Ivan Reitman Movies
Born in Czechoslovakia, producer/director Ivan Reitman was raised in Canada by his concentration camp-survivor parents. After majoring in music at McMasters University, Reitman got his first taste of the line of work that was to bring him fame and fortune when he attended summer classes at the National Film Board. Here he directed his first short subjects, one of which received mainstream distribution. Encouraged by the Film Board to follow his own creative muse, Reitman was irresistibly attracted to "dangerous," cutting-edge material. His first feature-length directorial project, a 1970 adaptation of the notorious sub rosa Victorian sex novel My Secret Life, nearly landed him in jail. He went on to direct, produce, edit, and score the mildly exploitive Foxy Lady (1971), then directed and produced the horror semi-spoof Cannibal Girls (1973); the latter project represented his first cinematic contact with the famed Second City comedy troupe. In between handling the producing chores on several early David Cronenberg movie projects, Reitman produced Doug Henning's 1974 Broadway musical The Magic Show, then renewed his acquaintance with the Second City folk by producing The National Lampoon Show (1975). He helped elevate John Belushi to film stardom with his spectacularly successful 1978 production National Lampoon's Animal House, then did the same for Bill Murray in his 1979 directorial effort Meatballs, which ended up the biggest-grossing Canadian film of the year. After flirting with the Cinema of the Fantastic in his productions Heavy Metal (1981) and Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Reitman deftly combined fantasy and comedy with his direction of the 1984 cash cow Ghostbusters (once more populated with Second City stalwarts, notably Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Rick Moranis, and Harold Ramis). Though he has earned his comic stripes as a director, Reitman continues to produce and executive produce other director's projects, notably the runaway hit Beethoven (1991). While he seems to have an unerring Midas touch, not every Reitman project has turned to box-office gold: After helping to give Arnold Schwarzenegger a lighter, more amusing image in Kindergarten Cop (1990), he failed to do same with Sylvester Stallone in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1991); nor was the Schwarzenegger-Danny De Vito vehicle Junior (1994) able to match the success of the stars' earlier pairing in Reitman's Twins (1988). After a few ups and downs in the early '90s, Reitman was way back up with Dave (1993), an uncharacteristically low-key political satire. In the summer of 2001, the man who brought fans Ghostbusters was back with another summer sci-fi comedy extravaganza, Evolution. With the exception of the television comedy pilot Cooking Lessons, Reitman would mainly stick to producing in the early years of the new millennium, though after playing a kew role in bringing such comedy hits as Old School and Road Trip to the screen, it was finally time to step back into the director's chair for the 2006 comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend. A fun-filled fantasy comedy detailing the revenge of a needy superhero against the man who dumped her, My Super Ex-Girlfriend starred Uma Thurman as the eponymous dumpee, and Luke Wilson as the man who had to let her go. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1971
This comedy is one of the earlier films directed by Ivan Reitman, better known for his later box-office hits Stripes and Ghostbusters. The Canadian penchant for self-mockery is a strong theme in this gender-switched retelling of the myth of Hero and Leander. Here, Hero (Alan Gordon) simply cannot resist helping people who are in trouble, and Leander (Sylvie Feigel) is the richest girl in the world. After a series of encounters, they fall in love and get married. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
This colorful cinematic flesh feast for the eyes shows various sexual techniques, preferences and positions. Based on the 19th century erotic novel My Secret Life, the world of sex is explored using a documentary style with a dose of comedy. British actor Robert Fothergill provides the narration in this film, the first ever Canadian film to be charged with obscenity in a court of law. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- PG
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Ghostbusters
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ghostbusters 2
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ghostbusters 2
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
