SHADE

SHADE
Now Streaming on Netflix.com

Shade is a little-known film with a very well-known cast. Stuart Townsend, Gabriel Byrne, Jamie Foxx, Sylvester Stallone, Melanie Griffith- it seems like every role is filled by a familiar face, and they all do an excellent job in the film. But the standout performances come in the opening credits sequence, which by itself is worth the price of admission.
Simply put, Shade is about grifters using sleight of hand to cheat at poker. Right off the bat, let me state that the poker in the film is as erroneous as you have seen on screen; it is sure to infuriate the more hardcore fans out there. But the sleight of hand is as real as it gets. Not a shot of close-up magic in the film is faked, either digitally retouched or done with stand-in hands. It’s all done in camera, an incredibly impressive feat by the actors. But the film puts its best foot forward from the start: the opening credits feature the actors’ sleight of hand trainers showing off, stretching our ideas of what is possible. Whether you stay for the rest of the fairly enjoyable film or not, you MUST take six minutes to watch these human special effects do their thing.