Chicago – The most noteworthy feature of the puppet-noir comedy “The Happytime Murders” is its use of felt and fluff for nefarious ends, and while that’s not exactly new, there’s no reason it shouldn’t work. But the movie shoots its wad early, and doesn’t have much imagination after that beyond turning silly string into a bodily fluid.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
So once you’ve seen the puppets drinking, smoking, watching porn, doing drugs and having violent puppet sex, there’s not much else left. In a parallel world occupied by humans and puppets, the story centers on a former puppet police detective turned private dick named Phil (voiced by puppeteer Bill Baretta), who is investigating the murders of the cast members of a hit puppet TV show called “The Happytime Gang” … and his brother is one of the dead cast members. To solve the case, he’s forced to...
Rating: 2.0/5.0
So once you’ve seen the puppets drinking, smoking, watching porn, doing drugs and having violent puppet sex, there’s not much else left. In a parallel world occupied by humans and puppets, the story centers on a former puppet police detective turned private dick named Phil (voiced by puppeteer Bill Baretta), who is investigating the murders of the cast members of a hit puppet TV show called “The Happytime Gang” … and his brother is one of the dead cast members. To solve the case, he’s forced to...
- 8/24/2018
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The best part of The Happytime Murders are its credits – and that’s never a good thing. These final minutes are a blooper reel that showcases exactly how complicated it was to make some of the film’s simple gags look simple. Who thought it would be such an intricate process for puppets to have sex? But then again, who would ever think about puppets having sex?
After watching The Happytime Murders, it seems like these thoughts are far more common and far more intriguing to some folks than I ever would have imagined. Technically, director Brian Henson and his team are without fault. In their world, puppets and humans convincingly walk the same streets, but by the time purple puppet anatomy becomes the key to solving the big mystery, I was beyond repulsion. This mystery is brought to you by the letter P, and it’s made very clear...
After watching The Happytime Murders, it seems like these thoughts are far more common and far more intriguing to some folks than I ever would have imagined. Technically, director Brian Henson and his team are without fault. In their world, puppets and humans convincingly walk the same streets, but by the time purple puppet anatomy becomes the key to solving the big mystery, I was beyond repulsion. This mystery is brought to you by the letter P, and it’s made very clear...
- 8/23/2018
- by Luke Parker
- We Got This Covered
“Avenue Q.” “Meet the Feebles.” “Ted.” “Ted 2.” “Greg the Bunny.” “Wonder Showzen.” Hell, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” If each and every one of these titles is completely unfamiliar to you, and you are eager to start studying for your driver’s test, you may well go googly-eyed at “The Happytime Murders,” with its nonstop depictions of innocent-looking yet depraved puppets swearing, smoking, screwing, and exploding into geysers of fluff. For the rest of us, this adolescent YouTube sketch laboriously stretched to 90 minutes is notable only for its provenance – directed by longtime puppetmaster and Jim Henson scion Brian Henson – and its litany of missed opportunities, and it should soon be movin’ right along out of multiplexes.
Much like last year’s similarly misguided “Bright,” “The Happytime Murders” takes place in a Los Angeles where humans coexist uneasily with an oppressed and despised fictional minority group; in this case, Muppet-like puppets.
Much like last year’s similarly misguided “Bright,” “The Happytime Murders” takes place in a Los Angeles where humans coexist uneasily with an oppressed and despised fictional minority group; in this case, Muppet-like puppets.
- 8/22/2018
- by Andrew Barker
- Variety Film + TV
There’s a funny idea at the heart of “The Happytime Murders,” a satire of hard-boiled L.A. noir in which most of the hard-luck, low-life characters happen to be puppets. But a movie is supposed to have many ideas, and the one-joke nature of this adults-only spoof wears out the film’s welcome, even if director Brian Henson and his talented crew never let us see the strings.
It’s a concept not unlike the recent Netflix dud “Bright,” which presented a Los Angeles inhabited by orcs (including the city’s first orc cop) and fairies as a way to make ham-fisted statements about race. Here we get private eye Phil Phillips (voiced by Muppet vet Bill Barretta), who had been the Lapd’s first puppet officer, only to get kicked off the force for not shooting a fellow puppet who was holding his partner Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) hostage.
