Dinner
and a Movie
By
Steve Herte
Ghostbusters (Columbia,
2016) – Director: Paul Feig. Writers: Katie Dippold & Paul
Feig. Based on the 1984 film Ghostbusters by
Ivan Reitman, Dan Ackroyd & Harold Ramis. Stars: Melissa
McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie
Jones, Neil Casey, Sigourney Weaver, Andy Garcia, Bill Murray, Dan
Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Zach Woods, Ed Begley, Jr., Chris
Hemsworth, Charles Dance, John Milhiser, Ben Harris, Cecily Strong,
Karan Soni, Bess Rous, Steve Higgins, Dave Allen, Robin Shelby, &
Katie Dippold. Color, Rated PG-13, 116 minutes.
Helene once told me
to expect nothing and you’ll never be disappointed. That’s how I
approached both my movie and my dinner.
What has oceans of
slime, galaxies of neon blue and green lights and so-so acting? Only
the third sequel I’ve seen this year that didn’t need to be made.
Actually, it’s not a sequel. It’s a remake, and we know how they
can turn out. The original team of Ghostbusters: Dan Ackroyd, Bill
Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson have been recast with Kristin
Wiig as Erin Gilbert, Melissa McCarthy as Abby Yates, Kate McKinnon
as Jillian Holtzman, and Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan. The original
cast had Annie Potts for their not-so-good secretary Janine Melnitz
and the new one has Chris Hemsworth as the totally incompetent but
good-looking Kevin.
The story is
different in a few places, however the end result is the same. The
opening scene sees a tour group in the Aldridge Mansion and Museum
and the tour guide, Zach Woods, gets a little more spookiness than he
had written into his script.
Gilbert is a physics
and mathematics teacher who is up for tenure at Columbia University
when she learns from Ed Mulgrave (Begley Jr.), curator at the
Aldridge Mansion Museum, that “Ghosts of Our Past” the book she
co-wrote with Abby (and tried to squelch) is suddenly popular on the
Internet and has sold more than the two copies she remembers.
He came to her as an
expert on the paranormal. When she confronts Abby about this
potentially career-ruining publication, she meets the weird and wacky
Jillian tinkering in Abby’s lab and has to make a deal with Abby to
investigate the ghost sighting in the mansion.
The three go to the
museum and meet the malevolent spirit of Gertrude Aldridge (Rous).
Erin is convinced to join Abby and is subsequently fired when the
news media airs the story. Abby and Jillian are booted out of their
lab as well and the three abscond with the equipment. Where to go?
They are shown the firehouse previously used by the original
Ghostbusters team but the rental is way over their budget. They
settle for the upper floor of Zhu’s Authentic Hong Kong Food.
When interviewing
for a secretary, they meet Patty Tolan who tells them of the
apparition she encountered in the mythical Seward Street subway
station on the Upper East Side. They bring their ghost capturing
tools to the subway but are unable to contain the electric phantom.
However, Jillian knows how to increase the power of their equipment.
Meanwhile, the often
bullied and constantly ignored Rowan North (Casey) is planning to
open a portal to let all ghosts back onto the streets of New York to
haunt the entire population. (Sound familiar?) He’s planted devices
in several focal places, one of which is a rock concert in a venue
similar to Irving Place.
The now quartet of
Ghostbusters figure out the location and bring their improved
capturing apparatus. The winged gargoyle is entrapped; the audience
is thrilled beyond belief (they think it’s a part of the act), and
the team members are arrested and brought before Mayor Bradley
(Garcia) and his chief spin-doctor, Jennifer Lynch (Strong).
Together, they give a cover-up story to the media and discount the
Ghostbusters as a hoax. Does this sound even more familiar? (At the
exit of the rock venue, look for a cameo by Ozzie Osbourne.)
If that weren’t
bad enough, who shows up at their office but Martin Heiss the
paranormal debunker (Murray). He pushes all of Erin’s buttons and
she releases the gargoyle to prove they captured it. Bad idea. It
flies at Heiss, pushes him out the window and out of the film.
Eventually, the
girls figure out Rowan’s scheme and where “ghost central” will
be – the non-existent Mercado Hotel (possibly the Conde Nast
Building?) – confront Rowan, who appears to commit suicide by
electrocution, and are able to shut the machine down. But once again,
Lynch trumps their success as an obvious hoax, and the public is
unaware of the disaster they just averted.
