Fancy Boys Club

Paddington In Peru: The Trailer Breakdown

June 16, 2024June 16, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Last week, we were lucky enough to get the trailer for Paddington In Peru, the third film in the PCU (Paddington Cinematic Universe). With a November 24th UK release date (January 7th for us unlucky souls in the United States), there hasn’t been a more anticipated movie ever. That is not hyperbole.

Paddington 2 is the third best sequel of all time, only behind The Godfather Part 2 and The Empire Strikes Back. As mentioned on this site, P2 usurped Citizen Kane to become the film with the highest-ever Rotten Tomatoes score of all time. With the first Paddington film, Paul King gave us an amazing and beautiful (plus very funny) story and the second film blows the first one away. To call Paddington 2 a great film would be an insult… it’s a goddamn fucking masterpiece.

Continue reading →

Uncategorized

Joey Chestnut Is An American Hero, DAMNIT

June 12, 2024by Brandon AndreasenLeave a Comment

Travesty is a word. It’s somehow both a perfect word for this situation while simultaneously not feeling strong enough.

A better word is WHATINTHEUNHOLYHELLARETHEYTHINKING. Yes. One word. Screamed from the top of Mt. Rushmore while riding a Buffalo as a Bruce Springsteen song echoes through the Grand Canyon.

Joey Chestnut is the greatest hot dog eater of all time. 16 team world champion. 76 Hot Dogs in 2021. During Covid! Chestnut is to hot dog eating as Michael Jordan was to basketball, Taylor Swift is to mediocre music, and Elon Musk will always be at ruining things people like. But all of that is gone.

The Major League Eating association, a clown car of an organization that is ostensibly the driving force behind being a big ol’ fat boy competitively, has decided that AMERICAN HERO JOEY CHESTNUT is not allowed to compete in the Independence Day tradition of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship.

Continue reading →

Music/Movies, Pop Culture

A true actor’s director: A review of Hit Man plus a ranking of Richard Linklater

June 9, 2024June 9, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Of the indie directors to come out of the 1990’s, Richard Linklater might be the hardest to attach a label to. He doesn’t have Steven Soderbergh’s visual style or Quentin Tarantino’s inventive storytelling skills or even Kevin Smith’s ability to write a great scene. But, if there was any director from this class I think I would like working with if I was an actor, it would be Linklater. Because the man is a true and selfless collaborator.

In his great movies, of which there are many, the Texas filmmaker works hand in hand with his onscreen talent to create the best possible product. In many of Linklater’s films, the actor has a screenwriting credit, which shows you exactly how much he wants the input of his talent. And then there is Boyhood, in which he worked with his three principal actors over the course of a dozen years to truly show the experience of growing up.

Continue reading →

Music/Movies, Uncategorized

The Drake/Kendrick Lamar Feud- UPDATE- Drake may be the dumbest person alive…

May 6, 2024by Matt Drufke1 Comment

Last night, after a full day of watching people respond to Kendrick Lamar’s allegations that he was a pedophile running a child trafficking ring out of his mansion, Aubrey Graham (better known to the world as Drake) finally responded. Look, I’ve never been in a feud with Kendrick Lamar. And I’ve never been accused of, by all accounts, the worst crime a person can be accused of. So I’m not going to pretend I have any idea what was running through Graham’s head as I sure he was doom-scrolling social media reading about himself.

His response came in the track “The Heart Part 6”, a reference to a series of songs Lamar has released. And as far as responses go…

It’s really stupid.

Continue reading →

Comedy, NFL, Sports, television

Between The (Cringy) Gutter and the Stars: An Instant Reaction to the Tom Brady Roast

May 6, 2024by Brandon AndreasenLeave a Comment

Years ago, on a tribute to late comedian Greg Giraldo, Bob Saget spoke on how he felt when Giraldo was eviscerating him on stage. He talked about how he slunk into his chair, his shoulders sagging as Giraldo kept lobbing grenades over and over at him. I thought of Saget talking about this as I watched the life leave Tom Brady’s body during his Netflix roast on Sunday night.

Watching all the way through, you genuinely get the idea Brady thought the entire show was going to be him bro’ing it up with his football friends. He wasn’t ready for Jeff Ross to go after Robert Kraft and his massage parlor antics, which, judging by the rest of the sets, was on a very strict “DON’T TALK ABOUT THIS THING” list. He wasn’t ready for Nikki Glaser to pick up the crown that Giraldo left when he died as “best roast comic alive.” Lord knows he wasn’t ready for Tony Hinchcliffe.

