Movies

I actually love Martin Scorsese and Quentin Taratino, but I thought "Pulp Fiction" was overrated, and I thought "Wolf of Wall Street" was problematic right down to the core issue of whether that person's life merited spending $100 million to make a film about it. Everybody I know likes (not loves) that movie. But I don't know who the intended audience is, or what the point of that film is.

I don't think "Pulp Fiction" is bad by any means--just way, way overrated. Give me "Kill Bill" or "Inglorious Basterds" over that one any day.

Re: "Ghostbusters." Actually quite a few of the comedies made in the 80s by anyone having even peripheral involvement with that circle of SNL folks--Aykroyd in particular (nothing against Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, etc...) were a mixed bag. There was a new idea in Hollywood called "High Concept," and people with power were making deals to do movies on the basis of a clever one-line premise. Cocaine was also everywhere, which I think damaged the judgment of a lot of people. But for every good film ("Blues Brothers", "National Lampoon's Vacation", "Beverly Hills Cop" ) there were three or four "Spies Like Us," "Twilight Zone: The Movie," or "Best Defense" (that unwatchable Eddie Murphy disaster) or the ghastly "Beverly Hills Cop 2."

A lot of times the premise was clever, but in the execution the writers got lazy, especially in those third acts. "Ghostbusters" was IMO a great premise, a good first act that sort of dribbles off into lazy writing.