conclude. Being that movies no longer need be good to spawn sequels, even this flimsy flick can't be dismissed as a one off. Rest assured the public's violent antipathy to the making of this film will hardly dissuade the studio from green-lighting another.

I've already forgotten most of the film, which is a blessing. Can't anyone make a passably entertaining summer blockbuster anymore? Guardians of the Galaxy 2; where art thou?

Avengers: Age of Ultron

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Joss Whedon/Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, James Spader (Voice), Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders and Peggy Carter

Crash! Bang! Smash! Crack! Pow!--have I overlooked any other sound effect? With Avengers: The Age of Ultron, you get that and more. What carnage! What destruction! And unbelievable mayhem! And oh, yeah; the world somehow emerges intact though the real Marvel is how the world's greatest crime fighters manage to leave the rest of the planet rubble-free.

Joss Whedon is back with a super-hero assemblage whose popularity may soon eclipse the X-Men's. Though I've come to expect over-the-top, CGI wreckage and ear-punishing noise in the Summer blockbuster season, I find Whedon's variety to be quite fun. Of course it helps to have the Ministry of Mayhem: Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Nastasha Romanoff/Black Widow (the sensuous Scarlett Johansson) dispensing it in highly entertaining ways. But the group's peacetime bonding proves to be as entertaining as their violent outings.

It also helps that the cast has presence; a very necessary and indispensable super-hero quality, which helps sell the story and keep our eyes glued to the screen.

The film also has its share of funny banter, which ensures the movie doesn't stray too close to the too-serious, too-earnest precipice.

The new movie doesn't waste a breath plunging the audience into action as the Avengers find themselves assaulting a fortress where the baddie Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) hides out with two of his genetically-engineered creations; the super-powered twins Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Strucker is in possession of Loki's staff; a powerful and dangerous item Thor intends to return to Asgard; home of the Norse gods. Of course we get to see the Avengers wield their distinctive powers as they pummel and brush aside soldiers en route to the fortress. And as they enter the compound, we also see what the evil twins Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver can do. Scarlet Witch's ability to use people's greatest fears against them and Quicksilver's light-speed kineticism present considerable problems for the Avengers but though they present a formidable defense, the Avengers manage to retrieve the staff and escape to their Tony Stark-designed headquarters in New York City.

The Avengers previous battle with aliens (see the first film) inspires Tony Stark to employ the staff's dark power--very ill-advised--to impart artificial intelligence to a robotic unit he intends to use to defend Earth from another threat of an alien invasion. Stark shares his idea only with Dr. Banner; thus circumventing team oversight. Before he can complete a prototype for his new project, the unit assumes control of his own creation and in doing so, a malevolent entity is formed: Ultron. Before it can be stopped, it destroys Stark's hyper-advanced cyber-assistant Jarvis and escapes. When the Avengers team learn Stark is behind its creation, they are more than a little furious. Stark's brainchild, though altruistically conceived, unleashes yet another danger they must overcome.

Whedon's film keeps a feverish pace; we barely have enough time to process expository information before more comes our way. Though its hyper-active, the film's break-neck speed manages to be bracing.

The Avengers find themselves racing around the globe to thwart Ultron's quest to upgrade himself and achieve invincibility; a goal partly realized when he seizes a supply of Vibranium; the strongest metal known to man (and the key material in Captain America's shield); whose indestructible quality he manages to harness for his robotic frame. Ultron, with the help of Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver (the twins' beef with the Avengers has its origins in the destruction of their village; an unexploded missile bearing Stark Industries name killed their family), manage to fight off the Avengers and in the process, the Scarlett Witch is able to play on their respective fears. Another indignity is visited on the team when Ultron steals Loki's staff.

As the Avengers lick their wounds, they find themselves hiding out in Hawkeye's secluded, country home (after Ultron's violent renovation of the Avengers Mansion) to rest and plan their next attack.

Here the film takes a more tender turn (believe it or not) as we--and the Avengers--learn of Hawkeyes' family and his expectant wife. A taste of Hawkeye's domestic bliss makes some of the other members wonder if they'll ever enjoy the same arrangement. But inter-member romance is also in the air, as Black Widow and Dr. Banner/Hulk show signs of mutual attraction though he is quick to warn her that his condition makes a relationship impossible.

Before the team (and the audience) is allowed further inertia, the heroes are off again, this time to South Korea, where they learn Ultron is intent on creating a new version of himself. The would-be Ultron; a synthetic/organic hybrid, will only render him more dangerous and deadly. As Ultron loads his consciousness into his new self, the Scarlet Witch penetrates its mind and discovers what Ultron has planned for the human race: complete and utter destruction. Horrified, the twins turn against him while the Avengers arrive to steal the new entity before Ultron can complete the transfer.

After more car-crashes and building demolition, the Avengers manage to escape with Ultron's creation and in doing so, they find themselves with a new ally and superhero.

The film's final battle pits the Avengers, the Maximoff twins and the new super-hero against Ultron and his robotic minions, as he sets his apocalyptic plan into action.

There is much to like about Whedon's film. I liked the sequence where the Hulk runs amok; an issue Stark must address with his super version of Iron Man. I also liked the movie's human dimension; family, romance, etc, which the film sorely needs.

What meaning we can glean from the Summer's first blockbuster may lie in its cynical view of technology. The idea of its application causing as much harm as good is eloquently expressed as we see Ultron vent his wrath on the planet. It is also very interesting to see Tony Stark/Iron Man become a villain in his own right as he conceals his Ultron project from the Avengers before nearly becoming an agent in mankind's destruction. Very nice twist.

