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Reviews
Practical Magic (1998)
While I normally HATE chick flicks, I'm glad I watched Practical Magic
Practical magic is a girly movie, no way round that. Guys (in general) only like this movie because they want to please the girl they're watching it with, or because they get to look at Sandra or Nicole, or some combination of these things. But WHO CARES? Trish says DELIGHT in the chick-flickishness of this movie. It's such a great blend of comedy, drama and girly-girl sap that it's totally worth watching. Goran Visnjic is completely ab-fab-ly dreamy in this (the whole dark dangerous thing WORKS for him...works for me too, can you say amen!), Sandra Bullock is pretty much her usual bubbly vivacious self, and she even spared some charm for Nicole, who usually only grates like cheese. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest wore their characters and their hair extensions well, the kids were great, even Aidan Quinn was charming. I guess I shouldn't say that like it's hard to believe...I've seen plenty of his movies that I liked, I was just always kind of surprised that I did.
The plot of this movie is a new twist on basic themes that were done to death loooooooooooooooooooong ago, so it's refreshing to see that they got a bit of a zazzing-up. It's a nice contemporary spin on the concept of witchcraft, and the house is really great (too bad it's not a real house).
The flick is fragmented enough that some stuff comes out of nowhere and isn't really even a part of the story, and in context with the movie I would have sincerely only believed that the ladies that worked in Sally's shop with her would be the only ones to show up when the phone tree was activated, and it wasn't explained away very well.
And Sally wanting to explain to Gary what crime was committed and how, and he (the officer of the law) would rather get all mushy about her letter? Gag.
BUT! When compared to some of those horrible, implausible movies that are supposed to be based on non-magical circumstances that you see on Lifetime and Hallmark Channel, Practical Magic is truly a diamond in the rough. I liked it a lot.
Trish
Essex Boys (2000)
Loved the Sean Bean part, the rest not so much
I did like this movie, but - except for His Beanness - none of the actors really stood out. And, I don't know if I'm just a jaded child of the you-call-THAT-shocking?!? generation, but I was expecting the whole thing to be more over-the-top. Certain scenes worth note, though: the rape scene was awful, and the scene where he died was wicked cool. Not wicked cool in the ooh-cool-dead-people way, but in the wow-not-only-is-sean-bean-a-hottie-he-also-pulls-a-great-death-scene way.
Sean Bean is really great in the way that he'll play any kind of character. He's done edgy homoerotic (way before it was trendy to do so), twitchy terrorist, seriously unhinged bad guy (several times, but it never gets old), devoted husband and lover...he's really diverse. I love that man.
Sigh. Scuse me while I go chain smoke. And I don't even smoke!
Trish