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Post by Teebee on Apr 12, 2007 22:25:22 GMT
I'm gonna try and download and have a listen ...wish me luck ;D Good luck it's worth listening to, thanks all for the links
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Post by PokerKitten on Apr 12, 2007 22:36:28 GMT
[bad fan]I'm not even going to try tonight [/bad fan], but I have read transcripts. So, (Brussells aside) the planned screening is in Beverly Hills at the Fine Arts Theater for a week from June 22nd. And they are hoping to get it shown in New York too. Good luck
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Post by PokerKitten on Apr 18, 2007 12:03:47 GMT
Bendy's SP adventures in Brussells be HERE. She has kindly provided an alternative version as well which is not so spoilery for the movie; you'll see the link when you get there. (Michael & Mark Winnick's Q&A is at the alt link too). I bet he doesn't ;D
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Post by Ditto on Apr 18, 2007 12:47:26 GMT
Bloody hell, somebody stop me clicking the other post...I don't want to be spoiled. I really really want to see this on the big screen. A tiddy telly sized one just won't cut it!
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Post by Pluto7077 on Apr 18, 2007 18:24:03 GMT
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Post by nightnurse on Apr 18, 2007 18:43:13 GMT
I'm kissing P now for buying a big telly ...not 50 feet , but big enough Even if SP doesn't get a cinema release here , we'll def get to see JM on the big screen in PSILY ...thank Gord I have a teen to go watch that with , my street cred will be shot if I have to go watch a chick filick on my own ;D
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Post by PokerKitten on May 5, 2007 10:50:45 GMT
SHADOW PUPPETS will be getting an exclusive one week theatrical engagement June 22nd-28th in Beverly Hills, CA! The movie will be presented digitally and in full surround sound at the historic Fine Arts Theater.
ADVANCE TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE! The "Shadow Puppets" myspace site can link you directly:
www.myspace.com/shadowpuppetsmovie
...or you can go to the theater's website (select the date and time you wish to attend).
Fine Arts Theater 8556 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90211 www.studioscreenings.com
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Post by PokerKitten on May 15, 2007 22:54:49 GMT
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Post by Teebee on May 17, 2007 22:06:22 GMT
*Squeeeeeeeee*
Shadow Puppets DVD available for pre-order
Shadow Puppets is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com. The DVD will officially go on sale July 24, 2007.
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Post by PokerKitten on May 17, 2007 22:08:31 GMT
Is that just Region 1, I wonder? *goes off to look on Amazon UK*
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Post by Teebee on May 17, 2007 22:19:07 GMT
Am I just being thick I can't seem to find it Ooops found it Amazon.com
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Post by nightnurse on May 17, 2007 23:08:23 GMT
I imagine that yes, it will be region 1 PK .. ok if you have a multi region player I'd have to watch it in bed
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Post by Teebee on May 17, 2007 23:11:14 GMT
I'd have to watch it in bed Why or is that too personal ;D ;D
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Post by nightnurse on May 17, 2007 23:18:24 GMT
*snorfle* Because the dvd recorder downstairs isn't multi-regional , and the one in the bedroom is
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Post by DeeDee on May 23, 2007 11:12:21 GMT
Oh decisions decisions shall I order from Amazon.com for region 1 or wait for Amazon.co.uk for region 2 can I wait
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Post by PokerKitten on Jun 6, 2007 14:30:43 GMT
Some more info on the dvd HERE, including cover. I think it looks a bit naff. And why is TT's name not splashed across it? He has a lot of fans and I would have thought that would help sales. Ah well, good to see JM's name riding high...
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Post by PokerKitten on Jun 22, 2007 22:54:48 GMT
Me and My SHADOW PUPPETS
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN
SHADOW PUPPETS stars James Marsters and Tony Todd have a few things in common: diverse careers spanning all genres in film, and stage, being best-known for horror roles—and being unafraid of getting pigeonholed in fright fare. “I understand genre, as opposed to an actor who’s just showing up but doesn’t really respect it,” says Todd, star of the CANDYMAN franchise and the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake, on SHADOW PUPPETS’ set. “Maybe that’s why I get hired.”
“My concern is playing too many British guys, or playing too many guys with extra-human powers,” Marsters says, referring to his seven years as Spike on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL. “The role on SMALLVILLE [as artificial intelligence being Brainiac] was more worrisome for me than SHADOW PUPPETS. If I were to say I can’t do anything that’s science-fiction-oriented or thriller-oriented or monster-oriented, I’m going to cut out about 45 percent of the films that are made these days. So I don’t think [doing them is] such a bad thing,” he laughs.
In SHADOW PUPPETS, written and directed by Michael Winnick, Todd and Marsters play Steve and Jack, mortal men with total amnesia, who find themselves trapped in a strange building with a small group of others (including Jolene Blalock of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE), where they are stalked by a malevolent supernatural force. The film is playing in an exclusive theatrical run June 22-29 at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, CA; there will be a Q&A session with Winnick following the June 22 7 p.m. showing. Starz/Anchor Bay will release SHADOWN PUPPETS on DVD July 24.
