Ghostbusters (1984)

I love “Ghostbusters” more now than when I was 10 and bowled over by special effects, action, and dirty jokes meant for adults. Sure, this is still a kid’s flick, but it’s brilliantly written and peppered with wicked satire. The plot relies on digs at the EPA and IRBs! Name another Hollywood movie that trusting of the audience to get the jokes? Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray are the heroes, fired academics who take to hunting the ghosts that plague New York City. And why not, it’s New York. Heaven for hell. And if they get laid along the way, go for it. Their proton pack arrival is perfectly timed as a Manhattan apartment high-rise with Sigourney Weaver as a tenant has just popped open a portal to a demonic realm. From the start in a library with book cards tossed all crazy right up to the finale with a white puffy giant ghoul with a grin, “Ghostbusters” rocks with never-better New York “F” the system eternal cool. Those days are gone. Conformity reigns now. Dig Murray riffing strong improve on the street, or Rick Moranis’ apartment geek king, and that dangling cigarette trick Aykroyd beautifully pulls… Classic! A+

Red Lights (2012)

There’s gotta be a porn film with this title, “Red Lights.” But this isn’t that kind of film. We’re talking psychics here, supernatural, reality, and con jobs. Sigourney Weaver plays a brilliant but (naturally) under-funded university researcher of the paranormal who has spent her career unmasking psychics as frauds. Her assistant researcher and driver is a brilliant geek named Tom (Cillian Murphy, taking a break from “Batman” movies). The duo gets antsy when a blind psychic (Robert De Niro) turns up after a 30-year absence, ready to go public again. When Weaver’s character suddenly dies, Tom goes off the deep end of obsession to crush De Niro’s charmer. Writer/director Rodrigo Cortes (“Buried”) spins a creepy and interesting tale for a while, but as the thriller lurches on, it becomes a comedy soup. Tom getting into a shoving match with another professor (Toby Jones) had me giggling hard. I fell for red herrings I created entirely in my own mind. Score for Cortes. The final scenes, though, are so bug-fuck crazy stupid (I won’t spoil) that I tuned out, again laughing myself silly. I wonder if Cortes saw that coming? C+

Alien (1979)

Even in 1979, the plot to “Alien” was been-there, done-that – a monster systematically kills a band of trapped humans until it’s one-on-one, last man (thing?) standing. But this sci-fi flick is a masterpiece, a touchstone in my cinematic life. The monster is an acid-for-blood alien on a massive spaceship, and the last man is a woman, Ripley, played by the amazing kick-ass persona of Sigourney Weaver. Director Ridley Scott’s film is epic, claustrophobic and paced out to the most extreme. It takes 50-some minutes for the shit to hit the fan, and when it does – on a mess hall table -- oh my God. Dark, nasty and bloody, “Alien” never lets up. I love the details. The ship is packed with junk and dials and machines, seemingly designed by engineers cramming in everything for space in outer space. And the cast: Phenomenal. Yaphet Kotto, John Hurt and the god-like acting class of Ian Holm as a single-minded science officer. But, wow, Weaver. This is her film. Her world. Every brilliant moment here belongs to her. Feminism rules!  A+