Ghostbusters at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center Tuesday, July 7

In a move sure to perplex dozens of readers, the National Review earlier this year ranked Ghosbusters at No. 10 on its list of the “Best Conservative Movies.” Citing the film’s dénouement, in which “the solution to a public menace comes from the private sector,” AEI fellow Steven Hayward casts the film as a meditation on, um, free-market exorcism. Would that Drs. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis at his eggheaded best) cared enough to dash off some characteristically wiseass rejoinder—something akin to the “dickless” epithet with which they needle their foe at the EPA (William Atherton). Conservative? Hogwash. Ghostbusters is nearly as antiestablishment as Stripes, except with Ecto-Plasmic Containment Modules instead of Urban Assault Vehicles. Come for the Ray Parker, Jr. theme song, stay for Murray’s not-even-acting insouciance, and brush up on a proton pack’s worth of one-liners in anticipation of the rumored-to-be-in-the-works Ghostbusters III.

THE FILM SHOWS AT 9:05 P.M. AT THE AFI SILVER THEATRE AND CULTURAL CENTER, 8633 COLESVILLE ROAD, SILVER SPRING. $7.50–$10. (301) 495-6720.