This page is dedicated to bringing you the latest in movie news hosted by the best character on SCTV (in this fan's opinion), played by the excellent Joe Flaherty.
AAAaaawwoooo! I bid you....welcome to Castle Floyd which sits high atop the crags overlooking Mellonville. When in Mellonville please visit one of our fine sponsors like Woody Tobias Jr.'s "I've Got A Hunch Medical Supply Shoppe". Speaking of Castle Floyd, the Count and Countess were honored to have Queen Cathie, the ultimate webmistress of The Center For The Easily Amused, drop by for a royal visit. She was accompanied by the multi-talented Prince Steve Callaway of "Cathablanca" and "An Evening With The Living Dead" fame. We were also thrilled to have The Duke and Duchess of Victorville, Steve Taylor and the lovely Roberta, grace us with their presence. Steve Taylor is the webmaster of the Hardjargon website, home to my good friend Justin Sane and his Museum of the Weird. It was a thrill to have the castle filled with such royalty. It was nice to see The Queen after all this time writing to her on the internet. Oooh, she wasn't scary at all. We sat around and chatted up a storm while groovy videos played in the background. After dinner we all gathered ourselves up and went to the local theater called The Odious to see "Blues Brothers 2000" which had just opened several days previously.
The film takes place 18 years after the original events took place. This time we see Elwood Blues, played by Dan Aykroyd, being released from prison only to wait outside for his brother Jake to pick him up. He is then informed that Jake passed away but the audience is not informed of the circumstances of his passing. As much as I enjoyed the original film I have to say it is pretty much the same this time around but the story is lacking substance. Elwood gets a gig being the emcee at a strip club that is being harassed by the Russian mafia no less. Elwood recruits the bartender at the club, played by John Goodman, to help him deal with the Russian mobsters with the promise that he could sing on the stage. Elwood agrees and the new Blues Brothers are born. They then travel from town to town to gather up the old band all the while being chased by the Russians, the state police and some white supremacist group.
I have to say that out of the whole group Dan Aykroyd has changed the least. He still looks cool with his black suit and shades and he looks like he trimmed down for the part. There is a cool pile-up of police cars. It looks like they thrashed 50 cars for this stunt. The only reason to go see this film is the music. You have Aretha Franklin, James Brown and the Louisiana Gator Boys who are comprised of B.B. King, Junior Wells, Groover Washington Jr., Bo Diddly, Dr. John and Lou Rawls, to name just a few. They go head to head with the Blues Brothers Band in a battle of the bands competition. The choreography is excellent especially when the voodoo queen turns the Blues Brothers into zombies for a Carribean number in a seeming tribute of "Thriller". The back-up dancers in this scene are top notch. If you like music then I'd say it's worth the price of admission but do see it in a theater with an excellent sound system even if you have to go that extra mile to do so. Get off on the music and don't expect much from the story line . And now it's time for some movie news.
While we're on the subject of music in films, I'd like to recommend you rent "That Thing You Do!" starring Tom Everett, Liv Tyler and Tom Hanks. The film deals with a band who call themselves The Oneders (pronounced Wonders) who end up changing their name to The Wonders after getting tired of being introduced as The O-Needers. The story deals with The Wonders rise to fame with their hit song "That Thing You Do!". Their first agent gets them into gigs at local restaurants as they hone their skills. They eventually meet Tom Hanks who signs them to PlayTone Records and takes them on a whirlwind tour of state fairs and Rock-N-Roll shows. Of course not all is peaches and herb because of the artistic tension that comes with success. Liv Tyler plays Fay, who is the girlfriend of the bandleader, while Tom Everett plays Guy, the drummer who sees how Fay is mistreated by her boyfriend. Tension builds to a point where .... perhaps you should see for yourself. There are no car chases or shoot-outs but the story line is nice and solid and the music is good. "That Thing You Do!" was written and directed by Tom Hanks who has been bringing a certain level of quality to his films over the last several years. Enjoy it with a friend.
Congratulations go to Kevin J. who becomes the new Triviameister of Mellonville for being the first person to answer the trivia question correctly. The question was "What organization did Derek Flint work for?". The answer is Z.O.W.I.E. The bad guys worked for GALAXY. An honorary bite on the neck goes to the following people who also answered the trivia question correctly: Irene P., Dennis H., Glen B., Dan S., Charles D., Stephen L., Lee F. and Jack C.
The new Triviameister of Mellonvile (who by the way asked some very difficult trivia and trounced yours truly because I could only answer 1 out of the 4 he submitted) asks the following: "Who was the narrator to the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie?". As I told Kevin J. I picked this question because I had the honor to meet Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface in the original film. If you are the first person to answer the trivia question correctly you will become the New Triviameister of Mellonville and you will have the option to ask the next trivia question. To answer the trivia question please click here, and good luck.
The survey question was: "Who would you like to see rescue you from a deserted island?". The survey SAYS:
Count Floyd will return in issue #11 titled "The Man With The Moldy Gums" due out on 3-21-98 or so.
