A Film That Goes Beyond Excellent

Rating: 10/10 (16 August 2015)

Even though the film world has made this 1990 movie "Ghost" as being insignificant, inferior to other movies that came out in this time period. But to me Whoopi Goldberg's Oda Mae Brown could easily pass off as one of the most near-perfect, intriguing, mesmerizing characters to ever be featured on celluloid. Her character has truly exceeded any character that Charles Dickens or William Shakespeare ever created. Goldberg literally sold her character and when she graced the screen with her performance, people were just dying to see her such a dynamic performance and who could blame them.
With the 1980's coming to a close, we has the honours to reflect what a decade it has been in the era of film-making. Some of the great creative minds emerged from this occasion. It was a time when thinking and direction was compatible. There was very few lazy remakes or CGI green screen dependency. It was originality and creativity all the way. There was no competition to see how much money you make in one day. Artists like Robert Greenwald was creating artful flicks like "Xanadu" and Ridley Scott was making original modern-day fairy tales like "Legend", no one expected that the 1990's would come along with a plethora of bummer films. It was like the creativity was lost. The colourful and the spontaneous dynamics were badly watered down with blandness and half-baked films that were only out there. The only film of the 1990's that had the charm that was lost in the 1980's was the 1996 movie "Evita". While the 1990's crept up with its grunge, baggy clothes and other societal lowering, the time to have something to embrace on was eagerly anticipating.
So while cinema was going on the decline, 1990 did provide a gem that will eternally be etched in the hearts of many because everyone had already figured out this film was going to be special because they were getting tired of the grating films that were hitting the box office this film was selling faster than hotcakes. This was clearly Jerry Zucker's best directed film (no matter what, he never exceeded his expectations). It has everything to offer, great acting, brilliant script, a few chuckles, a few cries, but the score was excellent. I mean I love the oldies and one of the most beautiful ballads is "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers. If that song won't have you slow-dancing with a partner. I don't know what will? Even the special effects though low-key deserve mentioning.
Even though "Ghost" is worthy of all its accolades it may surprise you that with the powerful big budget films that were coming out in 1990 like "Mermaids", "The Little Mermaid", "Goodfellas" and the grandest of them all "Dances with Wolves", "Ghost" was the biggest budgeted film that year, but was still the underdog in the Academy Awards category. What made this film stand out the most was the performance of Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown. She sold her character above everyone else, even the late Patrick Swayze (his baby will always be "Dirty Dancing"), and Demi Moore who's career stalled after the Brat Pack. It was her flair, her charisma that carries the beat of this movie. She truly stands out like no other performer. She truly is a diamond in the rough.
Granted Miss Goldberg did win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year for her performance as Oda Mae Brown. And the critics around chewed on that notion including me. But their rhetoric is vague and at times not fully justified. But I must go deeper and to assume that Oda Mae Brown was around before we ever knew Whoopi Goldberg in fact Oda and Whoopi are two completely different people. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not a big fan of Whoopi Goldberg (not that I loathe her either) and that this movie and "The Colour Purple" were the two movies that made Whoopi a household name. I would love to see her make a sequel or even a remake to "Ghost". I mean her humanitarian efforts are phenomenal, but her acting is greatly missed. And the long awaited return of Oda Mae Brown gracing the screen is something I would pay to see.