Here's a fella that just saw PRACTICAL MAGIC with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman... I have seen jut a bit of this film, and it seemed to not be working for me, but I'll leave that to the fella here...
At Harry’s request I will fill you in with the kind of mood I was in when I saw this movie. First off, I wasn’t in a great mood. I wasn’t super pissed but I missed out on a small get together that I didn’t have a ride to. So I was sort of in that I’m missing out on something really fun kind of mood.
Plot: The story and concept was excellent. I haven’t read the book but I assume it was better. There was the usual bitching after the show from the book fanatics. [DETOUR TIME-I’ll never understand what fans of a book are expecting from a movie version. Especially since they’re usual points of “intellectual” bitching never ranges beyond “Well that wasn’t in the movie.”]
Climax: The movie takes on some pretty interesting and dark climatic twists and turns. Of course they’re handled completely wrong (See “things I didn’t like” for the reason.)
Casting: Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock have an interesting chemistry. I thought they worked well with each other. Except they over played or under played there characters a bit too often. Diana Wiest was perfect in her part, as was her sister (In the film.) Stockard Channing. Aidan Quinn was horribly miscast and I really disagreed with the way his character was presented and played.
Music: The usual temp pop crap.
Things I liked: Like I said, the over all story, concept, and turning points were very good. (Since they were lifted from a book I don’t give them much credit though.)
Thing I didn’t like: The directing and cinematography was horrible. It was really dreamy and corny which was the wrong look for this film (The book people probably disagree.). I think this film could have been so great if they focused on the darkly comical undertones (Like the death and revival of the boyfriend.) while still keeping the romance very serious just a little less dreamy. Some pulp type lighting would have been really cool with piercing full-bodied whites and yellows with dark backgrounds. I who had just seen a documentary on witchcraft the day before found myself ironically prepared for this movie. So with that, I fearlessly say, there was a few really stupid stereotypical cliché’s. The ending was horrible I hope they listen to my opinion card. This is the first time, no matter how bad, I’ve really just wanted them to change it! This movie was also spreading itself too thin. They seem like they’re trying to sell it almost as a family thing. Yet through out the whole damn thing they make half-assed attempts at raunchy humor. Like having the housewives curse like sailors for a portion of the film. This is really stupid cause when you do unnecessary things like that it just raises the rating and broadens your audience. The effects were horrible (YES I REALIZE IT’S A WORK IN PROGRESS!). The ones I’m talking about seemed like they were done or at least waiting for some buffing none the less they were horrible. Remember Lost in Space? Yup, that bad.
Well the bad out weighs the good. So yes, I don’t think I would recommend it. This is A WORK IN PROGRESS!!!!!!!!! Some of what I said can be fixed so I don’t want to be held responsible if things change.
Proxy X
