In Contention

Tag: Dan Aykroyd

  • Bustin’ makes me feel good

    GhostbustersFor the video game fans in the house…

    I beat the new “Ghosbusters” game within 24 hours of picking it up.  It’s a moderately fun game, though not at all interesting from a story stand point.  I bring it up because, after all, when Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis began developing the game, they did so with the intention that it would be, essentially, the third “film” in the franchise.  But ultimately the narrative, which could have been quite ambitious given the medium, was simply rehased plot points from the first movie.

    Writing at the Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy blog, Jamin Brophy-Warren has posted an interesting item, however brief, detailing the game’s road to fruition.  I just wish there was more thought put into the actual plot.  However, there is an awesome sequence in the game that echoes both the cartoon series and the “Ghostbusters in Hell” concept that almost made it to theaters in the 1990s.

    But here’s the real question: there was an “E.T.” game on Atari back in the day?!

    (more…)

  • THE LISTS: Top 10 lines from ‘Ghostbusters’

    GhostbustersAs I briefly noted yesterday, “Ghostbusters” has just celebrated the 25th anniversary of its June 8, 1984 release.  The film went on to make considerable box office dollars and launched the post-SNL careers of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, along with co-stars Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, further into the stratosphere.  Okay, well, Hudson’s career never really took flight, but still.

    The anniversary is certainly not going by unnoticed.  Sony is prepping the Blu-ray release of the film for next week while Atari, Inc. is all set to launch the heavily anticipated cross-platform video game on June 16.  I knew I wanted to do something special for the site, but I just couldn’t come up with the right idea.  Then it hit me.

    In my view — and this is, of course, quite the disputed opinion — “Ghostbusters” is the most quotable movie of all time.  And it’s not just the one-liners that have me howling every time I give the flick another look (which understandably dominate the list below), but it’s the thoroughness of the comedy.  Witness, for instance, Egon Spengler’s (Harold Ramis) description of the consequences of “crossing the streams,” or the way Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) rifles off the particulars of Ted and Annette Fleming’s fiscal business at a dreary clients’ party.  It is, quite frankly, one of the most ingenious comedy screenplays ever assembled.

    So…why not a list of the film’s 10 best lines?

    This quickly became a painful process.  I ended up with at least a dozen lines that, on another day, might have made the list.  Annie Potts’s “I’ve quit better jobs than this,” or Hudson’s sincere, “That’s a big Twinkie.”  I wanted to give a shout-out to “Let’s run some red lights” and “Somebody blows their nose and you want to keep it,” and especially a personal favorite that hits my funny button more firmly than others: “I looked at the trap, Ray.”  Not to mention “Yes it’s true, this man has no…,” well, you get the picture.  But you have to whittle it down, and so I have.  On to the list.

    And Happy Birthday, “Ghosbusters.”

    (more…)

  • Dan Aykroyd confirms ‘Ghostbusters 3’ moving forward with all principals

    (from left) Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd in GhostbustersWhen I bumped into actor Ernie Hudson, an incredibly nice guy, at a Golden Globes event earlier this year at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood, I had just one thing to say to him: “I hope you guys do a third ‘Ghosbusters’ film.”  His response: “Hey, man, I hope we do it!”  Well, it’s looking more and more like Hudson and I might get our wish.

    I’ve been hoping for a third installment in the “Ghostbusters” franchise ever since the 1989 “Ghostbusters II” came and went (a film many hated, but I adored).  It’s just a comedy staple that I think could use another go.  The first film is, to my mind, one of the most quotable films of all time, and if you asked me to offer up a list of favorite movies (not necessarily “greatest films ever made”), “Ghosbusters” would be close to the top.

    As a reborn video game nerd, I’ve also been hotly anticipating next month’s “Ghostbusters” video game, which for a time was said to be the only third production to feature the continued adventures of the paranormal policing squad we could expect.  But that just wasn’t good enough.  And with a number of scripts, from originator Dan Aykroyd to “Office” scripters Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, there have certainly been options floating around.

    The one guy dragging his feet on a new film has been actor Bill Murray, who has never been shy about calling “Ghostbusters II” a turd.  But he’s been warming up to the idea.  You might remember those comments he made at Fantastic Fest in September of last year, that the “wounds” of the second film have finally “healed.”

    Well it seems that Hero Complex blogger Geoff Boucher has nailed down confirmation from Aykroyd.  Not only that, but it seems everyone — EVERYONE — is on board for a third installment.  Check out what Aykroyd had to say after the jump.

    (more…)