It’s a concept not unlike the recent Netflix dud “Bright,” which presented a Los Angeles inhabited by orcs (including the city’s first orc cop) and fairies as a way to make ham-fisted statements about race. Here we get private eye Phil Phillips (voiced by Muppet vet Bill Barretta), who had been the Lapd’s first puppet officer, only to get kicked off the force for not shooting a fellow puppet who was holding his partner Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) hostage.
- 8/22/2018
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Director: Eric Kissack Writer: Kenny Stevenson Starring: Kenny Stevenson, Dorien Davies, Avi Rothman, Amir Talai, Jordan Black, Candace Brown, Mitch Silpa, Stephanie Escajeda, Scott Beehner, Eileen O’Connell, Julie Mitchell, Shane Elliott, Alex Enriquez Neil (Kenny Stevenson) has hit a rough stretch of road in his life. He’s freshly single after he walked in on his girlfriend cheating on [...]...
- 10/24/2012
- by Linc Leifeste
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
Playback Trailer. Michael A. Nickles‘ Playback (2012) movie trailer stars Christian Slater, Ambyr Childers, Johnny Pacar, Jonathan Keltz, and Alessandra Torresani. Playback‘s plot synopsis: “A cop investigates the case of a missing local teen, though he discovers a dark secret that has been unleashed in his town, and an evil spirit that will stop at nothing to find its heir.”
The possession sequences and the way Julian (Johnny Pacar) starts going after people, building a small army of the possessed is pretty cool.
Playback also stars Toby Hemingway, Jennifer Missoni, Daryl Mitchell, Kenny Stevenson, Abe Larkin, Dorien Davies, and Luke Bonczyk.
Watch the Playback movie trailer below and leave your thoughts on it in the comments section. For more Playback photos, videos, and information, visit our Playback Page. Playback will be released in Us theaters through Magnet Releasing on March 9, 2012 and On-Demand February 3, 2012.
Source: Bloody-disgusting...
The possession sequences and the way Julian (Johnny Pacar) starts going after people, building a small army of the possessed is pretty cool.
Playback also stars Toby Hemingway, Jennifer Missoni, Daryl Mitchell, Kenny Stevenson, Abe Larkin, Dorien Davies, and Luke Bonczyk.
Watch the Playback movie trailer below and leave your thoughts on it in the comments section. For more Playback photos, videos, and information, visit our Playback Page. Playback will be released in Us theaters through Magnet Releasing on March 9, 2012 and On-Demand February 3, 2012.
Source: Bloody-disgusting...
- 1/20/2012
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
Playback Early BannerPrincipal photography begins on Michael A. Nickles (Xii) Playback this week and an early synopsis for the film is available. Apparently an evil is haunting a small town whose younger inhabitants hope to find the evil's source. This is Nickles second step in to the horror genre, after the revenge thriller Xii. Fans of Nickles, who has had multiple appearances in film e.g. Hamburger Hill, can have a look at the available info' for the film, until more developments arrive.
The synopsis for Playback here:
"A group of high school students dig into their town's infamous past and they unwittingly unlock an Evil that corrupts and destroys them. This evil possesses its victims through video playback, while using them for malevolent purposes. It closes in on one specific soul, threatening to expose the town's deepest, darkest secret" (Nickles).
Director/writer: Michael A. Nickles.
Writers: Michael A. Nickles and John Philip Saladin.
The synopsis for Playback here:
"A group of high school students dig into their town's infamous past and they unwittingly unlock an Evil that corrupts and destroys them. This evil possesses its victims through video playback, while using them for malevolent purposes. It closes in on one specific soul, threatening to expose the town's deepest, darkest secret" (Nickles).
Director/writer: Michael A. Nickles.
Writers: Michael A. Nickles and John Philip Saladin.
- 8/22/2010
- by 28DaysLaterAnalysis@gmail.com (Michael Ross Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
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