Jamie Costa: Extreme Good Impression

Last week was an interesting one. I've never heard of Jamie Costa. He's a comedian and does a lot of things. But what he did blew up in such a huge way that people were very impressed. He put on his YouTube channel a five minute clip of doing the late Robin Williams. The scene is set on March 5, 1982, on the Paramount set. As gets ready for his show, Mork and Mindy, co-star Pam Dawber gets his attention to tell him that John Belushi passed away. After hearing that, Williams has a had time thinking it didn't happen and isn't in the full energetic mode.

I think what I got out of it is that Costa's voice is near identical to Williams. That's how impressive it is. Scary impressive as if he was that young 30 year old (Costa actually is around 30 or 31) trying to take the world by storm and have these raw emotions and disbelief. No music is used. The actress playing Dawber did a good job as well. It's wowing enough to be a viral hit and many want to see a biopic of Williams. I think it'd be nice to see, but I think a documentary would work better. And I would also mention that there's probably some dark stuff in his life that I'm not sure many know about.

Stories have been said on that day in 82 that Belushi, Williams, and even Robert De Nero had cocaine together the night Belushi died. I wouldn't be surprised if the death gave Williams reason to get clean and stay clean for roughly 20 years or so. People have also been sending the clip to his daughter, Zelda. Obviously, she does not want to see it. I don't blame her. A lot don't realize the amount of depression he had and I can't imagine she would want to see someone doing a depressed version of her father finding out another comedian like him died. The fact that even the LA Times brought this up and many news websites that aren't geek centered speaks dividends.

I think there's a place and time to do a Robin Williams biopic. I'm not sure this is the best time and I'm not sure also on whether the stuff in his life is worth putting on the big screen. I believe a documentary about comedians that have suffered a lot would be better suited. Whatever the case, the impression from Costa was really good. Give it at least one watch. But do understand the real Robin Williams before clamoring for a biopic.

Aladdin Remake Outrage

Nostalgia is a two way street. Some might be excited for a fresh experience. Others will swear by the original of a TV show, film, or video game. Anything, really. The live action Aladdin that comes out next year got its first photos shown and the reaction was less than thrilling.

There are few complaints here and there for some, but the biggest I'm looking at is over the Genie. Obviously, it's one of the most iconic characters in Disney's run of adaptations and it's animated 1992 feature was done by the late Robin Williams. His performance was legendary and paved the way studios looked at animated films with celebrities. Will Smith plays the live action version and the complaints are so stupid. I think people are getting very high hopes up and then being disappointed. Very disappointed.

I'm not expecting this adaptation to be identical scene for scene like the animated one. Nostalgia is very powerful here and the comparisons to Williams will be there for Smith. He's not really a comedy guy despite how well loved The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is to this day. Most of his stuff since 1996 has been action and dramas. We are too quick to judge on these first photos, which show Smith without any blue on his body. It doesn't come out until the end of May and the fact that he had to assure people that it will be a blue character shows the amount of impatience over how the character is.

Until a full trailer trailer comes out and the film is properly edited, this is a pure overreaction. The animated Aladdin is my favorite classic Disney animated film, but I'm not going in expecting this to be similar as I said earlier. Let's wait and see. It's just a movie character. Not a big deal unless they royally screwed it up.