Thanks again Windows Movie Maker for not messing up this video. This is the last video I’ll be using Movie Maker to create. Thanks Seb for the new software.
Part II features the first ever live performance of “The Maiden Song” written by Seb, Dave and Meat. Yours truly on second vocals.
Part I is below:
AN INTERNET FIRST: LeBrain and the Heavy Metal OverloRd have combined forces to bring you our very first co-review! We have chosen the rare album album by Funky Junction — a little known outfit better recognized under the name Thin Lizzy! Perhaps you have heard of them.
For the purposes of this review, LeBrain will be in black and HMO will be in blue.
FUNKY JUNCTION – Play a Tribute to Deep Purple (1973 Damont)
HMO: I like a challenge. Ever since hearing about Mike’s “Holy Grail” list of rarities I’ve been determined to find some for him here in Scotland. Given that I’m Scottish, this obsession with Holy Grails probably makes me Sean Connery to his Indiana Jones. Or something like that. At any rate, I’ll be calling him “Junior” from now on. I saw this record in Glasgow’s Missing Records and, knowing the hidden Thin Lizzy connection, I emailed Mike to see if he had it. He replied that it was on his Holy Grail list! Ya dancer! On closer inspection, however, the shop-copy looked too scratched to be worth even the £2.50 asking price. But the discovery gave me hope that I might find a better copy for him online… and here it is!
LeBrain: The band on the front cover wasn’t them. Their names appear nowhere on the LP packaging. All we’re told on the record jacket is that Funky Junction “are an exciting new group that has the pulse of today.” But for all intents and purposes, Funky Junction was Thin Lizzy:
Phil Lynott – bass guitar
Brian Downey – drums
Eric Bell – guitar
Benny White – vocals
Dave Lennox – keyboards
Since Phil Lynott couldn’t sing Ian Gillan’s high notes, and since Thin Lizzy didn’t have a keyboard player, the band hired members of another Irish group called Elmer Fudd to record the album, which they did in one day!
“Fireball” is one of my favourite Deep Purple tracks. Even though Eric Bell referred to singer Benny White as an “Ian Gillan” clone, I don’t hear that at all. A Rod Evans clone, perhaps. “Fireball” is largely based on the drums, so we’re in safe territory here. Brian Downey is one of the few drummers who could give Ian Paice a run for his money in 1973. Not a bad cover I suppose, if you’re eager to hear was “Fireball” would have sounded like with Rod Evans singing.
Totally agree with you on the singer. The guy is so Rod Evans he was probably wearing gold lamé trousers while he was singing this. It’s an ok version in a “pub covers band” sort-of way. Brian Downey’s drumming is impressive, Phil’s bass solo… not so much.
“Dan” (credited to the German business man, Leo Muller, that conceived of and financed this project) is brief guitar instrumental. It’s supposed to sound like “Danny Boy” in a Hendrixian style, and I suppose that’s the right ballpark. Eric Bell fans will dig it, but as a song…next!
I like Eric’s tone here but it’s a lazy arrangement: just playing the melody and wanging his bar every now and again. It’s definitely the most Lizzy-esque song here though.
Funky Junction settle into a light groove on “Black Night”. This is a pretty faithful cover. What I like about this performance is Eric Bell’s way of improvising his own guitar solo within the style that Blackmore set for this song. The organ solo however is pretty caveman by comparison to Jon Lord. Pretty stock cover.
I’m actually fairly impressed by how faithful this one is, and a good approximation of the sound too. Eric Bell and Brian Downey are still the classiest acts here but it doesn’t have anywhere near the edge of the Purple original. Still, one of the more enjoyable outings here.
I like that I can hear Phil Lynott’s personal bass style on “Palamatoon” but the lame keyboards sound out of place on this album. I don’t know how to describe this instrumental original except to say that, as usual, Eric Bell’s soloing is a highlight.
It’s cool to hear Phil on this. His bass line reminded me of “Little Girl in Bloom” a bit. It’s just a shame that this tune is so bad. It’s like Emerson Lake and Palmer but pissed as farts. John Peel once described ELP as “a waste of talent and electricity”. He was wrong. But this song definitely is.
“Strange Kind of Woman” is pretty limp. Once again, if you were eager to hear this Purple classic performed by a Rod Evans clone, this is the one. Downey and Bell are the highlights of a pretty dull performance.
I’m finding the Rod Evans factor to be one of the more interesting aspects of this. If it wasn’t so workaday you could almost imagine these are some long-lost Deep Purple sessions from before they gave poor Rod the heave-ho. But apart from the “what if?” fantasising… dull.