I do have one question for Whedon: how can so much destruction not affect city and town infrastructures and do the Avengers foot the bill for it all? Just wondering.

Whedon's film is just the beginning of movie Summer's CGI extravaganzas and though we may be sick to death of it all come August, at least here it serves a story and doesn't entirely overwhelm the human element. The final battle left me a little weary of the chaos; just when I thought all of Ultron's robots had been vanquished, more appeared to be torn apart. It was an unnecessary prolongation but the producers (All thirteen of them! Yes, they outnumber the Avengers) may have felt another pause in the action may have caused a riot in the theater.

My summation: The Avengers: Age of Ultron is great fun. And if you're wondering (anyone who has seen the series won't) whether the film sets up the next iteration, have no fear. Can this franchise stand five films? If they can entertain like Whedon's latest, why not?

Will Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk and Hawkeye return? We'll find out in two years time. See you there.

Note to viewers: you may not want to wait for the end credits to pass as has become the custom with Marvel adaptations; the next antagonist makes an appearance after the main action.

Blackhat

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Michael Mann/Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Viola Davis, Leehom Wang and Wei Tang

Michael Mann's new tekkie-thriller, Blackhat has the good sense not to encumber or weigh itself down with cyber-jargon and cripple narrative momentum with sustained shots of characters sitting before computer screens. Though the film has its share of both, it also features copious gun-play to liven the proceedings and a serpentine plot that ultimately veers into James Bond territory.

Though the story's anti-hero, Nick Hathaway is a muscle bound, former cyber-criminal (Chris Hemsworth, ludicrously cast as a computer-hacking genius), he also manages to be capable of handling himself in scuffles with the baddies (I guess time served behind bars makes this reasonably plausible). Chris Hemsworth isn't the most obvious choice to play a brilliant computer-hacker but given the number of violent confrontations Nick finds himself in, casting Thor seems logical. Though someone like Jesse Eisenberg might a better fit to play a computer brainiac, he would also look fairly ridiculous clobbering a room full of Korean toughs in a restaurant.

After a hacker causes a disaster at a Chinese nuclear plant, where a silo is destroyed and the facility dangerously irradiated, a young, intelligent, M.I.T.-educated Chinese police officer, Dawai (Leehom Wang) is assigned the case. Aware of the tensions between his government and the U.S., he nevertheless enlists the help of the Justice Department and one of its top operatives, Carol Barrett (a tough, well-cast Viola Davis) to apprehend the hacker. Dawai is aware that the only way to catch the hacker might necessitate employing one. He calls upon his former associate Nick Hathaway, who is serving time in a Pennsylvanian prison for his own hacking crimes. Barrett and the government are reluctant to give a dangerous hacker access to computers and sensitive data but seeing they have little choice, they agree to his outrageous demand for commuting his sentence if the mission is successful. Joining the hunt is Dawai's beautiful, young sister Lien (Wei Tankg), whose presence provides romantic possibilities for Nick.

As the hunt progresses, the group finds itself at the sight of the nuclear disaster, where they must recover the facility's back-up files to further trace their target, which involves donning radiation suits and dealing with the plant's dangerously hot, contaminated interior.

In time, Nick and the group discover one of the perpetrator's associates is a Lebanese thug who learns the task force is on his trail, which leads to a cat and mouse duel where the hunters become the hunted.

Throughout their mission, the mysterious hacker's motives remain obscure but as the manhunt leads to Jakarta, Nick and Lien discover his agenda, which involves controlling the supply of a certain resource and manipulating its market price for financial gain. His grandiose plan wouldn't be out of place in any James Bond thriller although the villain's diabolical demeanor is hardly that of a Dr. No or Goldfinger (which, for this movie, is a good thing).

Blackhat, which refers to a computer program Nick and Dawai devised in the past, is being utilized by the hacker to gain access to supposedly secure data.

Mann's film is fairly fast-paced. He is a pro when it comes to balancing expository information with pulse-quickening action. Nick's getting-into-the-mind-of-the-killer approach reminded me of another Mann film; Manhunter, where the protagonist must think like a serial killer to apprehend one. It isn't a new plot trick but it serves its purpose here well enough.

Though the producers must have felt the film needed an unnecessary romantic angle, Hemsworth and Tang make a charming, offbeat pair. The Aryan with granite-brawn and the Asian beauty with dark eyes are at least a visual departure from the Hollywood norm.

I liked the beginning, where we see computer data pass through tiny circuits and hardware as streams of light. Almost occurring at the molecular level, the imagery gives us some sense of system interconnectedness and how such a phenomenon is capable of being exploited by those with nefarious designs. More importantly, it shows us how destruction can be achieved with a mere signal passing between computers.

Blackhat is enjoyable enough, with its serpentine plot and comely cast. It seems to be adequate entertainment for January, which is the annual launch of Hollywood's Cinema Winter/Spring collection, or as it might otherwise be known, The Season of Swill. With last year's Oscar contenders slowing to a trickle in theaters, the arrival of Mann's film seems like a kitten entering a lion's den.

His latest makes for passable afternoon multiplex fare but beyond that, one might expecting too much. I'm still waiting for Mann to manage something brilliant; something more than just fly-by-night thrillers. I guess I still have to bide my time.