I've been pondering the modern era of Ghostbusters a lot since the faux-Marvel blandness of Frozen Empire failed to make much of an impression when it hit theaters in March. This little sequel duology, which includes 2021's Afterlife as well, is overly reverential of the original Ghostbusters movie--but this pair of flicks doesn't give you a movie-watching experience that's anything like what you'd get from that comedy classic. Like so many franchise revivals and reboots, Frozen Empire and Afterlife are just new things with an old name on them.

What's funny about that, however, is that there absolutely is a recent Ghostbusters movie that functions as a true modern version of Ghostbusters: Paul Feig's 2016 remake, starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Chris Hemsworth. That movie's been left in a weird limbo after being caught in the middle of the culture war--misogynists everywhere cried out in agony the moment the movie was announced, and the discussion about the film was never able to leave that behind.

But, to be blunt, Ghostbusters 2016 is a movie that understands that Ghostbusters is a comedy franchise--something Afterlife and Frozen Empire really struggle with. But even more than that, Feig, Wiig, and McCarthy--who were already great together on Bridesmaids, which Feig also directed--have a collective tendency toward dry and ironic humor that gives the film the right tone to match the originals. It's still a more modern take, in that the pace of the jokes is much faster, but they're all in the right vein.