Continue reading →

Music/Movies, Uncategorized

Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake: A (not-so) brief breakdown of music’s biggest story

May 5, 2024May 5, 2024by Matt Drufke1 Comment

Unless you don’t care about popular music at all, you have certainly heard about the feud going on between rap stars Drake and Kendrick Lamar. When the new Taylor Swift album dropped last week, I didn’t think anything would be strong enough to knock the spotlight off of The Tortured Poets Department, but I was wrong and wrong in a big way. For the time being, there is no Tortured Poets, there are two poets out there trying to aggressively torture each other.

But, exactly what is going on?

Continue reading →

Music/Movies, The Swiftening

The Swiftening, Part 11: The Tortured Poets Department- The Uncomfortable Writers Depot

April 23, 2024by The Fancy Boys2 Comments

Before December of 2020, Jordan Holmes (comedian, author, podcaster) had never, intentionally, listened to a Taylor Swift song. Then began The Swiftening, where Jordan decided to review every Swift album in order. So far, he has covered Swift’s 2006 debut, 2008’s Fearless, 2010’s Speak Now, and 2012 ‘s Red, 2014’s 1989, 2017’s reputation, 2019’s Lover, and 2020’s folklore and evermore, which we encourage you to check out if you haven’t already.

Back again, as we all knew I would be, the allure of hating cannot be denied. I rarely finish what I begin, and I doubt I will follow her career, alleging talentless desperation after every release, but today, today is… today and I hate.

Continue reading →

Music/Movies, Pop Culture

A Woman In-Between Eras: Examining The Tortured Poets Department

April 22, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

To open The Tortured Poets Department, her twelfth album (and fourth in five years), Taylor Swift gives us “Fortnight”. Swift and longtime producer Jack Antonoff give us a song that sonically feels in place with the catalog of Lana Del Rey (unsurprising, considering Antonoff also produces some of her music) as the thirty-four year old singer gives us the story of a woman dealing with a relationship gone way too wrong and delving into alcohol and thoughts of violence to her man’s new wife. “I loved you, it’s ruining my life,” Swift sings in a track that feels like something her and Antonoff could do in their sleep. It’s a good track, and Swiftboats (my term for Swift fans, many of whom have long since forgotten about John Kerry) will love it because it’s the kind of song they’ve heard and loved and sung along to before. It’s a very solid Taylor Swift song.

And that’s why it’s a little underwhelming.

Continue reading →

Comedy

A decade of Seeing You Next Tuesday…

April 16, 2024by Matt DrufkeLeave a Comment

Open mics are weird things. As I mentioned in a piece I wrote earlier this year, you are given the chance to get onstage and talk into a microphone and the only thing you have to be able to do is show up and write your name down. On that night, a person going up for the first time is on even playing field with an experienced veteran. All that matters are the jokes.

There are some open mics that are basically booking auditions. Usually held by comedy clubs, these mics are not about working on new material, but they’re about trying to get paid work. Those mics serve a purpose (comedians should learn how to professionally try out for spots) and they are important, and because of that, they’re usually very well attended.

But See You Next Tuesday, a mic celebrating its tenth anniversary of being in the bottom level of Plainfield bar MoeJoes, is not an audition mic. It’s something much, much more special than that.

Continue reading →

NFL, Sports

A Chicago Bears Choose Your Own Adventure

March 15, 2024March 14, 2024by Brandon AndreasenLeave a Comment

It’s impressive sometimes how quickly you can go from “what are you doing?” to “what, you are doing it!” The Chicago Bears stepped into free agency with the third most available cap space in the NFL, and up until 9:30 PM on Thursday, the results were….underwhelming? Just okay? Good for depth? For the most part, the signings up this point have been moves a team that believes it is close to a championship make. Depth moves in the middle to bottom of the roster. Building strong special teams. Overpaying for a running back they didn’t need.

Generally, those are moves that teams make when they know they are close to a championship level and are safeguarding themselves up and down the roster against injury. Then the Bears traded for future Wide Receiver Keenan Allen. The Los Angeles Chargers came to Allen asking him to take a pay cut. He is due to make 18 million with a cap hit of 23 million in 2024, the final season of his contract. Allen said no. The Chargers proceeded to jettison him to the Bears for nothing more than a 4th round pick.

Continue reading →