‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ on Local Screens (Mon., 7/1816)

1) Ghostbusters – In hopes of squeezing out some more money from this series of 80’s comedies, Sony Pictures have gone and rebooted the franchise with a gender-switched cast—what could possibly go wrong? Well, how about this: “Women ruin everything.” Or this: “Pssshht. Female scientists? Yeah, right.” Or get a load of this: “Feminists just f**ked my childhood… going to ignore every movie with these actresses since now.” Those are just a few of the comments left on the Sony website mere moments after posting the first trailer for the remake… and now the industry is on tender hooks wondering if this wanton misogyny will tank the movie. At the pitch meeting, it must have seemed like it couldn’t fail: Paul Feig writes and directs and the cast includes a galaxy of star power: Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones are the leads, with Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts from the original stopping by. Plus there’s Chris Hemsworth, Andy Garcia, Michael Kenneth Williams, Cecily Strong, and Michael McDonald. Lets hope that the evil fanboys stay home and shut up. Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

The Ghostbusters Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), Erin (Kristen Wiig) and Patty (Leslie Jones) ‘ain’t afraid of no ghost’ in Columbia Pictures’ ‘Ghostbusters.’

2) The Secret Life of Pets – Did you ever wonder what your pet does when you go off to work? Me neither. I figure that as long as they don’t doodoo on the rug, I don’t really care what else they do do. But the fine folks at Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment have wondered and to that end bring us this animated movie about a pampered pet, Max, who has to join forces with a mongrel named Duke when they find out a bunny rabbit called Snowball is creating a battalion of abandoned pets with one goal in mind: ruin the lives of pets and their owners! Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney co-direct from a script by Ken Aurio, Brian Lynch, and Cinco Paul. Voice talents include Ellie Kemper, Kevin Hart, Albert Brooks, Dana Carvey, Louis C.K., Steve Coogan, and Eric Stonestreet. Check Fandango for screens and times. (TH)

3) Wiener Dog – On paper it sounds adorable: Todd Solondz directs a movie about a dachshund who is passed from owner to owner and how the animal changes their lives. The movie’s broken into four distinct stories and the film stars Greta Gerwig, Danny DeVito, Zosia Mamet, Ellen Burstyn, Kieran Culkin, Julie Delpy, and Tracy Letts. Everyone loves a little doggie, don’t they? And aren’t wiener dogs just the cutest? Of course, true film fans reading this will have spotted the problem right at the top: Todd Solondz. A director of singular vision, we know from his previous films Dark Horse, Palindromes, Happiness and, especially, Welcome to the Dollhouse that there’s no such thing as “too depressing” when it comes to a Solondz film. It isn’t really a problem when Todd is writing and directing human characters to sink into the depths, it’ll be more problematic when he gives an animal the same treatment. Judging from some of the pre-release buzz I’ve read, Todd’s going to be hearing from PETA PDQ. 8 p.m. Through July 29. Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Regent Square Theater, 1035 S. Braddock Ave., Regent Square. (TH)

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