But wait, there’s
more. Rowan’s ghost possesses Kevin and restarts the machine
unleashing a torrent of ectoplasmic apparitions, including a ghostly
Thanksgiving Day Parade of phantom balloons with the Stay-Puft
Marshmallow Man in the rear. (Hmmm) The girls have their work cut out
for them.
Except for the
special effects and the eye-popping 3D, this movie has a been-there,
did-that feel. Instead of an ancient god releasing the ghosts, we
have a disgruntled employee doing it. The re-orchestration of the
familiar theme song was effective, especially the dance routine
during the credits led by Hemsworth. A running gag in the film
featuring Bennie the delivery boy (Soni) who repeatedly delivers the
wonton soup wrong to Abby is fun, but most of the jokes fall flat
from faulty delivery. I laughed five times in the hour and 56
minutes.
But seeing the
original cast in cameo roles was refreshing. The desk clerk at the
Mercado Hotel was Annie Potts, Dan Aykroyd was a cabbie (as well as
being the executive director), the funeral director who unknowingly
supplied the hearse – plated “Ecto-1” (Hmmm) – was Patty’s
Uncle Bill (Hudson) and, at the end, Jillian’s mentor is revealed
to be Rebecca Gorin (Weaver). I didn’t see any memorial or
reference to Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis was noticeably missing.
It was cute that Slimer found a girlfriend in Lady Slimer (Robin
Shelby) and Fox 5 News Anchors (Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly) were a
surprise along with Al Roker playing himself.
If you don’t
remember the first movie, you will find it
entertaining. The dialogue is squeaky clean. Your kids would enjoy it
without getting scared. Me? I just sighed and wished the original
cast could have taken over.
Rating:
2½
out of 5 Martini glasses.
Schilling
109 Washington
St., New York
Sometimes the first
restaurant you investigate is the one you want. But there are times
when the right restaurant is the one located conveniently and has an
opening at the right time even though it’s not the one you would
pick first.
Schilling is a
two-month-old Austrian restaurant almost hidden away on the east side
of Washington Street amid scaffolding and aged buildings. The
location is a tenement building dating from 1871 and looks it. The
once white exterior of a retractable garage door and the two columns
flanking the door is faded and chipped. However, inside is a
tastefully decorated bistro with a 24-seat communal table in the
middle of the room leading to the aluminum bar at the far wall.
Tables with white chairs and brown banquettes line the two side
walls. Real votive candles and wildflowers in small vases line the
center of the tables.
The young lady who
greeted me would eventually become my server. When she asked if I
wanted a drink, I chose the Aviation Cocktail – gin, maraschino
liqueur, and lemon juice. It was citrusy and refreshing.
My first dish was
roasted artichoke hearts with baby carrots and short ribs. It was
delightful. The artichokes were crunchy and nicely blackened, the
carrots sweet and tender right to the green tips and the pieces of
short rib a little salty but juicy.
The accompanying
wine was a fine 2013 pinot noir “Mayer am Pfaarplatz” from
Austria, a very nice medium-bodied red that went well with all my
dishes, especially the next one: grilled quail with sautéed marbled
potato, broccoli rabe and dandelion pesto. The quail was crispy
skinned, easy to pry apart and tasted wonderful. I have to admit, the
potato and the broccoli rabe, which I would normally eschew, were
equally good with the pesto.
My main course was
something I would never expect on an Austrian menu: braised lamb
shoulder with Israeli couscous, mustard greens, and cherry tomatoes.
It was as delicious to eat as it was to look at. The attractive
presentation left no doubt that it was one of the most popular dishes
on the menu. The mustard greens were an inspiration. I ordered
curried peas as a side dish, and to my surprise they were snow peas
topped with filaments of fried onion and in the lightest curry sauce
ever. Even someone who hates curry would love the taste of this dish.
For dessert I had
apple strudel with fresh vanilla ice cream and strawberries. It was
far from ordinary – delicate in both texture and flavor. I finished
with a double espresso and a thistle glass of Austrian brandy. I
found Schilling was worth every penny and way beyond its dowdy
exterior. It deserves a return visit.
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