Fanboys (2008)

Before I start getting my post-Wizard World Philly post together (here's a preview, Skeletor karaoke) together I just wanted to say a few words on Fanboys, which Em and I just finished watching. Maybe it's because I just experienced fanboy-ness to the extreme this weekend and my inner fanboy was all over the place, but I REALLY liked this movie.

The story's about four (eventually five) lifelong Star Wars fans in 1999 who are anxiously waiting for Episode I to hit theaters, but the problem is that one of the guys has cancer and they don't think he'll last the six months until the premiere. So, they go on a road trip to break into Skywalker Ranch to watch a rough cut of the movie before it opens. Of course there are plenty of hijinks along the way and TONS of guest appearances and geek injokes. There was a lot of trouble getting this movie into theaters because the powers that be weren't sure whether they wanted to keep the cancer plot in the movie. Well, I was excited about this flick since I first heard about it and can't imagine how bad it would be without that element behind the plot. It really is the heart of the movie and I'll be honest, the end got to me. Even more so than Darth killing the Emperor. Now, you know that's serious.

I was worried that I wouldn't like the movie because the guys on the Totally Rad Show didn't like it very much. Our tastes don't match up perfectly, but I do respect their opinions and ours match up a good deal of the time. I think the wait hurt the movie and it really is kind of a big injoke, so I can see why your big audiences wouldn't have wanted to check it out. Em's seen all the Star Wars movies, but she's nowhere near the geek I am, so she didn't necessarily pick up on all the things I did, but she still dug it. If you haven't seen Star Wars, it's probably not the best flick for you. It's kind of like how you might be able to enjoy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, unless you've seen all of Kevin Smith's movies a bunch of time. By the way, Kevin Smith makes a cameo I didn't know about that had my laughing like crazy. But, in the end, I really liked it and recommend it to all my Star Wars brethren. Plus, it makes fun of Trekkies, so that's cool.