Side two commences with the Deep Purple Mk I hit, “Hush” (actually a Billy Joe Royal cover). I find this one irritating. The singer’s enunciation bugs me. Deep Purple decided to anchor their version with a long keyboard solo. Unfortunately Funky Junction struggle to make their solo as interesting.
I think I liked this one more than you, Junior. This and Black Night are the two best Purple covers here. Not very inspiring on record but if they were playing it live at a pub I think I’d get into it. Benny sounds totally at home here, finally giving it the full, glorious Rod Evans. Probably with bouffant hair and a frilly shirt now too! Gaun’ yersel’ big man!
Even though we all know “Rising Sun” is a cover of “House of the Rising Sun” (a traditional), here Leo Muller takes songwriting credit! I hope he enjoyed what little royalties he earned from the meager sales of this LP. This is another instrumental cover, with a snooze-inducing ending.
Cheeky scamp that Leo Muller, eh? I’m surprised he didn’t just change his name to Traditional and watch the money flood in. Nice sound and a decent performance on this song but mostly goes in one ear and out the other.
I appreciate that Funky Junction chose to retain that noisy, messy intro to “Speed King”. I’m afraid that of all the songs, “Speed King” suffers the most from the inadequate singer. Fortunately the Lizzy guys are talented enough to play the tune properly.
Everything we’ve mentioned previously seems to work against them on Speed King. The caveman keyboards, the tameness. And the poor Rod Evans impersonator sounding like all your worst Karaoke nightmares (but with the added embarrassment of those trousers). It’s cool that they included the noisy intro (I think Leo Muller wrote that) but this is the worst Purple version here by a good margin.
“Corina” closes the album, a vocal track credited to Muller. It’s a cool blues that fits in with a Deep Purple Mk I vibe. I don’t mind this track too much. It’s nothing special but at least it’s not overshadowed by a superior Deep Purple version.
An OK boogie. It’s still making me think of pubs mostly. The lead guitar is the best thing about this one.
2/5 stars. Recommended primarily to fans of Eric Bell.
2.5/5 stars. I agree with Mike but I’m going to throw in an extra half-point because I thought the Rod Evans impersonator was a hoot.
RECORD STORE TALES Part 304: The Richard Parker Files
Don’t you hate it when you see an able-bodied driver flagrantly park his or her vehicle in a no-parking zone? That’s one that drives me nuts. For example, at one of the local malls, you’ll see people constantly parking in the lane where the NO PARKING signs are quite clearly visible. They run into the cash machine and run out again, even though there is a 15 minute parking spot available right near the cash machines, that is always empty.
Obviously these people must be in a rush. They may feel like they are more important than you or me and everyone else who actually properly parks their vehicle in a spot. It might be a fire lane, but no firetrucks were about to pull up, were they?
Maybe it’s just the asshole in me, but I didn’t like to see that in the Record Store Days. Once in a while, I wouldn’t serve a customer who parked in front of the store. Especially when I can see dozens of empty spots mere meters away. My store was not in a busy plaza. There were always close spots available. The laziness and attitude of entitlement really ground my gears.
I recall one instance very clearly. A young man pulled up to my store one store morning, and parked on the curb. There were NO PARKING signs along that curb that he chose to ignore. He came in with a bag of CDs for me to buy.
“Hi. How are you? I want to sell these,” he said.
“Sure!” I said with a broad smile. “Why don’t you go and move your car to a parking spot, and I’ll get right on it.”
He paused a moment, but had no problem with my request. “Sure, I’ll be right back,” he said. We did the transaction and I had no problems with the guy. I just politely asked him to move his car for me to proceed, and he did. No big deal.
I didn’t do that often. You could tell when the customer wouldn’t have listened to you anyway. But I looked at it as a service. Once, a guy got ticketed right out front and he didn’t notice. I was working at another location, with a more cramped parking lot. Likewise the curb lane was also narrower. It pissed me off when people parked in it, making it hard for others to get around, but it happened every day.
This guy pulled up, parked on the curb, and shopped around. I saw the parking control person outside the window, writing tickets. I laughed to myself. The customer was too busy looking for CDs to notice, even though his car was right out the window.
The parking control lady left a nice ticket on his windshield. The driver was in my store for about half an hour, and didn’t notice until he was done. I had to chuckle. That’s what happens when you’re a Richard Parker.
