I love movies. I love discussing movies, I love watching movies, I love making movies and I love hearing people talk about/appreciate movies. For years Hollywood has entertained us by throwing relatable characters and stories on the big screen that we can identify with, many of these movies speak to us as people. Some films strike a chord with us and burrow into a special part of our hearts, whether it's the first movie you've ever watched or the one that blew your mind (you know the one I'm talking about). My movie would definitely be "The Dark Knight," as it not only made me a huge fan of filmmaking, but it also helped me become the massive comic nerd typing this up right now.

In the 1980's, American cinema was treated to a cultural Renaissance as every idea people could possibly think of was put out for public consumption. The decade produced a consistent amount of cinematic gold which even inspired popular directors like Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, and Kevin Smith to make their voices heard a decade later. "Back to the Future," "Batman," "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Indiana Jones," "Star Wars" (Empire and Jedi), "Goonies," any John Hughes film, "Die Hard," "Ghostbusters" and many others are heralded as timeless classics and are still talked about today. Odds are you've at least heard of some of the films I mentioned if you haven't seen them already.

After the buffet of awesome that was '80s moviegoing, the American filmmaking community expanded and gave moviegoers a great dessert to last decade's non-stop buffet. While the 90s didn't quite reach that same level as the 80s overall it still provided some great material like "Pulp Fiction," "Lion King," "Forrest Gump," "Saving Private Ryan," "Independence Day," "Clueless," "Titanic," "Goodfellas," "Terminator 2," "Home Alone," "Do the Right Thing," "Fight Club," like before the list can go on forever. Even though Hollywood was pumping out more hits and making more money than ever before they started a nasty trend near the end of the decade to draw in more people. All of a sudden sequels to '80s classics (and even films released earlier in the decade) were pumped out in quick succession which ultimately led to a decline in Hollywood originality. Superhero/action movies became box office poison at the time and every big name movie was notorious for borrowing elements from somewhere else.

From here, the film market slowly led to where it as now as theaters are flooded with remakes, reboots, and sequels throughout the year with small gems of originality and creativity shining through. As the years went by, however, the only major 80s property that hadn't gotten the reboot/sequel treatment was "Ghostbusters." Even though the 1984 action-horror-comedy was given a sequel in '89, the franchise never really expanded outside of 80s culture, eventually dying out in the mid-90s. Many people, myself included, commend the series for staying exactly where it belongs as no other film could capture the same wit and charm as the original. No group of actors besides the four leads could pull off the concept with such finesse. The mindset at the time of its release along with the right tone and performances is what made it such a hit. If someone were to remake or try to revamp the series into something brand new they'd probably subject to massive backlash...oh wait, that's happening now, isn't it?

For those unaware, Paul Feig (director of "Bridesmaids") announced that he would be remaking the classic comedy with an all-female cast. Even though many were skeptical and slightly disappointed that we'd most likely never see the return of the original characters, especially due to the passing of star/writer Harold Ramis, I felt open to it. If Feig could do the original movie justice while making his own fun product at the same time a la "The Force Awakens," I feel like it could have been a fun flick for new and old generations alike. That's not to say I don't now though, I'm just more skeptical than I was previously. As movies like "Terminator Genysis" or "Batman v Superman" have shown us sometimes poorly made movies need lackluster trailers to set people's expectations. Even though both of these franchises had legions of fans at their feet all it took was a lackluster trailer to make the most hardcore fan be skeptical. Both movies still made tons of money but if you analyze them and compare the final product to the bad trailer you can see the warning signs.

In March, Sony released the first trailer to the "Ghostbusters" reboot (still better than any joke in the trailer), and it was obliterated by the Internet. As of today, Youtube's like-to-dislike ratio brands it as the most downvoted movie trailer of all time with 800k dislikes and still growing compared to a mere 300k likes that have gone stagnant for some time. Personally, I tried to stay away from the trailer as I had no interest in seeing it based on what I'd heard. Sure enough though, sometimes a problem is impossible to avoid no matter how hard you try as I wound up encountering the trailer a month later with my girlfriend. Neither of us liked it by the time it was done; the humor wasn't appealing to me, the special effects looked phony, and scenes from the original classic were ripped off with barely any effort or creativity. By the time the trailer faded away I felt like those two and a half minutes were a summation of everything wrong with Hollywood today. Ghostbusters was Hollywood's biggest original concept that they still hadn't milked to oblivion. Instead of coming up with something original or creative big-name studios like Sony simply hired a popular director/popular actors to recreate the cinematic golden age so that they can make money on pure nostalgia. As you can tell by my tone, I'm not a big fan of this one.

With any movie there are two sides to take; the people who think it looks good and those who think it looks like complete garbage. I've found myself on both ends of the argument in my life as a moviegoer; and when a movie looks bad I won't go out of my way to see it in the same way that I'd plan on seeing a movie that looks good. Overall, Ghostbusters 2016 doesn't look like the kind of movie for me and if you think you'll enjoy it then go out and see it, form your own opinion. What really annoys me about this movie isn't the product at hand, but its extremely passionate supporters. These aren't the usual type of fans that constantly throw reasons in your face as to why the movie is amazing, these people resort to personal attacks in order to attack a critic's character rather than what's wrong with the film. You see, because the movie stars women in roles originally given to men it's apparently widely considered that anyone who doesn't like it or doesn't want to see it is simply a sexist bigot.

