Practical Magic 2 (2026)

Having very recently revisited, and been underwhelmed by, Practical Magic, I must admit to being a bit hesitant to check out this very recent sequel. Being aware that the first film was aimed at a very different audience demographic, I was unlikely to be won over by anything attempting to appeal to the fanbase. But I ended up going along to see it nonetheless, and I guess I can review it here, with the proviso that those who loved the first movie can feel free to completely ignore my opinions on either film.

The Owens sisters (Sally, played by Sandra Bullock and Gillian, played by Nicole Kidman) continue to live their lives under the shadow of a curse that kills off any man they love. Gillian continues to take this as good reason to stay carefree and unattached. Sally takes it as a good reason to turn her back on magic and protect her children. Ignoring a major problem doesn't make it go away though, and death is coming for someone. It could be one of the lovable aunties (Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing), or it could be the young man that Kylie (played by Joey King) ends up falling in love with.

With Kelly Marcel and Georgia Pritchett joining (returning) writer Akiva Goldsman for the screenplay this time, Practical Magic 2 is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a slightly better film than the one that preceded it. It feels as if everyone came back because of a love for the characters, and director Susanne Bier has a better handle on the material, avoiding the uneven tonal issues that we got the first time around.

Bullock and Kidman are great in the main roles, both working well alongside one another, and I was happy to see Wiest and Channing returning. As for the newcomers, King gets to be the focus of the main storyline this time around, and she does well, but Maisie Williams, as Antonia, the other daughter of Sally, gets very little to do. Lee Pace shines in a supporting role that makes the most of his screen presence, and Solly McLeod comes along just in time to get involved in the expected third act shenanigans.

It's all light and charming, and everything is certainly designed to appeal to those who would rush to see what they might call a long-overdue sequel to something they have cherished for many years, but it's also enjoyably consistent with the messaging about sisterhood, parent-child relationships, and female empowerment. You get the callbacks to the first movie that feel essential, you get the kind of cosiness that makes it feel like one of the better seasonal Hallmark movies (and I am NOT meaning that as anything other than a compliment), and it's another in an ever-growing list of movies that provides very positive representation of witches in the modern world.

Will it be remembered in a year or two from now? I'm not so sure about that. It tries to weave a spell while you watch it though, and many others will be affected more than I was. I enjoyed it, and I think it's a very pleasant final chapter to a story that I didn't think needed any more added to it, but it's not one I'll recommend to anyone who wasn't already rushing to the cinema to see it. 

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Practical Magic (1998)

I saw Practical Magic when it was first released on the home rental market, but never really thought about revisiting it since then. Now there's a sequel, however, and I wanted to refresh my memory. Oddly enough, my memory of the film hadn't faded as much as I thought. There's very little here that's memorable or impressive, and I remain bemused by the cult reputation this has gained over the years. I'm assuming it has been embraced by those who like to see witches depicted without them necessarily being evil, having parsnip-like noses, or being chased out of villages by angry neighbours.

Based on a novel by Alice Hoffman, turned into movie form by Robin Swicord, Adam Brooks, and Akiva Goldsman, this is the story of sisters Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman). Apparently cursed to be very unlucky in love, the Owens sisters take very different journeys through life. Sally tries to settle down and be happy, eventually becoming a mother and a widow (proving that the curse is real?), while Gillian likes to travel around and party with a variety of dispensable men. One of those men (Jimmy Angelov, played by Goran Visnjic) is big trouble though, and the Owens sisters work together to get him out of their lives, which eventually brings an inquisitive policeman (Gary Hallet, played by Aidan Quinn) to their home. 