“The characters wake up not knowing who they are,” Marsters explains, “not knowing where they are or how they got there, and they’re trying to figure out those questions and to survive. We are instinctually afraid of not knowing things, so I loved the script. This is an interesting role, someone who is afraid and vulnerable and very human. [Because director Winnick] wrote it, he knows what he wants it to be, and that’s all I’m about as an actor: just to find a good script and serve it. I’d like to work with him again. I haven’t had many directors like him. I’ve had apathetic directors who don’t really know or care what’s going on and let me do whatever I want, and I love that; I’ve had directors who know exactly what they want, but I feel like a puppet and I don’t like that, although most of the time, those are the better projects. To have both is a rare combination.”
Todd says that both his manager Jeff Goldberg and his 16-year-old son advised him to do SHADOW PUPPETS. “My son is the final barometer. He liked this [script] particularly,” says the actor, who adds that Winnick turned out to be another plus. “He’s a smart guy. He graduated number one from USC in ’92, which isn’t bad. I met him for the first time at a wardrobe fitting. I was in a snarly mood that morning, kind of like Steve, so [Winnick] loved it. Steve is afraid of showing his fear, but he may be the most afraid of everybody, deep down. It was very important for me that we were on the same page about him. On first look, you think Steve has violent tendencies…”
Production designer Kristen Ridgway chimes in about Todd from the makeup trailer doorway, “He’s a sweetheart, we all love him.”
“Aww,” says Todd, touched. “For a guy who plays such tough guys, that’s pretty good to hear.”
Ridgway isn’t done. “He’s not a tough guy—he’s a teddy bear.”
Todd feigns alarm at this threat to his image. “Don’t tell them that!”
For the scene where we first see Steve, real shackles were employed to attach Todd to the wall. Makeup FX supervisor/prop master Mark “Red Dog” Fenlason, whose friendship with Todd goes back to their days on CANDYMAN, had to apply the restraints, and says he felt uncomfortable chaining the actor up. Todd notes that he understands why. “Any time you’ve got a black man in chains, this is America, it brings back historical connotations. I knew he would let me out, but of course [he was uncomfortable]. Anybody who’s not affected by that, there’s something wrong with their humanity. The image itself is a powerful one.”
Marsters and Todd had never worked together before, though Todd guest-starred on ANGEL a few years before Marsters’ tenure and both have appeared at different times on SMALLVILLE. On SHADOW PUPPETS, Todd reveals, “James and I hit it off right away, because we both are gamers, so we’d pull out our portable PlayStations and there we’d be battling at each other.”
Playing with Todd—both on the PSP and in scenes—has been great, Marsters reports. “Damn, that guy can act. He’s from stage, like I am. He does not want to spoil , he does not want to go rehearse it too much, he wants to keep it on the day, but he just owns his character. It’s frightening, and it’s very, very good to play off of. He’s a totally cool guy, professional, laid-back, but when he turns that shit on [for the camera],” Marsters snaps his fingers for emphasis, “he’s got a real anger, and it’s very scary.”
If Steve is not the single most primal character Todd has ever played, the actor maintains, “He’s right up there. You’re going to like Steve because, for example, we go to a room where there’s a two-way mirror, and they start f**king around about, ‘How are we going to get through the mirror?’ and I just say, ‘Like this,’ and take a gun and shoot it.”
Dealing with the mirror was easier for the fictional Steve than it was for the SHADOW PUPPETScrew, Todd adds. “The first time we shot it, it didn’t shatter. We did this shot of me firing the blank, so that was covered. But then Red Dog shot it and it just blew a hole in it. So they set it up again. The gun misfired before action was called. The third one, half the mirror was still there. I said, ‘Well, I’ll just kick it out.’ They [padded] my leg. But then the producers were concerned about a shard of glass dropping down on me. I wasn’t worried about it, but we had to make an adjustment in the script where I picked up a nightstand that had already been established as being bolted down. So with my adrenaline fully pumped, I ripped the nightstand out and threw it through the glass. And even then it didn’t break completely, but it broke enough.”
The actors handled much of their own fighting work in SHADOW PUPPETS. “There’s not a lot of pads you can use when you’re only wearing underwear,” Marsters laughs. “The stunt choreographer is able to keep it safe, but it’s fighting on concrete and I’m just going to have to live with that.” In this area, he praises co-star Blalock: “She’s a trouper. She doesn’t care if she’s bleeding. I’ll be trying to hammer away at a lock and I’ll start bleeding, so she’s like, ‘Wait! Wait!’ and I’m like, ‘No, no, let’s keep going.’ We’re exactly alike. She’ll only try to hold the [camera] roll if I’m hurt, and I’ll only try to hold the roll if she’s hurt.”