Fans of the movie, celebrities, and the mainstream media all concur that the source of people's outrage towards the movie isn't a representation of its quality but another example of institutionalized sexism in the industry. While gender equality is still a major issue in entertainment as well as the world on the whole people fail to see the real argument. Why is it that we're able to point fingers and laugh when we see the trailers for Robocop or Nightmare on Elm Street's remake comes on, but give Ghostbusters a pass for suffering from the same issues? People are pointing out flaws in the movie based on the trailer the same way they'd do for any other film. Is it wrong because the movie stars women? If so, isn't that even more sexist and one-sided? People want equality, but aren't willing to accept that some reject the film based on its own merits so instead these fans resort to name-calling to keep their love for the movie intact while looking politically/morally in the right. Is this movie the worst thing ever? No, of course not. There are much bigger issues going on in the world, but the reason why it's getting so much hate is due to all the negativity it's drummed up, that people are backhandedly giving it a pass because it's a "women's movie." Point being, if this movie is bad let it be judged on its own merits when compared to what constitutes a good movie. If any critics are reading this (and if you are, man this got further than I thought) please judge this movie on your own grounds, regardless of the backlash.

What makes this backwards defense strategy even worse is that it's a hypocritical point of view to take given that we've seen a larger female influence on franchises formerly known as male dominant. Star Wars is a series which is even deeper rooted in people's minds than Ghostbusters could ever hope to be but were people flipping their lids when Rey (a female character) was revealed to be this entry's newest protagonist? No, for the most part people were okay with it in the same way that the new Rogue One movie is generally accepted and praised for featuring a female lead. If you need further proof just look at last year's biggest smash hit, Mad Max: Fury Road. In a sequel to Mad Max the titular character took a backseat to a female character and the majority didn't have any reaction, in fact many love the way the filmmakers went about it. There's a point where you have to question whether or not the film was able to draw in its audience as a movie rather than a political statement. The female characters in Mad Max/Star Wars were important and helped create a more progressive cinematic era, but they didn't stand in the way of the plot. Feig's Ghostbusters feels like it's using this progressive age as a shield to block any dissenters, and it's worked pretty well. However, if people were mad at this movie for sexist reasons then why were people accepting of female roles in larger franchises?

One of the most disgusting displays I've seen in a very long time was the media and Internet's reaction to filmmaker and critic James Rolfe announcing that he wouldn't see the movie. In a six minute video, James explained his love of the classic Ghostbusters and why this new movie (based on the trailers) looks like a shameful cash-grab for Sony based on nostalgia. Calmly, he broke down what he didn't like about this film and explained that he knew he wouldn't like it so he felt like he didn't need to bother. It makes sense to be honest, if you know you're not going to like a movie why waste your time and money to see and most likely hate it? Rolfe had many supporters but within mere hours after posting the Internet went to war with the man. Celebrities like Patton Oswalt and Dane Cook started the trend by rolling his name in the mud by calling him a misogynist and whiny scumbag who should "get with the times." Articles on various news sites went out of their way to find aspects of the video that seemed somewhat bigoted and highlighted them to an extreme. In fact, one article is even called "Whiny Manbaby Refuses to Review Ghostbusters" (source: Pedestrian). Twitter, Tumblr, and other social network/blogging sites dug into him for putting an opinion out there. Note also that he never mentioned anything about the female cast and never directly insulted anyone's involvement. At the end of the day he took a stand and gave his honest opinion which apparently only qualifies you as a "hater" at this point.

In the end though, it's just a movie. Many of you are probably thinking that because it's a form of entertainment that it doesn't deserve to be viewed as anything more. As I said earlier, however, movies are powerful works of art that take us to different worlds and make us care about them. We want to see Marty McFly stop Biff, we want to see Indiana Jones reach the artifact, we want to see Batman stop The Joker, we want to see the Ghostbusters busting ghosts. This trailer, to me, isn't what "Ghostbusters" or any film represents it ultimately feels like a way for studios to make easy money off people's love for the movie rather than creating something to be loved in the first place. In the original Ghostbusters' era, films were thought out carefully and made with care. This film doesn't look like it's trying to be its own property it's trying to cash in on the success of a popular '80s franchise. If this movie winds up being just that then it's a disgrace. What adds to this issue is the sexism angle that fans and people love flocking to, it creates an uncomfortable environment for anyone and makes people feel like they have an obligation to see/enjoy it. From what I've seen in the trailers I can see why people are disappointed as fans have waited decades to see the original group on the big screen busting ghosts one last time. Instead, Sony looks to have replaced what the fans want with a cookie-cutter version of the first movie to sell tickets. Then again, maybe I'm wrong, who knows? The movie could be amazing and I hope that's the case. However, when all is said and done the hype and distaste surrounding this movie really ruins it for a lot of people, myself included. "Ghostbusters" comes from such a creative and witty property, one that wasn't afraid to push boundaries and be creative. One that inspired a generation of filmmakers and helped show how powerful movie blockbusters can be. As previously mentioned, the issue of gender equality is an unfortunate one and it saddens me to no end, but it doesn't belong in any conversation about Ghostbusters, it's ridiculous. If you want to see the movie, go out and see it. Personally, it's not my cup of tea. Whether or not it's good or bad is irrelevant at this point as the sexism debate will linger forever like a ghost. When the time comes to make the call, I think I'll dial the original.