Director Griffin Dunne (who has often done much better work in front of the camera than behind it) seems content to let this film coast along on the charm of the leads, but that's not quite enough for the 104-minute runtime. It helps enormously that both Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest have supporting roles as wise and caring aunties, but they're sorely missed from the middle section of the film (their absence seemingly dictated by the plot not wanting everything resolved too soon). Visnjic is far too unpleasant, making his ultimate fate more satisfying, but not helping the pacing and entertainment factor of a film that cannot ever get the tone just right, and Quinn is, I'm sorry to say, one of the weakest choices for a potential romantic lead at this time. At least Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip are enjoyable as Sally's daughters, and there are decent smaller roles for Margo Martindale, Chloe Webb, and Lucinda Jenney, proving that perhaps everyone involved quite rightly ensured that all of the female roles were cast perfectly before then finding any of the required men. 

Practical Magic skirts close to real darkness at times, but then quickly pulls back. It also has some light comedy that works, which it also pulls back from. It doesn't seem to want to commit to any one thing, and doesn't seem to know how best to work the premise into something as entertaining and, well, magical as it should be. There are a few good moments, but none of them seem to flow together into any one extended enjoyable sequence.

I just don't get the appeal, beyond the obvious star power of the leads. But maybe that's simply down to me not being a woman, desperate to see some good witchiness presented onscreen alongside a message of positivity and female empowerment. Plus a sprinkling of romance mixed in for good measure.

5/10

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Apartment 7A (2024)

Stop reading this review right now if you want to enjoy ANY part of this movie. Seriously, I am not aiming to spoil anything, but Apartment 7A should be much more enjoyable for those who know absolutely nothing about it until they start to piece the familiar elements together for themselves.

Consider yourself duly warned.

Julia Adams plays a young dancer named Terry. Despite a hunger for career success, Terry ends up injuring herself in a way that could possibly spell the ruination of her dream. Terry, aiming to find ways to get herself in front of the right people and grasp whatever last opportunity she might get, does have one apparent stroke of good luck. She encounters an elderly couple (played by Dianne Wiest and Kevin McNally) who end up offering her somewhere to stay, as well as much more. But what do they want in return?

Directed by Natalie Erika James, who has done much better work elsewhere, and also co-written by James, Christian White, and Skylar James, this is a disappointingly unscary and predictable feature that is seriously hampered by the fact that viewers will know where things are going. If you somehow avoided the poster/marketing imagery, which clues you in on the fact that this is a prequel to what many view as a classic horror, and somehow don’t recognise the names and behaviour of the characters helping our lead, then there’s a chance that you might enjoy this a bit more. I suspect you will still find it quite dull though, and it’s a shame that none of the writers could figure out a way to make this anything more than a pale and insipid tribute to the film that birthed it.

Despite the weak material they have to work with, the cast are almost all doing very good work. Adams is a good lead, even if this isn't her best work, but a number of scenes are completely stolen by Wiest and McNally (with Wiest, in particular, reminding me of how much I miss her in major movie roles). Jim Sturgess is decent, playing the man who can make or break Terry's dancing career, and Marli Siu, playing a friend named Annie, gets to continue building a nicely varied filmography of interest to those who took notice of her about a decade ago.

There is at least one other recent horror movie that this reminded me of, and I didn't like that one either (The First Omen), BUT this is a slight improvement. Maybe it's because my memory of Rosemary's Baby is a bit hazy (yes, this is a prequel to Rosemary's Baby, I did warn you not to read further if you didn't know anything about the film before now), or maybe there were a handful of moments here that didn't feel like people just marking off a checklist. Either way, this was watchable, but who would choose to ever rewatch it when you can just revisit Rosemary's Baby?

4/10

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Prime Time: I Care A Lot (2020)

The easiest, and most flippant, way to summarize I Care A Lot is to make some joke about how I didn’t really care for it. I enjoyed it enough while it was on, and the central casting helps a lot, but the whole thing lacks any plausibility, which means it lacks any real bite it should have.

Rosamund Pike plays Marla Grayson, a woman who has built up a very successful business around becoming guardian to numerous elderly individuals. This allows her to drain their assets, bill them for hours spent dealing with their cases, and generally profit from the misery of someone spending the last of their days in a care home environment. Unfortunately, Marla targets Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), a woman who is connected to the very dangerous Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage). This puts Marla and her partner, Fran (Eiza González), in mortal danger.