“Because we like each other, it’s all very cool,” Todd concludes. “I enjoy working with people I like and respect. Most sets that you’re on, everybody’s going to say they like what they’re doing. But here it’s going good.” Fangoria
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Post by Cyrus on Jul 5, 2007 7:01:16 GMT
bendy1 has posted caps of the first part of the move at marsters_dailyJAMES IN UNDIES! ;D
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Post by PokerKitten on Jul 9, 2007 12:51:38 GMT
Oh deary me. Brace yourselves for a very ouchy review at Shocktillyoudrop. At least he says:
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Post by PokerKitten on Jul 18, 2007 21:12:12 GMT
SHADOW PUPPETS (Starz/Anchor Bay) Reviewed by JENNIFER MORROW
JJennifer sez…
Reviewing a movie like SHADOW PUPPETS is never fun. with Hollywood churning out its recent lineup of repetitive, wannabe “torture porn” (CAPTIVITY, anyone?), it’s hard not to be impressed by a spirited indie film which tries to go for chills instead of gross-outs, and casts veterans like BUFFY’s James Marsters, ENTERPRISE’s Jolene Blalock and CANDYMAN’s Tony Todd instead of the customary slate of giggly blondes plucked from the local LA high schools. And even though this is the sort of movie where the cast and crew are all bound to invoke the dreaded “psychological thriller” label off-camera, it’s also got a commentary track where writer/director Michael Winnick and cinematographer Jonathan Hale happily gush over FANGORIA’s on-set presence and “continued support” for their little labor of love.
Mutual compliments aside, though, there’s no getting around the fact that the resulting film itself is...well, it’s just not that good. Not for lack of trying—judging from the way the actors move around the set with hushed, wide-eyed awe, treating their pithy dialogue (“It’s cold out there.” “Someone’s coming.”) with all the dramatic enunciation of William Shatner, it’s clear that everyone involved was apparently under the impression that this was a Very Intellectual Project.
What we actually get, however, is a depressingly familiar plot about eight strangers who wake up in a creepy insane asylum with no idea who they are, how to escape or how to avoid falling prey to the evil force that’s pursuing them through the building’s twisted corridors. The concept has been used before in CUBE, SAW 2 and about a dozen other movies, and Winnick never manages to find a way to improve upon it here. In addition, the clues used to build up the big “mystery” of the film are utterly ridiculous—for instance, we’re supposed to realize that Blalock’s character was a doctor in her past life because she’s able to cut a strip of cloth off of a lab coat and bind a wound as if she has done it before.
Then there’s the shadow creature, an embarrassing CGI monstrosity that emerges from the darkness every so often to pick off one of the characters in a relatively tame fashion. The monster comes equipped with a goofy face, all pixels and big blue eyes, out of which we occasionally get to survey the surroundings as if through aqua-tinted night vision goggles. It’s rather reminiscent of the EVIL DEAD movies’ demon camera, although the same effect was done far more convincingly back in 1983 than in 2007. The side trappings are just as unsatisfying: a few artful zigzags of red across an office wall, smoky tendrils poking people in the back and those blasted shots where nothing happens for a really long time until somebody suddenly pops up into the frame and goes “aah.” It’s a cheap move anywhere, but really cheap when it’s substituting for true scares.
SHADOW PUPPETS could have still been saved with the help of a first-rate presentation—after all, it’s amazing how much support proper atmosphere can provide to a floundering fright flick. No such luck here. The anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer offers absolutely no help with concealing hokey special FX and subpar lighting (if you’re going to center your big climax around a power shutdown, it helps if the viewer honestly feels like it’s nearly pitch-black in there) Meanwhile, the Dolby Surround 5.1 soundtrack isn’t nearly as sharp as it could have been, and the Dolby Surround 2.0 track is downright flat and unbalanced.
Further troubles arise upon surveying the special features of the SHADOW PUPPETS DVD, when it becomes evident that the two minidocus listed on the back of the box—SHADOW PUPPETS: Director and Cast Comments and Behind the Scenes: The Making of SHADOW PUPPETS— are one and the same. Either that, or the latter is just missing altogether. In any case, what remains is pure fluff, full of inane quotes from the actors (Blalock calls her blank of a character “someone that I could aspire to be” because of her “characteristics and attributes that I only desire to accentuate in my own life”) and from the director (Winnick reads a bit too much into his professional relationship with Marsters, raving, “We hit it off from day one. I mean, we think the same...we’re almost in, like, shorthand talk!”).
Despite the aforementioned Fango love, the Winnick/Hale commentary is generally pedestrian, aside from a genuinely interesting factoid about how a certain door used in the asylum was a relic from the production of ALIEN, and anecdotal accounts of how Todd managed to create an air of menace on the set just by being his own towering, reliable self. Unfortunately, those two revelations only continue to work against SHADOW PUPPETS' favor—as it turns out, even the film’s few redeeming qualities were yoinked from worthier sources. Fangoria
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