When @shitmydadsays “premiered” on the Twitters, it was funny. A mere month later, when its mastermind Justin Halpern scored a book deal, it was business as usual. Now, with a recently inked deal with CBS, it’s a sitcom. You know, those shows only a few people make and even fewer people watch.
I have zero interest in deep discussion about Internet “stars” being co-opted by the entertainment machine. I think it’s great that it happens. It’s proof that the Internet succeeds in democratizing entertainment, and it shows that the bigwigs are scared and desperate — especially in the case of @shitmydadsays.
Because really, what is there to adapt? Does anyone in Hollywood need to purchase rights or hire Halpern to executive produce a TV show about an old man who says funny things? Cantankerous dads are a dime a dozen in the history of sitcoms, so the only new spin would be one who quips at 140 characters or less.
Unless CBS develops it as a story about a late-twentysomething who moves back in with his parents and every week learns an important lesson about life. Wouldn’t that be nice?
For now, what CBS has purchased, more than Halpern’s talent, is a name that equals built-in publicity and a “brand” to take home to nervous stockholders.
A cult favorite that influenced the likes of Kurt Cobain, Richard Linklater and (I suspect) everyone involved in Freaks and Geeks, Over the Edge (1979) balances its ripped-from-the-headlines teen exploitation with healthy doses of humanism that only 1970s Hollywood could dish out: on-the-nose monologues defending aimless teens; earnest, fleeting glances that tear through plastic Movieland moments; and a bleak denouement that literally ends with a smile. In short, it’s complex like a Sam Fuller yarn.
But Fuller’s low budget genius is at work, too. The movie’s planned community of New Granada (based on the Foster City of a San Francisco Examiner article) is claustrophobic despite its big-sky, Colorado environs. It’s the kind of town that’s bound by a few roads, a middle school, and a controversial rec center. It seems home to only a handful of residents — until the final act’s violent set piece — and these kinds of limits only enhance the story’s portrayal of the dark side of the suburban dream.
It seems like every ethnic group, sub-group, and subset needs to have its WWII movie, and the only problem there is that some groups get lost in the mix. The WWII movies for Japanese Americans are based on the 442 Regimental Combat Team, and their story is too phenomenal to be missed. Made almost entirely of Japanese American soldiers, the 442nd is the most-highly decorated unit of the US military EVER. While their families back in the States were imprisoned in internment camps, these Nisei were spearheading the campaign through Italy. And in case it didn’t occur to you, you don’t get highly-decorate shit without losing a lot of lives.
A few of the survivng soldiers starred in the 1951 film about the 442nd, Go For Broke! ; (a film whose main character was a white officer). For you kids who get a headache from black and white movies, Only the Brave enters a wider DVD release this week. (It’s been available through the film’s website for about 2 years now.) Depicting the famous rescue of the Lost Battalion, Only the Brave stars Jason Scott Lee and Mark Dacascos – and Pat Morita, who played a veteran of the 442nd in The Karate Kid.
Koji Wakamatsu has been on our radar for some time, but we haven’t yet taken the time to explore his sensational stabs at cinema. So it’s a good thing that L.A.’s own Cinefamily is dedicating some screenings to him, including this weekend’s double feature of Shinjuku Mad and Ecstasy of the Angels. Cinefamily’s website indicates that they’ll be screening off DigiBeta sources, but still, as we’ve pointed out before, a cinematic experience is a cinematic experience.
This might be your kind of thing, but LEGS‘ short “I Wanna Be Your Dog” pretty succinctly illustrates why I stopped working as a talent agent’s assistant.
One wonders what Laura Mulvey would make of the masochistic exhibitionism that these actresses “portray”; however, if you’re familiar with Iggy Pop, the context of the film parallels his outrageous live perfomances, confirming the role of the cinema audience (and the viewer) as that of sadistic voyeur.
For my take on the mechanics of viewing (shameless plug!), see here.
A brilliantly realized zombie primer by Matt Zoller Seitz that astutely included George Romero’s The Crazies as a bridge to 28 Days Later and what he dubs “zombie-by-proxy” stories.
Tony Nigro
swannmercury