Without further adieu, I present to you the Top 75 songs from this year’s Countdown. Only a handful of my songs made the Countdown this year: Sound City Players‘ “Your Wife is Calling”, Black Sabbath‘s “Damaged Soul”, “Hush” by Deep Purple, Dio‘s “Rainbow in the Dark”, and “Stonehenge” by Spinal Tap.
| 1 | More Human Than Human | White Zombie |
| 2 | Red Tide Rising | Orange Goblin |
| 3 | Welcome to the Family | Avenged Sevenfold |
| 4 | Awake | Godsmack |
| 5 | Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap) | AC/DC |
| 6 | Detroit Rock City | KISS |
| 7 | Fuck Her Gently | Tenacious D |
| 8 | Give Up the Funk | Parliament |
| 9 | Subdivisions | Rush |
| 10 | A Warriors Call | Volbeat |
| 11 | A Lil Piece of Heaven | Avenged Sevenfold |
| 12 | Back in Black | AC/DC |
| 13 | Dying Earth | The Sword |
| 14 | I | Black Sabbath |
| 15 | Funk 49 | James Gang |
| 16 | War Pigs | Black Sabbath |
| 17 | Hawks and Serpents | The Sword |
| 18 | Red Hot Mama | Funkadelic |
| 19 | Man in the Box | Alice in Chains |
| 20 | Higher Ground | Stevie Wonder |
| 21 | Children of the Damned | Iron Maiden |
| 22 | Snowblind | Black Sabbath |
| 23 | Red Barchetta | Rush |
| 24 | Master of Puppets | Metallica |
| 25 | Seek and Destroy | Metallica |
| 26 | White Rabbit | Jefferson Airplane |
| 27 | TNT | AC/DC |
| 28 | Hooker with a Penis | Tool |
| 29 | Testify | Rage Against the Machine |
| 30 | Le Grange | ZZ Top |
| 31 | Chop Suey | System of a Down |
| 32 | Good Times Bad Times | Led Zeppelin |
| 33 | Seven Nation Army | White Stripes |
| 34 | The Wind Cries Mary | Jimi Hendrix |
| 35 | Aerials | System of a Down |
| 36 | Save Me | Avenged Sevenfold |
| 37 | The Veil of Isis | The Sword |
| 38 | Chapter 4 | Avenged Sevenfold |
| 39 | Wherever I May Roam | Metallica |
| 40 | Are You Mine? | The Arctic Monkeys |
| 41 | The Prisoner | Iron Maiden |
| 42 | Them Bones | Alice in Chains |
| 43 | Carry on my Wayward Son | Kansas |
| 44 | Squonk | Genesis |
| 45 | Losfer Words | Iron Maiden |
| 46 | Damaged Soul | Black Sabbath |
| 47 | Earth Rocker | Clutch |
| 48 | Stonehenge | Spinal Tap |
| 49 | Seasons in the Abyss | Slayer |
| 50 | Under the Sun | Black Sabbath |
| 51 | Tales of Brave Ulysses | Cream |
| 52 | Right Place Wrong Time | Doctor John |
| 53 | A Day in the Life | War |
| 54 | Hush | Deep Purple |
| 55 | Slow Ride | Foghat |
| 56 | Emotional Rescue | The Rolling Stones |
| 57 | Sign of the Gypsy Queen | April Wine |
| 58 | Rainbow in the Dark | Dio |
| 59 | Mongoose | Fu Manchu |
| 60 | Lies | Down |
| 61 | Dogs of War | Motorhead |
| 62 | Money | Pink Floyd |
| 63 | Wife is Calling | Sound City Players |
| 64 | Awaken | Yes |
| 65 | Give it to Me Baby | Rick James |
| 66 | Frankenstein | Edgar Winter Group |
| 67 | Where the Devil Don’t Stay | Drive By Truckers |
| 68 | Machine Gun | The Commodores |
| 69 | Millionaire | Dr Hook |
| 70 | Warriors | Thin Lizzy |
| 71 | Jukebox Hero | Foreigner |
| 72 | Heart of Gold | Neil Young |
| 73 | Intro to Reality/Belly of the Beast | Anthrax |
| 74 | Roller | Sasquatch |
| 75 | Long Way to the Top | AC/DC |
Thank you Windows Movie Maker for not messing up this video. There was so much fantastic footage that I split this up into two parts.
Enjoy Part I, featuring many talented musicians and friends.
