Practical Magic (1998)

Originally Reviewed
Sunday October 29, 2006

Practical Magic is a film that attempts to mix Halloween with romance, a combination I personally don't think mixes all too well, but then again what do I know! I'm a big fan a Sandra Bullock yet this was my first viewing of this film so I was somewhat intrigued to view it especially after the high praise from many Rotten Tomato reviewers and my own personal love for good romantic comedies. Sadly I will have to take the road less traveled and partially disagree with some of you a decision I will soon explain.

Practical Magic is a film about a lineage of witches, the Owens, for hundreds of years the family has passed down the "trade" of witchcraft, but with that heritage also came with it a price. Long ago an Owens was to be hanged for the practicing of witchcraft, and also the little fact that she slept with every man in town, but when she escaped her fate she was banished to a small island where she was to bear her illegitimate child alone. Distraught over being alone she placed a spell on herself that she would never again feel the agony of love, this intern became a curse on all men who would dare to love an Owens woman.

Present day we are introduced to the new generation of Owens sisters, Gillian (Nicole Kidman) and Sally (Sandra Bullock). Gillian is a party girl, the loose cannon who proceeds into horrible situations without thinking. Sally is the level headed one and in her youth vowed she would never fall in love unless her perfect man (which she believed would never exist) came along. Eventually Sally did fall in love and she was never happier until he was tragically killed... due to the curse. With two young children Sally attempts to bring her life back together, but that doesn't last very long.

She soon gets a call from Gillian who has gotten herself mixed up with loser of a boyfriend and fears for her life. Sally travels to bring back Gillian but ends up getting mixed into a situation which leads to some unplanned occurrences, in a hasty attempt to cover up their mess Gillian and Sally create an even bigger one. To make things right they must learn to rely on themselves and their abilities and look to the help of others, a decision that could lead to the destruction of the curse and a resurgence of happiness in the family.

If the first half of Practical Magic had been as good as the second half I would be agreeing with most of the people who give this a relatively high score, but sadly in my opinion it wasn't. I found the first 30 minutes or so of the film to be very mediocre and at points incredibly boring, it wasn't till about the time when Sally went to bring back Gillian that I actually began to find the film interesting. It's probably the fact that this is supposed to be a romantic comedy, yet it's never very funny, and the romance doesn't appear until the second half of the film.

Also I thought the killing off of Sally's husband was a little ridiculous as he's struck down by a vehicle after standing in the middle of the street for over a minute!  It doesn't seem plausible that the person driving wouldn't have seen him! The acting was okay, I'm not a huge fan of Nicole Kidman so I can take her or leave her, and it isn't the best role I have seen Sandra Bullock in, but her character does get better as the film progresses.

In the end, Practical Magic is a nice Halloween holiday film, but it isn't that great of a romance or romantic comedy. It has too many highs and lows in the construction of the story and the flow of the film seemed to never find a steady point. Had the film been more balanced like the second half I'd be giving this film a higher score, but overall it's simply a decent Halloween film and nothing much more. 

7/10

On Deadly Ground (1994)

Hot off the success of Under Siege, Steven Seagal returns in On Deadly Ground, his first and only directorial display.  Given the film's strange mix of martial arts, spirit guides, and environmental awareness all mixed into an Under Siege in the arctic, it's probably no surprise Seagal never went back behind the camera.  Seagal picked up a Razzie for worst director on this but it's still no where near his worst.

On Deadly Ground continues a trend set in Under Siege where Seagal is a retired special ops soldier in an interesting position.  In Under Siege he was a Navy cook, this time around he's Forrest Taft an environmental agent.  Hired by Aegis Oil Company, run by Michael Jennings (Michael Caine), he's usually called in to cleanup oil rig leaks before they get out of control.  Jennings isn't know for being particularly environmentally friendly, he'll do whatever he has to do to make a buck, even if that means using shoddy equipment in order to get a rig up and running before the land is transferred back to the Alaskan natives.  Waiting for the proper equipment would mean he'd miss out on the deadline needed to get the pumps operational and he'd lose the land and oil rights.  But using defective parts means certain ecologic damage.  Forrest approaches Jennings and informs him he's aware of the usage of defective equipment, Jennings responds by attempting to have him killed.  Unfortunately attempting to kill Forrest only makes him mad, and as you all know you don't want to make Steven Seagal mad!

