52 | NOVEMBER 18 • 2021

YOU KNOW WHO TO CALL
— AGAIN; THE WILLIAMS
SISTERS; BONDING TRIP
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
opens on Nov. 19. It’s
a sequel to the two hit
Ghostbusters movies that
opened in the ’80s. Afterlife
makes many references to
the first two Ghostbusters
films. It doesn’t reference
Ghostbusters: Answer
the Call, a 2016 “reboot”
film that was a critical
and financial failure. Most
advance reviews of Afterlife
are good, if not great.
“Charming” and “funny”
are words used in many
reviews.
The Afterlife cast includes
all the surviving, original
main cast actors: Bill Murray,
Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson,
Sigourney Weaver and
Annie Potts. Their roles are
larger than a cameo, but
new characters are the stars

of this film.
Harold Ramis, who
co-wrote the first two films
with Dan Aykroyd, died in
2014, at age 69. Ramis also
co-starred in both films as
Dr. Egon Spengler. I have
to say that it is laudable that
the screenwriters have paid

homage to Ramis by making
Spengler (Ramis) almost a
major character in Afterlife.
In the new film, Spengler
appears in several clips from
the first two Ghostbuster
movies. The Afterlife char-
acters refer to these clips
as “historical documents.”
Spengler also lives on in
the plot of Afterlife. As the
film opens, we learn that
Spengler is deceased and
that his daughter, Callie, is
the single mother of two
kids: Trevor, 15, and Phoebe,
12. Financial problems force
Callie and her kids to move
to rural Oklahoma and live
in a decayed farmhouse
that Spengler lived in and
left to his daughter. Not
long after their move, weird
things happen near their
new home, like unexplained
earthquakes.
The earthquakes are
followed by supernatural
phenomena (ghosts, etc.)
in their Oklahoma town.
While poking around the
farmhouse, the “kids” find
Grandpa’s old ghost-busting
equipment and learn about
his Ghostbuster career.
Phoebe and Trevor then
enlist Mr. Grooberson (Paul
Rudd, 52), a schoolteacher,
and others (like the original
Ghostbusters) to help save
their town and maybe the
world.
Jason Reitman, 43, is
the director of Afterlife and
the co-writer of the Afterlife
screenplay. His directing
credits include the hit films
Juno and Up in the Air. The
other writer is Gil Kenan,
44, a screenwriter/director
who was born in the U.K.
and raised in Israel. Afterlife

was produced by Ivan
Reitman, 74, Jason’s father.
He directed the first two
Ghostbusters movies.
King Richard, which also
opens on Nov. 19, is a bio-
pic that follows the early
years of the amazing tennis
careers of Venus Williams
and her younger sister,
Selena. The title refers to
their father, Richard Williams
(Will Smith), “a controlling
father” who saw his daugh-
ters potential when they
were about 5 years old and
began coaching them. The
Williams family lived then in
Compton, a poverty-stricken
city in Los Angeles County.
In 1987, Williams called
tennis coach Paul Cohen,
now about 80, and asked
him to coach his girls.
Cohen went to Los Angeles,
and after seeing them play,
agreed to coach them. He
was their coach until 1991,
when they were 10 and 11.
(Cohen was a top college
player, a touring pro and
coached John McEnroe,
among other greats. He also
advised the Israeli Davis
Cup team.)
Tony Goldwyn plays
Cohen. Goldwyn’s paternal
grandfather was the famous
filmmaker Samuel Goldwyn
(Tony’s only Jewish “grand”).
Jon Bernthal, 45, plays
the sisters’ next coach,
Rick Macci. In 1991, Richard
Williams moved his whole
family to Florida so his
daughters could attend
Macci’s tennis academy. By
1997, the sisters were top
pros. (Advance reviews of
this film are quite good).
Also opening on Nov. 19
is C’mon, C’mon. Joaquin

Phoenix, 47, stars as a
radio journalist who is left
to care for his precocious
young nephew, and they
bond during a cross-country
car trip. Advance reviews
are good and praise the
sensitive way in which the
star characters’ emotions
are portrayed. The film was
directed by and written by
Mike Mills. He showed a
deft hand in directing and
writing the acclaimed films
Beginners (2010) and 20th
Century Women (2016).
In Beginners, the father
of the lead character, Oliver,
comes out as gay in his 70s,
after his wife dies. Oliver
tells his Jewish girlfriend
(Melanie Laurent, 38) that
his maternal grandmother
was Jewish, and his mother
identified as Jewish until
she wed his non-Jew-
ish father. She agreed to
her husband’s request to
never mention her Jewish
background, and his father
agreed not to act on his gay
orientation. This is Mills’ par-
ents’ story in “real life,” too.
(Christopher Plummer
won an Oscar for his perfor-
mance as Oliver’s father.)

CELEBRITY NEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

ARTS&LIFE

HARALD KRICHEL VIA WIKIMEDIA

Joaquin
Phoenix

JUSTIN HOCH PHOTOGRAPHING FOR HUDSON UNION SOCIETY

The late
Harold Ramis