BUDGIE – Nightflight (1981 Active Records)
I love this album. Nightflight sounds like the kind of music I was exposed to, when I was growing in Kitchener, Ontario in the early 80’s. I was surrounded by new and exciting music, thanks to stations like MuchMusic, and friends who would let me tape their records. If I had been aware of Budgie in the 80’s, I absolutely would have been a fan.
In their early days, similarly to Thin Lizzy, Budgie started out with a prototypical sound and eventually evolved into a more metallic beast. Nightflight is Budgie’s Thunder and Lightning, perhaps. It has that vibe, and it’s awesome. Of the records I own, this is my favourite Budgie album. Burke’s voice is as nasal as ever, in the best possible way. The band has metamorphosed into something more mainstream metal, which still sounding like classic Budgie. That anchoring bass, the unstoppable grooves, and the simple and smoking solos: it’s still there.
The opening track “I Turned To Stone” is a major highlight. It takes balls to open an album with a song this soft, but eventually the ballad-like tune transforms into an Iron Maiden-gallup with this killer off-kilter guitar solo. “Keeping a Rendezvous” is more accessible; Budgie plundering hard rock with equal success. The organ-infested “Reaper of the Glory” is a brief step back in quality. It lacks the memorable melodies of the first two songs.
“She Used Me Up” kicks ass with a steady AC/DC beat and a choppy Priest-ly riff (circa Point of Entry). “Don’t Lay Down and Die” continues this overall direction. You can hear the organ once again, and the guitar solo is catchy as hell. It is very much in an 80’s metal mold.
My favourite track is “Apparatus”. The lyrics are pretty strange, but this ballad is irresistible. Burke’s earnest lead vocal is high pitched nasal perfection. But if you didn’t like “Apparatus”, that’s OK because “Superstar” is likely to blow you away. Budgie again stray into AC/DC territory. This song anticipates Blow Up Your Video by several years. Steve Williams keeps it simple on the drums and that’s what makes it cool.
The mid-tempo and melodic “Change Your Ways” is just as likable. You’ll dig the gang-of-Burke lead vocal technique on the verses. You have to admire a singer who has his own voice, and doesn’t resemble anyone else. It’s easy to compare Burke to Geddy Lee, but that’s really not doing it justice. Both singers have their own techniques. Burke is more soulful.
“Untitled Lullaby” is pretty much what it sounds like it would be. It’s one of Burke’s acoustic ditties, only 1:16 so really it’s just a coda. It’s lovely and it ends the album on an upbeat note. Nightflight is a short but enjoyable ride.
Upon review, I found seven of Nightflight‘s nine tracks to be indispensable to me. Based on that math and rounding up:
4/5 stars
The addition of live bands and open jams at Sausagefest has, in my opinion, revolutionized the whole weekend for the better. The good news is this: I recorded so much live footage and got so many great photos that I have more than enough to put together the best Sausagefest video yet. The bad news is this: I recorded so much live footage and got so many great photos that it is going to take me a while to edit it together. Patience is the key.
In the meantime: Here are some more selected photos from this excellent weekend, PLUS my entire list of songs that I voted for. Ultimately this year we only did a Top 75 countdown compiled from all the votes. When that is available I’ll post that too.
In the meantime: THANK YOU to Jeff Woods (The Legends of Classic Rock), Craig Fee (107.5 Dave FM) and Ben Ward (Orange Goblin) for your contributions this year! Above and beyond the call of duty.
LET’S ROCK!