On Deadly Ground is the strangest Seagal film I've seem thus far.  It's one that seems to be a little all over the place in terms of it's mixture of Native America spirit guides and blowing up oil tankers.  While I love Seagal as an actor star but his combination of writer and director seemed to be a little too much for him to handle, as the film seems to cram together too many aspects in a simple action film.  Surprisingly, On Deadly Ground has a lot of familiar faces, Michael Caine and a brief appearance by Billy Bob Thornton, just to name a few.  Caine plays a great bad guy, and his henchmen are pretty impressive as well, except when it comes to fighting Seagal, then they last about 30 seconds!  Overall, On Deadly Ground is a mediocre attempt to recreate the success of Under Siege, the two films are very similar at times.  The fight scenes aren't that great (although the homemade silencer was pretty awesome) and the story is a little convoluted.  On the plus side it's still pretty entertaining and has quite a few comedic one liners from Seagal and other characters describing Seagal prior to getting their butts kick.  While certainly one of Seagal's more underrated films, it's not horrible and doesn't deserve all the flack it seems to attract.

6/10

Crowetastic: 23 Days of Russell Crowe

If you can stomach 23 Days of Kurosawa, how about taking a taste of 23 days of Russell Crowe? I promise no subtitles and no films about drunken samurais, but 23 days, 23 films of pure Crowetastic Russell Crowe in a series of roles and films in which no two are alike.  It's my plan to spread out all 23 films, reviewing a couple every week until the release of Russell's new soon to be hit Robin Hood on May 14th.  Can you handle this much Crowe?  These are all films I have yet to review, so any films not on this list (with the exception of Romper Stomper which seems to be out of print and is not available on Netflix) I have already reviewed.  All reviews will be posted from March 15th - May 14th (on average about two films a week) I'll post an estimated post date for each upcoming film. Below is the list of the films I will be reviewing, in the order I will be reviewing them.

1. Prisoners of the Sun (1990) - estimated review date Mar. 16th or 17th
2. Hammer Over the Anvil (1991)
3. Brides of Christ (1991)
4. Proof (1991)
5. The Efficiency Expert (1992)
6. For the Moment (1993)
7. The Silver Stallion (1993)
8. The Sum of Us (1995)
9. Virtuosity (1995)
10. No Way Back (1996)
11. Heaven's Burning (1997)
12. Breaking Up (1997)
13. LA Confidential (1997)
14. Mystery, Alaska (1999)
15. The Insider (1999)
16. Gladiator (2000)
17. Proof of Life (2000)
18. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
19. Texas: 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (2002)
20. American Gangster (2007)
21. Tenderness (2008)
22. Body of Lies (2008)
23. Robin Hood (2010)

Links to prior reviews of unlisted Russell Crowe: 
Rough Magic (1995)
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Master & Commander (2003)
Cinderella Man (2005)   
A Good Year (2006)
3:10 To Yuma (2007) 
State of Play (2009)

Private Resort (1985)

Originally Reviewed
Tuesday May 29, 2007

Browsing around on Netflix's "watch now" feature, which allows you to watch a large selection of films in DVD quality off the internet, I came across Private Resort. I'm not a fan of these types of teen films because they are usually completely stupid, 99% about sex, contain absolutely no story and have horrible acting. Well that pretty much sums up this film as well, but the only reason I bothered watching some of it was because it starred a very young Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow in their acting debut (2nd film for Depp). It was quite interesting to see both these now talented actors at a young age before they had any talent.

Private Resort this about two pals Ben (Morrow) and Jack (Depp) spending a few days at a Florida resort with the main goal of hooking up with some hot chicks. Unfortunately for them they seem to have more success in hooking up with trouble as they spend most of the film being chased by a jewel thief, hotel security and a cheating boyfriend. The film's plot is absolutely ridiculous, which isn't a surprise, and the fact that Morrow and Depp look like they are sixteen makes everything that happens in the film completely outrageous (strangely enough they were both in their 20's when this was made!) But of course these films don't attempt to make sense or stay consistent. Private Resort is basically made up of breasts and rear ends which you'll get plenty of and if your looking to see Depp's butt or Rob Morrow running around practically naked for five minutes you'll get that too. As for acting, Depp and Morrow are both quite horrible but what do you expect from their first film? Although if anything this should be some hope to actors nowadays typecast into these roles, it is possible to break free if you gain some talent, since both actors have moved on to substantial careers.

Overall, Private Resort is a classic example of how the teen comedy genre hasn't changed one bit in 22 years. The film has a few humorous moments such as the drugged out surfer dude who appears throughout the film with his heavy surfer accent saying stupid things but still being utterly hilarious and I also found the scenes where the grandma is beating up the jewel thief to be quite hilarious as well. In the end, it's not a film worth paying money to rent, but if you happen to catch in on TV or have the Netflix "watch now" feature available to you it might be worth checking out a few minutes to see a very young Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow. 

5/10