Written and directed by J Blakeson, this is a film that feels like it wants to be a few different things. It could be a comment on how we treat the elderly. It could be a taut and entertaining thriller. It could be a damning indictment of a system that leaves people with nothing as they simply aim to remain healthy and alive in a society that has already deemed them as having no (or very little) value. The fact that it fails to fully commit to any of these aims means that it ends up an unsatisfying middle of them all, with no one aspect handled as well as it should be.

It all looks clean and cool throughout, although I wouldn’t even say there’s anything particularly standout about the visuals, and the score from Marc Canham is decent, but there’s a distinct air of everything being competent, as opposed to actually good.

The only area of excellence is the cast, and Blakeson really stops the film from being a complete disaster by having such a great selection of main cast members. Pike is superb in a role that feels very similar to one of her best cinematic performances (you will know what one I am on about), and Dinklage is an excellent menacing presence. Wiest is the most pleasant surprise though, making the most of her small amount of screentime to remind everyone that she still excels in any role she is given. To be clear, the surprise isn’t her level of talent, it is seeing her get a couple of real moments to shine in a role that could have easily been no more than a fleeting cameo. González is fine, although not given much to do, and there is some excellent scene-stealing by Chris Messina (playing a slick lawyer) and Macon Blair (playing the son of someone scammed by Pike’s character).

It loses points for having the most ineffective onscreen killers not wearing stormtrooper uniforms, it loses points for not using the obvious Faith No More song choice, and it loses points for an ending that doesn’t feel half as pointed and/or clever as Blakeson may think it is. In fact, the entire third act is more silly than anything else.

I Care A Lot? Nope. And I doubt others will.

5/10

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The Big Year (2011)

Owen Wilson plays Kenny Bostick, the best birder in the world. His big year total stands as a record that looks almost impossible to beat, yet he's obsessed with defending his title. What IS a big year? Well, it's when birders (aka birdwatchers) head out to spot as many different species as possible in one year and then hand in their results to see just where they stand amongst their equally dedicated peers. Bostick may be the man to beat, but Brad Harris (Jack Black) thinks he can do it. As does Stu Preissler (Steve Martin). As do many other people. But how much do you have to sacrifice in a year that could lead to spotting over 700 different types of birds? These three men may find that out as they vie for the top spot.

Directed by David Frankel, and written by Howard Franklin (based on/inspired by a book by Mark Obmascik), The Big Year is one of those films that's hard to hate. The gentle humour works well, there are some nice moments that try to showcase individual birds to show just why the birders often view them as something so worthy of pursuit. Of course, it's so predictable and desperate to please that it's also a film that's hard to love. It just stays in a very safe middle ground.

Owen Wilson turns in another performance almost exactly like most of his performances from the last two decades, but Martin plays it pretty straight and Jack Black is surprisingly restrained in his role, making a decent average Joe that viewers should want to see actually succeed at the one goal he seems to have in his life.

The real pleasure here, however, is in the supporting cast. Rosamund Pike plays the long-suffering partner of Wilson, Rashida Jones is a fellow birder who isn't even aiming for her own big year, but is rather just doing it for the pleasure of doing it, Joel McHale and Kevin Pollak are two men trying to keep Martin focused on his successful company while JoBeth Williams is his supportive wife. Brian Dennehy and Dianne Wiest play Jack Black's parents, and there are small roles for Anthony Anderson, Tim Blake Nelson, Anjelica Huston, Corbin Bernsen and Jim Parsons.

Worth watching if there's nothing else to occupy your time, this is ultimately just a pleasant diversion that allows viewers to observe people who spend their time observing our feathered friends.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Year-Blu-ray-Jack-Black/dp/B004U5BJQ0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1378377762&sr=8-2&keywords=the+big+year

Parenthood (1989)

Featuring Keanu Reeves before he was best known from Bill and Ted and years before he was Neo, Joaquin Phoenix while he was still known as Leaf and Martha Plimpton . . . . . . when she was known, Parenthood is a fun '80s movie that holds up today just as well as it did when it was first released. It may run slightly overlong, but it's well paced with some big laughs in between all of the wry observations on the joys and perils of parenthood.

Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen are the main characters, Gil and Karen Buckman, but the narrative also spends plenty of time with Dianne Wiest (playing Helen Buckman, single mother and Gil's sister), Harley Kozak and Rick Moranis (Gil's other sister and her partner), Tom Hulce (Gil's brother) and Jason Robards (Gil's father). The aforementioned Keanu Reeves and Martha Plimpton are a tempestuous, teenage couple (with Plimpton also being Weist's daughter in the film) and Phoenix is Wiest's sullen young son.

Directed by Ron Howard, the film benefits from both the ensemble cast and a fun script written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. The drama and comedy is nicely mixed together in perfect amounts, with a real little bonus for Steve Martin fans as he gets to reference his past live material in a scene that has him creating some balloon animals (yeah, maybe not worth singling out, but I've always loved that sequence more than any other part of the movie).

Everyone gets to have at least one great moment, even the wonderful Helen Shaw (playing the grandma) in the last role of her brief film career. Martin gets to have lots of fun and Steenburgen is superb, but Wiest, Plimpton, Reeves and Phoenix really end up stealing the movie by the time the end credits roll. Moranis and Kozak are both very funny as rather pushy parents, Jason Robards is as good as ever and Tom Hulce does a good job at being a bit of a selfish ass. And then there are the kids, running around and causing problems. I'm not going to say that they all give wonderful, flawless performances but they're all very good at being, well, kids. Job done.

This will definitely appeal more to those who can identify with the many unique situations that come from being a parent, but there's also plenty here to appeal to everyone else. Because we all have some kind of family, which is equally what the film is looking at for most of the runtime.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steve-Martin-Collection-DVD/dp/B000QJMSFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374525282&sr=8-1&keywords=steve+martin

Dan In Real Life (2007)

There are parts of a nice movie hidden within Dan In Real Life. In fact, there are parts of a movie that the cast deserve a hell of a lot more than this one. Especially Steve Carell in the lead role.

Carell plays the Dan of the title. He’s a widower with three young girls who seem to test him more and more every day. He also writes a column in which he offers other people advice and helps them with their own family problems. If only he could sort out his own. He and the girls head off to a family gathering and it’s not long before Dan is encouraged to head off for a bit of time on his own. He heads to a local bookshop and, while there, meets the beautiful Anne-Marie (Juliette Binoche). The two of them have a wonderful time talking together and Dan gets her phone number as they go their separate ways. He’s shocked when he gets home and is introduced to the latest girlfriend of his brother (Mitch, played by Dane Cook). Yep, it’s Anne-Marie. So begins a family gathering from hell as Dan veers between playing things overly cool and letting his emotions cause no small amount of embarrassment.

Directed by Peter Hedges (who also co-wrote the movie with Pierce Gardner), Dan In Real Life benefits from an absolutely superb cast but doesn't give any of them enough moments in which to shine.

Carell is wonderful and Binoche is delightful but the great Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney are sadly underused while the not-so-great Dane Cook is sadly given plenty of screentime. Now, unlike some folks, I don't mind Dane Cook and have actually enjoyed a number of his movies and performances but he's not served well by the script here, his role being little more than harmless schmo oblivious to some rather obvious awkwardness between his new lady and his brother. If you like Emily Blunt then you may be disappointed to see that she's also given very little to do. In fact, her screentime amounts to little more than five minutes and her character is simply a bit of an antidote to all of the subtle treachery occuring while, let's face it, a guy tries to sabotage his brother's latest relaionship. Alison Pill, Britt Robertson and Marlene Lawstonare all quite good as Dan's three young daughters but even their characters aren't given all that much to do.

There were a couple of moments that made me laugh and many moments that made me cringe but I couldn't bring myself to rate the movie as something truly terrible. It's quite a disappointment but at least the performances are good.

4/10

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