| 1 | Your Wife Is Calling | Sound City Players |
| 2 | Billy Oxygen | Helix |
| 3 | Wish I Could Be There | Helix |
| 4 | Wishing Well | Black Sabbath |
| 5 | Damaged Soul | Black Sabbath |
| 6 | God of Thunder | KISS |
| 7 | Pictures of Home | Deep Purple |
| 8 | Vincent Price | Deep Purple |
| 9 | The Storm | Flying Colors |
| 10 | Kayla | Flying Colors |
| 11 | Shoulda Woulda Coulda | Flying Colors |
| 12 | Vincent Price | Deep Purple |
| 13 | I Miss My Chick | Brant Bjork |
| 14 | MidLife Crisis | Faith No More |
| 15 | Millionaire | QOTSA |
| 16 | In The Fade | QOTSA |
| 17 | It’s Late | Queen |
| 18 | Keep Yourself Alive | Queen |
| 19 | Solitude | Black Sabbath |
| 20 | So Tired | Ozzy |
| 21 | Rainbow in the Dark | Dio |
| 22 | Creatures of the Night | KISS |
| 23 | War Machine | KISS |
| 24 | Lights Out | UFO |
| 25 | Mean Streets | Van Halen |
| 26 | Take Your Whiskey Home | Van Halen |
| 27 | Hear About It Later | Van Halen |
| 28 | Dirty Movies | Van Halen |
| 29 | Sinners Swing | Van Halen |
| 30 | Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers | ZZ Top |
| 31 | Hangover | Max Webster |
| 32 | Blowing the Blues Away | Max Webster |
| 33 | Gravity | Max Webster |
| 34 | Masquerade | Hibakusha |
| 35 | You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise | Judas Priest |
| 36 | Delivering the Goods | Judas Priest |
| 37 | Evil Fantasies | Judas Priest |
| 38 | 18 | Alice Cooper |
| 39 | Dwight Fry | Alice Cooper |
| 40 | Thunder in Rock | Fist |
| 41 | Lay It On the Line | Triumph |
| 42 | Hell Hole | Spinal Tap |
| 43 | Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight | Spinal Tap |
| 44 | Rock and Roll Creation | Spinal Tap |
| 45 | Stonehenge | Spinal Tap |
| 46 | Heavy Duty | Spinal Tap |
| 47 | Big Bottom | Spinal Tap |
| 48 | Cups and Cakes | Spinal Tap |
| 49 | Gimme Some Money | Spinal Tap |
| 50 | Listen To What the Flower People Say | Spinal Tap |
| 51 | Bitch School | Spinal Tap |
| 52 | The Majesty of Rock | Spinal Tap |
| 53 | Break Like the Wind | Spinal Tap |
| 54 | Stinkin’ Up the Great Outdoors | Spinal Tap |
| 55 | Rock and Roll Nightmare | Spinal Tap |
| 56 | Hush | Deep Purple |
| 57 | Kill the King | Rainbow |
| 58 | Long Live Rock and Roll | Rainbow |
| 59 | Big Balls | AC/DC |
| 60 | Dirty Deeds | AC/DC |
| 61 | Ain’t No Fun Waiting Round to be a Millionaire | AC/DC |
| 62 | There’s Gonna Be Some Rockin’ | AC/DC |
| 63 | Squealer | AC/DC |
| 64 | Ride On | AC/DC |
| 65 | Fly on the Wall | AC/DC |
| 66 | Danger | AC/DC |
| 67 | It’s a Long Way to the Top | AC/DC |
| 68 | Let There Be Rock | AC/DC |
| 69 | Soul Stealer | AC/DC |
| 70 | School Love | Anvil |
| 71 | The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down | The Band |
| 72 | I Stole Your Love | KISS |
| 73 | Cold Gin | KISS |
| 74 | Firehouse | KISS |
| 75 | Keep The Dogs Away | Thor |
| 76 | The Right To Rock | Keel |
| 77 | Hunger | King Kobra |
| 78 | The Oath | KISS |
| 79 | C’mon and Love Me | KISS |
| 80 | Black Diamond | KISS |
| 81 | Mr Speed | KISS |
| 82 | Shock Me | KISS |
| 83 | Hotter Than Hell | KISS |
| 84 | Got to Choose | KISS |
| 85 | Killer | KISS |
| 86 | Rock and Roll Hell | KISS |
| 87 | Rock Bottom | KISS |
| 88 | What the Hell Have I | Alice In Chains |
| 89 | No Excuses | Alice In Chains |
| 90 | When You Wish Upon A Star | Gene Simmons |
| 91 | San Quentin | Johnny Cash |
| 92 | I Got Stripes | Johnny Cash |
| 93 | I Hung My Head | Johnny Cash |
| 94 | Orange Blossom Special | Johnny Cash |
| 95 | Fool For Your Loving | Whitesnake |
| 96 | Crying in the Rain | Whitesnake |
| 97 | Come An’ Get It | Whitesnake |
| 98 | Slow An’ Easy | Whitesnake |
| 99 | Slide It In | Whitesnake |
| 100 | Standing in the Shadow | Whitesnake |
FAITH NO MORE – The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection (2009 Rhino/Warner Music UK)
To coincide with their 2009 European reunion tour, some fine record executives (in the UK) decided to issue a new Faith No More hits CD — one of many since their 1998 breakup. It’s 2 CDs – one disc of “hits”, one of rarities. This one is billed the Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection, which is a heck of a title to live up to. Coming from the same band who issued a record called Album Of The Year, it’s hardly a surprise.
Much like Album Of The Year, this compilation is leaving me a little underwhelmed. Here’s why:
1. A very brief booklet lacking in information. For example I would have liked to know where each of the rare tracks came from. There’s nothing like that.
