It's sooo damn pretty! And that video...Oh man! I'm interested to know what equipment & software iJim used.

So, all the time stamping we did over the summer, that will be put to use eventually, yes? Just checking.

BTW, I'm a big fan of how the box art for the episode is used as a blurred, sort of bokeh backdrop!

Speaking of Robert Rodriguez, his second film, Roadracers is presently streaming on Netflix Instant.

From Wikipedia: Roadracers is a 1994 made-for-television film directed by Robert Rodriguez, his second feature film following the success of his 1992 debut, El Mariachi. The film originally aired on Showtime Network as part of their Rebel Highway series that took the titles of 1950s-era B-movies and applied them to original films starring up-and-coming actors of the 1990s (including the likes of Alicia Silverstone and Shannen Doherty) and directed by established directors such as William Friedkin, Joe Dante, and Ralph Bakshi. Rodriguez was the only young director to participate in the series. The series was produced by the son and daughter of Samuel Z. Arkoff, the co-founder and producer of American International Pictures (AIP), the distributor of the films this series takes its titles from.
Robert Rodriguez's take concerned a rebel named Dude Delaney (David Arquette) who dreams of leaving his dead end small town and becoming a rockabilly star but gets caught up in a nasty feud with the town's local sheriff (William Sadler) and his son (Jason Wiles). Salma Hayek plays Dude's girlfriend, Donna.

Me again. If you've never seen it, it's worth at least one watch. It has yet to be released on DVD in the US. There's an Australian release you can purchase on Amazon. Those of you frustrated by Rodriguez's over-indulgence of CGI and bombastic action will be pleased to know this film contains neither. Due to its $1,000,000 budget and cable TV resources, it's refreshingly restrained.

Andy Grifith

1. Waitress, Nathan Fillion

Super, Kevin Bacon

Or...

Andy Grifith

1. Spy Hard, Barry Bostwick

2010: Moby Dick, Trey Stokes

Next...Bill Pullman

What Teague said.

I would also like to add: Yeeeeaaaahhhh!

What's on the slate this weekend, DiF? Depending on what it is, I think I'd like to trope again, if that's cool.

I hate you, FixedR6... Hard.

I agree with Teague. I think the length is just fine. What's most impressive to me is the sound mix/design. You did an excellent job pulling various lines from films and laying them on top of and along side one another. I think the line from The Shining was especially apt/funny.

P.S. Can I come live with you?

That begs the question, WOULD it be official? I mean, there are currently FOUR screen representations of The Joker. Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill and Heath Ledger. They all have their own distinct voices, and they've all made their marks on the character.

Based on the popular line of action figures, it's The Sandals of Empire!

Rory Davenlee (Joel Courtney) is an introverted teen dying of soul cancer. He's secretly in love with his Step-Cousin, Jenna Vossten (Emma Stone), but his remaining days are numbered. One day, Rory's single Dad, Tom (Ryan Reynolds) is at work as the local Dog Catcher and finds a friendly, overweight Welsh Corgi named Empire, abandoned in an empty community pool. The dog was born without legs.

Tom brings the dog home to his son. Boy and dog form an immediate friendship. With the help of their eccentric neighbor, Dr. Rex McPkAnk (John Hurt), the Davenlees invent two pair of electric sandals and mobilize the happy dog. This reignites Rory's willpower to live. He beats his cancer and helps Empire win Best In Show at the National Dog Show!

Next Up: The Umpteenth Watermelon.

Totally...and then proceeds to overdo it, long after it was a good idea.

So, bringing it back on track...And please hear me out on this one: House Arrest (released summer of '96, but made more than a year before then).

House Arrest is about a family (headlined by Kevin Pollak and Jamie Lee Curtis) who are out of love with each other. They announce to their kids that separation is eminent. Their son can't accept it, and decides to lock his parents in the basement of their home and keep them there until they work things out.

A few of the kids in his class at school catch wind of this plan and decide to do the same to their own parents, but they bring their folks to the hero's basement (so as to keep things localized and together). As the groups of parents fight it out (including Jennifer Tilly, who is being punished for dressing like and acting like her daughter, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, in order to not grow up and be her "best friend"), the groups of kids attempt to "play house", all with disastrous and mostly slapstick results.

By the end, Pollak and Curtis rediscover that spark, another couple get divorced but decide to become working partners and Tilly learns to grow up and be a parent (only not so much, but I'll get into that in a moment).

The problem with the movie, I feel, is not all of the ideas are executed to their fullest potential and the rest are played more for wacky, shallow, child-friendly comedy. For example, Wallace Shawn gets stuck in a window like Winnie the Pooh, Jamie Lee Curtis encounters rats, falls down a laundry chute and splits her pants, Ray Walston gets strung upside down from a tree and the kids make some horrible, junk-based dinner to feed their parents.

I feel to remake it into a "good" film (and some of these elements ARE there, which is why I kind of enjoy the film in its current state), it would be better to age the kids to adolescence (15 to 17), strip down the cast of characters on both sides, like putting some characters' arcs and issues into another. For instance, Make Tilly's character not just a big kid who is too sisterly to her daughter, but ALSO be the one to gain her husband's respect by becoming his equal partner in work, even though they still get divorced. It would also help to juxtapose the adults' arguments with the kids (now teens) upstairs, attempting to play house and be something of a functioning, domestic unit and discovering just how hard it can be, thus allowing them to relate to and sympathize with their respective parents. Finally, overhaul the tone and sense of humor to something much more smart and serious. Instead of a loud, obnoxious, half-hearted kids film, turn it into a charming, poignant family film.

If John Hughes were still with us, I'd throw his name in an instant to re-write and direct (but less Home Alone and more The Breakfast Club).