2. No songs from the first album We Care A Lot (record label reasons?).
3. A limited selection of additional rarities.
In regards to point #3, there are 10 B-sides/rare tracks in all. As I mentioned in point #1, the booklet doesn’t tell you where they came from, only the year of release. I can tell you that tracks 1-6 on disc 2 are all Album Of The Year B-sides, which is unfortunate, because only two are really any good (“The World Is Yours” and “Hippie Jam Song”). I have no idea where two songs come from: “Sweet Emotion” (actually an early version of “Perfect Crime”) and “New Improved Song” (a pre-Patton version of “The Morning After” with Chuck Mosely on vocals). All I know is that I didn’t own them before. The inclusion of “Das Schutzenfest” puzzles me here, as it’s not really all that rare. It’s from the easy to find Songs To Make Love To EP from 1993, the same album that “Easy” on disc 1 comes from. So why is one considered rare and one not?
Ironically, in this case it’s actually “Easy” that is a true rarity, and for surprising reasons. When I first listened to it, it sounded different, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. Then I realized, the horn section was completely absent. I am guessing this horn-less mix was included by accident (perhaps similar to how Deep Purple’s piano version of “Speed King” was included on a hits CD by accident). It’s not billed as an alternate mix, and parts definitely sound unfinished without the horns. My hunch is that someome grabbed the wrong tape box and nobody noticed.
“We Care A Lot” was re-recorded for Introduce Yourself and is included here.
As far as the actual “hits” disc goes, it’s not the one I would have put together myself. As mentioned, no songs from the first album are included, and the order of the songs is a little strange. Seven songs are included from Angel Dust (which is great) but perhaps one or two could have been chopped to make room for singles such as “Falling To Pieces” or “Anne’s Song”. On the other hand, a song like “Evidence” from King For A Day makes up for it.
I enjoyed that a couple of oddball songs made the first CD. “R’N’R” has always been a great album cut from Introduce Yourself. It was one of the most aggressive, slamming tunes from a great album. I wish there were more. “Caffeine” from Angel Dust is another great non-single included here. It’s absolute balls-to-the-wall insanity put to song.
For my money, I think Who Cares A Lot? Greatest Hits was actually a better compilation. It’s out of print now, but it did include songs from every album, an arguably more challenging tracklist, and some more varied rarities. If you can grab it, that would be my recommendation. If you can’t, get this, but realize there’s a lot more Faith No More out there to get into.
3.5/5 stars
FANBOYS (2009)
Directed by Kyle Newman
For what seemed like years, we waited…and waited…and waited…for what seemed like it could be the funniest movie ever made. Details trickled out. The trailer came long before the movie. And then when the movie itself finally arrived, that terribly familiar thud of disappointment sank in.
There are so many movies that do what Fanboys does, but so much better. Free Enterprise is a good example. Paul is another. It’s unfortunate that with a decent cast and great spoof material, they could not do better. At least the movie studio didn’t excise the cancer storyline as they wanted to, but what disappointed me was that the movie didn’t live up to the hype — cancer or no cancer, it’s weak.
Funny bits: I liked the Rush references, but they were done better in I Love You Man. I liked the Shatner cameo, but I liked it better in Free Enterprise. I liked Billy Dee Williams as “Judge Reinhold”, but come on…that Reinhold joke has been used twice before, on Arrested Development and Clerks: The Animated Series! I liked the Seth Rogen cameo(s), especially as the hapless Star Wars fan who thinks he’ll be the coolest guy ever by getting a full back tattoo of Jar Jar Binks. That was funny! Also cool was Ethan Suplee as Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News).
Your story (such as it is): It is 1998. Linus has terminal cancer. He will not live long enough to see Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which he and his three friends have dreamed about since childhood. The plan: break into Skywalker Ranch, and steal it. Brilliant setup.
This sets into motion your typical road trip movie. Sidetracks into the desert, biker bars, being forced to strip, peyote…I’ve seen this all before: Beavis and Butthead and Detroit Rock City anyone? Take your favourite modern road trip movie and superimpose it over Fanboys. They are the same.
The movie ends with one funny but ominous line: “What if the movie sucks?” And it did, and after waiting this long, Fanboys didn’t fare much better.
2/5 stars
Sam Huntington … Eric
Chris Marquette … Linus
Dan Fogler … Hutch
Jay Baruchel … Windows
Kristen Bell … Zoe
mikeladano.com 